Brad's Sonic Musings

Rèsumé

Employment:

01/12– present – Audio Director/Senior Manager of Sound Design
Sucker Punch Productions, Bellevue, WA

  • Manage the audio department, including internal and external resources incorporating integration, sound design, voiceover and music composition
  • Designing all audio systems utilizing a proprietary game engine and scripting language, and Wwise, including co-design of the HDR Audio feature within Wwise
  • Sound design, integration and audio direction
  • Engage with other leads to maintain communication and push features forward

12/09 – 01/12 – Audio Director
Free Range Games, Sausalito, CA

  • Responsible for designing audio for mobile and browser based games using Unity3d and C#, including audio systems design, sound design, scripting/audio programming, music composition and music licensing for multiple simultaneous projects
  • Wrote audio engine components in C# for use with Unity3D (pseudo-occlusion, randomization algorithms, advanced DSP, etc.)

11/08 – 12/09 Audio Director
1/06 – 11/08 Lead Sound Designer
Shaba Games/Activision, San Francisco, CA

  • Managed a team of 3 sound designers and a programmer, overseeing systems design, sound and music design, scheduling, training, mentoring & integration across multiple game engines and languages
  • One of six studio leads, responsible for management of all sound-related issues on  each project and maintaining communication with other departments.
  • Designed and integrated a majority of sounds in multiple engines and scripting languages.

03/01 – 01/06 Senior Sound Designer
Konami Digital Entertainment, Honolulu, HI

  • Audio Lead on one to two simultaneous projects responsible for spec, scheduling, design and integration, music direction, budgeting and deliveries
  • Co-developed proprietary tools and scripting language for interactive audio
  • Casted, coordinated and directed voice talent for all projects

03/99 – 03/01 Senior Sound Audio Designer
03/98 – 03/99 Associate Sound Designer
Berkeley Systems Incorporated, Berkeley, CA

  • Responsible for all sound issues from design to spec to execution of music, sound effects and voice with additional game design assistance
  • Developed relationships with third party technology providers
  • Established and managed the Video Editing department

 Selected Credits:

  • Ghost of Yotei (2025) [PS5]
  • Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut (2021) [PS4/PS5]
  • Ghost of Tsushima (2020) [PS4]
  • inFAMOUS: First Light (2014) [PS4/PSN]
  • inFAMOUS: Second Son (2014) [PS4]
  • Zaxxon Escape (2012) [iOS/Android]
  • SummitX Snowboarding (2011) [iOS/Android]
  • Freefall Tournament (2011) [PC online]
  • DJ Hero (2009) [X360/PS3/Wii/PS2]
  • Spider-man: Web of Shadows (2008) [X360/PS3/Wii]
  • Marvel Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition (2007) [X360]
  • Shrek the Third (2006) [X360/PS2/Wii]
  • Tony Hawk’s Project 8 (2006) [PS2/Xbox]
  • Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (2005) [PS2/PSP]
  • Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 1, 2, and 3 (2003/2004/2005) [Xbox]
  • Lost in Blue (2005) [DS]
  • Frogger Helmet Chaos (2005) [DS/PSP]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Melee (2004) [Xbox, PS2, Gamecube]
  • Frogger Beyond (2002) [Xbox, Gamecube, PC]
  • ESPN MLS Extratime 2002 (2002) [Xbox, Gamecube]
  • Frogger’s Adventures: Temple of the Frog (2001) [GBA]
  • Jurassic Park III: The DNA Factor (2001) [GBA]
  • Orcs: Revenge of the Ancient (1999)[cancelled] [PC]
  • Get the Picture (1999) [PC online]
  • You Don’t Know Jack: The Netshow (1998) [PC online]

Lectures/Presentations:

