About

Our first event of the year will be a community roundtable. We will host a few members of the community to moderate the roundtable and get the discussion started. Everyone is welcome to contribute and will be open to english and french contributions in the discussion. The roundtable will revolve around one topic and last for 30min or more if the discussion goes well. We did this in the past on the topic of the use of "Silence" in video game sound and it was a superb evening. Other small surprises might be reserved for the night but overall we will just keep the room until 10PM as usual for drinks (bring your own) and good times. All are welcome. This roundtable will not be filmed so don't miss it !

This roundtable will explore the expansive world of Spatial Audio in interactive media, with a particular focus on video games. We'll begin with brief introductions from our team of moderators, followed by an open discussion with the community. Our goal is to examine the current and future roles of Spatial Audio.

In recent years, the availability of technology and tools for creators has significantly improved, signaling a broader adoption of Spatial Audio as a potential "inevitable" reality for many projects. Within this new world of possibilities much can be explored through this lens be it using spatial audio to serve narrative, gameplay, immersion or simply aesthetic goals within the game.

Interestingly, the use of Spatial Audio today also presents a unique dilemma: achieving "perfect" real-world acoustic simulation isn't always the desired outcome. Instead, creators may prioritize versatility in tools, processing power, and runtime optimization, as well as adaptability across a wide range of consumer devices (headphones, soundbars, etc.). The sonic 'quality' could also stray certain tools from the path of pure acoustic simulation, after all, as the saying in the film industry goes, "reality sounds like s**t."

Speakers

Thalie Keklikian is an electrical engineering graduate with a masters in general-purpose GPU computation. She has been part of the Audiokinetic Research and Development team since 2016, implementing solutions for Wwise Acoustics and integrating them in Unreal and Unity. Thalie enjoys gaming (from board games to video games), cycling, knitting, and playing the piano.

Dani Kogan is a Principal Technical Sound Designer at Eidos, deeply dedicated to the craft of video game development. His background is in game design, with dedication to C++ Programming.

Max Romain is an eclectic and versatile sound designer currently working at Warner Bros. Games. He discovered his passion for video games at an early age, when he borrowed his brother's Nintendo NES. After a first contact with music as a classical clarinet player and a Master of Arts (MA) in Musicology and Recording Arts in 2011, he made several collaborations as a composer and sound designer on short films and independent video games.

Passionate about interactive audio technology and immersion,he puts storytelling at the center of his craft and always try to keep his work experience-focused.