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BEEP: A Documentary of Video Game Sound [Kickstarter / DVD / Book]

A

Aku-Audi

Member
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Video games have come a long way from the days of the beep: full orchestras, surround sound, interactive music and large teams of people collaborating to bring you an amazing experience. Help us to document and share the historical changes in video game sound from the beep through to today.

Relive the moments of your childhood, and hear the stories behind the songs and sounds of your favourite games from the people who created them.

Help us to give the composers and sound designers throughout game history a chance to tell their own stories, to share the truly amazing things that they achieved.

I've devoted over a decade of my life to documenting and sharing information about video game sound. I've published four books about game sound. I've played thousands of games and obsessed over the tiniest details in the technology. Now, I'd like to go out and "hand over the mic" to those people who worked on the games, and give them an opportunity to speak, to tell you in their own words about what they did and why. And to give you a glimpse of the fascinating stories I've heard that lurk behind your favourite games. It's time we gave these men and women the credit they deserve.

We're going to be covering:

  • Interviews with as many great people as we can get to on 3 continents
  • A complete history of the game sound from the Victorian mechanical arcades, pinball, and the arcades through to today's orchestral performances and full surround soundtracks.
  • The psychology of game sound
  • Behind the scenes making-of footage for sound effects, voice and music
  • Chiptunes and current uses of game sound technology outside games
  • The tools and techniques used to compose the music and sound

Much of what doesn't make it into the film will be shared with our backers on our website, so if you have a favorite composer, you can watch the whole interview!

I've got an amazing team of friends who have worked on games, films, TV and music who are going to help me get this documentary together. We've done all the background research and lined up many of the interviews. Now, we just need your help to make it happen!
Click to expand...

Team members:

  • Director Karen Collins (Author of Game Sound)
  • Composer Leonard J. Paul ( Retro City Rampage, NFS: HP2)
  • Director of photography Matt Charlton, who has done filming for news, sports, music and promo work from underwater to mountain tops.
  • voice actor Michael "skitch" Schiciano
  • research assistant Ruth Dockwray
  • Archivist and Librarians Lee Ann Fullington and Rebecca Hernandez-Gerber
  • Japanese interpreter and researcher Alwyn Spies
  • graphic designer and illustrators Scott Arnold and Sarah Dockwray
Click to expand...


Interviews announced:

WEEK 1
  • Tommy Tallarico (Video Games Live, Advent Rising, Earthworm Jim)
  • Steve Horowitz (co-founder of the Game Audio Institute, composer for "Super Size Me" along with music for Sega, Sony and Crystal Dynamics, and loads of Nickelodeon games! Co-Author of the Essential Guide to Game Audio)
  • George "The Fat Man" Sanger (Wing Commander, 7th Guest, Zombies Ate My neighbours, Loom, and author of Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness)
  • Brad Fuller (Donkey Kong (1981), Millipede (1982), Marble Madness (1984), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985), Tengen Tetris (1988), Klax (1990), RBI Baseball 2, 3 & 4.
  • David Thiel (countless pinball games, Winter Games, and the creator of Q*bert's voice!)
  • Winifred Phillips (Assassin's Creed Liberation, God of War, Little Big Planet 2, and author of A Composer's Guide to Game Music)
  • Shoto Nakama (artistic director of Video Game Orchestra)
  • Keith Zizza (Lord of the Realm 2, SimCity Societies, Caesar IV)
  • Brian Schmidt (loads of pinball games, NARC, NBA Live 97, creator of GameSoundCon and winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Audio Network Guild)

