Forging New Territory: Audio Design Education, Non-Traditional Disciplines, & Diversity. Guest Contribution By Chanel Summers As a woman who has built her own career on a platform of game audio, game design and game production, I am passionate about programs that teach and empower women to follow a similar path.
As there are such few women in the field of video game audio, fewer are even aware of the opportunities. I have been on a mission to try and change that – trying to introduce this field as a career option to young women and show that women can lead in this field and be highly successful — and perhaps even change the complexion of the video game industry. The reason this is so important is that for an industry or a creative medium to achieve its full potential, it must draw strength from diversity — a diversity of backgrounds, cultures, perspectives, and experiences.
Each person approaching opportunity from a different starting point keeps things fresh, vibrant, exciting and new. Building the Foundation Reality TV: A Fertile Source of In-Class Labs. Video game audio design not just for guys - Phoenix Video Game Industry. Young women with the desire to explore video game audio design may be interested in a summer program taught by Chanel Summers.
The class promises to be an experience of unique instruction that is anything but the typical summer workshop model. Summers has recently begun her second annual summer program aimed at exposing young women to the career opportunities offered by game audio design. Located in Bellevue, Washington at the Forest Ridge School of Sacred Heart we recently had the opportunity to ask Summers about her experiences within the video game industry and discover more about the four week long workshop. Jesse Tannous: Why is it important to you to get women interested in audio design? “High Score! Tips & Techniques for Writing Game Music” with Chanel Summers. For songwriters and composers, video games is the ‘new frontier!’
It’s a wide open field, with hundreds of video games being published every day, and many of them looking for music. However, in order to get your music into games, there are some very specific rules that you need to know about. That’s what you will learn in this video by gaming industry veteran, Chanel Summers. About Chanel: Chanel began her career as a pioneering female game designer and producer at industry leading companies ranging from Mindscape and Velocity (makers of the very first networked video game, Spectre VR), to Mattel Media, and Microsoft where Chanel oversaw the release of that company’s first multiplayer Internet game, Fighter Ace. While at Microsoft, Chanel was tapped to become the company’s first Audio Technical Evangelist, in which she was responsible for launching innovative audio technologies such as DirectMusic and also dramatically increasing the use of Windows as a platform for audio creation.
High Score! Tips and Techniques for Writing Game Music. Video Game Sound Design - An Interview With Chanel Summers. From being part of the team that developed the Xbox to lecturing around the world on video game sound design, Chanel Summers is at the vanguard of pushing interactive audio and game sound as an art-form.
Andy Price asks her more about the complexities and potential of this ever-expanding medium. Can you tell us how you got started in the world of audio production? Well first of all, prior to starting my audio production company Syndicate 17, I spent half of my professional career in the video game industry. I started off as a designer and producer, working on everything from 3D vehicle simulations, to platform games, to hardware peripherals while working at companies such as Mindscape, Velocity and Mattel Media. Then I was recruited by Microsoft when they were just starting to push into video games. The latest incarnation of Microsoft’s hugely succesful Xbox – originally conceived by Chanel and her team. Can you tell us more about the work you do at Syndicate 17? Video Game Sound Design - An Interview With Chanel Summers. Xbox Audio Interview.
Chanel Summers is one of the core members of the Xbox Advanced Technology Group, and in Voltron terms, functions as the left leg, the audiophile that makes sure that what you play next year will sound as incredible as it looks.
She's the Audio Manager for the Xbox, as well as an Evangelist for Direct Music, and it's up to her to give developers the tools and the know how to create some of the most dynamic and interactive soundscapes that gaming has ever heard. And that's just the beginning. We talked with Summers about her background within Microsoft, and why music programming is the future of video games. IGN Xbox: What's your background, music-wise? Chanel Summers interview. Official website School of Cinematic Arts Interactive media Video interview with Chanel @ huffingtonpost.com I am a sound designer, lecturer, and the co-founder of Syndicate 17, an audio production house based in Seattle and Los Angeles. My company specializes in writing and producing original scores and cues and creating sound effects for all forms of media, ranging from advertising and film/television projects, to video games, interactive music projects and websites, and even songwriting for a number of well-known recording artists.
I speak frequently around the world on the importance of creativity in the art of sound design, particularly sound design for video games, and have recently been asked to create a brand new course in the aesthetics of video game audio for the University of Southern California’s Interactive Media Division of the School of Cinematic Arts, which I will be teaching this spring 2013. I am definitely a night person: I’m most creative from 2pm-6am.