Video Game Audio Articles
by Leonard J. Paul

Leonard Paul attained his Honours degree in Computer Science at Simon Fraser University in BC, Canada with an Extended Minor in Music concentrating in Electroacoustics. He began his work in video games on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System and has a fifteen year history in composing, sound design and coding for games working for companies such as Electronic Arts, Backbone Entertainment, Radical Entertainment, moderngroove entertainment, Rockstar Vancouver and Black Box Games. He has worked on over twenty major game titles totalling over 6.4 million units sold since 1994, including award-winning AAA titles such as EA's NBA Jam, NHL11, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, NBA Live '95 as well as the indie award-winning title Retro City Rampage. [+]



News: via VideoGameAudio on Twitter.com/VideoGameAudio
twitter_icon/ Follow @VideoGameAudio rss_icon

Please wait while my tweets load...

Check out the latest tweets if you can't wait for the recent tweets to load here


Presentations and Writings:
GDC2012San Francisco, USA GDC 2012 Invited Speaker - The Dynamic Audio of Vessel - [Web]
CEC 2011 Vancouver, BC Canadian Electroacoustic Society Invited Talk - CEC 25th Anniversary - Electroacoustics in Video Games - [PDF] [Web] [Event]
GameSoundCon 2011 San Fran, USA Game Sound Conference Invited Talk - Procedural Audio in Vessel - [Web]
DH2011 2011 Toronto, Canada CBC Spark Radio Interview Interview - [Web]
DH2011 2011 Mexico City, MX DevHour 2011 Lecture - [MP3] [PDF] [Web] - Roundtable - [Part 1] - Workshop - [MP3]
IAV2011-SãoPaulo 2011 São Paulo, Brazil Instituto de Áudio e Vídeo Workshop - Brazil Workshop - [PDF] [.XLS-Details] [MP3-4hrs]
AES2011-London 2011 São Paulo, Brazil AES 2011 Brazil Keynote Speaker - [Video] [Article] [Interview] [PDF] [PDF-Portuguese] [Web] [MP3]
AES2011-London 2011 London, UK AES 2011 for Games Invited Poster - Granulation of Sound in Video Games - [PDF] [Web]
AV2011-Beaconsfield 2011 Beacons- field, UK Audio for Visuals 2011 Invited Speaker - Sound Design for Games - [PDF] [MP3] [Web]
GameSoundCon 2010 San Fran, USA Game Sound Conference Invited Lecturer - Procedural Sound Design - [Web] [Presentation [.PDF]] [MP3]
AES_Bogota 2010Bogotá, Columbia AES Invited Speaker - Video Game Audio - [Web] - [Open Office Presentation [.ODP]] - [Presentation [.PDF]] [MP3]
Remix Theory2010Vancouver, BC ECUAD Invited Speaker - Remix: Composing Structures 4 Play and Performance - [Web] - [Open Office Presentation [.ODP]] - [Presentation [.PDF]] - [Video [.MP4]]
PAX2010Seattle, WA Pax 2010 Conference Indie game selected as one of the 'PAX 10' with Retro City Rampage - [Web]
BNMI2010Banff, AB Interactive Screen 1.0 MOD Music Presentation on Retro City Rampage and Audio Mentoring - [Presentation] - [Mentoring]
AMAZE 2010 Vancouver, USA Guest Workshop Workshop - Interaction Design - Audio - [Overview] [MP3] [Example Patch]
WSU 2010 Surrey, BC Open Sound 2010 Speaker - Artist Statement for Game Boy Advance : Core Dump v3.0 - [MP3] - [Website] - [Open Office Impress [.ODP]] - [Presentation [.PPT]] - [Exhibition [.PDF]]
AMAZE 2010 Berlin, Germany A MAZE Festival Lecturer, Seminar & Roundtable - Droppin' Science: Video Game Audio Breakdown - [Roundtable] - [Vimeo] - [MP3] - [MP3 (German)] - [Website] - [Lecture] - [Workshop] - [Workshop [.PDF]]
SIAT 2009 Surrey, BC School of Interactive Art and Technology : SFU Guest Lecture - Videogame Audio - [Flash Video] - [PPT] - [Open Office Impress] - [PDF]
GameSoundCon 2009 San Fran Game Sound Conference Invited Moderator and Lecturer - State of the Art Panel and Interactive Sound Design Lecture - [Web] - [PPT] - [Open Office Impress] - [PDF]
VCMM 2009 Vancouver, BC Vancouver Computer Music Meetings Invited Speaker - Video Game Audio Prototyping with Half-Life 2 : Granulation - [.PPT] - [Web] - [FLV]
DigitalKungFu2009Vancouver, BC Digital Kung Fu 2009 Special Guest - An Overview of Interactive Audio - [Flickr]
FuturePlay2009Vancouver, BC Futureplay 2009 Invited Speaker - Game Audio Education Panel - [Web]
GDC2009Vancouver, BC GDC Canada 2009 Invited Speaker - Game Audio Finalling Panel - [Web] - [MP3]
AES_London2009London, UK AES Invited Speaker - Introduction to Synthesis for Interactive Applications - [Web] - [.PPT.ZIP] - [.PPT] - [Open Office Zip]
ENJMIN_Angouleme2008Angoulême, France ENJMIN Invited Lecturer - Video Game Audio - [PDF]
Springer2008Print Chapter Book chapter - Transdisciplinary Digital Art. Sound, Vision and the New Screen - Chapter: 'Video Game Audio Prototyping with Half-Life 2' - [Web Google Books]
Pacman_to_PopMusic2008Print Chapter Book chapter - From Pac-Man to Pop Music - Chapter: 'An introduction to granular synthesis in video games' - [Web] - [Review]
GDC_Lyon2007Lyon, France GDC Lecturer - Procedural Sound Design - [Web] - [PDF]
GDC2007Victoria Interactive Futures Lecturer - Video Game Audio Prototyping with Half-Life 2 - [FLV] - [Web]
GDC2007San Fran GDC Lecturer - Advanced Granular Synthesis for Next Generation Games - [Web] [PPT(Slides)] - [MP3]
Game20062006Portalegre Games 2006 Video Game Audio Prototyping - Keynote speaker, committee member, invited paper and workshop - [Web] - [PDF]
DAW2006Zürich Digital Art Weeks Performer and installation art - [Web] - [PDF] - [Photos] - [XVID]
GDC 2006Online Gamasutra Establishing an Aesthetic in Next Generation Sound Design (w/ Rob Bridgett) - [PDF]
GDC2006San Jose GDC Lecturer - Granular Synthesis for Next Generation Games - [Web] - [PPoint] - [PDF] - [MP3] - [AudioMulch] - [Pure Data]
IF2062006Victoria Interactive Futures Lecturer, performer and installation art - [Web] - [MP3] - [PDF] - [(Performance)XVID] - [Installation(FLV)]
GameOver"2005Porto Olhares Outono Featured lecturer, performer and workshops - [Web] - [PDF] - [FLV]
Digra2005Vancouver DiGRA Senior Scholar Mentorship in Game Audio - [PDF]
BNMI2005Banff Bodies in Play Small vs. Big Audio - [PDF] - [D64 (C=64 Disk Image)] - [MP3] - [FLV]
SAG2005Surrey Electronic Folk Art The Demoscene - [PDF] - [D64 (C=64 Disk Image)]
BNMI 2004Banff Banff Interactive Screen Teaching Audio for Games - [PDF 1] - [PDF 2]
GDC 2003Banff Banff Interactive Screen Interactive Design - [PDF] - [.ASX (Pt.1)] - [.ASX(Pt.2)]
Gamasutra 2003Online GamasutraAudio Prototyping with Pure Data - [PDF] - [MP3 ZIP] - [PD ZIP]
GDC2003OnlineGDC Game Audio: Coding Vs. Aesthetics - [PDF(Paper)] - [PDF(Slides)] - [MP3]
GDC 2001Online GamasutraGame Audio Postmortem: Moderngroove - Ministry of Sound Edition - [PDF] - [Web]

