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Audio
Cairn: Moving Sound - Martin Stig Andersen in Conversation with Rob Bridgett
Acclaimed audio director and creative sound designer Martin Stig Andersen discusses his compelling and inspirational audio work with friend and fellow game audio guru, Rob Bridgett. Since his first foray into games, Andersen has continued to make his personal mark on the landscape of story-telling interactive sound and music. His innovative work on Limbo and Inside, among several other noted titles, has long since earned him a place in the game audio hall of fame. Be inspired by his unique approach in exploring the ‘why’ of sound, and its subconscious power to convey and communicate meaning in one of his latest works, Cairn.
Session Takeaway
- Why making the sound of Cairn beautiful, almost like an album, was as important, if not more important than it being ‘correct’.
- How the up-close ‘micro’ sound in front of you works in contrast with the expansive soundscape around you.
- Innovation in a unique approach to Atmos mixing.
- Developing breathing and foley as a language and syntax to communicate vital player feedback and meaning through sound.
Learnings from 30 Years in Game Audio
Having spoken at the inaugural Develop Conference audio track 20 years ago, we’re delighted to welcome Nick Laviers back from LA to his native land to share from his deep knowledge and rich experience. It has, in fact, been thirty years (and counting) during which Laviers has successfully worked at the forefront of videogame development, responsible for award-winning ear candy on dozens of major titles and series, including Harry Potter, Command and Conquer and Star Wars: Jedi.
In a revealing and inspiring talk, he’ll discuss key learnings wrought from navigating the joys and vicissitudes of a constantly changing industry and ever evolving technology, a global pandemic and now a potential AI revolution. Find out what you might learn for your career from his three decades at the coalface of AAA game music, sound, dialogue and audio tech.
Session Takeaway
- Reflections on what might lead to career longevity working on multiple AAA games.
- Thoughts on what provides the best conditions and platform for games audio production, drawing from 30 years of professional experience.
- An industry veteran's perspective on AI in the audio domain and where things might be headed.
Visual Approaches to Creative Sound Design
The way we talk about sound is holding back the way we design it. In game audio we too-often rely on a narrow set of descriptors: bright, dark, warm, gritty. We also tend to default to technical processes — more compression, less reverb, more distortion — or literal source references — more metallic, more watery, more engine. While useful, these ways of talking about sound can flatten creative intent, restrict exploration, and make it harder to communicate nuanced ideas. To design more expressive, evocative audio, we need better creative language - and one of the richest sources of inspiration comes from the visual arts.
In this session, Ashton Mills draws from his experience as a sound designer and creative leader in game audio, exploring how visual thinking can augment our approaches to sound design. Ashton demonstrates how concepts like line, shape, texture, contrast, and movement can be translated into sound, offering different ways to imagine, design, and communicate audio ideas.
The talk explores how soft and hard lines map to envelope design, how visual texture differs from timbre in shaping sonic identity, and how art movements such as impressionism, expressionism, and realism can inform creative intent and stylistic choices in game audio. Through practical examples from RuneScape:Dragonwilds and sound design DAW sessions, Ashton will bridge the gap between the philosophical and the concrete; offering attendees techniques they can apply to their own work.
Session Takeaway
- Unlock new imaginative approaches to sound design.
- Discover untapped sources of inspiration for creative work.
- Improve collaboration between sound and other disciplines.
- Give better creative feedback and have new ways to respond to feedback.
