Mixing It Up The Last Great Challenge For Game Audio Garry Taylor Audio Manager – WWS Creative Services Group Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Introduction What Is Mixing? Getting The Tools Monitoring & Standards Case Studies Overview

Lots of money is spent on recording/acquiring audio assets Implementation of the assets is just as important In the past, mixing has not been given enough attention Introduction

The technical answer: Achieving clarity The artistic answer: Focusing and manipulating the player What Is Mixing?

Active Mixing – Triggering changes in the mix through in-game events Passive Mixing – Routing and the configuration of dynamics processors and how they interact with each other What Is Mixing?

Prioritization of Sound Effects Effective Sub-Grouping Mixer Snapshots Dynamics processors Getting The Tools

Getting The Tools - Sound Effects Prioritisation Audio engine may have limited number of channels available Potentially 100’s of sounds playing at once Important sounds should be played, unimportant sounds should not.

Getting The Tools – Effective Subgrouping Similar sounds should be grouped for easy manipulation Each group should be pre-mixed, allowing the final mix to be simplified Allows dynamics processing on whole groups

Getting The Tools – Mixer Snapshots Gives you the ability to load and save snapshots of all mixer settings Different snapshots are recalled via triggers from the game Ideally, you should be able to make mix changes in real-time, without restarting the game.

Getting The Tools – Dynamics Processing Dynamics processing is about control Compressors and limiters work best at the group level Used correctly, they will help you to maintain clarity

Routing Example

Ideally, you should mix your game in a critical listening environment If you don’t have a suitable room, hire one! Consumer surround systems are very variable. Monitoring

No definitive audio standards exist for video games Most platform holders are moving towards a standard of -20dB RMS for dialogue Reference level for monitoring, roughly 79dB. Standards

Case Studies

Case Study 12 Vehicles 12 Surfaces Mix states for each type of event (i.e. Heavy Collision) Configurable transition times between states

Case Study Maximum of 192 Voices Maximum of 31 Subgroups 3 main mix groups: Music/Dialogue/SFX Mixer zones specified within Maya correspond to mixer snapshots Cutscenes have their own mixer snapshots

Summary A good mix is extremely important Mixing = clarity and focus Invest in the right tools Monitor in an accurate environment

Thank you Garry Taylor