Game Audio Hour

It's September, and the gang is back in force to chat about audio, and mostly game audio, even! Alex, Mike, and Vince talk about instrumental excursions, modern album releases, and even an audio middleware from 34 years ago! Other notable mentions include: Grotrian-Steinweg (Piano manufacturer) The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Video game score, Jeremy Soule) Flux (Music Album, Alison Goldfrapp)...

Another hiatus... followed inevitably by another eagerly anticipated episode! Alex and Vince get immersed in VR and Visual Novels and live to tell the tale! Other notable mentions include: 16bit Sensation (Manga and Anime series) Tales of Ephidrina (Music Album, Amorphous Androgynous) Featuring: Alex May and Vincent Diamante Recorded April 10, 2025

It's been more than a month since the last episode, but contrary to popular belief, Mike, Alex, and Vince are very much alive and ready to chat about games, audio, and (of course) game audio! Other notable mentions include: AATranslator (DAW project file translation software, Suite Spot Studios) Translator 7 Pro (Sample Library format converter, Chicken Systems) 1883 (TV series, music by Brian...

The trio returns in 2025! Mike, Alex, and Vince opine about various topics, some of which are even tangentially related to games, audio, or game audio! Other notable mentions include: Zebra 3 (U-He soft synthesizer) New Blue Sun (Andre 3000 album) ShaperBox (Cableguys plugin) Get Back (Documentary series) Featuring: Michael Gordon Shapiro, Alex May, and Vincent Diamante Recorded January 30, 2025

The GAH is back for its first episode of 2025! Alex and Vince get off to a rousing start with some chat about music merchants and then spin out towards other things in the worlds of games, audio, and... you guessed it... COMPRESSOR PLUGINS! Other notable mentions include: Omnipressor (compressor plugin, Eventide) Socho Shihatsu no Sappukei (Japanese TV Drama) Featuring: Alex May and Vincent Diaman...

Alex, Mike, and Vince enter into a month of shopping and sales and leave with various acquisitions, so of course they have to talk about the various audio related purchases they made! Other notable mentions include: Tai Chi (reverb plugin, Reverb Foundry/Liquid Sonics) Cinematic Studio Strings (string ensemble library/plugin) Dorico (music notation software, Steinberg) LilyPond (music engraving so...

This GAH has the trio joined by special guest: Stephen O'Bent! The episode features mention of all the usual stuff from the challenges of game audio education to the importance of playing Super Mario Odyssey with your kids! Other notable mentions include: Fumiya Tanaka (Music Producer/DJ) The Diplomat (Political Thriller TV series) Storybundle (E-book website) RME UCX II (Audio interface) Company...

The trio finally make mention of Halloween festivities... but not before talk of intimate game audio conferences, recording methodology, and gear new and old. Other notable mentions include: Goat: A Musing Whimsy (Novel, Allan Batchelder) Every Frame a Painting (Youtube channel, Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou) Creative Perspectives in Game Audio (Conference, Denmark, 2024 October 26-27) Featuring: Ale...

Mike, Alex, and Vince gather for an October podcast without once mentioning any impending Halloween celebrations. They do mention, however, past cartoons, past music periodicals, and a rather recent video game soundtrack release. Notable mentions include: Carl Stalling (Music composer) Future Music and Computer Music (Music periodicals) Escaping Wonderland OST (Video game score by Michael Gordon S...

The GAH trio is joined by special guest: Kochun Hu! Sure, they eventually get to talking about Astroneer and music philosophy, but before that, they just have to talk about Alex's favorite subject: TRACKERS. Other notable mentions include: Peaky Blinders (TV drama and its anachronistic soundtrack) Blue Bell Knoll (album by Cocteau Twins) Skygunner (Playstation 2 action game) Impulse Tracker (softw...

Alex and Vince chat a bit about Concord despite not playing it, and now no longer having a chance to play it. Then it's off to Germany, Russia, and back to Britain as they talk cool plugins, state orchestras, and progressive rock bands. Other notable mentions include: Yevgeny Svetlanov (Russian Conductor) Lexicon PSP 42 (Delay Plugin by PSP Audioware) Day and Age (Album by Frost*) Rolling Sampler...

Vince returns from Japan (again?!) to describe what he saw at the CEDEC conference and chat a bit about his talk, Mike looks back with some fondness at 3+ decades of Finale's impact on the music writing scene, and the two make some decisions for their absentee cohort on what his role will be on their group trip abroad. Other notable mentions include: Ted Lasso (Score by Marcus Mumford and Tom...

