Saturday, September 23, 2023 • UT Campus
Great sound plays an important role in making a game successful. During UT Game Audio Con '23, we will host a series of panels with top game audio professionals discussing a range of topics as well as a networking lunch, hosted by Dolby.
This event will give both students and seasoned professionals insight into how to take their work to the next level.
Schedule:
9:30 am–9:50 am Coffee and Pastries, provided by the Motion Picture Sound Editors
9:50 am–10:00 am Welcome by Korey Pereira, Audio Area Head of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin
10:00 am–11:00 am Sound Design Demo — with Matt Piersall
11:00 am–12:00 pm Dolby Atmos for Games 101 — with Alistair Hirst
12:00 pm–1:30 pm Networking Lunch, provided by Dolby
1:30 pm–2:30 pm Innovative Implementation and Mixing Techniques — with Kevin Salchert
2:30 pm–3:30 pm Building a Career in Game Audio Roundtable — with Alexander Brandon, Emily Meo, and Mark Kilborn. Moderated by Alistair Hirst.
Panelists & Speakers
ALISTAIR HIRST
Alistair Hirst has shipped over 44 games across 11 platforms, mostly as an Audio Director. He has credits as a composer, sound designer and audio programmer, and launched the Need for Speed franchise as Audio Director during his 10 years at Electronic Arts. He co-founded OMNI Audio, a game audio company which worked on four campaigns of Guild Wars and Halo 2 among many other titles. He was Audio Director at Amazon Game Studios for 6 years before joining Dolby Laboratories. He has melted numerous microphones recording cars, and was the voice of the quarterback in John Madden Football ’92.
ALEXANDER BRANDON
Alexander Brandon is a game audio veteran with twenty nine years of experience and over one hundred titles to his credit, among them the soundtracks for such hits as “Unreal” and “Deus Ex”, and more recently music, sound and voice for such games as "Wasteland 3", "Oddworld: Soulstorm", "Aven Colony", Wasteland 2”, “Alpha Protocol”, the “Neverwinter Nights” series, “Bejeweled 3”, "Skyrim", and “DC Universe Online”.
Alex has skills in music composition, sound design, voice acting, voice direction, audio direction and game audio technology. He has written the award-winning book “Audio For Games: Planning, Process and Production" and written columns for "Game Developer" and "Mix" magazines. He has also lectured at UCLA Extension, Texas State University and Berklee School of Music.
He has also worked with Hollywood voice talent, symphony orchestras, and high profile music acts such as BT. Alex continues to write on numerous game audio subjects, and is always honoring his roots, interviewing such Japanese game music rock stars like Hip Tanaka and Tetsuya Mizuguchi. As part of the game audio community he has served on the steering committee of the IA-SIG and as the Vice President of the Game Audio Network Guild.
He now owns his own audio production house in Georgetown, Texas, “Funky Rustic”, and distributes music through Bandcamp, releasing an album every now and again.
EMILY MEO
Emily Meo is a sound designer at Arkane Austin, where she's currently working on Redfall. Past work includes To The Top, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer slot game. She graduated from UT Austin in 2013.
KEVIN SALCHERT
Kevin Salchert is a technical sound designer specializing in adaptive audio system design and integration. His work as a sound designer and composer has spanned a wide variety of entertainment mediums, including games, commercials, installations, and slot machines. Kevin holds advanced degrees in music theory/composition and music technology, and is currently employed at Riot Games as a Senior Technical Sound Designer.
MARK KILBORN
Mark Kilborn is an award-winning sound designer, mixer, and implementer with 17 years of experience in the video games industry. He has worked on various game franchises including Forza Motorsport, Hogwarts Legacy, Tony Hawk's Project 8, Brothers in Arms, and more. For eight years, he served as one of the audio directors for the Call of Duty franchise, and has collaborated with teams of sound designers around the world on projects in the series like Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, Black Ops 1-3, Exo Zombies, Modern Warfare Remastered, and Call of Duty: WWII. He currently serves as Audio Director of Certain Affinity in Austin, TX.
MATT PIERSALL
Matt Piersall is an accomplished Game Audio Sound Designer and Composer, renowned for his exceptional contributions to the interactive entertainment industry. With a career spanning over two decades, his commitment to crafting immersive sonic experiences has left an indelible mark on some of the most beloved and successful video game titles. Matt has worked on such franchises as Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong Country, Prey, Weird West, Starfield, and Harry Potter Hogwarts Legacy among others. Matt's commitment to innovation ensures that his work will continue to influence the gaming landscape for years to come.