GDC 09: Deprogrammed Day 6

DAY 0110-6

Great final day here in San Fran. Hung out with some great friends, and had some great discussions about many many exciting things I can't yet talk about... =)

I have an early flight back home, so time for me to get a couple hours of shut eye.




Until next time, cheers. =)

GDC 09: Deprogrammed Day 5

DAY 0110-5

Thursday was the busiest back to back schedule by far. Early morning rise for an 8am meeting, and attended several panels throughout the day on topics such as DSP in games, and copyright laws, with a ton of additional meetings sprinkled in throughout the day. Good stuff. Hooked up throughout the day with a guy from Seattle that I've been doing some foley work with - he's captured some really great stuff this week - INCLUDING the BART train Silent Hill scraping mechanical sound I missed on the way in on Day one. He saved the day on that one man - cant wait to get my paws on that content.

Had lunch with my good friend Kevin - the "Elvis Scramble" I ordered was quite frankly a "hunka-hunka burnin crap" - but hell - I was hungry, so fork went directly to mouth. Kev and I met with the guys from HM/HY later on for drinks and dinner and had a really great time. These guys are doing some amazingly brilliant work, and without them, I can guarantee you these last couple albums would never have turned out as well as it did. All I can tell you is.. just wait until the Damage begins....

Somehow though, I woke up at 7:30am this morning. What the hell is wrong with me.. anyway, today is my last day in San Fran - few more panels and meetings, then likely early in tonight - have a 6:00am flight back home - so that'll be interesting. =)

Oh - the photo. Almost forgot - this is one of the crazy walls in the restaurant downstairs. Very interesting design indeed. Gives me a lot of ideas.... Cheers - catch up with ya later.

GDC 09: Deprogrammed Day 4

DAY 0110-4

This was a whirlwind of a day. Gonna keep this short =)

Several business meetings throughout the day, and squeezed in a chance to attend several panels on some really good topics ranging from complex audio team collaboration and some really interesting licensing discussions.

And of course, considering the hectic schedule today - I didn't get a chance to record any foley on the streets of San Fran like I wanted to - maybe Friday. I did see a very interesting street performer today though that had this bizarre instrument that basically sounded like a guitar, but built from what appeared to be a gas powered weed whacker. Very bizarre, but thoroughly entertaining.



Back at it tomorrow, another full schedule - time for this kid to head to sheep countin' world. =)

GDC 09: Deprogrammed Day 3

DAY 0110-3

So, the first thing I did this morning was call my wife to apologize for doing something really dumb. On the upside though, she said she would spank me when I get home (fingers crossed) =)

Afterwards, I sat down at breakfast with a couple of the Game Audio Network Guild guys and got a chance to listen to some pretty cool glitch automation that one of the guys has been doing in Reason 4.0 - it's some material he's been teaching to his students - pretty cool stuff.

So from there, it was back to the hotel to finish up some email, and pretty myself up before heading out to meet a fellow composer, then hopped down to Pyramind for the GANG event. This was a lot of fun - a really great opportunity to finally meet a lot of these guys I've been talking to over the last year or so. Some amazingly creative people for sure.

OH - and on the way down to the dinner - I heard out of nowhere this blaring DJ style record scratch - looked over and saw this guy with an old school genuine boombox - Electric Boogaloo style - This guy was silver, head to toe - literally, Face, Jumper, everything. Too bad I forgot my freakin' camera - but I promise - more crazy street people action comin at ya in the next couple days.



For some reason, I look pretty damn cranky in this photo. It's my "Damn kids, get off my lawn" look.

Me => Sleep.

GDC 09: Deprogrammed Day 2

DAY 0110-2

A day of finally meeting lots of people face to face, and catching up with long lost friends.

Got a good chance to grab some breakfast this morning with some guys from the Game Audio Network Guild - chomped on my favorite breakfast EVARRRR. Everything bagel, toasted, cream cheese. Simple, yet oh so satisfying.

Afternoon of business meetings, and a quiet evening with a long lost friend I haven't seen in 15 years. It was great to finally catch up. We went to elementary school together, and kept in touch throughout the years - It was a small private school , and if memory serves me correctly I think both of us were somewhere within the first 15 students.

So I gotta tell ya - one thing I noticed as I walk between the hotel and convention center - This city is ALIVE. It's a real melting pot for sure. The street musicians are very entertaining, and very resourceful. Saw a guy with his drum set, that had his son playing the freakin cowbell. Bruce Dickinson would have been proud. - A couple blocks down, a book and the sidewalk were another guy's percussive elements of choice.

Favorite quote of the day, after passing a couple gals while crossing the street: "That dude looks like the guy from the Matrix!"

WHOA.

GDC09: Deprogrammed Day 1

So the day has finally come. I am here in San Fransisco for the 2009 Game Developers Conference. I figured it would be good to go ahead and document the trip, and post nightly throughout my stay here. So, without further ado, here we go:

DAY 0110-1

Arrived at the airport in SEA way early, only to find out the airline had changed, the plane was late, and suddenly had a buttload of time to waste. So, after several trips thru the gift shop and a couple boredom trips to the bathroom, we decided we'd get somethin to eat.

After getting through security and watching the understandably flustered couple in front of me that had TSA opening their bottles of baby formula, I finally got to the gate, which of course ALSO changed, and had another flight delay thrown in for good measure. Nice. Once I finally got onto the plane, the dude next to me decided this would be a good time to finish off his big ass plate of Kung Pao chicken before we took off. He was SHOVELLIN' it in. Now I love Chinese takeout just as much as the next guy, but the smell was rather pungent in such a closed space. After we took off, I think he was regretting it. He had his tray table down and hands over his eyes the entire flight. I was expecting Kung Pao upchuck at any moment.

After landing at SFO, I went ahead and took the lightrail system into town. (The BART) - All I can say is that I REALLY wish I had remembered to charge my digital recorder, 'cause this thing was making the most horrifying brutal Silent Hill-esque mechanical scraping noises as we flew thru the tunnels. Would have been perfect sample fodder for some upcoming projects. =)



Anyway, all checked into the hotel, got my bearings in a city I haven't been to in what seems to be ages, and I am all ready to rock. I'll keep ya all updated through the week. Cheers!

The Damage Begins...

Deprogrammed Spotlight Feature @ FiXT

Hi all - just wanted to quickly link ya to a new feature that went live today over @ FiXT:

http://www.fixtstore.com/page/16/deprogrammed

Cheers!
Otto