The Sound Architect

That's right our podcast is back! As we've had so many episodes over the years, it's time for a bit of a reboot, so we're introducing The Sound Architect Podcast Season 2! In our first episode, Sam Hughes chats with Victoria Atkin and Patricia Summersett about the Video Games Awards, their approaches to learning and growing professionally, as well as their new and upcoming projects! This episode is definitely a great episode to kick off the new new season with so well worth a listen! This great podcast and more over at: https://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk

Last month Sam Hughes caught up with David Housden, after his recent work on The Lost Words, QUBE2 and more! David came to be one of the most promising young talents, after his work on the soundtrack for Thomas Was Alone. The game received a BAFTA nomination for Best Original Music and is highly regarded as an indie hit. He then rejoined Mike Bithell for his next game Volume, a respin of the classic Robin Hood stories. His music changed direction with more of an orchestral, rock score and worked alongside Riva Taylor on the vocals for the game. “Drawing upon his garage rock band days, Housden creates melodic, original music scores which illuminate imaginary worlds with real emotion and immersion.” They discuss advice for composers, current state of the industry and beyond!

We have a short chat with Austin at Animex Games Festival 2018, ahead of Animex Live in the evening.

In this very special episode, Sam Hughes hosts the Women in Gaming: Voiceover Special, where he is joined by awesome voice acting guests; Victoria Atkin, Cissy Jones and Patricia Summersett!  In this episode, the guests answer commenter's questions from all of our social media channels. Listen now and see if your question was answered! Full article and more: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/

Last year, Sam spoke with renowned voiceover director and composer, Amanda Rose Smith. They discuss her career so far, her approaches to VO and music, as well as the current state of the audio industry for women. Amanda was originally musically self taught but continued on to graduate from Smith College with a degree in Classical Composition and New York University  with a Masters in Music Technology. During her time at NYU, Amanda studied under Deniz Hughes (Orchestrator, Interview with a Vampire), Ira Newborn (Composer, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Naked Gun) and Mark Snow (Composer, Xfiles, Smallville).  Both her music and sound work have won awards in various independent film festivals and game awards cermonies across the country. She has also recorded, directed, and edited numerous Audie nominated and winning audiobooks. Full article and more: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/interview-with-voiceover-director-and-composer-amanda-rose-smith

Sam Hughes speaks with composer of nearly all the Telltale Games franchises, Jared Emerson-Johnson. They discuss his career, so far, favourite tracks from the TellTale Games, his process and more!  For the past decade or so Jared has been the music man at Bay Area Sound—writing music, creating sound design, directing voiceover and acting in all sorts of games and occasionally in other media. You may know him from his Telltale games scores to the Sam & Max series, The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Tales From the Borderlands and Game of Thrones. Full article and more: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/interview-telltale-games-composer-jared-emerson-johnson

In this fantastic podcast episode, Sam Hughes speaks with composer/sound designer, Martin Stig Andersen. They discuss his fascinating career, his philosophy on sound design, music and the lines inbetween, and so much more! Don't miss this in-depth discussion. Full article and more: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/martin-stig-andersen/ ‎

Sam Hughes catches up once again with the wonderful Cissy Jones! They discuss her upcoming projects, the current state of the VO industry for women and more! Full article and more: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/cissy-jones-4/

Hazel Turnbull speaks with composer, Lesley Barber., at Soundtrack Cologne 2017. A 2016 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences initiate, film composer Lesley Barber writes music marked by intelligence and emotional depth. From orchestral to atmospheric, alternative to childrens music, Appalachian to electronic, Lesley has an innate ability to bring the essential to light and avoid the cliché. In Manchester by the Sea, the new film directed by Kenneth Lonergan, Lesley employs intricately harmonized vocal performances and subtle, atmospheric orchestral work that provides integral support for the incredible performances by Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler and young discovery Lucas Hedges. Praise for her work on this project promises to launch her into the top tier of a new generation of film composers.

Hazel Turnbull speaks with composer, Jeff Rona at Soundtrack Cologne 2017. Jeff Rona is a contemporary film composer and recording artist. The youngest son of European immigrants, he studied music, art and photography, but left school behind to pursue music as his life's work. Early on he composed for dance, theater, experimental media, galleries and contemporary concert venues around the world using both traditional musicians and cutting-edge technologies. He became an in-demand studio musician, arranger, sound designer, synthesist and music programmer in Los Angeles & New York, most notably with Philip Glass on several film and live projects and with film composer Hans Zimmer. He worked as a musical collaborator on numerous films & records before landing his first solo composing project, scoring the groundbreaking television series Homicide:Life On The Street for director Barry Levinson.