WEEK 2:
  • Tenpei Sato (RPG Rhapsody, Valis, the Disgaea series and many other RPGs!)
  • Hisayoshi Ogura (Taito sound director behind The Legend of Kage, Ninja Warriors, the Darius series and the in-house band Zuntata)
  • Shinji Hosoe (Namco sound director who brought techno to gamers with Ridge Racer, Galaxian: Project Drago, Tekken, Rave Racer, Bushido Blade, Street Fighter EX2,3)
  • David Warhol (Loom, Bard's Tale 1 & 2, Neuromancer, Maniac Mansion, Skate or Die, Zak McKracken)
  • Allister Brimble (Mortal Kombat, Alien Breed, Terminator 2, Dizzy series)
  • Chris Huelsbeck (Turrican series, Great Giana Sisters, R-Type)
  • Emily Ridgway (lead sound designer at Double Fine, Bioshock, Destory All Humans, Brutal Legend)
  • Peter Connelly (Sound director for Watch Dogs/The Crew and composer of 3 Tomb Raider titles)
  • Frederic Motte (demoscene legend and composer for many games, including Gobliins, Pac in Time, Fifth Element)
  • Anders Carlsson (chiptune composer goto80)
  • Raheem Jarbo AKA Mega Ran (chiptune composer)
  • Charles Deenen (One of the Maniacs of Noise: AfterBurner, Golden Axe, Lemmings, Lord of the Rings)
  • Alexander Brandon (Deus Ex, Unreal, Neverwinter Nights 2, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [VO], Thief: Deadly Shadows, Dust: An Elysian Tail )
  • Clint Bajakian (Monkey Island 2, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle, Unreal 2, Star Wars Ep 1, Sam and Max Hit the Road)
  • Peter McConnell (Psychonauts, The Bard's Tale, Grim Fandango, The Dig, Plants Vs Zombies 2, many Star Wars games)

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$16,336 pledged of $40,000 goal as of 24th August, 37 days to go.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/veemix/beep-a-documentary-history-of-video-game-sound
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
Sounds really good. I will definitely back this and am looking forward to the next list of composers who will be interviewed!
 
A

Aku-Audi

Member
An update

DVD Bonus: Tribute to Ryu Umemoto: Ryu Umemoto was a pioneer and visionary in the field of game music. A self-taught musician, he became a legend in the game industry by changing the perception and expectations of what game music could offer. Through his work on games such as Eve Burst Error, YU-NO and Desire, Umemoto built a foundation of visual novel software that influenced a generation of game composers. In 2011, he passed away from sudden illness. He left behind a legacy of innovation, impact, and a heartfelt wish for his music to reach far and wide for many years to come. We'll be interviewing his friend Audun Sorlie who will share with us Ryu's story.
Click to expand...

So it's official that I will be appearing on this documentary on behalf of Ryu Umemoto and his family. Expect lots of unseen and unheard material.
 
C

ChuckNyce

Member
Sounds interesting. If they ever get a chance to make a sequel I nominate they call it "boop"....I'll see myself out.
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
They revealed the 3rd round of interviews

Week 3 revealed!


  • Adele Cutting (Dungeon Keeper 2, Theme Park World, F1, the Harry Potter franchise and Sim City).
  • Koichi Namiki (member of Sega Sound Team (SST) Band; After Burner, OutRun, Thunder Blade, Daytona USA, Galaxy Force)
  • Yoshino Aoki (Mega Man series, Breath of Fire series, Shadow of Rome)
  • Yuji Takenouchi (Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Metal Gear 2 MSX, Monster Hunter Nikki Poka-Poka Airou Mura, D4)
  • Tetsuya Shibata (Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil series, Super Smash Bros)
  • Mike Clarke and Tim Wright (many Psygnosis games: Lemmings, Shadow of the Beast, Wipeout)
  • Tom Rettig (Broderbund: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, prince of Persia series, Myst)
  • Guy Whitmore (Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza, No One Lives Forever, Peggle 2, F.E.A.R)
  • Takayuki Nakamura (Virtual Fighter series, Lumines series, Dick Tracy, Meteos, Kengo series)
  • Stephan Schutze (Sound Librarian; Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, Nicktoons 2, Star Trek mobile series, Need for Speed Underground GBA)
  • Kenny Young (Media Molecule: Little Big Planet series, Tearaway)
  • Keiki Kobayashi (Ace Combat series, Soul Calibur series. Super Smash Bros 3DS)
Click to expand...
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
4th round of interviews revealed including David Wise, Yasunori Mitsuda (hell yeah!) and Noriyuki Iwadare!

Week 4 revealed!

