poll: what do you do?

[spesimen]

very neat! i've always been interested in designing video games, but that was particularly back in the old school days. what kind of stuff do you do exactly? character/art design? gameplay design? or do you work with the actual programming? which system do you like to work with more, ps2 or xbox?

hmm, for me it's mostly gameplay design and management stuff (since i'm a lead designer for my current project.) so it's a lot of supervising level designs, helping the programming whizkids with direction for how to tweak the moves and controls and enemy behavior, big picture stuff, and then a lot of "buck stops here" detailed tweaking. the core gameplay concepts are also my department, although there's a team of talented folks here so everything is collaborative to some degree and a lot of times i'm just moderating debates between different folks. "fun" is pretty subjective as you can imagine.

i prefer the ps2 controller for playing by far.. but the xbox is easier to develop for in a lot of ways. for me it doesn't make much difference since mostly our codebase is the same for both platforms other than the rendering and some memory management stuff, so only a few people really deal with the differences. i think those guys like the xbox though, just because the high-level directx stuff is a lot easier to work with than trying to optimize using the vector units in the ps2. and the xbox has easier 5.1 sound and music support built-in

cheers

[alarmo]

by day: software guy doing supply chain stuff (if you have to ask, you don't wanna know).
by night: often the same but otherwise guitar/banjo/pedal steel/bass player for various bands, and all-around home recording guy.

BTW, props to durasoundrecordingco for the first les savy fav quote i've seen on this board... i was just listening to that record.....

[prince turbo lung]

soundguy dave i have had 2 healers in my life, like dwell said they are extremly bright. mine are both red healers (one passed bless her heart). the female was less aggresive. they are very protective of things they feel are yours, house, yard, car, studio...etc. they seem to only bark when it is time to work...i.e. protecting the heard. they are so easy to train, but you need to be firm. i got both my dogs from a shelter in colorado, lots of ranches out there. you may also consider a border collie they are a little less aggressive. but alas they don't kick ass like the road warrior. feel free to email me with dog questions.

kerry

[soundguy]

keeping in line with the standards set for this sound department, the dog would definitely have to kick ass, no doubt about it. I pretty much dont want a dog that all sorts of people want to walk up to and pet, or worse, feed, which is a huge problem on a film set. I dont think Ive ever seen a healer and felt comfortable enough to walk right up and tussle some fur. Intimidating, but not scary...

The one in the road warrior was pretty badass.

DOG!

dave

[DeafinONEear]

ya gotta watch out though-- my ex had a blue heeler and whenever she went out it tore the shit out of anything it could get it's mouth on.
They need lots of attention (at least this one did) and, indeed, firmness.
Ya know what, though-- many many people were always coming up to the dog and petting it. Maybe she was a wierd one, but she got all protective and territorial very few times, though when she did-- LOOK OUT!

[thereminman]

DWELLE------what part of the SJ Valley are you in?? Is this the man from Ragin Records?

INVERSEROOM---
yes, Clara Rockmore.....DID rock. She died not too long ago. If you know her from her album, it's amazing...she recorded that thing as an older lady with her long-time accompaniest sister on piano. And of course her theremin-ing on the movie *about* Theremin himself was pretty amazing as well.

[quasimodo]

For the last 3 years I made my living as an AE, but work seems to have dried up in the last few months so I am spending a lot of time looking for new gigs/opportunities/bands to develop,etc. I have been enjoying the weather though!

ya gotta watch out though-- my ex had a blue heeler and whenever she went out it tore the shit out of anything it could get it's mouth on.
They need lots of attention (at least this one did) and, indeed, firmness.

That's why you should crate train your puppy, worked for our black Lab.

[dwelle]

thereminman,
i'm in visalia. i'm the artist formerly know as the man from ragin' records. i sold it to my friend mark in january. it's in better hands now, and i've freed up a lot more time, $, and energy for recording and playing music. you're just up the road, aren't you? kingsburg?.....

drop me a line...

marc

[foley]

I teach 8th graders US History by day and hang with the wife/dabble in my recording studio/read/run/sleep at night. Lately I have been leading worship services at our church and trying desperately to find songs that allow people to enter into worship without the cheesy trappings of the mainstream Christian radio crap. Tough assignment, but I'm on it.

