Sean Charles - Top games audio director cites GForce software as 'the Swiss Army knife for audio production'

Sean Charles - Top games audio director cites GForce software as 'the Swiss Army knife for audio production'

Sean Charles (Audio Director, Propaganda Games - A Buena Vista Games Studio).

Sean Charles has composed his 'signature' music and effects for games for Sony, EA, Fox Midway, THQ and Radical Entertainment. He is currently one of the top producers at Propaganda Games and utilises some top software for his work, in the form of GForce software.

Sean Charles has spent 14 years composing music and effects for the biggest games companies out there, as he explains.

"I stumbled upon this whole doing audio for video games by accident back when Sony was preparing to unveil the PlayStation 1 and took over the console market . A friend of mine recommended me to one of the companies in town here in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and next thing you know, I started on this crazy roller coaster ride and haven't gotten off of it ever since!"

"Prior to doing audio for games, I was involved in sound design for film-scoring projects for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other independent films after attending University. My experience in synthesizer programming, composition and audio production then allowed me to lend my 'signature' music and sound effects to grace game titles for Sony, Electronic Arts, FOX Interactive, Midway, THQ and Radical Entertainment. Currently, after 14 years of experience doing video game audio, I am the Audio Director at Propaganda Games, a Buena Vista Games Studio for The Walt Disney Company."

"I am also a third party sound developer for the music industry's leading musical instrument manufacturers, responsible for the factory presets and signature sound sets for Clavia Nord Lead series of Instruments and Roland's Fantom X for Roland Corporation Japan, just to name a few. As a result of this, I have and continue to maintain extensive involvement with the music industry both in the U.S. and Canada allowing me to forge long-term working relationships with members of the top music production teams (Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera and Prince)."

Sean's obviously got access to whatever audio production hardware and software that he wants, but he was initially quite skeptical about using software plug-ins.

"The results were always thin sounding in relation to their hardware counterparts."

But his mind quickly changed when he saw GForce's Oddity demoed for the first time.

"I remember when Dave Spiers demoed the Oddity for the first time to me and I couldn't believe the width and depth of the sound that was coming out of the speakers, but also what was some incredible software emulation especially with the filters. My jaw hit the floor when he was manipulating sliders and other parameters in real time and you heard the full bandwidth of the trademark ARP Odyssey sound. I was instantly hooked and the possibilities seemed endless with the MIDI controller implementation. I have always wanted the sounds of the great analogue synthesisers, but the service costs and the mere fact that I can't afford any down time made them prohibitive."

"However, with GForce Software, I have the sounds of 'yesteryear' and the ability to make sounds of 'today' without the instability issues and other quirkiness that plagued those same models in their heyday."

"I am now using the Minimonsta, Oddity and ImpOSCar plug-ins. They are like my Swiss Army knife for audio production. It is not uncommon for me as a sound designer to layer some low end out of the GForce plug-ins with an explosion to give it a wider and deeper experience, for example. I like doing it this way, especially since I don't seem to get the same results from using a sub bass plug-in. There's just something about the filters on the GForce plug-ins that are extremely sweet for this same reason, and it's a testament to the plug-in suite."

"The other day, there was a request for some computer type sound effects, and with the Oddity I was able to achieve the desired results and create banks very quickly. It was effortless and most of all fun!"

"The Minimonsta and ImpOSCar we found to be very 'dramatic' synths, so we use those for incidental musical cues and for building tension and suspense."

And what else does he like aside from the great sound?

"Two words for you: 'instant recall'. In the fast paced of audio for video games where production schedules are a dynamic and iterative process, it's absolutely amazing that I can have multiple projects on my DAW with multiple instances of the GForce suite of plug-ins and am able to recall them at a later date for refinement as the project comes to a close and all my settings and tweaks are retained per project."

Is there anything else that stands out?

"The one feature that I absolutely love is the MIDI syncing of LFOs, arpeggiators and the effects section. That's usually the first thing I usually mess with the first time I get a soft-synth. This feature is pretty invaluable, as everything locks up automatically to the chosen tempo true bliss. The other fascinating option is to use the Minimonsta as an insert FX and then apply various MIDI controller data to the audio that I am processing talk about some insane sound effects!"

"To be honest most of the other products on the market don't have the 'sound' that you hear from the GForce suite of plug-ins. I just find that everyone else wants to make a 'faithful' emulation, which I can understand, but you end up with the same limitations as on the original, except now you're stuck with a virtual version. What I really dig about the GForce suite is that they not only are faithful emulations of their analogue counterparts, but they really did their homework to enhance the models of yesteryear and took it a step further to make the epic versions that have the sounds for today's demanding sound designer and composer."

So what does Sean have planned for the future?

"We are currently working on the next generation titles for the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3. At Propaganda Games, we are pioneering this new cutting edge game console technology. As we unlock and develop our various proprietary audio in-house tools and implementation methodologies, I expect that GForce Software will be right there along side me as we push the envelope of audio for video games into the next decade."

Interview by Andy Jones of Feedback PR