  • Marty O'Donnell (Halo, Myth, Destiny)
  • David Wise (Donkey Kong Country series, Wizards & Warriors, Star Fox: Adventures, Battletoads)
  • Jack Wall (Myst, Splinter Cell, Mass Effect, Call of Duty)
  • Yuu Miyake (三宅 優) (Namco: Katamari series, Ridge Racer, Tekken)
  • Noriyuki Iwadare (岩垂徳行) (pioneer of CD audio: Lunar series, Wing Commander CD, SimEarth CD, Megam Man X7, Ace Attorney, Kid Icarus Uprising)
  • Yasunori Mitsuda (光田 康典) (Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Mario Party, Soul Sacrifice series)
  • Scott Gershin (in addition to many Hollywood films, Last of Us, Forza 5, Resident Evil 6, Skylanders, Crysis, Call of Duty:Black Ops 2)
  • Neil Baldwin (Jungle Book, Lethal Weapon 3, James Bond Jr. Hero Quest)
  • Kai Rosenkranz (Risen, Gothic series)
Click to expand...

Project stands at 32k$ at the moment and only 8k are missing until the project is fully backed. They also announced their first stretch goals

$45,000 If we can achieve $45K, we will put extra funds into professionally managed multi-language support, including Japanese, French, German and Spanish. 日本語字幕!

$50,000 We have a number of interviewees who live a little bit farther out and will extend our trip by a number of days. We'd really like to get to these people and document their stories, but extra days for the crew can really add to our cost. At $50K, we can extend our Japan trip and get more Japanese interviews!

$55,000 Additional licensing: Copyright prevents us from using songs in our film or selling them as part of a soundtrack without paying the rights holders. It can take a lot of time to determine who owns the rights, and a lot of money to obtain the rights. With additional funding, we can license more songs, and we'll make every effort to get these onto our soundtrack for you!
Click to expand...
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
They reached their first stretch goal which will mean that they will dub the movie in French, German, Spanish and Japanese as well. They also announced the next round of interviews! :)

  • Martin Galway (Arkanoid, Comic Bakery, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Wizball, Times of Lore, Wing Commander 2 & 4, Ultima VII, Ultima Underworld)
  • Neil Baldwin (Mortal Kombat 4, 007: The World is Not Enough, James Bond Jr., Jungle Book, Brutal: Paws of Fury, Hero Quest)
  • Damian Kastbauer (Sam and Max series, Peggle 2, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventure, Conan, Uncharted 3, Star Wars: Force Unleashed)
  • Hideki Sakamoto (坂本 英城) (Echochrome, Yakuza, Castlevania Judgment, No Heroes Allowed!, Toukiden)
  • Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, Golden Eye 007)
  • Chance Thomas (Lord of the Rings Online, Avatar: The Game, Dungeons and Dragons Online, X-Men)
  • Motoaki Furukawa (矩形波倶楽部) (Founder of Kukeiha Club, Gradius series, Policenauts, Super Contra, A-Jax, Castlevania 64, GuitarFreaks)
  • Graeme Norgate (Goldeneye 007, Killer Instinct, Jet Force Gemini, TimeSplitters series, Crysis series)
  • Manabu Namiki (並木 学) (Battle Garegga, DoDonPachi, DeathSmiles, Bleach: Heat the Soul, Metal Slug 6, Castlevania ReBirth)
  • Hitoshi Sakamoto (崎元 仁) (Final Fantasy XII, Valkyria Chronicles, Vagrant Story, Gradius V, Muramasa: The Demon Blade)
  • Hiroki Kikuta (菊田 裕樹) (Mana series, Shining series, SoulCalibur V, Koudelka, Atelier Escha & Logy)
  • Gordon Durity (SSX Tricky, Def Jam series, FIFA series, Madden NFL series) Samuel Justice (SOMA, Battlefield 4, Dear Esther)
  • ESTi and Nauts (pioneers of the fast-emerging Korean game music scene, behind titles such as Granado Espada, DJMax, and TalesWeaver)
  • James Hannigan (Harry Potter, Dead Space, Command & Conquer, Runescape 3)
  • John Broomhall (Heavenly Sword, Frogger 2, Sid Meier's Civilization, Grand Prix series)
Click to expand...
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
And they released a new list of interviews, this time including Nobuo Uematsu and Jeremy Souls!!

