As I mentioned before, this is my entry to Dynamic Interference’s Monthly Sound Design Challenge.

Also, this is the first video with my new logo.

Please, any constructive criticism is encouraged.

Related posts:

1. Social Sound Design Challenge #1

Shaun Farley, a regular at SSD, has started a monthly sound design challenge where he selects the base media, and you sound design around it.  Today marks the release date of the very first challenge, which he’s posted on his website.  This is a perfect opportunity for those of you who are still looking for a project to cut your teeth on, so no matter how green you think you are, I suggest you do it.

Watch for my uploaded video in a month or so.

Related posts:

1. Dynamic Interference Sound Design Challenge #1
2. Silent Hill 3 Redub
3. Guerilla Marketing for Modern Composers: First Things First

Jonathon Duerig, a Flash game designer I had the privilege of working with at GEEX (I wrote the Victorian piece for him) has released his Tile Factory game — a game akin to Pipe Mania, but instead of moving liquid, you’re moving tiles — and it’s a pleasant game, for sure.

The reason I’m mentioning it is because he was the first person to take advantage of, and truly the inspiration for, a service I’ll be offering soon — $5 Sound Effects.  Watch for more on that, later.

The $5 Sound Effect I created for him is the sound of the tiles shattering… when I made it, I hadn’t heard the rest of the sound pallet, and I’ve got to agree with Jon when he says it fits the overall sound perfectly.

Give it a play!

Related posts:

1. Oh, wow… you’re still here.
2. XACTing Siphon Spirit
3. Global Game Jam, 2010

My first video is a redub of the 38th cut scene in Silent Hill 3.  In the video, the protagonist, Heather, finds an unconnected payphone ringing in a rusty locker… This is only 30 seconds long, but that’s all I need for what I’ll be using it for.

This is my first attempt at hosting anything on Vimeo, as well as my first rendered video with Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10.0 (Seriously, Sony… shorter software titles PLEASE), and my first use of the free convolution reverb plugin SIR, AND the first thing I mixed / mastered on my new Tannoy 601p monitors.  I’m not entirely sold on the particular impulse I used in the locker, so that may change as I get closer to my finalized reel.

So, without further interruption, I present my SH3 Redub.

Silent Hill 3 Redub from Dave Matney on Vimeo.

Constructive criticism is encouraged and appreciated.

Related posts:

1. Dynamic Interference Sound Design Challenge #1
2. Social Sound Design Challenge #1
3. Global Game Jam, 2010

This is a tech-heavy post, specifically regarding XNA, XACT, and the in and outs of video game sound design.
This post isn’t for everyone.

Up to this point…

All the sound in Siphon Spirit has been implemented using the basic soundEffect.Play(); functions for all the sounds within the game, which has given us — specifically me — very little control on the audio within the game.  Play, stop, loop, and volume — all with their own quirks and downfalls. Two audio files played simultaneously would never sync, things looped with an audible seam, and if I wanted to add pitch variations to common sounds, I had to make that many sound files and play them at random.  So, not ideal.

Luckily for us…

XNA Game Studio comes with a built in audio engine with far more flexibility and functionality than can be achieved with code alone.  Seamless looping: check. Automatic pitch variation: check. Ability to pan: check.  Take audio control away from the coder and give it to me, much to his chagrin: check! And, like everything else XNA, it’s free.  Not just free to download and use on projects that will never make money, like fMod and WWise, but free to every XNA project you ever build.

But…

XNA documentation is awful — Not Microsoft-awful, but awful in general — and the sections on XACT are less informative than the rest of it.  To figure any of it out, you have to be both a programmer and a sound guy, and you pretty much have to have the code and the audio library open at the same time to get things working correctly.  In our case, that means I work on the audio library at the same time as our programmer, Curtis, implements the code, and we tackle any bugs that pop up via IM, Dropbox, and Google — because, like I mentioned, XNA documentation sucks, and all of our solutions have actually come from 3rd party / frustrated-user tutorials.  And, like all things Microsoft, sometimes things will work in one build and not in the next, even though nothing was changed.

So…

• Why not use fMod or WWise? Because we want to make money, but don’t have the initial flow to pay for licensing.
• Why not use the built in sound functions, and just live with it? Two words… seamless looping.  Actually, scratch that.. more control.
• What about *insert other audio middleware / library here*? Because, honestly, I don’t know of any other.

In conclusion

XACT will, I believe, reveal itself to be time well spent.  Not only can I put this experience on my resume, but the feel of Siphon Spirit, and any other XNA game I work on will benefit from the headaches I’m suffering through right now. And it’s actually really nice to feel like I’m part of the creative process beyond just the assets  I’ve been creating.

