** The Music and Science list is managed by the Institute of Musical Research (www.music.sas.ac.uk) as a bulletin board and discussion forum for researchers working at the shared boundaries of science and music. ** MESSAGE FOLLOWS: Dear all,

Next Wednesday 9 March, at 3:30pm, Nicolas Fournel will present the seminar 'Writing High-Level Game Audio Tools'.

The seminar will take place in room 105 in the Electronic Engineering building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS. The Electronic Engineering building can be accessed using the glass entrance from Mile End Road, which is located next to the bus stop 'Queen Mary, University of London' (buses 25, 205). The room is under access control, so people from outside QM will need to contact C4DM to get in - the lab phone number is +44 (0)20 7882 7480 and if I'm not available, anyone else in the lab should be able to help. If you are coming from outside Queen Mary, please let me know, so I can make sure no-one's stuck outside the doors. Details of future seminars can be found at http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/newsevents/researchgroupevents.php?i=12.

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Wednesday's seminar (9 March, 3:30pm):

Title:
Writing High-Level Game Audio Tools

Speaker:
Nicolas Fournel (Principal Engineer, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)


Abstract:
Larger game worlds and more immersive levels require the creation of an increasingly high number of audio assets, many of them having to exhibit a dynamic behaviour. Working on such complex projects with usually small sound teams quickly becomes a challenge and conventional audio tools and scripting systems are often inadequate.

High-level audio tools should both help the sound designers to express their creativity and allow them to boost their productivity. During this presentation, we will examine what constitutes such a tool. In particular, we will see how the next generation of tools will need to interface with the other game subsystems and will be able to leverage the power of audio analysis and procedural generation.


Bio:
Nicolas Fournel has 20 years of experience developing commercial digital audio software. He started his career programming sample editors in assembler on the Amiga and later founded Synoptic, a company that specialized in audio software synthesis on PC in the 90s.  He then joined the game industry where he spent the last 11 years designing multi-platform audio engines and tools for companies such as Factor 5,  Konami and EA in their central technology department. Now a principal programmer at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, his focus is on building innovative audio systems that empower sound designers while keeping technology invisible. His main interests include audio features extraction, procedural audio and high-level creative tools.


Emmanouil Benetos
--
Centre for Digital Music (C4DM)
School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science
Queen Mary, University of London
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Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 7480
Fax: +44 (0)20 7882 7997

C4DM Web-site : http://www.elec.qmul.ac.uk/digitalmusic/index.html