As far as dogs go, we have a ten year old black lab we picked up from the Humane Society last year. She puts the M in mellow, but knows which neighbor's yard to crap on, which is a gift. I second the cage training technique. I have a couple of friends who are now getting rid of their golden because of it's chewing habits. They *refused* to get a cage, and now the dog has to suffer. Hmmm...

This is a great topic, btw.

mf

[dwelle]

labs are nuts like that. queenslands don't chew unless they're undiciplined and bored. then you're in trouble...

the only thing my dog ever chewed was a comforter.

you cannot train (or at least i wouldn't) a heeler like that. dog would be seriously warped for life, i think.

[bert]

I'm a customer service rep for a courier company.

then, later on...I record stuff for people.

I play guitar in a band, and started playing drums in another one.
both are new projects though, no names or shows or even songs yet.


***and then since everyon's talking about their pets***
I have a beta. You know, those japanese fighting fish. He totally acts like a dog, he rules.
his name is charlie and he swims around all crazy when I get home and blows me bubbles and plays hide and seek with me and stuff.

[NewAndImprov]

Job: I design CD-Roms and websites that accompany college textbooks, mostly Director and Flash type stuff, plus as much live sound and recording as I can fit in or get people to pay me for.

Music: play bass in a 6-piece avant jazz funk/hip hop, gigging 4-6 times a month., plus we have a cd coming out next month, I'd post the website, but it's not built yet.

Dog: Eleanor, a hyper-smart collie/golden retriever mix. Plus 2 pure-bred British Shorthair cats. Great personalities all, but none will coil a cable.

[cwileyriser]

aye, am I the only office bitch thats on this board?

Nope you're not. Although I might be more of an office motherf**er than an office bitch, since technically I guess have I office bitches working for me (but I wouldn't call them them - I like my employees!). I'm a tax lawyer, working on making enough to "retire" so I can afford to record and play music for fun on a full-time basis!

I'm pretty lucky I guess, though. My wife lets me play music as much as I want. I play upright bass in a really fun old-time mountain music (think pre-bluegrass...) band in the NC mountains (a band that actually MAKES money when we play - now THAT is a novelty after years of indie rock/alt country bands). I've also got a friend in NYC who I've played with on a fill-in basis on some really fun tour gigs with a famous and very cool drummer (who's actually the one who introduced me to Tape Op). I'm working on a solo project now that's going really well.

Maybe I'm suffering from "grass is greener" syndrome, but I know that while I like my day job, I get tired of it, and I've never gotten tired of playing music.

CWR

[TapeOpHillary]

uh...what do I do?
...or who do I do?

[Professor]

Wow, this post has been floating around for a couple of days and I only just noticed it. I guess I am one of those ones who has fallen way past the deep end on this audio stuff.

For the past few years I had a full time job installing home theater systems for the wealthy and other A/V installation like commercial background music and the ocassional bit of live sound and/or recording. When I wasn't working I attended master's level classes in recording at the University of Colorado at Denver, I ran a small location recording business, played with my own high-end stereo at home and often found myself answering audio questions on forums in my spare time.

But all of that has changed now - well not really. Six months ago I took the position of Recording Engineer for a state University's School of Music. My first task was to spend about $300,000 to equip their Russ Berger designed studio that had lay empty for a couple years, waiting for gear money. So the installation is nearly complete and I am workig on the policies for studio use, the rates, hiring student employees, deciding what classes to offer and how I might teach them, you know the usual shit. I put the install on hold for the last two months to do a bunch of recordings before the end of the semester and got back into the swing of install this past week. Next week the sessions start again which will be both hectic and fun. Oh, I also cruise the internet searching for deals on gear, try to find good music at local clubs, read through all of the various trade journals as they come in, and I still answer questions on audio forums, just to make sure I am ready for anything that the students or faculty might throw at me. (Yes, this is my proving ground.) Oh, and the absolute kicker is that they pay me to do all of that - and boy did they have to twist my arm into this gig.

-Jeremy