  • Game Audio Sound Design, GAX club meeting, SCAD, October 8, 2024
  • Life as an Audio Director, Boston Game Audio, November 30, 2021
  • Big World, Small Team: Designing a Scalable Ambience System for Ghost of Tsushima (with Apoorva Bansal), Game Developers Conference, San Francisco, CA,, July 2021
  • Sonic Storytelling: Audio as Exposition in Ghost of Tsushima (with Andrew Buresh & Michelle Thomas), Wwise Roadshow, December 2, 2020
  • A Peek Behind the Sound Design Curtain, Northwest University, March 12, 2018
  • Maximizing Workflow Efficiency, CarouselCon, San Francisco, CA March 2018
  • The Mix: Understanding Your Tools and How to Use Them, Game Developers Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 2017
  • You Hear That? Team Engagement for Audio, Game Developers Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 2016
  • Building a Game Audio Community (panel with Rob Bridgett), Game Developers Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 2016
  • Audio Systems Design of inFAMOUS Second Son, Montreal International Game Summit, Montreal, Quebec, November 10, 2014
  • We’re Not So Different After All: Sound Development Across Divergent Studios (with James Ackley, Damian Kastbauer, Kristen Quebe, and Jaclyn Shumate), PaxDev, Seattle, WA, August 27, 2014
  • Putting the Fantastic in Fantasy: Lessons in Practical Sound Design, University of Edinburgh, Napier, Scotland, May 2, 2014
  • A Technical Retrospective on PS4 Audio Development, Sony Game Technology Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 18, 2014
  • A Listen Behind the Curtain: Interactive Audio in Video Games (with James Ackley), EMP Museum, The Art of Video Games closing night, Seattle, WA, May 10, 2013
  • PS4 Audio Development for inFAMOUS: Second Son, Sony Game Technology Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 25, 2013
  • My Life as a Video Game Sound Designer (lecture), Art Institute of CA, SF,  August 4, 2010
  • Introduction to Video Game Sound Production Pipeline (lecture), Art Institute, March 15, 2010
  • Spider-man: Web of Shadows – An Audio Postmortem, Wwise Roadshow/G.A.N.G. meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 5, 2008

Publications

  • Game Audio Mixing: Insights to Improve You Mixing Performance, Alex Riviere, Routledge 2024
  • Aaron Marks’ Complete Guide to Game Audio, 3rd Edition, CRC Press, 2017
  • Contributing editor, designingsound.org (2016 – 2018)
  • Contributing writer, gamasutra.com (2008 – 2015)
  • Soundminer HD review, Game Developer Magazine, September 2011
  • Sound Seed Impact review, Game Developer Magazine, April 2009

Selected additional experience:

  • Charter member – Audio Foundation Council – Sony Interactive Entertainment 2024-present
  • AV installations “Vision through Sound” and “Dream Phone“, Lacuna Observatory, Siskyou Arts Museum 2024
  • Charter member – Audio Production Program Advisory Committee, Art Institute of California, San Francisco (2010 – 2012)
  • Supervising Sound Editor, Looking Down Canyon (2012, DV, directors: Sati Shah and Melody Shah)
  • Ambient Soundscape Design for art show “Interaction” by Joel G, Donner Gallery, Oakland, CA –  November 2010
  • Designed video game sound design curriculum for Pyramind school (2006)

Skills:

  • Audio: Reaper, ProTools, Logic Pro, Cubase/Nuendo, Sound Forge, RX,  etc.
  • Middleware: Unreal Engine, Unity, Wwise, FMOD, Scream, Maya, and multiple proprietary engines, tools, and scripting languages
  • Scripting: basic scripting, C#, unrealscript, javascript, Lisp/Scheme, Lua, & C
  • Sound Technologies: surround mixing, sound reinforcement, synthesis creation and manipulation, field/foley recording, microphone placement, sound effects database cataloging, voiceover direction, music editing, mixing, and mastering

Education:

  8/94 – 5/97 University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications awarded with high honors 5/22/97
Honors Thesis: Determining the Psychological Effects of Violence in Graphic Films