Schedule
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The day will comprise of five sessions followed by a Q&A with all presenters at the end. There will be regular coffee and networking sessions throughout the day.
Welcome
10:00
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Welcome and introduction.
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A brief history of games music
10:15
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Barn will be providing us with some valuable perspective before we get into the nitty gritty of the day, with an essential overview of games music, how scores were produced in the beginning and how far things have come.
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Break
11:15
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'Shift2: Unleashed'
11:30
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Electronic Arts’ Shift 2 Unleashed (2011) has a unique hybrid cinematic score that renegotiates and re-imagines ten ‘chart-topping’ anthemic rock songs from bands in the US, Canada and the UK. As a composer, audio director and sound designer of the game, this talk (illustrated with video and music) will explore the underlying aesthetic objectives of the music and its compositional processes and the commercial tensions and realities inherent in the production of a AAA game franchise and their impact on creative musical interventions. .
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Lunch
13:00
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Mobile Games
13:30
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An overview of Nick's work in mobile games, focusing on The Nightjar, BAFTA nominated in 2012 for Audio Achievement and Papa Sangre, the first ever real-time 3D audio game implemented on a handheld device, created entirely in sound, for the iPhone platform.
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8 Tips for Mixing in Games
14.00
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- Working with composers & game producers
- Keeping organised
- Dynamic music pt1 - depth stems
- Dynamic music pt2 - music loops and getting more out of the music
- Making MIDI sound "more real"
- Mix buss compression and stems
- Mastering
- Sitting music in the game
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Break
14:45
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'James Bond 007: Bloodstone'
15:00
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Richard will be taking us through his process of creating music for a number of his award-winning scores focusing on the critically acclaimed score for James Bond 007: Bloodstone.
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Audience Questions
16:30
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Audience Q&A hosted by Nick Ryan.
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Networking & Drinks
17:00
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Drinks in the BFI Drawing Room
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Speakers
Andrew Barnabas
Andrew started working in the games industry in 1990 on the seminal Amiga shoot-em-up SWIV. He then started a games music label, DENS Design, with fellow European Amiga musicians from 1991-1995, working on numerous Amiga titles: Double Dragon III, Global Gladiators, Aladdin, Cool Spot, the PC titles Pinball Dreams II and Desert Strike, and the SNES title FIFA Soccer 96.
He then went in-house in 1995 to become Millennium Interactive's (later SCE Studio Cambridge) first in-house composer / sound designer. He worked on Defcon 5, Snowman, Father Christmas, Deadline, Silverload, MediEvil, Beast Wars, Transformers, Frogger, MediEvil II, C-12: Final Resistance, the first three This is Football games, Gran Turismo 2, Gran Turismo 3 and Speed Freaks.
He left in 2001 to form amusingly monickered "Bob & Barn" with fellow composing partner in crime Paul 'Bob' Arnold. In the past decade they've worked on games such as Primal, MediEvil: Resurrection, Kung Fu Chaos, Bionicle, Sega Rally and Neverwinter Nights. In 2011 they worked on worldwide #1 Brink – their biggest project to date, Forza 4 (with Richard Jacques), Kinect Disneyland Adventures, film trailer work for Warner Bros. and The Somnambulists feature film.
Richard Jacques
Richard Jacques is an award-winning composer for video games, film and television whose scoring credits include both critically acclaimed and blockbuster franchises such as James Bond 007: Blood Stone (Activision), Mass Effect (BioWare), Alice in Wonderland (Disney), Headhunter (Amuze/Sega) and Starship Troppers (Empire/Sony Pictures). He is internationally recognised as one of the A-list composers in interactive entertainment, described by PLAY Magazine (US) as "One of the truly distinctive music composers in the industry today."
Stephen Baysted
Stephen is Composer and Audio Director for UK game development studio Slightly Mad Studios Ltd. and over the past decade he has built up an enviable profile in the industry, having scored a string of award winning AAA games. He has received extensive critical acclaim for his ground-breaking work including on Electronic Arts' Need for Speed: Shift video game and the EA game Shift 2: Unleashed. He has written the music for over 30 cinema, television and radio advertisements, including notable campaigns for Budweiser, McDonalds and Pizza Hut and works with leading publishers and music libraries on sync projects.
Screened Music interviews Stephen…
Stephen's session on Shift 2 Unlimited we had a chance to interview him on how he got into the business, the challenges of technology, which composers he thinks are excelling and which tools he rates.
1. How did you get into the field and what have your recent projects been?
2. How does writing for games differ from film and TV and the challenges current technology places on creativity?
3. Which composers and scores do you rate at present? (hint: Jeremy Soule & Jason Graves).
4. What are the challenges involved in dealing with budgets, collaboration and the value of working with professional mixers and score mixers? (Steve McLaughlin, Jake Jackson).