And the real reason I wrote this post…

Was to link this blog post by Kevin Gadd about simple dynamic audio within XACT.  If I didn’t find that, everything XACT related would never have made any sense.  If you found this post because you’re frustrated with XACT, check out that link.

Related posts:

1. Time to start taking myself seriously.
2. Global Game Jam, 2010
3. Oh, wow… you’re still here.

Download audio file (Monster-Race-Music.mp3)

The first piece I did was for my team… Have I mentioned I’m totally in a hip-hop mood, lately? If this doesn’t prove it, I don’t know what does. Also, I tried to incorporate some Akira Yamaoka style guitar in there.

Download audio file (Flash-Camel-Music.mp3)

The second piece I did was supposed to be a Victorian Era piece that reminded the player of the sea. I got to use Bellows by Detunized.com in this, and I’ve gotta say, I’m really happy with it.

Related posts:

1. Huge!
2. One Hour Audio pt. 1
3. Electric Tech-Hop

So, what’s happened since I dropped off the planet?

Lots, actually, but only a few things are really worth mentioning, and I’ll do that in bullets, because I’m feeling neat, tidy, and list-like today.

• Someone actually validated my least-popular blog where I said you should work for free.  Until I read that, I’d been wondering if I was all wrong… now I know I’m not.
• Siphon Spirit is going strong, though our release is looking farther and farther away, thanks to feature creep. But it will be awesome, I assure you.  One thing I’m incredibly happy about is that I’m getting to use XACT for the first time, and finding it really helpful.
• Violet Kiss (the website is down, apparently) was finished — I may have mentioned that — and is being submitted to film festivals around the country.  If you’re interested in seeing it, let me know, and I can try to find out the dates and locations.
• I participated in the 48 Hour Film Project, and though my team didn’t win, I had a great time. You can watch the final video here, and our practice run here.

And now, the bigger news.

In Salt Lake City, there is a gaming and electronics expo called Geex (if you’re in Utah, are a games publisher, or an electronics manufacturer, you should check it out), where, at the very least, there were a bunch of sweet game tournaments and contests, one of which was a Game-in-a-day, where I wrote music and sound effects for a small number of games (two with music, three with sound effects).  My official team came in third place, and one of the teams I did sound for came in first.

Rick Bradshaw, Dave Matney, Chance Thomas

But that’s not the big news… See, at Geex, there were a myriad of panels, one of which was Audio in Games, featuring some pretty big names in the local, and even global, game audio community.

Hosting the panel was Mike Neilsen, from Wahoo / NinjaBee, who did a great job and kept things rolling.  On the panel with me were Rick Bradshaw, a sound designer from Disney Interactive, and Chance Thomas, from HUGEsound.

My initial thoughts on the panel were that it would be dull, and we’d have maybe ten people in the crowd, and we’d probably end up finishing early because of lack of interest.

Boy, was I wrong… there were probably 20-30 people in the crowd,with every one of them asking incredibly good questions and keeping things moving — Mike only had to step in a few times to offer new topics.  We were given an hour, but since we were the final panel of the day, we ended up going somewhere between 30-40 minutes over.

The best part of the panel experience, in my opinion, was that there was a mutual respect between us, and we all seemed to really get along.  Though Mike and I only have a few years experience, against Brad and Chance’s twenty-plus years each, both Mike and I were able to have valuable input, with none of us really taking center stage.  I particularly liked that, for almost every question, the panel would end up discussing it like we were talking over coffee — someone would ask a question, one panelist would offer their opinion, then turn to the rest of the panel, and we’d discuss it with each other.  It felt really nice to shoot shop with people who have far more experience and shipped titles under their belts, and not feel like I was the odd man out.

So, now what?

Back to working on Siphon Spirit, most likely, as well as a few MonkeyEgg projects that haven’t really taken off.  I’m also working on a bid piece for a short horror film, and I should be officially compiling my demo reel over the next couple of weeks.  In the mean time, I’ll try to update here, more often… and I’ll get some music uploaded so you can hear what I did for the Geex Game-in-a-day.

Related posts:

1. Global Game Jam, 2010
2. Time to start taking myself seriously.
3. Guerilla Marketing for Modern Composers: First Things First

Why the long break, you ask? (Well, I assume you asked, or will ask)  I’ve been busy.  Not with writing music, but with playing it.

All last week, with the exception of Tuesday and Wednesday (of which I only remember Tuesday… no idea what I did mid-week) I was either practicing for, or actually performing, a Good Friday presentation for K2 the CHurch, which was stellar.

Then I took the weekend to recoup, and last night I returned to my sequencers.  Hopefully I’ll have something to show you by my next blog.

Until then, check out Mike Rut; he’s the worship leader and artistic director for K2, and one hell of a guitar player.  It was truly a pleasure to work with him, both recording and performing.