Vince has the mic all to himself and he's reminded of his struggle with audio latency, so of course he has to inflict you with it as well! Other notable mentions include: Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad sound system Tokyo Revengers soundtrack Featuring: Vincent Diamante Recorded August 2, 2024

The duo of Mike and Vince find themselves confronted with the eternally burning question of: FMOD or WWISE? Other notable mentions include: Nothing But Thieves Godot Featuring: Vincent Diamante and Alex May Recorded July 5, 2024

The GAH trio are joined by a special guest: Almut Schwacke! They chat about audio and touch on things like: discovering foley, being a tonmeister, and getting into video games after starting in the film sound editing world. Other notable mentions include: You Suck At Parking / Happy Volcano - https://www.yousuckatparking.cc/ Nuts / Joon, Pol, Muutsch, Char & Torfi - https://nuts.game Citizen S...

Work habits, FMOD, and brown noise figure prominently in this episode of the GAH, with Alex in particular berating Vince for his poor attempts at work-life balance while Mike maintains order with some helpful tips. Other notable mentions include: Elden Ring (Video Game / FromSoftware) Pacific Drive (Video Game / Ironwood Studios) Solas (Irish-American Musical Band) Featuring: Alex May and Vincent...

The pair of Alex and Vince go back and forth, chatting about audio tools, monitoring environments, and... food poisoning?! Other notable mentions include: Designer Notes (Podcast / Soren Johnson) Horizon: Forbidden West (Video Game / Guerilla Games) Velocity 2X (Video Game / FuturLab) Joris de Man (Music Composer) Featuring: Alex May and Vincent Diamante Recorded April 26, 2024

It's a duo for this episode, and both Mike and Vince are chatting about things that they might do while in the lulls between major projects. Other notable mentions include: SSL (Audio Manufacturer) White Sea Studios (Youtuber) Dan Worrall (Youtuber) Jerry Goldsmith's rejected film score for Timeline Featuring: Michael Gordon Shapiro and Vincent Diamante Recorded April 26, 2024

After chatting a bit with him during conferences the past year, we had to invite composer and performer John Robert Matz onto the show to chat about what he's been up to lately! He talks about the score for Tchia but also about things back in the day (indie game dev!) and that GAH staple: conspicuous consumption! Other notable mentions include: Udio Artemis: Spaceship Bridge Simulator alt.ctrl...

Another GDC has come and went, and two of the GAH trio were around to partake... but that's not nearly the only game event worth going to early in the calendar year! But the real question for this episode is: Can ANY game event stand up to the inaugural edition of the Game Audio Hour Hot Take?! Other notable mentions include: Women In Games (conference) Lucas Rei Ramos (music composer) True Li...

We're a little past 10 years now, but we're still celebrating this milestone, this time with another of our cohort from years past. Chase Bethea joins the duo of Alex and Vince to chat a bit about game audio, this time answering some questions from listeners as well as keeping us abreast of all the goings-on in his music career! Featuring: Chase Bethea, Alex May, and Vincent Diamante Recor...

It's been 10 years and one of our illustrious cohort from the early days, Jack Menhorn, joins the trio of Mike, Alex, and Vince to chat a bit about game audio! The group chat about audio moving between indie and AAA, middleware, and even some of the current anxiety about AI. Other notable mentions include: State of Decay (horror game series, Undead Labs) The Greatest Night in Pop (Documentary,...

The duo of Mike and Vince wax lyrical of their recent Apple purchases... or should I say: Mac-quisitions? Newer tech talk then moves to talk of some older gear that is still supported by its creator, then the ever conspicuous Conspicuous Consumption! Notable mentions include: Apple Mac Pro M2 Ultra (computer workstation) Oeksound's bloom plugin (adaptive tone shaper) RME Fireface series (audio...

The Game Audio Hour crew is a trio again, as Vince emerges from the vortex of new fatherhood! As befits a New Year's (-ish) episode, the team reflects upon audio creation and production habits, and how to refine them. Also, we learn how effectively RX can remove the sound of a lawnmower outside Mike's studio.

Alex and Mike discuss the heavenly acoustics of Wiener Musikverein, the tribulations (and surprising benefits) of moving one's audio rig to the new Mac Pro, and the utility of the term "genre" in game audio.