I rarely get to talk about my work these days. I’ve signed so many NDA’s (Non-Disclosure Agreement) that I can’t even remember anymore.
Signing those documents for the protection of each project makes complete sense but also prevents from me being able to talk about any of the projects I work on until they’re either officially announced or released.
Sounds fun, right?!
Those agreements are there to protect my clients in a world where information can be leaked so quickly and gain momentum so fast that perfectly laid marketing plans can be spoiled in an instant. Video games can take between a year and five years to develop. In that time, the entire plan for the game can change dramatically – often at very short notice.
That’s another important reason why information about the game shouldn’t be leaked too early. It’d be like releasing a rough demo version of a song before it’s the fully completed mixed and mastered final version an artist would like the world to hear.
20 years ago, an information leak might hit a few thousand people over time but now that very same information can reach millions of people in seconds from one single tweet or YouTube video.
In case you’re wondering why I’m talking about video games… it’s because about a year ago, I realised a long term goal of working in the games industry. For the past year, I’ve been on the front line of games audio production; working with everyone from small indie games developers making their first game to the biggest and best AAA games developers and publishers in the world.
It’s been an incredible journey and in a time where people like to shout about their accomplishments from the rooftops and tell everyone their business, it’s taught me a lot about patience, persistence and staying tight-lipped until the goal is complete.
It’s also made me realise just how much work is out there for audio professionals these days and why I believe anyone interested in a career in audio has more opportunity now than ever before.
Now, I’m not going to share all the nitty gritty details of every games project I’ve helped to produce because quite frankly, there have been so many, that I wouldn’t know where to begin! I know that is a very good complaint to have and I feel very lucky to have worked on so many huge titles in such a short space of time.
I do, however, want to share some of the amazing opportunities out there that I’ve noticed that can greatly benefit you
When I officially began working on video games projects, one of the first games that came to me was Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands via Ubisoft. Originally released in March 2017, it was at the stage where the developers were working on new DLC (downloadable content) missions when I took over the project. It was an incredibly fun, challenging experience and very soon after that, I found out that a full sequel to the game was in development.
That game is Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and it has now been officially announced – meaning I can officially talk about it!
I’d like you to watch the trailer for the game so that you can enjoy the cinematic experience but while you watch it, I’d also like you to think about all the moving parts that might go into creating a trailer and game like this…
As you can see, a huge amount of work went into this three and a half minute video and that’s only the trailer! I still can’t believe how good the visuals are but considering I’m here to talk about audio, I want to focus on that.
Now, I mentioned that I believe there are more opportunities than ever in creative audio employment and I firmly believe that. The games industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and it’s worth more than video and music combined.
Think about that for a second… more than video and music combined!
So, while there is still an abundance of audio work available in music and video, the games industry is definitely an area in which an audio creative can quickly find a home and thrive.
If you take the relatively short trailer video above as an example and examine just a few of the roles required to create it, it’s easy to see how much work is out there.
Let me break down some of those roles for you:
- Producer: Setting up the project pipeline, budgets, contracts and agreements, scheduling and arranging talent, contracts, studios and teams.
- Voice Designer: Similar to producers, voice designers are responsible for planning, organizing, implementing and maintaining all voice-related content over the course of the project.
- Voice Director: Just like a feature film or television series, video games developers will employ a voice director to direct every single voice session.
- Recording Engineer: Recording all the character voices and any samples needed is a full time job.
- Audio Editor: All that audio needs to be edited, cleaned up and prepped for mix by someone!
- Sound Designer: Creating, editing and manipulating sound effects and audio design to compliment the visual material.
- Music Composer: With composition heavyweights like Hans Zimmer working in the games industry, it should be very clear that it is a highly lucrative, fun and challenging industry for a composer to be involved in.
- Mixing Engineer: There are various moving parts in a dynamic trailer like the one you’ve just watched. It takes a lot of taste and mixing knowledge to get it to sound incredible and as envisaged by the writers. Game trailers are incredibly important marketing materials, so a mixer’s job is fundamental to the success of the project.
- Sound Recordist/Boom Op: This one could be a little unexpected but you might notice that this trailer features none other than ‘The Punisher’ himself, Jon Bernthal. His image and performance hasn’t magically ended up in the trailer or the game. His performance was captured on location on a sound stage with a sound team, including a sound recordist/boom operator. So even location sound is important for a games trailer!
That’s a brief snapshot of some of the audio roles available in the games industry at the moment. If you widen the net to include other industries and the amount of audio production required to create voice assistants, IVR systems, in-flight entertainment, immersive experiences, animation projects, music libraries, audiobooks, live broadcasts, podcasts, feature films, short films etc. the opportunities are endless!
Considering there is so much work available and we have instant access to resources and people from all over the world, the excuses as to why we don’t work on what we’re most passionate about become less and less by the day. With that said, I understand it’s still difficult to break into those industries and those roles but it’s all about what you want to do long-term and what you’re most passionate about.
Just because you start out in something like audiobook creation doesn’t mean you’ll be doing that forever. But it can certainly help you pay the bills and refine your skills as you focus on those bigger goals.
As a perfect example, I’d like to point out that a very savvy member of the Understanding Audio community found their way onto working on a big games project with me by realising this and adding video games work to their growing music business.
The opportunities are always there
I’m very happy to say that I have more big announcements to come very soon about other longer term projects that I’ve been working on that will directly benefit you.
Now, I’d love to know…
Have you ever thought about working in other audio roles outside of your niche? If so, how has it worked out for you?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
I’ve started working on royalty free music with the aim of selling my songs on music libraries while building up my portfolio and improving as a mixer along the way. The long term goal is to compose music and themes for tv and film
Fantastic! That is a goal that lots of people want to achieve but the good news is that there is a path and you will be successful if you keep going.
Yeah, the first carreer I studied (just in part) was programming, I wanted to become a videogame developer . . . it went really badly. Then a friend told me about music mixing and I loved it, and tbh I would still like to work in a game team as the mixing/mastering engineer.
What are the average requirements for a mixing engineer to be accepted as a part of a dev team?
Very nice trailer, it`s a movie not a videogame!…
This post comes in while I´m still looking for a place to land when it comes to music / audio creation (and it`s turning into a very, very long term goal by now). Yes, someone already told me that I might find a place for my music in sync licencing. The thing is I`ll have to do some research to find out where / who to try and sell some stuff… :-/
Oh: about sound design, seems apealing although what I do like the most is to compose music / make songs with or without lyrics attached.
Greetings from Portugal! Paulo