Curriculum
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Our sound design for games course aims to get you up and running in the industry, following industry-specific game audio specifications. As such, we’ll be starting off with an overview of the industry, the processes and the game audio field today, before moving into more technical fields, like Unity 3D – an industry standard game engine – and Audiokinetic’s Wwise, an industry standard middleware solution.
Once you’ve developed those concepts, you’ll be ready to dive into ‘Project Adventure’, a fully featured game, specifically built with implementation for complex audio behaviour in mind, that utilizes industry standard concepts and tools to develop engaging audio content. In this game, you will be designing sound, interactions, voiceovers, and music to make the experience exciting and engaging for players. You’ll have the freedom to design sound just the way you like it while taking mentorship from our industry trained instructors on topics like foley, ambiances, interactive music, and real-time dialogue mixing. Our course structure aims to get you up to speed, and understanding a wide array of concepts on a practical level used in the industry every day.
What you will learn
Over the 8 evening classes you will:
- Gain a working knowledge of the game audio production pipeline
- Understand the role of the sound designer and audio programmer
- Conceptualize audio concepts and requirements for projects in a team setting
- Acquire a technical knowledge of Audiokinetic’s Wwise middleware package
- Correctly record sound effects and voice-overs
- Develop a working understanding of the basics of Unity 3D
- Properly integrate audio assets between both Unity3D and Wwise to deliver a working audio integration
- Accurately convey ideas pertaining to sound with other creative media professionals
- Develop sound design briefs and descriptions
WEEKLY BREAKDOWN
Week 1: Introduction to Game Audio
- Overview of the Course
- The Field Today
- Production processes
Week 2: Asset Lists and Management
- Jobs in Games for Audio
- Asset Lists
- Unity 3D
- Wwise Introduction
Week 3: Wwise – Ambience, Music and Loops
- Importing Ambiences
- Importing Music
- Looping Files
- Using the blend containers
- Event Actions
Week 4: Wwise – Movement and Attenuation
- Sound Emitters and Attenuation
- Foley Principles
- Footsteps and Movements
- Footstep Types
Week 5: Wwise – Weapons, impact and sound design
- Sound Design Principles
- Sound Design Session
- Weapons
- Impacts
Week 6: Wwise – Music and Sync
- Music
- Sync
- Cue Points
- Looping
- Interactive Music
Week 7: Wwise – RTPC’s and Real-Time effects
- RTPC’s
- Real Time Effects
- Menu Sounds and Pausing
- Integration
Week 8: Wwise – Mixing and Delivery
- Mixing Principles
- Mixing Session
- Delivery of a finished product
This course taught me how to set up a freelance structure. Knowing things about invoicing and tax and learning how much I should charge. Abbey Road taught me that I have to look after this myself.
Alex Mraz, Graduate
Before I was at Abbey Road, it was easy to write a song, and get a singer. But the songwriting process doesn’t work like that. It was important to understand vocal production, writing, and music. It should all happen simultaneously.
Joel Robinson, Graduate
Abbey Road really helped me with the foundation of audio. It’s an overwhelming subject at first, but [the course] really breaks it down and really makes it digestible.
Charlotte Rochecouste, Graduate
The time I spent at Abbey Road Institute helped me transform my skills. I came from a bedroom producer who made music as a hobby to an audio professional.
Phoenix Manson, Graduate
Abbey Road was the perfect stepping stone into my professional career as an artist and audio engineer.
Alex Braithwaite, Graduate
Education is more than a lecture. It is decades of experience from all corners of the globe brought together into a community of dedicated and passionate individuals joined together in journey to push the limits of creativity. This is what we aspire to every day at Abbey Road.
Gianni Michelini, COO
Studying the past year at Abbey Road has been phenomenal. The teaching staff are top notch and I now have a community of people to draw on who are as obsessed with music as me.
Emily Toner, Graduate
Abbey Road Institute gives students the head-start they need to succeed in today's industry. The facilities at Melbourne are second to none and it’s great to see students grow and be rewarded for their efforts.