5. Where should one focus budget for maximum effect?
6. Which products have impressed you recently? Heavyocity Damage, Spitfire Albion and 8Dio Piano.
Nick Ryan
Nick Ryan is an multi award winning sound designer, composer and audio media specialist widely recognised for his unique approach to sound and music. He has worked extensively with Film, Motion Graphics, TV Drama and Documentary, Interactive Media and Orchestral Ensemble as well as acting as a consultant on the future of sound and music to many organisations including The BBC and The UK Government.
Nick was on the judging panel in the Original Music category at this year's BAFTA GAMES awards and was nominated in the Audio Achievement category for his work on Night Jar with Paul Bennun and Daniel Jones. He was also involved in the first ever real-time 3D audio game implemented on a handheld device. Papa Sangre is a video game with no video - it’s a first-person thriller, created entirely in sound, for the iphone platform.
Richard Aitken
As production director at Nimrod Productions, a specialist facility for game specific audio production, Richard Aitken has worked on over 200 games including recent major titles 'The Secret World', 'Driver SF', 'Singstar Guitar' and 'Killzone3'. He will be sharing his '8 tips' for mixing in games as follows:
The Talent…
Paul Weir
Paul is a London based audio director, sound designer, composer and voice director and has worked on over forty games along with film, television, radio and installation production.
Through Earcom, Paul is the Audio Director, Composer and Sound Designer for Eidos Montreal's new Thief game. Unusually for a major AAA title, Paul is responsible for creating all of the audio content for the game, uniting sound design with music and ensuring that sound is fully represented within the overall design.
As a composer Paul works across a very large range of genres and his music can be heard on games, adverts, film, radio programmes and library music CDs. As a sound designer he specialise in original creative sound design adding a distinctive identity to sound design projects.
Paul has worked on all the major game platforms and many custom technologies and is currently assisting in the development of a standalone Linux based generative music box.
Previous projects include the games Lego Harry Potter, Lego Batman, Pure, Juiced 2, Ghost Master, Warrior Kings, Ghost Rider, Crime Life, Discworld Noir and many others. Paul is well versed in using Wwise and FMOD and often has custom tools built for his game projects. Other work includes The Adventures of Sexton Blake (BBC Radio 2), Warner Breaks TV campaign, Tiscali TV idents and the films Book of Blood, Stagknight and An American Haunting.
Paul has extensive experience with interactive and generative music systems in games and isn also the leading commercial generative soundscape composer having created in-store music for organisations such as BAA, Tesco and Intercontinental Hotels.
Paul lectures in game audio and has run everything from diploma course modules to full post-graduate courses. He has taught at the London College of Music and Media, Bath Spa University College, SAE, Ravensbourne College and the University of Montreal.
Michael Price
Michael Price is one of the UK’s most sought after composers. Michael has recently won a ROYAL TELEVISION AWARD and both BAFTA and EMMY nominations for the critically acclaimed BBC series SHERLOCK, which he scored with David Arnold, and a second series of the BAFTA winning drama aired on BBC1 in January 2012.
In a busy 2011, Michael scored kids’ comedy HORRID HENRY: THE MOVIE for Vertigo Films, which stars Anjelica Houston, Noel Fielding and Richard E. Grant, CHEERFUL WEATHER FOR THE WEDDING, directed by Donald Rice and starring Mackenzie Crook and Elizabeth McGovern, and Paul Wilkins’ thriller 7LIVES starring Danny Dyer and Martin Compston. Later in 2012 will also see the release of Crispian Mills’ directorial debut A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING, starring Simon Pegg, with a bold new score from Michael.
Last year, Michael completed the score for WILD TARGET, a romantic comedy directed by Jonathan Lynn of YES MINISTER fame with a stellar cast including Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Martin Freeman, Rupert Everett and Rupert Grint. This commission swiftly followed Michael’s fantastic score for WILD CHILD, Working Title’s successful teen film released in the UK at the beginning of 2009. In late 2008 Michael also wrote and recorded the score for prize-winning documentary THE MOUNTAIN WITHIN, following the emotional journey of a group of adults with disabilities climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.
In addition to composing for features like Zentropa’s DOMMEREN and Slingshot Studios’ SUGARHOUSE Michael has scored 2 documentaries for famous producer and director ALFONSO CUARON; THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, NAOMI KLEIN’S brilliant and terrifying film on disaster capitalism and THE POSSIBILITY OF HOPE, a look at different matters of the world such as immigration, global warming and capitalism through the eyes of scientists and philosophers. Michael met Alfonso Cuaron when scoring additional music for the Academy Award winning feature CHILDREN OF MEN and worked closely with him as music editor for this dystopian science fiction film.
