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Final Day!

PRACTICE PRESENTATIONS IN THE MORNING!

Order

  1. Algorithms (The egg problem, etc)
  2. Twine Projects
  3. Game AI
  4. Processing Animations
  5. Ludology and Narratology Debate (Ludus, Paida, Narrative)
  6. Simulations
  7. Artificial Intelligence
  8. Arduino

SEND THIS TO PARENTS AND FRIENDS FOR THE WEBCAST at 14:00 : http://live.efzer.org/stanford2015

These are the last blog post I will ask you to write…

  1. Blog: Your final project, if you have not be able to.
  2. Blog: Write about your memories from this course. What did you learn? What will you remember? What was useful? Was this a unique experience? Post pictures. Wait for me to get you the link. Here it is: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1i3KUmC9
    1. PLEASE THANK EACH TA :D
  3. Blog: Thank Benjamin Prunty :D
What were you doing in Highschool, and what did you do in college?
[10:30:50] Benjamin: In high school I was struggling to get decent grades, and playing a lot of videogames like Final Fantasy and Quake. Near the end of high school I got some music-making software and started tinkering with it. I had no formal training, so I was just winging it the whole time. Most of the stuff I made wasn't very good. :D
[10:30:57] sherol: haha.. nice
[10:31:53] Benjamin:  I went to college for audio engineering, which in this case was recording local bands in a studio. Meanwhile I spent many hours in my dorm room with a synthesizer and drum machine trying to figure out how to make electronic music. Again, I had no teacher to help with this specifically, though the audio engineering certainly helped.
[10:32:01] sherol: When you compose, do you use piano/instruments more or or digital
[10:32:26] sherol: compose on real instruments or digitally
[10:33:03] Benjamin: I'm almost entirely digital. Everything I do is in software. I can play piano and banjo bit and I'm currently teaching myself to play electric guitar.
[10:33:55] sherol: do you ever record yourself playing a real instrument to put in a game?
[10:35:06] Benjamin: I've started to record guitar parts occasionally and I've recorded acoustic drum parts for some things, but it's fairly minimal.
[10:35:24] Benjamin: I'm trying to incorporate more and more real instruments as I go.
[10:35:47] sherol: Our student, Jack organized a Shanghai student music festival. They did had it few days ago.
[10:36:07] Benjamin: Wow, awesome!
[10:36:21] Benjamin: I never did anything that cool when I was in school.
[10:36:25] sherol: mostly it was like rock and punk music.. Some metal.
[10:36:31] sherol: He plays bass
[10:36:38] sherol: another student, Bran was the vocalist
[10:36:55] sherol: I'm telling them all to play FTL, they would love it.
[10:37:12] Benjamin: :D
[10:37:20] sherol: Do you have to work on Sound effects and music?
[10:37:47] Benjamin: I did both sound effects and music on earlier projects like FTL and Gravity Ghost, but these days I'm just a music guy.
[10:38:07] Benjamin: I can send a picture of my studio if you think you guys can receive it okay.
[10:38:13] sherol: ok
[10:38:31] sherol: can you over skype?
[10:38:39] sherol: it seems to be working
[10:38:45] Benjamin: Cool.
[10:38:56] sherol: Mike asks, he wants to do electronic music. Where can he start?
[10:40:47] Benjamin: That's a good question. I don't know what software is available in your region, but the first thing you need is a computer and a digital audio workstation, which is software. Most of the nice ones have an entry level version that's relatively cheap.
[10:40:58] sherol: How do you teach yourself to play guitar?... how do you overcome the difficulties to get better at it?
[10:41:20] sherol: (sorry.. i realized you are still answering the last question)
[10:42:13] Benjamin: Check out Ableton, FL Studio, or Cubase. Maybe also get a small USB musical keyboard to go with it. This will be a good start. You'll also need a solid understanding of music theory and the time to train yourself to use the software.
[10:42:37] sherol: They use FL Studio
[10:42:43] sherol: they said
[10:42:43] Benjamin: Yeah, perfect.
[10:44:53] Benjamin: As for teaching myself guitar: I have a couple of books on guitar, plus I simply find sheet music of songs that I like and practice that. My music theory knowledge makes transitioning to a new instrument just a little bit quicker. There's also a great game called Rocksmith that I use all the time. I don't know if you guys have played Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but it's like that but with a real guitar, with lessons and everything.
[10:45:28] Benjamin: It's REALLY hard to stick with an instrument. I'm incredibly lazy. So self-discipline is probably the hardest part of learning guitar for me. :D
[10:46:29] sherol: Who's your favorite game composer?
[10:48:17] Benjamin: My favorite soundtrack ever is for EarthBound, so I guess that would make my favorite composer Keiichi Suzuki. Jesper Kyd (Assassin's Creed, MDK2) was a also a huge inspiration when I was starting out.
[10:48:50] sherol: Do you do orchestra music ever?.. or what style?
[10:51:02] Benjamin: I've made  exactly two orchestra pieces, entirely in software. I could theoretically write music for orchestra, since I can read and write sheet music and have a rough understanding of how an orchestra works. But it's really not my forte. My influences are on the pop/rock/funk/electronic side.
[10:51:13] Benjamin: I hope to do more orchestra work someday though.
[10:51:26] sherol: Cool
[10:51:40] sherol: Where do you get ideas
[10:52:06] sherol: is it when you are walking or taking a shower?
[10:52:13] Benjamin: Sometimes, yes!
[10:52:20] Benjamin: Or driving.
[10:52:54] Benjamin: Or watching a movie or talking with someone. Really, ideas can happen any time.
[10:53:20] Benjamin: The ideas are not as useful as just experimenting with chord progressions and melodies though.
[10:53:22] sherol: do you start with notes or beats?
[10:53:57] Benjamin: Generally I start with either a chord progression or some kind of rhythm part.
[10:55:06] sherol: ok... We are gonna try to skype you and say goodbye!
[10:55:43] Benjamin: Okay!
[10:55:46] sherol: Thank you so much!
[10:56:00] sherol: We are all interested and greatful :)
[10:56:05] *** Call to Benjamin Prunty ***
[11:01:02] *** Call ended, duration 04:53 ***
[11:01:17] Benjamin: That was awesome! Thanks everyone.
/soe/sherol/.html/teaching/data/pages/spcs/2015/day10.txt · Last modified: 2015/07/16 20:21 by ffpaladin