Hazel Turnbull interviews Carly Paradis at 2017's Soundtrack Cologne. Have a listen here! Carly Paradis is known for her score to shows Line Of Duty and Prime Suspect 1973. Carly also played the piano on the full score as well as arranging piano parts for Clint Mansell's soundtrack for the BAFTA Award-winning film Moon, directed by Duncan Jones. Her work on Prime Suspect 1973 has seen her invest in some retro amps and pedals which sit correctly in the era. Christian and Carly talk writing styles, and how important it can be to get in front of a real piano.

Hazel Turnbull interviews Bruce Broughton ath 2017's Soundtrack Cologne! Bruce Broughton is best known for his many film scores, which include Silverado, Tombstone, The Rescuers Down Under, The Presidio, Miracle on 34th Street, the Homeward Bound adventures and Harry and the Hendersons. His television themes include Seth MacFarlane's The Orville, JAG, Steven Spielberg's Tiny Toon Adventures and Dinosaurs. His scores for television range from mini-series like Roughing It and The Blue and Gray to TV movies (Warm Springs, O Pioneers!) and countless episodes of television series such as Dallas, Quincy, Hawaii Five-O and How the West Was Won. With 24 nominations, he has won a record ten Emmy awards. His score to Silverado was Oscar-nominated, and his score to Young Sherlock Holmes was nominated for a Grammy. His music has accompanied many of the Disney theme park attractions throughout the world. His score for Heart of Darkness was the first recorded orchestral score for a video game. As a concert composer, ensembles such as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the National Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra have performed his works. His works for wind ensembles, bands and chamber groups have been performed and recorded throughout the world. He is a board member of ASCAP, a former governor of both the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as a past president and founding member of The Society of Composers and Lyricists.

Sam Hughes speaks with percussionist and composer, Kris Maddigan about writing the music for the incredibly unique game, Cuphead! They discuss his career so far as well as all the challenges of writing a big band tunes for his first ever game soundtrack! Full article and more here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/interview-with-cuphead-composer-kris-maddigan/

Here are some samples and tracks to go with our full interview with Grammy Award winning Engineer, Jason Schweitzer! Full Article: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/jasonschweitzer

In a very special edition of our podcast, Sam Hughes is joined by guest Co-Host Thomas Quillfeldt to discuss with guest Jonne Valtonen about his Final Fantasy 7 Symphony and breaking it down into its core components. They discuss Jonne's motives, techniques and go into great detail of specific sections of each movement. They also discuss how he created this magical symphony based on Nobuo Uematu's original work.

Sara Secora is a voice actress, born and raised in the Great Lake state of Michigan. She is an accomplished voice over artist with over three years of training and experience in the field. Sara is also the Casting Director for several video game studios. Sara Secora's novel, Throne of Lies, has debuted with an outpour of astounding reviews and ratings. You can find her now in Detroit where she is working as a full-time voice talent, all the while continuing to write the second novel within her much awaited trilogy series. They discuss all things voice over, her career path, how to deal with the industry both mentally and physically, and more! Full article here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/interview-voice-artist-sara-secora/

Sam Hughes chats with award-winning composer Wilbert Roget, II about his career so far and his work on brilliant projects such as Lara Croft: Temple of Osiris, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire, Star Wars: The Old Republic and more! They discuss interesting stories of his previous roles, his creative process, advice and composing a modern symphonic score for blockbuster video game Call of Duty: World War II. The entire score for Call of Duty: WWII in Reaper! https://twitter.com/WilbertRoget/status/921885043726749696 Recorded with a live symphony orchestra, the score also recently premiered in concert at Paris Games Week.

Back at Soundtrack Cologne, Hazel Turnbull caught up with Gareth Coker to discuss his recent work and more!

We talk about Austin's recent work on Absolver and Tooth and Tail, as well as looking forward to Journey Live and Banner Saga 3. We also talk a little bit about developing your voice as a composer and being true to yourself, enjoy!

Back at Soundtrack Cologne, Hazel Turnbull caught up with fantastic composer, Petri Alanko! Petri Alanko (aka Lowland) is a BAFTA nominated Finnish composer, musician and producer. His dynamic repertoire ranges from the haunting orchestral/electronic score for Remedy Entertainment's psycho-thriller, Alan Wake, to elegant and sophisticated classical arrangements for Imaginaerum The Movie, based on the album by symphonic metal band Nightwish. His latest release was the epic and emotional electronic sci-fi score for Remedy's cinematic blockbuster, Quantum Break! Full article and more at our official site: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Ltd., creators of Reformer: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes catches up with Prospect Games Managing Director, Andrew Bennison and Unbox Composer, Matt Griffin about the audio of Unbox: Newbie's Adventure now available on console! Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Ltd., creators of Reformer: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Katelyn Isaacson caught up with Gareth Coker back at E3 this year. Check it out!

