The Ultimate Opportunity

Day 34 on my Journey of becoming a Gaming Software Engineer:

Today, I caught a glimpse of an enormous opportunity for me as a Gaming Software Engineer and a Unity Developer. It’s in a world I am all too familiar with, Music and Audio.

As I was working on my 2D SpaceShooter, a senior lead at GameDevHQ asked me if I could create some sound effects for him. Knowing that I have been in the music industry and audio engineering field for most of my life, he gave me an opportunity to show what I could do. And wow, he practically opened my eyes to an open area of opportunity for my expertise that hasn’t been really capitalized on in Unity, or even Game Development as of just yet. Now I know where I need to be!

The task was simple for me. Create a real-life sounding communication between a pilot in a spaceship and whomever is guiding the pilot on his mission from wherever that may be. During transmission, the spaceship may lose communication from passing between satellites and asteroids and such. I understand that a job like this would be complicated for any person who doesn’t have the expertise to do it. I will break the steps down here for all to see the process and the requirements to achieve this task. You will need the following:

• A voice (or talent) to speak the communications needed.
• The ‘know-how’ to record a clean vocal.
• The knowledge to mix that vocal so it sounds like it’s being broadcasted over a transmission.
• A ‘know-how’ of automation during mixing both a low-pass filter for the vocal to make it sound ‘in-and-out’ of transmission and a volume automation as the vocal dips in and out of transmission.
• A few sound effects to layer under the vocal so it sounds as though static and distortion is affecting the transmission.

Now can you see how this would be complicated for most people to create? To begin this task, my cousin, who is also an audio engineer was able to mix the raw vocal so I could begin the process. He working from out of our recording studio so it worked out perfectly. He sent over the vocal file and I went to work. I finished the file and sent it to the senior lead and he absolutely loved it!

It opened a huge opportunity for me because now I can add in my skill set to a skill set I’m still learning and be able to create value for others in a very meaningful way. I am so stoked to be here! And fired up for the many future opportunities to come!

Till my next post, Take Care and Aloha Forward,

Sam