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Meeting held 2017 June 21 at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond WA

AES PNW Section Meeting Report
3-D Sound for Video Games
with Lawrence Schwedler
Program Director of Music & Sound Design
DigiPen Institute of Technology
image linked to aes_jun2017_IMG_7678.jpg
Presenter and AES Pacific Northwest Section Treasurer Lawrence Schwedler begins his introduction to 3-d Sound for Games. 		image linked to aes_jun2017_IMG_7703.jpg
Presenters Ian Shores and Lawrence Schwedler with AES Pacific Northwest Section chair Dan Mortensen. 		image linked to aes_jun2017_IMG_7696.jpg
Lawrence Schwedler and Ian Shores demonstrate the features of the BACHH system for translating binaural sound to loudspeakers.

96k mp3 Audio recordings of the meeting:

Photos by Gary Louie


PNW's season-ending meeting was held at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond WA, with Lawrence Schwedler, Digipen's Program Director of Music & Sound Design, speaking on 3-D Sound for Video Games. About 41 attended (20 were AES Members). AES Executive Director Bob Moses also joined us for the meeting.

James "JJ" Johnston motioned to have a voice vote for the four unopposed officers by acclamation. Seconded by Steve Malott. Rick Chinn conducted a voice vote: all ayes, no nays, motion passed. Paper ballots were distributed for voting for 6 committee members out of 7 candidates. One term was for 1 year unexpired term due to our bylaws. Ballots were counted by Chinn and Dave Tosti-Lane, and results reported after the cookie break.

The following individuals were elected or re-elected to serve as committee members:

  • Greg Dixon
  • Colin Isler
  • René Jaeger
  • Steve Malott
  • Dr. Michael Matesky
  • Jamie Simmonds
Rick Chinn asked for volunteers to take the 1 year term, Jaime Simmonds agreed to accept the shorter term.

Lawrence Schwedler then began his discussion of 3-D audio for Video Games. Lawrence is the Program Director of Music & Sound Design for DigiPen, a school focusing on the arts and technologies driving modern entertainment and beyond. Starting with some references for background info, he described mono, stereo, binaural and surround sound. He also spoke on the history and development of game sound, from early arcade games, XboX, to Oculus Rift with head motion tracking. Next was how people localize sound with interaural time differences (ITD) and interaural level differences (ILD), and thus helps define the HRTF, (Head Related Transfer Function), which is different for every person. A game could use a generic HRTF, and along with head motion tracking and visual cues, can be good enough for a game.

Ambisonics was also described, which has some useful advantages for implementing 3-D sound.

Headphones definitely work well for binaural, directing the sounds into each ear with no crosstalk. But speakers might be more convenient in many cases. Dr. Edgar Choueiri's BACCH system (Band-Assembled Crosstalk Cancellation Hierarchy) from Princeton uses a crosstalk cancellation technique to allow speakers to work decently for binaural.

Ian Shores, a graduate of DigiPen’s Bachelor of Music and Sound Design degree program, Lab Manager for DigiPen's Music Department, and freelance technical sound designer currently working for Highwire Games, conducted a demo of the BACHH system on a volunteer. The volunteer donned in-ear mics, some sine sweeps captured an Impulse Response of the room, a binaural recording of some moving room action was done, then played back for the volunteer to hear through BACHH.

After a break and election result report, some door prizes were awarded:

  • AES coasters: Chris Sabin, Wayne Edwards, Gary Louie
  • Courtesy of Rick Rodrigues/Fluke:
    • Fluke Networks Network Meter/Tester: Dave Tosti-Lane
    • Amprobe pen tester: Isaac Steimle
    • Amprobe DMM: Phillip Klassen
  • Courtesy Rick Chinn/Uneeda Audio: set of Pokemon golf balls: Dave Quick, Steve Turnidge
Finally, Ian Shores explained the interface settings for the BACHH software, then conducted listening tests for volunteers, who could also try out another Steam/HTC Vive VR game, "Nightmare Grotto," developed by Redmond indie game studio 8th Shore, Inc, showing off spatial sound design by audio lead Phillip Klassen, another graduate of DigiPen's BAMSD program.

Reported by Gary Louie, PNW Section Secretary


Last modified 01/16/2021, 15:10:00, dtl