# Greetings! From Sony PlayStation



## Glen Brown (Jun 18, 2020)

Hey guys! Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Glen, an in-house composer for Sony PlayStation. Looking forward to getting know more of you on here!  

G x


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## StillLife (Jun 18, 2020)

Welcome, I do like my ps4 very much!


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## Glen Brown (Jun 18, 2020)

StillLife said:


> Welcome, I do like my ps4 very much!



Thank you! wait until you get your hands on the 5


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## Rory (Jun 18, 2020)

Glen Brown said:


> Thank you! wait until you get your hands on the 5




Marcus Brownlee's new video on PlayStation 5:


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## laurikoivisto (Jun 18, 2020)

Welcome! What's your job description?


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## Tice (Jun 18, 2020)

Welcome! I'd be very interested to know if you feel composing for PS5 games will be different in any way because of it's changes in technology?


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## Glen Brown (Jun 18, 2020)

My role involves but isn't limited to: music composition, production, arrangement, editing and implementation. So in a nutshell - every step of the process from creating AAA music assets to implementing and testing them in game. The specifics will depend on the project; sometimes we work with freelance composers so in those cases it's more providing feedback to them and then implementing their assets in the game. On other projects however, I'm involved with everything.

Re: Composing for PS5 and difference that may come about from technology.

It's an interesting question, and probably worthy of a thread in it's own right! As you may be aware, one of the major technological advancements in the PS5 is 3D audio - so that opens the door to so many different possibilities when it comes to composition and the way music can be used to support and build a narrative.

Composing for games in itself opens the door to so many creative opportunities that you can't get with "traditional" linear composition. How will the music blend and adapt to what the player is doing and how will it help tell the story? As storytellers, we want to give the player freedom to explore and enjoy the games in their own way - each individual players journey can and should be different, and the music is a critical part of enabling that experience.

I think one of the greatest things about technological advancements (beyond better graphics, higher-fidelity audio and load times so fast they're basically non-existent) is that it removes technology as being a barrier to creativity. So I think it's really exciting for all of us as composers and creatives to be part of an age where such major advancements are taking place. I think creatives have just as much reason to be excited as gamers - if not more so! 

G x


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## Tice (Jun 18, 2020)

Thanks for answering that! It's a very promising prospect. Using adaptable 3D reverb in accordance with the player experience is a very nice new 'color' to paint with.


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## chrisr (Jun 18, 2020)

Hiya Glen,

I'm interested to know how it works for a composer in a very large organisation like that as regards product licenses/usage? Do you provide your own rig / tools or does Sony just kit out a nice composing room with loads of libraries? Does that present any problems with usage permissions etc..?

best,
Chris


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## Glen Brown (Jun 18, 2020)

chrisr said:


> Hiya Glen,
> 
> I'm interested to know how it works for a composer in a very large organisation like that as regards product licenses/usage? Do you provide your own rig / tools or does Sony just kit out a nice composing room with loads of libraries? Does that present any problems with usage permissions etc..?
> 
> ...



Hey!

Sony have bespoke EULA's with each of it's vendors. Nothing get's used without the correct permissions in place


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## chrisr (Jun 18, 2020)

Very nice - I imagine you have quite an impressive set up over there!

cheers,
Chris


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## Scoremixer (Jun 18, 2020)

Glen Brown said:


> It's an interesting question, and probably worthy of a thread in it's own right! As you may be aware, one of the major technological advancements in the PS5 is 3D audio - so that opens the door to so many different possibilities when it comes to composition and the way music can be used to support and build a narrative.



Are there any specs posted up as to what the PS5 can output/what the internal engines are designed for?


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## Glen Brown (Jun 18, 2020)

Scoremixer said:


> Are there any specs posted up as to what the PS5 can output/what the internal engines are designed for?



At the moment, I don't believe specific specs have been published. Just that PS5 audio is handled by the "Tempest 3D Audio Engine". https://blog.playstation.com/2020/0...ls-of-playstation-5-hardware-technical-specs/


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## Scoremixer (Jun 18, 2020)

Glen Brown said:


> At the moment, I don't believe specific specs have been published. Just that PS5 audio is handled by the "Tempest 3D Audio Engine". https://blog.playstation.com/2020/0...ls-of-playstation-5-hardware-technical-specs/



Interesting - if Sony can work out a relatively painless way of assessing/calculating accurate HRTFs for players it could be a leap forward in terms of domestically acceptable mass-market 3d audio.


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## David Kudell (Jun 18, 2020)

Hey Glen, welcome to the forums. This is a great community with a lot of great talent! It's great to have someone in your role here, I imagine you've been a big part of some really cool stuff at Sony. Thanks for sharing!