Michael has also forged a strong working relationship with fellow composer DAVID ARNOLD with whom he has written and arranged on a number of projects, including Edgar Wright’s HOT FUZZ, CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE.
Michael’s first film experience was as musical assistant, co-producer and arranger to the late MICHAEL KAMEN, which whom he collaborated for 5 years, including projects like X-MEN, BAND OF BROTHERS, IRON GIANT and METALLICA - S&M, and concerts around the world.
Prior to achieving acclaim as a composer himself, Michael also enjoyed significant achievements as a music editor with films like Peter Jackson’s trilogy THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Richard Curtis’ LOVE ACTUALLY, BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON and NANNY MCPHEE. As a music editor, Michael has been nominated for 4 MPSE GOLDEN REEL AWARDS, winning in 2001 for THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.
Christian Henson
Christian is one of the UK’s most talented and sought after score composers whose vitality and creative approach is very much at the vanguard of the next generation of score composers taking over this industry.
He has just completed scoring the much anticipated The Devil’s Double starring Dominic Cooper. Directed by Lee Tamahori, it tells the story of life inside the court of Saddam Hussein, centering on the relationship between his son Uday and his body double. This is due for worldwide release early in 2011 and has been entered for competition, both at Sundance, and the Berlin Film Festivals.
Further recent highlights of Christian’s career include two films with director Christopher Smith; Triangle, featuring the vocals of Dot Allison and the critically acclaimed Black Death, (which earned him a Best Original Score award at Screamfest LA), as well as the French blockbuster La Rafle, starring Jean Reno and Melanie Laurent, and a collaboration with Oscar winner, Dario Marianelli for Working Title’s Hippie Hippie Shake. Christian has also scored the globally recognised Agatha Christie’s – Poirot. He delivered an incredibly enticing score for 4 feature length specials, including Murder On The Orient Express.
Since his debuts with Les Fils Du Vent & Chasing Liberty (which earned him a “Discovery Of The Year” nomination at the World Soundtrack Awards), Christian has used his broad experience both in orchestral and electronic disciplines to write an eclectic mixture of scores, including the children’s blockbuster fantasy, The Secret Of Moonacre (featuring Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan) and Chris Smith’s cult horror hit Severance, (which earned him an Ivor Novello nomination for “Best Original Movie Score” in 2007).
Christian first became immersed in the world of film composition early in his career through his highly acclaimed work within the UK Drum & Bass, Breakbeat and Pop scene; working with the likes of LTJ Bukem, The Freestylers, Scott Walker & Roy Ayers. Through writing for over 50 hit and cult TV series, combined with programming and assisting for a number of film composers including, Anne Dudley, Harry & Rupert Gregson Williams, Dario Marianelli and Patrick Doyle, Christian began forging what is now proving to be one of the most successful film and TV scoring careers in the UK.
By Christopher Gutch, Cool Music August 2011
Nick Ryan
Nick Ryan is an award-winning composer, sound designer and audio-media specialist. Nick's unique approach to music and sound and his core interest in using sound and music to describe visual 'form' has resulted in his collaboration with diverse disciplines of film drama and documentary, motion graphics, animation and interactive media, orchestral ensemble and radio.
Projects include Film Four short 'Spin', UK feature 'Rabbit Fever' Louis Theroux's 'Law and Disorder' series, the generic soundtrack for Sony PS2, Odeon Cinema titles, MTV's 'M2' channel idents, MTV News Titles and World Aids Day identity. Nick worked for three years with 'BBC Imagineering' as an Audio Media Research Consultant where he was responsible for the conception of creative future applications for sound in broadcasting.
Projects include Film Four short 'Spin', UK feature 'Rabbit Fever' Louis Theroux's 'Law and Disorder' series, the generic soundtrack for Sony PS2, Odeon Cinema titles, MTV's 'M2' channel idents, MTV News Titles and World Aids Day identity.
In 2004 he received a British Academy Award for 'The Dark House', a groundbreaking interactive radio drama that he devised and mixed live on BBC Radio 4 in September 2003. During this time he co-authored two Government reports 'The Future of Music' and 'The Future of Radio' which predicted future global trends in the creation, distribution and consumption of music and radio.
In 2007 Nick released 'Cortical Songs' - a four-part 'symphony' for twenty-four piece string orchestra based on theoretical models developed in 1950s, which describe the rhythmic 'firing' of groups of neurons in the cortex of the brain. The album features remixes by Thom Yorke, Simon Tong, Gabriel Prokofiev and others.
In 2008 Nick won the prestigious $100,000 'PRS Foundation New Music Award' for the 'Fragmented Orchestra' project - a giant sound installation that captured fragments of sound from 24 locations across the UK and transmitted them to the FACT Gallery in Liverpool.
In September 2009 Nick received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Plymouth University.