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Game soundtrack creation at inaugural High Score SongHubs

Media Published Tuesday 27 September 2022
Back row l-r: Anders Grønningsæter, Angela Little, Sean Crowley, Zander Hulme, Jeff van Dyck, Dmitri Golovko, Allison Walker, Anne-Marie Weber, Christopher Larkin. Front row l-r: Dion Spyropoulos, Meghann O'Neill, Starling Tan, Rosie Baldwin, Felix Wallis, Ango Zhu, Ai Yamamoto, Vitaly Zolotarev.

The inaugural High Score SongHubs is underway with BAFTA Award-winning composer Jeff van Dyck guiding an all-star group of composers and sound designers to craft the music and audio for an interactive game. The sessions run 26 September-29 September at Box Hill TAFE.

High Score SongHubs is presented by APRA AMCOS, in partnership with the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, as part of Melbourne International Games Week.

High Score SongHubs immerses participants into the game music creation process and gives access to the world class facilities at Box Hill TAFE's Sing Sing Studios.

Together with Queensland developer Alex Stevens from The Orphanage, and curator van Dyck, the participants of High Score SongHubs will bring a game to life with multiple full soundtracks. Four teams are already at work, each led by an experienced game composer and audio designer, to create their own take on the demo project under van Dyck’s guidance. Using FMOD, a software tool for adding adaptive audio, the projects will cover music, sound effects and foley all in four days.

SongHubs participants include Allison Walker (Sounds, Hidden to be Found), Hollow Knight composer Christopher Larkin and Anne-Marie Weber of Hands of Fate I and II fame. They are joined by selected applicants including Starling Tan (Loch Ness, Wrong Number), sound artist Ai Yamamoto, trumpet player and composer Rosie Baldwin, and recent Sydney Con grad Felix Wallis, who arranged strings for The Kid LAROI's F**k Love.

"High Score SongHubs is an awesome event for those wanting to learn some tricks of the trade of composing music and sound design from experienced composers and sound designers. It's a lot of fun hanging out with these keen attendees as they create music and sound effects for a game they've just played," said van Dyck, whose credits include the Total War series, Hand of Fate II and 2022 BAFTA Game of the Year winner Unpacking.

"Big thanks to APRA AMCOS for putting this together as it shows their commitment to recognising new opportunities for audio creators across Australia."

Peak industry body IGEA reported that income generated by Australian game development studios totaled $226.5m in 2020/2021 and that studios will need to hire more skilled professionals to meet demand and growth.

"We're excited to bring together SongHubs and High Score to present this unique opportunity for those working in game audio. It is a chance for emerging voices to get experience, for our senior audio creators to gain experience leading and managing a team, and to bring together incredible talent from around Australia. Lessons and connections from this project can only strengthen our growing national game audio industry," said Cameron Lam, Art Music Lead, APRA AMCOS.

Minister for Creative Industries Steve Dimopoulos said, “Victoria is a home to a thriving music scene and Australia’s biggest games sector, we’re backing both industries to work together – creating new compelling works and business opportunities.

“High Score SongHubs provides a coveted opportunity for some of Victoria’s most dynamic creatives to level up skills and explore new opportunities, while showcasing some of the state’s biggest strengths – music and digital games.”

Since SongHubs launched in 2013, across more than 80 events worldwide, over A$4m in performance royalties for the initiative's collaborators has been earned. SongHubs has produced commercial releases for the likes of Briggs, Troye Sivan, Tayla Parx, Morgan Evans, Peking Duk, Tkay Maidza, Ainslie Wills, The Chainsmokers, Guy Sebastian, Ecca Vandal, Chaii and many more.


Curator

Jeff van Dyck

APRA AMCOS Special Guests

Allison Walker, Anders Grønningsæter, Angela Little, Anne-Marie Weber, Christopher Larkin, Dmitri Golovko, Meghann O'Neill, Zander Hulme

APRA AMCOS Participants

Ai Yamamoto, Ango Zhu, Dion Spyropoulos, Felix Wallis, Rosie Baldwin, Sean Crowley, Starling Tan, Vitaly Zolotarev

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