Sam Hughes reviews the Turtle Beach Earforce Recon 150, in this in-depth interview here: Left in all the ermms and clicks as what you hear over the chat audio while gaming won't be edited ;)!

Sam Hughes catches up with Cissy Jones post E3 and they discuss winning a BAFTA, voice acting roles coming up, and more! Full article over at: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/cissyjones3 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Ltd., creators of Reformer: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Katelyn Isaacson chat so Cissy Jones E3 about her current projects, what she's been up to and more!

Alyx Jones speaks to cellist and all round musician, business-woman and Queen Bee Tina Guo. Tina Guo is an internationally acclaimed and Grammy-nominated virtuoso acoustic/electric cellist, recording artist, and composer. With a multi-faceted career and mastery in a wide range of genres, her passion for musical exploration, artistic expression, and technology are expressed through live performance and visual media. Tina can also be heard as a featured soloist in many Blockbuster Film, Television, and Game scores.

Sam Hughes speaks to sound designer/composer Ashton Mills, after winning the Ones to Watch award along with his team on the game Among the Stones! Check out the full article here: www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes chats to voice actor, Alex Hernandez on the red carpet of this year's BAFTA Games Awards 2017! Check out the full article here: www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes chats with BAFTA Award Winner, Cissy Jones in the media room after winning her award for her performance in Firewatch as Delilah! Check out the full article here: www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes chats with Playtonic Games' Audio Director, Dan Murdoch about the audio for awesome game title Yooka Laylee. They discuss the influences of Banjo Kazooie, going from Junior Sound Designer at Rocksteady, to lead on a project, and more! Full interview here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/danmurdoch Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Ltd., creators of Reformer: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes chats with Cissy Jones on the red carpet of the BAFTA Games Awards 2017 about Firewatch and more! Check out the full article here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes chats to Danny Wallace,presenter of this years BAFTA Games Awards, about voice acting and the current state of the games industry. Check out the full article here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes speaks to Navid Negahban & Navid Khonsari on the BAFTA Games Red Carpet about their work on 1979 Revolution Black Friday. Check out the full article here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes speaks to Nolan North, behind the scenes after presenting Best British Game! Check out the full article here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes speaks to legendary voice actor, Nolan North about Uncharted 4, the awards and much more. Check out the full article here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes speaks to renowned voice actor, Troy Baker, about the awards, Shadow of War and more! Check out the full article here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/baftagames2017 Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser: http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes speaks to Grant Kirkhope once more! They discuss the Yooka Laylee soundtrack, Dropzone and more! Full article and more interviews here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/grantkirkhope Big thanks to our sponsors Krotos Audio! http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes speaks with actor, Alex Hernandez, about his work on Mafia III, Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 3 and more! Alex's full bio is also fantastic: Alex Hernandez is a grown man who plays pretend in the dark. He'd list his credits for you, but then what good is his resume? He'd rather discuss rock climbing, racial politics or which apocalypse will ultimately consume civilization (his bet is on water shortage induced class warfare). Check him out on instagram at alexandhern or in your pantry stealing peanut butter. Full article: http://thesoundarchitect.co.uk/alexhernandez Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Audio! http://www.krotosaudio.com

Sam Hughes speaks to awesome voice artist, Ray Chase, about his work on Final Fantasy XV, The Seven Deadly Sins and more! Ray is best known for his versatility as a voice actor in video games and animation, as well as being a major spokesperson for brands such as Coke Zero, Progressive, Welch's, Corona Light, and Naturebox. Video game fans know him as the lead protagonist Noctis in the best-selling Final Fantasy XV (2016) and Edgar from Final Fantasy III (1994) in World of Final Fantasy (2016). Superhero fans know him as the voices of Jason Blood and Etrigan the Demon in the DC feature film Justice League Dark (2017). He is a con fixture making appearances all over the world with his show "Loud, Annoying, and Very Annoying" (LAVA) with fellow voice actors Robbie Daymond and Max Mittelman. Ray graduated summa cum laude from the USC School of Theater. He also trained at the British American Dramatic Academy. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his dog Milo. Check out the full page with links, and more awesome interviews, here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/raychase Once again thanks to our sponsors Krotos Audio:https://www.krotosaudio.com/

Sam Hughes speaks to actress Paula Rhodes, about her recent work in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, her role in The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy, and more! Sam Hughes speaks to fantastic actress Paula Rhodes about her recent work in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard as the malevolent Eveline, The New Adventures of Peter and & Wendy, and more! Paula is a multi-hyphenate with emphasis in the geektastic genres and a founding member of the 5'2" & Under Club. She counts among her best diary entries teaming up with Stephanie Thorpe to turn their life-long love of the comic ElfQuest into getting the film/TV rights, and getting to embody some of her other fandoms as Wendy in The New Adventures of Peter & Wendy (a modernized transmedia adventure based on the classic Peter Pan tale), Lady Door in the West Coast premiere of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, Zelda in Knights in Hyrule (Machinima), and Skipper & Stacie in Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse. She's hoping to continue to grow her collection. She's also pretty sure owes producing in the web space for the last 7 years, and the connections social media allows, for the majority of the credits on her imdb page. Follow/add her adventures on twitter @paula_rhodes and at OfficialPaulaRhodes.com. Big thanks again to our sponsors: krotsaudio.com!