Related posts:

1. Churches, Finale

Speaking of getting things done, I’ve had trouble, lately, writing anything that I feel fits the projects I’m supposed to be working on.  I don’t know what it is, but, though I’m still writing music, nothing seems like it fits.   So,  I’ve been playing with tons of loops (specifically, Cosmo D’s loop pack, which I HIGHLY recommend, and it’s got me thinking in styles and keys I’ve been unintentionally avoiding.

So… without further adieu… my loops:

Download audio file (Versus-1.mp3)

Download audio file (Versus-2.mp3)

Download audio file (Versus-3.mp3)

These first three were my freshman attempt at really developing anything worthwhile around melodic loops.  I’ve used rhythmic loops before (and you’ll see that I use them a bit later, too), but I’ve always been a bit hesitant with melodic loops.  These three are presented in the order I made them, so you can see my improvements.

Download audio file (Wednesday-Loop.mp3)

As is indicated by the title, I wrote this Wednesday night.  Again, it’s just loops with a guitar under-track that I threw down, and I really think this is something I could clean up and develop further into a video game track.

Download audio file (Wednesday-Loop-2.mp3)

This is the second loop I wrote on Wednesday, and I started moving away from looped drum tracks to programming my own, which I’m getting more and more comfortable with as time goes on.  Again, I think I could develop this into something good.

Download audio file (Wednesday-Loop-3.mp3)

This is the third track I wrote on Wednesday, and I’m particularly happy with it because it’s a venture into a style that I’ve NEVER written in, also, I think it sounds pretty good.

Download audio file (Thursday-Loop-1.mp3)

By Thursday, I felt I had pretty much exhausted myself with loops (not entirely true, Cosmo D’s comes with 3000 loops, so there’s no way I could really exhaust myself), but I wanted to give it one last go.  I like this track a lot, too, but I don’t know if I’ll ever use it for something.

All in all, working with loops is a blast, but it’s not something I could seriously use as a technique to write a melody (as a counter melody, MAYBE).  Luckily, I think all this play opened up my mind, and I can get back to writing what I need to be writing.

That’s all for now. ►►

Related posts:

1. Churches, Finale

In fact, I was treating it as a pipe dream — something that would be nice to have, but not something I could ever get.  And that was effecting everything I was doing outside the actual music and sound design.

Once I realized it, I made a vow to myself and the world (via my Twitter account):

[Dave Matney] will be living entirely off money made through music and sound design by 2013.

On January 16th, 2013, I will be turning 30, and I don’t want to be the 30 year old that doesn’t at least have a foot in the door toward the career of his dreams.  The career I’ve been working toward since I was six years old when  I first started writing goofy little songs on my mom’s piano. (Sure, I wanted to be a rock star, but, in 1989, I didn’t know people even made video games, I just thought they existed.)

So, I need to make some changes.

First off, I’m done working for free.

I’ve advocated working for free in the past, despite all evidence to the contrary, and I’m now realizing that I was wrong.  With few exceptions (Open Source projects, for example, where everything is strictly voluntary, or one-time personal favors), no one should ever work for free. Even if you’re working for a church or other non-profit, you can still get a letter of charitable contribution, which is a tax write off.

So, it comes down to this: If the person I’m doing the project for is getting paid, and/or if anyone else working on the project is getting paid, I am getting paid. I understand each project is different — students don’t have the kind of money a corporation has, and some projects pay on the back end instead of up front — but the fact of the matter is I have worked twenty-one years of my life toward this goal, and I deserve it.

Second, I’m done taking on new work until my demo reels are complete.

I have enough experience, and almost enough footage, to put together a demo reel.  So, as I polish off my plate I will begin the process of putting together my demo reels, both for sound design and music.  I need to show the world that I am worth what I am charging.

Finally, I will be overhauling my site, and blogging regularly.

My brother and I have been kicking around ideas for this site since I started it, and that’s been keeping me from moving forward with business cards and such, as I’ve been waiting to get everything properly, and uniformly, branded.  So, when I roll out my completed demo reel, I will roll out a new site.

In the mean time, and even after then, I will be blogging regularly.  Not every day, but I will promise at least weekly updates.  I won’t be don’t weekly links, and sometimes my weekly updates will be slightly anorexic, but there will be a weekly touch down from me.  Probably every Friday.

All in all, I think these are the best moves for me, my family, and my career. And, like I said, by my 30th birthday, I will be living entirely off money generated from music and sound design (and, if possible, game design and game writing, but that’s not my focus.)

Here’s to moving forward. ►►

Related posts:

1. Guerilla Marketing for Modern Composers: First Things First
2. XACTing Siphon Spirit
3. Global Game Jam, 2010