Un-Asked-For Advice for The Aspiring Audio Guy

Author: by George Alistair Sanger

This isn't an article as much as it is, in convenient list form , a sample of mistakes you're likely to make in the beginning, middle, and end, er, I mean, The Advanced Level, of your career

You didn't ask me to post this to the web, the publishers did. Sadly, you must now read it. I weep for you. And I hope, Dear Reader, you will weep for me as well, having to write for those who might not want to read my advice. Ah, me. And I, I, who was once the Greatest of Them All. You know, they always consider audio as a lowest priority. Always have. It's all too tragic to think about. Poor you. Poor me. How very, very sad. I must remember this tragedy forever.

Or should I just get over it?

I think that as a developer, content provider, or even player, you'll find that audio for games is largely a matter of getting over things.

I like that. Begin Article.

A lot of "expert" authors such as myself might get up on a soap box. They might draw a line in the sand and challenge the reader to cross it. Come out fighting. It's a Jungle Out There. I, on the other hand, think it might be more helpful to think of it as a desert…full of mirages and the like. As we travel through this desert, we might see what appear to be lines. And the challenge I'd offer you when you see one is this: I'll erase the line in the sand, you Get Over It.

Let's look at a sampling of the kind of mirages I'm talking about. Here are some mistakes that you might find yourself making at the various levels of your career. Some will require more independent study on your own. Others you only need to hear once to be healed of all ills. I would advise, requested or not, that before you even think about moving deeper into Game Audio, you spend some time learning to recognize and then eventually enjoy the absurdity of the sentiments represented by the phrases that follow.

Now, I certainly have to admit that one or even all of the purported falsehoods that follow might at some times be quite true. Truehoods. But, but assuming that any one of them is true before proven so can only bring misery to you and me, ass. I think that's the expression.

Beginning Mistakes

Intermediate Mistakes

Advanced Mistakes

And, Finally, the Dreaded

Boy, the Fat Man sure knows a lot about game audio! I bet his advice can help me!!!