Sam Hughes once again speaks with the fantastic voice artist, Victoria Atkin, on Extinct, Titanfall 2 and more! Check out our previous interviews with Victoria and more here: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk Big Thanks again to our sponsors Dehumaniser. dehumaniser.com/dehumaniser

Sam Hughes speaks to Voice Over Director, Mark Estdale about Creative Dialogue Tools, voice directing for games and more! With 23 years working with publishers and developers worldwide and with almost a thousand titles on his Resume, Mark brings a certain weight to his perspective and work on processes, pipelines, software, recording studio design and working with actors. Experimenting with his own studios at OMuk in London Mark has developed a production philosophy resulting in the Game Immersive Voice Recording (GIVR) studio and Creative Dialogue Tools (CDT), the software that supports it. In September 2016 he opened Vault 501, the first GIVR studio in the US and is now working on experimental VR, face and motion capture tech. Mark lectures at 3 of London's top drama schools and makes Triumph motorcycles just that little bit better. Some titles and franchises Mark has been involved with over the years include: The Conflict Desert Storm series, Sony's F1 and Wipeout series, Tales of Monkey Island, Need for Speed III, Timesplitters 2 and Future Perfect, Pacman World 3, Perfect Dark Zero, I War 2, Fuzion Frenzy, Powerdrome, Outrun 2, Juiced, Killzone Shadow Fall, The Deponia Series, PES, Telltale's Game of Thrones Series, Horizon Zero Dawn, Esper and Esper 2, Hue, The Book of Unwritten Tales Series, Diggs Nightcrawler, Driver San Francisco, Panzer Elite, Knights of Honour, Vermintide, Mordheim, Shadow Tactics, The Wolf Among Us, Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures, Silent Hill Origins, Tropico 5, Dr Langeskov and the Terribly Cursed Emerald, Broken Sword: The Surpent's Curse, The Witcher. Full Article: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/markestdale Big Thanks again to our sponsors Dehumaniser. http://dehumaniser.com/dehumaniser

Sam Hughes speaks to Sound Designer, Adam Hay about his career so far, as well as his work on Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. Full Article and other Interviews: http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/adamhay Thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Ltd. creators of Dehumaniser and Simple Monsters.

Sam Hughes speaks to composer and audio director, Nathan McCree about his career so far, writing music for Tomb Raider and the upcoming Tomb Raider live performance! Full Article: www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/nathanmccree Big thanks to our sponsors Krotos Audio, creators of Dehumaniser and Simple Monsters.

Sam Hughes speaks to the wonderful Natalie Nicole Gilbert about her recent activity in the music world, her recent track Morning Light, in collaboration with Michael Mansion, being considered for a Grammy in the Best Dance category, a lot about the Grammys and the process involved and more! Big thanks again to our sponsors Krotos Ltd. creators of Simple Monsters and Dehumaniser. http://www.krotosaudio.com

Recording of the final movement of 'Haust', a piece for female choir by Kristin Burdal, based on Arne Garborg's poem of the same name. Recorded using an sE Electronics: se2200a cardioid condenser - -10db, low cut filter. Full Review Article:http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/aston-microphones-origin-review/

Recording of the final movement of 'Haust', a piece for female choir by Kristin Burdal, based on Arne Garborg's poem of the same name. Recorded using an Aston Microphones: Origin cardioid condenser - -10db, low cut filter. http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/aston-microphones-origin-review/

Recording of a short snippet of a piece written by Doug Waters Recorded using an sE Electronics: sE2200a cardioid condenser - -10db, low cut filter. http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/aston-microphones-origin-review/

Recording of a short snippet of a piece written by Doug Waters Recorded using an Aston Microphones: Origin cardioid condenser - -10db, low cut filter [80Hz] http://www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/aston-microphones-origin-review/

Sam Hughes speaks to talented chiptune artist, Chipzel about her career so far, her tech and writing music for video games! Full page and more at: www.thesoundarchitect.co.uk/chipzel Big thanks to our sponsors Krotos Ltd. Creators of Dehumaniser and Simple Monsters.

We spoke to voice artist Fryda Wolff again back in July, sorry for the delay on this one folks but it's a good one! In this immense interview with the voice artist, Fryda Wolff, we chat about the industry, advice for voice acting, as well as her work on The Park.