What I Use for Game Audio Development

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Tools of the sound trade.

This crops up every so often, so here’s what I currently use for game audio, roughly categorized. Nothing here is inadequate, nothing here can’t be improved. Some tools do something brilliantly, while others are cringey, only listed here because I haven’t discovered or developed a better solution, or because better solutions have licensing or security restrictions. Most lie somewhere in between this spectrum of usefulness. This is just what my arsenal has evolved into. Items at the top are used regularly. Items at the bottom I still consider go-to tools for specific tasks, but they just happen infrequently. An opportunity for a clean slate would probably mean a gear refresh, particularly the hardware. Several pieces are hand-me-downs. Updates to the list usually mean small increments in efficiency and quality these days. The biggest leaps for me have come from the development of custom scripts and software to realize new approaches and processes.

Many items here aren’t directly related to audio, but are still crucial for audio production and very much part of the pipeline. Game audio is ultimately paired with visuals — lots of sound ideas are communicated this way — so video and imaging software are common. Custom technology is also a big chunk of game development, and I spend part of my time writing code and in audio tech R&D, hence the inclusion of programming languages along with development frameworks. It’s great to see how much good open source software is being developed and adopted now. Finally, since development takes place primarily in Windows, listed are several utilities that automate and extend the functionality of the desktop environment.

  • Audio Software:
    • foobar2000 (great customization)
    • Sony Magix Sound Forge (surgical)
    • Steinberg Nuendo
    • Soundminer
    • WaveLab (fast batching)
    • Lexicon
    • FabFilter (big interface)
    • Sound Toys
    • Waves (still holds its own)
    • Universal Audio
    • iZotope
    • Sonnox Oxford
    • Boz Digital Labs
    • u-he
    • Voxengo
    • Plogue Bidule (parallel chains)
    • Blue Cat Audio
    • Tokyo Dawn Labs
    • ReaPlugs
    • Eventide
    • Melda
    • Celemony Melodyne
    • Speakerphone
    • Altiverb
    • Cockos Reaper (compatibility)
    • Audacity
    • Avid Digidesign Pro Tools
    • many lesser-known VST plug-ins…
  • Audio Hardware:
    • RME Fireface UFX
    • Universal Audio UAD-2 QUAD DSP
    • 3 Focal Solo6 Be (LCR)
    • 4 Mackie HR824 (surrounds, older model)
    • Mackie HRS150 (THX sub)
    • Martinsound MultiMAX
    • Martinsound TMH ManagerMAX
    • Sound Anchors ADJ1
    • Aphex 228
    • Tascam LA-81
    • Bittree bantam patchbays
    • Novawall
    • GIK Acoustics
    • RealTraps
    • Novation 49SL
    • BOSS VT-1 (oldie but goodie)
    • TEControl MIDI Breath Controller
    • Eventide H8000FW
    • Stedman Proscreen XL
    • O.C. White ProBoom Elite Broadcast Arm
    • Atlas SB36W
    • SE Electronics Reflexion Filter
    • Sennheiser HD 650 (critical listenig)
    • Sennheiser HD 598SR (open-back)
    • Sennheiser HD 598 Cs (closed-back)
    • Beyerdynamic DT 770 M (field recording)
    • Remote Audio HN-7506 (field recording)
    • 3M Peltor X5P3E (gun shoots)
    • Shure SE215 (gun shoots)
  • Microphones (go-to list):
    • DPA 4062 (high SPL lavs)
    • Neumann RSM 191 (unique sound)
    • Neumann TLM 103 (vocals)
    • Neumann TLM 170 (high SPL)
    • Sanken CSS-5
    • Sennheiser MKH 30 (M/S)
    • Sennheiser MKH 40 (M/S)
    • Schoeps CMC 1 / MK 4 (ORTF)
    • Shure SM57 (indestructible)
  • Microphones (specific cases):
    • AKG (Crown) PZM6 D (boundary)
    • AKG D112 (deep)
    • Audio-Technica AT4071
    • Barcus-Berry Planar Wave (contact)
    • Beyerdynamic MC837 (reach)
    • Cold Gold Contact Microphone
    • Crown SASS (great sound field)
    • Earthworks QTC50 (clinical, low end)
    • Jecklin Disc
    • Neumann KMR 81 (Foley standard)
    • Neumann U 87
    • old Realistic (Radio Shack) speaker
    • Rode NT1 (quiet sounds)
    • Sanken CO-100K
    • Sennheiser MD 441 (best dynamic mic)
    • Sennheiser MKH 6000 series
    • Sony C-800G (U 87 of Asia)
    • Telinga Parabolic Dish
    • So many more to try…
  • Portable Recorders:
    • Sound Devices 702
    • Sound Devices 744
    • Zoom H2 (unmanned recording for hours)
  • Sound Effects Libraries:
    • A Sound Effect
    • Bluezone
    • BOOM Library
    • Chris Watson
    • Collected Transients
    • F7 Sound and Vision
    • Hiss and a Roar
    • Rabbit Ears Audio
    • Sonic Salute
    • Sound Effects Monkey
    • Sound Ideas
    • Sound Mountain
    • SoundBits
    • Soundmorph
    • SoundStorm
    • The Hollywood Edge
    • The Recordist
    • Thomas Rex Beverly
    • Tonsturm
    • Valentino
  • Computer:
    • Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit
    • Intel i7-7820X
    • Asus TUF X299 Mark 2
    • 64GB RAM
    • Samsung SSDs, 6TBs
    • Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080
    • Fractal Define R5 (quiet case)
    • Noctua NH-U12S (quiet fans)
    • Rosewill RK-9000
    • 2 Steelseries Sensei Raw ambidextrous mice
    • 3 HP Z27 27″ LED monitors
    • Samsung 55″ LED TV
  • Software and Web Development:
    • EditPad Pro (best regex)
    • Perforce
    • Tortoise SVN
    • regular expressions
    • Notepad++
    • Python
    • PyCharm
    • NumPy
    • (Py)SoundFile
    • HTML
    • CSS
    • C#
    • C, C++
    • Visual Studio
    • GitHub
    • gulp
    • Bootstrap
    • WordPress
  • Utilities:
    • voidtools Everything (indispensable)
    • FFmpeg (ridiculously handy)
    • AutoHotkey (DIY shortcuts)
    • PowerShell
    • SoX
    • FLAC
    • oggdropXPd
    • LameDropXPd
    • Sysinternals
    • Bulk Rename Utility
    • A.F.5 Rename your files 1.1
    • GoodSync
    • FreeFileSync
  • Visual Design:
    • Greenshot
    • IrfanView
    • MPC-HC (better metadata handling)
    • VideoLAN VLC
    • FileLocator Lite
    • OBS Studio
    • Shotcut
    • Autodesk Maya
    • GIMP
    • Paint.NET
    • VirtualDub
    • Avidemux
    • AviSynth
    • FRAPS
    • Scribus
    • Inkscape
    • Krita
  • Video Hardware:
    • Elgato Cam Link 4K
    • Sony α7 (full-frame sensor)
    • Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam
    • Manfrotto tripod
    • homemade lights, scrims, and diffusers

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