The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, and Game Developers [Paperback]

Aaron Marks (Author)

Book Description

Series: Gama Network Series | Publication Date: October 2001

This comprehensive guide gives readers with basic music compositional skills the information they need to become commercially viable artisans. In addition to providing a foundation of prerequisite technical skills, including basic audio considerations and sound file formats, the book teaches the business skills needed to work successfully as an audio technician in the game development business. How-to features take the reader step-by-step, from purchasing the right equipment, understanding the various game platforms, and composing music and creating sound effects specifically for games, to the ins and outs of marketing, producing demo reels, determining fees, bidding projects, and negotiating contracts.

Turn your musical passion into a career with this valuable guide to the business and technical skills you need to succeed in the multi-billion dollary game industry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Aaron Marks' experience and insight into the inner workings of the game audio world make this book an invaluable resource." -- Greg O'Conner Read, founder and editor, Music4Games

"Aaron is truly a game audio expert and a great teacher." -- Jack Buser, computer and game initiative engineer, Dolby Laboratories

"An exhaustive and indispensable resource for game audio from initial concept to cashing the royalty checks." -- Jennifer Olsen, senior editor, Game Developer magazine

"I'm in awe at the amount and caliber of the content! Bravo!" -- - Dave Miner, Canada

"Somebody gag this guy! He's giving away all our secrets!" -- Chance Thomas, game composer and president, HUGEsound

"You've written a great book that has completely shown me the light. -- - Jonathan Brickley

I actually had tears in my eyes a couple of times, I think this book is what I needed." -- - Adam DiTroia

About the Author

Music had always been a part of Aaron Marks' life. But it wasn't until 1995, when his overgrown hobby became On Your Mark Music Productions, that he began selling it to the world. He started with the local radio and television scene, composing jingles and scoring public service announcements. With his sights set firmly on Hollywood, he bumped into the games industry. Ever since that fated redirect, he has been cranking out music and sound effects for games. His credits include a PlayStation 2 game, five CD-ROM game projects, 56 on-line casino games, a dozen touch-screen arcade games, and numerous multimedia projects. As an occasional diversion, Aaron sidelines as a writer for Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra.com, and Music4Games.net.

Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578200830
• ISBN-13: 978-1578200832
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #517,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Best known as the author of The Complete Guide to Game Audio, Aaron Marks is not only an outspoken advocate of great audio in games, he is also an accomplished composer, sound designer, field recordist, voice over artist and owner of On Your Mark Music Productions based near San Diego, California. In addition, he is the lead author of the book, Game Audio Development, and is part of the audio production faculty at The Art Institute of California - San Diego. Some of his game credits include Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Tom Clancy's ENDWAR, The Settlers II - 10th Anniversary, The Settlers Traditions Edition, bittosHD and numerous video slot machines around the country. He divides his time between his love for all things audio, his family and their menagerie of farm animals.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Caught off Guard Again, December 3, 2001

By 

A. Scudiero (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, and Game Developers (Paperback)

I bought this book on recommendation of a friend in the video game industry. Be away of what this book is and what it isn't. This is not a book on how to write audio for video games. This is an introductory book to audio and its role in the video game industry, and how to get into the industry. This book contains no technical information, as one might hope, about computer audio technologies such as Direct music or any others. If you already know how digital audio, MIDI, and mixers work then most of this book will bore you to tears.
I have no doubt that, if you are looking for the information which is in this book it is good. The presentation is longwinded and very centered around the author rather than the topic itself it seems. At times, the book seems to lose all relevance to the audio industry. The interview with established video game artists are interesting, however I didn't find in them anything that I hadn't learned by playing around for a hours with recording techniques.
In conclusion, there are better books on the market in all regards except for the video game audio industry notes. For that I have found no better source, however it is wrapped in information which I already know, and that I found nearly impossible to sit through.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Especially for neophyte musicians looking to make their mark, January 6, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, and Game Developers (Paperback)

The Complete Guide To Game Audio by digital audio expert and music composer Aaron Marks is a solid resource for all composers, musicians, sound designers, and game developers which covers everything from the essential skills for making a living in the exciting world of video and computer game audio, to searching for and landing a job in the field, to how much to charge, as well as a wealth of tips, tricks, and techniques for creating exciting and suitable music. An accompanying CD-ROM contains music and sound effect samples, demo versions of sound editing programs, interviews with composers and sound designers, and much, much more. The Complete Guide To Game Audio is confidently recommended, especially for neophyte musicians looking to make their mark in a growing and popular field.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book, July 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, and Game Developers (Paperback)

This is a terrific book for all-around beginners, but if you are an advanced composer that's just lacking game industry experience-- this book is equally as valuable. I did skip past pages here-and-there, because I already knew about a particular subject-- but I still use this book to help me through a certain business procedure or to look up a sample entertainment contract. This was definitely worth the money.