  • Nobuo Uematsu ((植松 伸夫 Final Fantasy series, Chrono Trigger, Super Smash Bros Brawl)
  • Hideaki Kobayashi (小林秀聡, Sega composer: Phantasy Star series, multiple Sonic titles and NiGHTS: Journey into Dreams)
  • Jeremy Soule (Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, NEverwinter Nights, Harry Potter, Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate, Guild Wars series, Unreal II)
  • Jeroen Tel (founding member of Maniacs of Noise: Cybernoid, Lemmings C64 Stormlord, OutRun 2, Golden Axe Hot Rod, Viz, Rubicon)
  • Jesper Kyd (Assassin’s Creed series, Hitman series, Borderlands series, Darksiders II )
  • Richard Jacques (Sonic the Hedgehog series, Shinobi X, LittleBigPlanet,)
  • Lance Hayes (Forza 5, Gears of War 3, XboxFitness )
  • Tom Salta (Ghost Recon series, Halo 1 & 2 Anniversary, Need for Speed series, Red Steel)
  • Penka Kouneva (Gears of War 3, Prince of Persia, World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Dragon Age II )
  • Jonne Valtonen (Demoscener (as Purple Motion), concert arranger (e.g. Symphonic Shades/Fantasies/Legends), composer (Death Rally, Wonderland))
  • Thomas Boecker Concert producer, album producer, and recording coordinator (e.g. Dragon's Dogma, Wangan Midnight, STALKER, Gundam games)
  • Jory Prum (Sam and Max series, Walking Dead series, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers: 20th Anniversary Edition, Monkey Island episodics)
  • Peter “pdx” Drescher (Walking Dead, countless games for the T-Mobile Sidekick, audio engineer at Kixeye )
  • Levon Lewis (Crackdown, Transformers, Golden Compass, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood)
  • Rich Heimlich (author of the official series of books on SoundBlaster, and a leading expert on sound cards )
  • Alex Wilmer (Tomb Raider, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light)
  • Wilbert Roget II (OverClocked ReMix, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Dead Island 2)
  • Alberto Gonzalez (Altered Beast, Ghostbusters 2, Tintin, Smurfs, Turok, Asterix)
  • Philippe Vachey (Alone in the Dark, Little Big Adventures, Call of Cthulhu: Sahdow of the Comet)
  • Rudy Helm (Quest for Glory 3, developed the GM patch for King's Quest 6, Carmen Sandiego)
  • Jeff Van Dyke (Total War, Need for Speed series, NHL Hockey and FIFA soccer series)
  • Devon Worrell (audio architect at Intel. Currently mobile audio architect)
  • Arnie Roth (principal conductor and music director of Play! A video Game Symphony and several Final Fantasy concerts, including Distant Worlds)
  • Phil Burk (creator of the 3DO Audio system)
  • Josh Randall (AKA Robotkid: former creative director at Harmonix)
Click to expand...

They also announced new stretch goals

$50K Extra Japanese interviews: We have a number of interviewees who live a little bit farther out and will extend our trip by several days. At $50K, we can extend our Japan trip and get more Japanese interviews!

New! $53K DVD extra on game music "on record". Over the years, thousands of original scores and arranged albums dedicated to game music have been released. We'll interview top record producers, visit album stores in Japan, and meeting prolific album collectors, including Neil Rodgers, who established the label that published the Halo soundtracks, Shinji Hosoe, who has published over 200 albums over the years.

$55K Soundtrack music licensing: Copyright prevents us from selling songs as part of our soundtrack without paying the rights holders. It can take a lot of time to determine who owns the rights, and a lot of money to obtain those rights. With additional funding, we can license songs, and get these onto our soundtrack for you!

New! $58K DVD extra on game music in concert. We will go behind-the-scenes at various symphonic, rock, and chiptune concerts to reflect on how game music has become a cultural phenomenon. We'll interview Thomas Boecker (Symphonic Fantasies, Symphonic Game Music Concerts), Arnie Roth (Distant Worlds, Dear Friends), Shota Nakama (Video Game Orchestra), Nobuo Uematsu, and Tommy Tallarico (Video Games Live).

New! $60K Professional website management. We can get by with our own web skills, but with all of the material we want to host for you, we could really use a professional developer on the project part-time to help us to manage the back end and keep everything straight! They'll be responsible for getting all the updates and videos up online regularly, so we can focus on creating the film! We'll also have ad-free streaming of all of our webisodes for you (not Youtube)!

New! $70K Everyone on our list! We know this one's a long shot, but with the extra funds, we should be able to travel to everyone on our list!
Click to expand...

Still one week to go! Let's get those stretch goals! :)
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
And another batch of interviews, this time including Yoko Shimomura and Yuzo Koshiro!!!

