MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The ninth annual Develop Industry Excellence Awards is just around the corner, with more than 90 studios competing for top honours at the July 20th event in Brighton.
In the run up to the big night, Develop is running a series of profiles of all the nominees in each category.
We continue here with the finalists for Audio Outsourcing. To be eligible a studio or company will need to have produced a significant amount of audio work on one or a series of games since July 2010, that excels in sophistication and intelligence of composition.
The final choices, chosen by Develop’s editorial team, are found below. The ultimate winner will be decided by a 100-person-strong judging panel of industry pros, and announced at the awards show on July 20th.
To watch the event live, email Kathryn.humprey@intentmedia.co.uk to book your seat.
AUDIO OUTSOURCER
Air Edel
2011 was the year that saw Air Adel make its most substantial move on the games industry yet. The company, which has studios in both the UK and US, is a giant of movie audio, offering full music supervision and production services that have seen it central to Oscar winning film scores. Air Edel has also worked on game audio for some time, but in the past year has increased its effort in the sector massively, contributing recently to LittleBigPlanet 2 and F1 2010.
High Score
Over the past year, High Score expanded its technology base significantly, and has invested a great deal of time and money into developing its own in-house tools for dialogue production. In parallel to these advances the team has grown and the scale of projects we are working on has increased, with it working on titles like Transformers 3 and Captain America.
Media Mill
Media Mill pitches itself as a great all-rounder in the world of game audio production. Whether recording over 40 cars for Driver San Francisco or mixing soundtracks for Shogun 2, the York-based outfit has courted a reputation for excellence. In the past year it has continued its 11-year relationship with Evolution Studios by capturing the sound of a range of vehicles for Motorstorm Apocalypse. Now the team are hard at work producing sound effects for NGP launch title Little Deviants.
Nimrod Productions
2010/11 has been Nimrod’s most successful year to date, with 25 projects completed or currently in production, new personnel on board, and an expansion of all Nimrod’s services. Some of the main highlights for the outfit have been several of the projects the NSO orchestral team have embarked upon, including the score recordings of the epic Killzone 3, Split Second, and the film score to Pat Holden’s next feature film. A staunch supporter of using UK musicians, Nimrod remains one of the county’s most prolific audio outsourcers.
Richard Jacques Studios
Founded by its eponymous classically trained composer for video games, film and television, Richard Jacques Studios signature style has seen the company increasingly recognised as one of the most skilled audio team’s in interactive entertainment. It’s recent score for James Bond 007: Bloodstone alone was nominated for several GANG awards (one of which it won), a BAFTA, Gold Spirit awards and an Ivor Novello Award, demonstrating the expanding studio’s considerable talent.
Side UK
Side’s commitment to creating the most engaging characters it can with innovative casting, creative direction and superb recording has seen it contribute to some of the year’s most highly regarded titles. Its work on Castlevania; Lords of Shadow and the Goldeneye 007 remake demanded Side handle both celebrity voice talent and treasured IP, while its effort with the highly regarded audio of LittleBigPlanet 2 and Dragon Age II served to better Side’s impeccable reputation.
