Barney Oram is a 22 year old ‘Junior Sound Designer’ working at Cloud Imperium Games, Manchester. Barney is a recent graduate of the University of Lincoln (2013-2016) and studied the Audio Production course. Outside of his job, Barney hosts a Game Audio related podcast called ‘The Soundbyte Podcast’, which a new episode is recorded and released each month.
Typically in the games industry there are two types of companies; AAA (Pronounced Triple A) are big budget ‘Hollywood’ privately funded games companies that hire a large amount of employees. And also ‘Indie’ companies, which are independently funded.
As Barney works for a AAA company, in the interview conducted, we asked what his opinion is for a graduate to break into this industry; he specified that AAA companies are looking for individuals with passion and drive. It isn’t always about the technical ability, as that can be taught. However the industry are looking for creative individuals, who are able to showcase their unique abilities.
Barney explained the importance of networking with individuals currently involved with game audio, primarily through social media such as Twitter and game audio meetups, such as Game Audio North – Both of which Barney is highly active with and is recognised within the community; in his guest lecture he mentioned that his current boss knew of his name prior to applying, however Barney doesn’t think this had any sway on the decision for him to gain employment.
Barney said “one of the most valuable assets that you can have is a showreel, typically hosted online and given as a link when applying directly to a company. In Barney’s case there were over 200 people who applied for the Junior Sound Designer position at Cloud Imperium Games. Show reels typically need to be around the one minute mark portraying your best and most creative work, to show a wide variety of skillsets and knowledge of game audio; an example is Barney’s, which demonstrates sound design on a linear level, sound design through middleware (FMOD) and then implemented audio into a game engine (UE4). For most employers, if they’re interested they will then look further into your website and look at other more detailed pieces of work that you have to offer.
A company to aspire towards would be game developer and digital distribution company Valve, who are based in Bellevue, Washington, USA. Most commonly known for their ‘Orange Box Collection’, which hosts a series of video game titles such as Half-Life, Portal and Team Fortress. They are also widely renowned for their PC gaming platform ‘Steam’, where users can download video games directly to their computer.
In recent years, Valve have released their company handbook online for the world to view. In an interview with Barney, he discussed how Valve have a ‘T-Shaped Model’ for employees to follow; the model states that they employ people that are both generalists (highly skilled at a broad set of valuable things—the top of the T) and also experts (among the best in their field within a narrow discipline—the vertical leg of the T). Barney explains in his Podcast, Soundbyte Podcast, that he views Technical Sound Designers as this T-Shaped Model. At the top of the ‘T’, we have games developers who understand the games engines basic functions, middleware, coding, audio tools etc. But their specialised field is the Sound Design, which would be seen as the “vertical leg of the T”.
We had a guest lecture from Suddi Raval, who is the Audio Manager of TT Games, Manchester, who are a partner of Warner Bros Games. Suddi’s role is typically seen at the top of the game audio food chain. We approached Suddi post-lecture to understand a bit further upon the question of what he feels a graduate who is looking to gain entry into the video game industry should have. His answers to this question were;
A core understanding of digital audio workstations, software that is used within the audio industry, and show an applied understanding of how they work with being able to demonstrate knowledge of a wide range of software.
To understand basic studio recording techniques (multi track recording, mic placement, different styles of microphones, polar patterns etc)
To show a keen interest and passion for Game Audio and/or the Games industry.
To have a demo show reel to showcase your potential; the show reel doesn’t necessarily have to be a fully audio implemented playable demo. It could be a video of a movie or game play footage stripped down and replace all of the audio with your own work, which can prove your potential and creative drive.
And to show an understanding of different middleware that can be used within the games industry; essentially just ‘do your research’.
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