Audio and Video Examples:
Loading Video Playlist...

Additional:
CIA2011Canada Canadian Game Development Talent Awards Canadian Interactive Academy Juror - [Web]
GDC2008Beijing CyberGames 2008 Technical Committee Member - [Web]
GDC2007Manchester CyberGames 2007 Technical Committee Member - [Web]
SAG2007
Surrey Cultural Mashups Bhangra, Bollywood + Beyond - [PDF]
GDC2006NYC Machinima Festival Judge - Video Game Audio - [Web]
INEX2006San Jose IN[ ]EX - Container Culture Vancouver Art Gallery, Speaker - [Web] - [MP3]
SAG2006 Surrey Youth Remixx ProjectREMIXX sur.RE - [Web] | Lecture(5MB-MP3)]
Digra2005 Vancouver DiGRA 2005 Canadian Content in Video Games - [PDF(Paper)] - [PDF(Slides)]
Cybergames 2004VancouverNew Forms Festival Canadian Content in Video Games - [PDF(Paper)] - [PDF(Slides)]
HorizonZero2004Online Horizon Zero Canadian Electronic Music History Timeline - [TXT]

Patches:
interaction_design2010Pure Data Extended Emily Carr Student Interaction Design Patches Multi-area motion detection, colour tracking, live audio looping, live video looping, collision detection, real-time video effects, real-time audio effects, 3D object manipulation and more... [Student PD Patches Page]
surround_granulation_patch2009Pure Data Extended Surround Granulation V4.0 Sampled sound granulation in surround 5.1 [Pure Data]
adaptive_music_patch2009Pure Data Extended Adaptive Music Patch V1.0 A basic adaptive music patch that can be extended to surround 5.1 and three songs [Pure Data]


Select Game Credits:
Retro City Rampage (Vblank Entertainment, 360/Wii) In Development
NBA Jam (EA Canada, Wii/PS3/360) 2010
NHL 2011 (EA Canada, 360/PS3) 2010
Bugsy (Glass House Games, iPhone) 2009
Puffins Island Adventure (Other Ocean, NDS) 2009
Facebreaker (EA Canada, 360/PS3) 2008
Monster Lab (Eidos, PS2/Wii/NDS) 2008
Sonic Rivals 2 (Sega, PSP) 2007
Max Payne 2 (Rockstar, PC) 2003
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (EA Black Box, PS2, GC) 2002
Midway Hitz 2k3 (Midway, PS2/NGC) 2002
moderngroove: Ministry of Sound Edition (Ubisoft Europe, PS2) 2001
NBA Basketball 2000 (Radical Entertainment, PS1) 1999
NBA Live 2k (EA Canada, N64) 1999
NBA Live 95 (EA Canada, Genesis) 1994
FIFA International Soccer (EA Canada, SNES) 1994

Retro City Rampage NBAJam NHL11 Bugsy Puffins Facebreaker MonsterLab SonicRivals2 ScienceFairOfDoom MaxPayne2 NFS_HP2 MidwayHits2k3 Moderngroove NBABasketball2000 NBALive2k NBALive95 FIFAintSoccer

Contact & Info:
Click to email Leonard J. Paul for further information
"AudioInvader" custom logo for VideoGameAudio.com designed by LARGEMASSIVECOLLECTIVE [the3ug3reeder]