  • Jason Graves (Dead Space series, Tomb Raider series and Star Trek series)
  • Yoko Shimomura (Street Fighter II, Kingdom Hearts series, Mario RPGs, Final Fantasy XV, Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, and Front Mission)
  • Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series, Shenmue, Dragon Slayer series)
  • Nick Wiswell (Forza Motorsport 4 & 5 Project Gotham Racing series)
  • Jim Guthrie (Sword & Sworcery, Sound Shapes)
  • Garry Schyman (Bioshock, Destroy All Humans series, Shaodw of Mordor, XCOM Declassified)
  • Seiko Kobuchi (Resident Evil seires, Mega Man series, Mickey Mouse)
  • Nobuyoshi Sano (Korg DS-10, Tekken series, Ridge Racer series, Ghost in the Shell)
  • Frank Kepacki (Command & Conquer series, Dune, Lands of Lore series)
  • Nathan McCree (Tomb Raider 1-3, Silent Hill: Downpour)
  • Sean Beeson (Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, many mobile games)
Click to expand...

Still 4 days left. I hope they'll get some of those stretch goals!
 
E

ElectricThunder

Member
Has the RedBullMusicAcademy given this any kind of visibility bump via Twitter or some such officially? I'd think such would go a long way towards helping if they've not already, as the audience for this DEFINITELY would overlap with the Diggin' in the Carts mini-docu series they're currently in the middle of airing weekly.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Wow, pretty impressive list of interviews.

Hope it's not a finished list - would be nice to see interviews with Manami Matsumae, Ryuji Sasai, Yasuhiro Kawakami, Masato Nakamura & Michael Land.
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
Sir_Crocodile said:
Wow, pretty impressive list of interviews.

Hope it's not a finished list - would be nice to see interviews with Manami Matsumae, Ryuji Sasai, Yasuhiro Kawakami, Masato Nakamura & Michael Land.
Click to expand...

They said that they will try to get more people on board even after the Kickstarter campaign has ended but it will depend on how much funds they'll get since the trip to Japan will be the most expensive one.
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
ElectricThunder said:
Has the RedBullMusicAcademy given this any kind of visibility bump via Twitter or some such officially? I'd think such would go a long way towards helping if they've not already, as the audience for this DEFINITELY would overlap with the Diggin' in the Carts mini-docu series they're currently in the middle of airing weekly.
Click to expand...

DitC is really good I just with the episodes were longer so they could better explore the breadth of each composer's library. I was really looking forward to the Yuzo episode but they pretty much pegged him as "the Streets of Rage guy" even though he'd done so much other good music before and after.
 
C

chrominance

Member
Screw it, upped my pledge to physical goods. I'm gonna be so sad if they don't get Yuu Miyake in, I'd love to know more about the thinking behind the Katamari soundtracks.
 
E

ElectricThunder

Member
sixteen-bit said:
DitC is really good I just with the episodes were longer so they could better explore the breadth of each composer's library. I was really looking forward to the Yuzo episode but they pretty much pegged him as "the Streets of Rage guy" even though he'd done so much other good music before and after.
Click to expand...

The problem is this: Each episode could be an hour long and I would STILL strongly desire for them to be 2 hours and then yet more---that there's so much still out there that hasn't really been delved into and showcased like this all the while these many years is a living disaster.

I figured they'd start Yuzo here for popularity purposes...as well as his early PC'ish stuff and whatnot not exactly fitting into the overall "Carts" motif.
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
They just hit the 60k Stretch goal and still 3 hours to go! I doubt they'll hit the next stretch goal at 70k though :(
 
K

Kiriku

SWEDISH PERFECTION
As a sound designer, this looks very interesting. Really want that book, but $100 to get a physical version is too much for me. :/
 
T

TheUnknownForce

Member
This sounds like an awesome project, but my card gets declined, and it is a bit pricey.

I guess I'll hope they open it up for purchase elsewhere.
 
Z

Zhao_Yun

Member
They just sent out codes for the digital version of the book. Just downloaded it and the whole book (it's actually 2 books, but 1 pdf) has 652 pages!

(Digital) Book can also be bought here: http://www.gamessound.com/book.html
Apparently you can get 20% discount if you use the Code "TweetPromo"
 
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