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Cut SceneGame Sound SpecialSpeciald Game Sound Sound SpecialSpecialGame Sound SpecialSound Game Game SpecialGame Sound Sound Game SpecialGame SpecialSound Game SoundSpecSTHE SONNOX TOOLSETHigh end plug-ins that can add sparkle,impact, and energy to your sound.Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. – music by Tom Salta.Music To Fly-ByHigh energy games music specialist Tom Salta talksabout his work, and his tools.KKnown for his epic, high-energy music for thelikes of Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. and GhostRecon: Advanced Warfighter, Ubisoft’s Red Steel,Sony’s MLB 2006, and EA’s Need for SpeedUnderground 2, Composer/Producer Tom Salta hascreated a strong niche for himself in a highlycompetitiveindustry. With a music background thatincludes work with artists such as Peter Gabriel andWhitney Houston, Tom Salta’s combination of melodiccreativity and technical skills consistently produce afirst-class product.What led you to the world of video games?One day I was playing Halo on the Xbox, and thelight bulb went off. I was listening to the musicon-screen and starting paying attention to it…At that point I figured it would be smart to usemy strongest assets to create music that would beuseful for certain kinds of video games – particularlydriving and/or high action extreme sports. I decidedto create an album of licensable high-energyelectronica music… It was called Two Days or Dieunder the artist name Atlas Plug.Overall, the idea actually worked very well;before I was done with it, Microsoft came along andlicensed three or four songs for a game called RallySport Challenge 2. Right at the same time, Volvo wasdoing a new ad campaign for a car that was featuredin the game. They heard the music the game wasusing and said they wanted it for their commercial.It was a grand slam in terms of licensing andexposure, and it gave the album a terrific launch.Tom SaltaWhat is your main production platform?I work with Logic Audio mostly, but also with ProTools. While I combine both hardware and software,it’s become an atrophying studio (of hardware).I still keep my rack Mini Moog, and Roland 1080s, andthe rest of my old keyboards hanging on my wall forsentimental value. Now, it’s pretty much all softwareand my favourite instruments are from companieslike Spectrasonics and Native Instruments.Are most of your deliveries in stereo?Yes. I have done some 5.1 and quad deliveries, butthe trend in games is more for me to deliver stereo.For some of the larger companies, I end up givingthem stems and they can mix the surround,although it depends on the company and theproject size.So when did you start using the Oxfordplug-ins?A friend of mine turned me on to them, and whenI had a chance to listen, they jumped out at me.I really liked the Inflator, Dynamics, and EQ. The EQhas a very sweet sound to it. It’s a subtle quality thatmy ears, after so many years, just know.How about the Oxford Dynamics?I was really impressed with that one. I find that goodsoftware compressors are generally hard to come by,especially if you want to do something comparableto the ‘days of old,’ when I would plug into an LA-2Aor the Fairchild and it simply worked or didn’t.That’s the way the Dynamics feels to me andI’m blown away by its flexibility. It has a lot ofcomponents in there, which help me out whenI need them. I also like the way you can turn thedifferent modules on and off.So how do you use the Inflator?Generally, I like using it on the stereo mix. It addsa lot of energy without compressing the sound.I don’t use it in a subtle way and prefer ‘slamming’ it.Most often, it adds just the right amount of powerand loudness without losing the sense of dynamics.It’s an energy enhancer. ∫Two tools that are proving extremely popularfor the games market, mostly because of theenergy and impact they can inject into audio– without kicking the stuffing out of it withcompression – are the Oxford Inflator and theTransient Modulator.The Inflator provides an increase in apparentloudness, without obvious loss of quality or audiblereduction of dynamic range. It can also add power,presence, and warmth, and even provide headroomoverload margin abovedigital maximum witha subtlety and musicalcharacter reminiscent oftube systems.The Transient Modulator allows dramaticmanipulation of signal transients. It cancompletely exaggerate or dampen the attacks,with continuous variation between all settings.So, if you’re after more ‘snap’ in your gunfireor more ‘crack’ in your explosions, this is youranswer. Conversely, it can bring up the ambiencesurrounding a specificsound by softeningthe attack. TransientModulator gives life todull sounding recordings,without the unwantedchanges in overall timbreassociated with compression.Other Sonnox plug-ins include the famousOxford EQ and Oxford Dynamics – both based onalgorithms from the acclaimed Sony OXF-R3 digitalmixing console.The Sonnox Reverb plug-in has a pool ofstunning presets as well as full control overmany parameters, including a comprehensiveearly reflections section, and integrated fivebandEQ. The Oxford Limiter provides programloudness control and limiting functions.Its Enhance function provides sample valuelimiting, and allows unprecedented volume andpunch to be applied to program.The Oxford SuprEsser is fully-featured proDe-Esser and a Dynamic EQ. An intuitive FFT displayand three listen modes enable the user to easily seeand hear exactly where the problem frequenciesare, and since the SuprEsser can operate at allfrequencies, ‘plosives’ and other annoyances canalso be removed effortlessly.............................SonnoxINFORMATIONwww.sonnoxplugins.comAUDIO MEDIA JULY 2009 – PROMOTIONAL FEATURE31