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## darkmagi250 (Jun 18, 2020)

Nice to meet you Glen! A job as an in-house composer at Sony sounds AWESOME! You may have been asked this broad question many times, but how do those types of jobs come for you? And for a beginner video game composer as myself who has gotten some projects composing for video games, how tough is it to get in the AAA industry nowadays?
Thanks, and welcome again!


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## sndmarks (Jun 18, 2020)

Can you tell us a little about the gig? How did you land it? Whereabouts do you work? What's your avg day look like?


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## Tice (Jun 18, 2020)

@Rory, even using headphones, the binaural option coupled with the ability to process the sound through a virtual 3d space in realtime can be extremely useful in games, and will sound great for anyone with headphones. Even music can benefit from this.


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## JyTy (Jun 18, 2020)

Hey Glen welcome!


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## Rory (Jun 18, 2020)

Tice said:


> @Rory, even using headphones, the binaural option coupled with the ability to process the sound through a virtual 3d space in realtime can be extremely useful in games, and will sound great for anyone with headphones. Even music can benefit from this.



Hi, I deleted my post replying to post #14 because I was concerned about taking this thread off track on a complicated and controversial issue. Part of what I was trying to do is distinguish between ambisonic and binaural. I think that mono compatibility is no longer a major issue, that binaural compatibility with stereo may be less problematic than is often suggested, and that binaural has the potential for broader acceptance in the medium term. It's also much less expensive than 3D and, as you say, accessible by anyone with headphones if not monitors. On stereo compatibility, there are credible people who think that the issue is overblown. I'm about to process the recordings that I made with the Neumann KU100 Dummy Head and expect to find out how real the problem is.


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## Glen Brown (Jun 18, 2020)

darkmagi250 said:


> Nice to meet you Glen! A job as an in-house composer at Sony sounds AWESOME! You may have been asked this broad question many times, but how do those types of jobs come for you? And for a beginner video game composer as myself who has gotten some projects composing for video games, how tough is it to get in the AAA industry nowadays?
> Thanks, and welcome again!



Nice to meet everyone too.

In terms of getting those types of jobs, I can only speak from my experience, which is that there is no set rules/path when it comes to jobs in the arts. It's the blessing and curse of this field of work - everyone is able to carve their own paths and build their career in their own way, often through an awful lot of trial and error (certainly in my case anyway!). The curse is that there's no set roadmap like in many other professions.

For me personally, I tried to learn and get involved with everything I possibly could in all aspects of music and media, including both composition, post-production, sound design etc. Many people say that you should specialise in one particular area, be that orchestral and games composition or hip hop and trap. In my experience, I found generalising in lots of different areas very useful, especially when I was starting out because at the beginning of your career, any professional experience will be valuable for you, and the more areas you're comfortable working in, the more opportunities you will find that are applicable to you. I guess it was helpful for me that I genuinely love a huge variety of music and all aspects of production fascinates me - so I never saw learning one technique or another as a chore - jumping from Harmony books on Bach Chorales to youtube videos on 808's and subtractive synthesis was what made it all so fun!

The best advice I can give is to just continue to do what you love, and do a lot of it! Whether that's composing for Indie Games (sounds like you've already got some success there), writing for music libraries (this can be a great source of professional composing opportunities), adverts, student films etc.

Games studios want passionate, knowledgeable people who live and breathe their craft. That applies to everyone from Programmers, Modellers, Sound Designers and of course composers. If you wake up every day with a passion to learn, create and connect with others, and you've got a showreel to prove it, I'm sure it wont be long until you're working on the types of jobs you've always dreamed of!

G x


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## isabellaiss001 (Oct 15, 2021)

Hello, welcome I adore playing on my ps4!


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## KEM (Oct 15, 2021)

Welcome!! Excited to hear your insight into how music is created and implemented into game development, glad to have you here!!


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## mybadmemory (Oct 15, 2021)

Welcome Glen! Fellow gamedev here since 15 years (though my day job is in art and design, and music’s just a hobby).


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## FrozenIcicle (Oct 15, 2021)

Mac or windows? Or do Sony use their own 😅


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## DennyB (Oct 15, 2021)

Haha, welcome Glen! A very long time ago I was the audio developer at Harmonix and wrote the PS/2 audio engine for Amplitude, the precursor game to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I cobbled together composing stations by hijacking the midi signal from Cubase and sending it over the wire to these monstrous PS/2 dev boxes so that our composers could hear what the tracks would sound like in the wild. I would love to hear/see the rigs you all have now, they are undoubtedly much more civilized.


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## Rossy (Oct 17, 2021)

Glen Brown said:


> Hey guys! Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Glen, an in-house composer for Sony PlayStation. Looking forward to getting know more of you on here!
> 
> G x


Welcome to the nut house


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