video game sound design demo reel

Question

I am currently planning my demo reel. Most of what I've worked on are video games and short animated movies that I remade the sound for. I am thinking that I can just record footage and then edit it on a video editing program like iMovie (since that is what I can most easily access). Is there a video editing program that any of you prefer or would recommend to use? Is there anything specific that any of you in the game audio world do to demo your work? A couple of the video games that I will be showing have mostly ambient sound and foley. How can I best display this? Should I play a song in the background while the video plays?

Thanks in advance!

-j

Answer 1

Definitely do not play a background song under your foley work. Have faith that potential employers will judge and understand your work for what it is. If you did the foley, then play the foley in all its glory.

Answer 2

I've never made a demo reel, but i guess that maybe it's best to search on 'demo reel' in the sound stack archive. We've had this question a few times already. And listen to a lot of examples from other sound designers.

Good luck

Answer 3

I just saw an article, Tips for making a better Video Demo Reel, on FilmakerIQ. Although it's intended for video you might find some useful information that also applies to video game sound design.

Answer 4

I've referred to Kyle's post on audio demos numerous times. He's got some really slick ones! http://audiocookbook.org/guidelines-for-making-a-sound-design-demo-reel/

Regarding your video editing question, it's really whatever you are most comfortable with. I personally have been using Premiere for years. Now that they've changed to a subscription model, you can just "rent" it for a month at a time whenever you need to work on your reel which I think is pretty handy.

Definitely bring your first export of your demo back into your DAW of choice to do a mastering pass after you finish the picture edits. That way you can balance all your audio, compress it a bit for an internet delivery (if that's where it's going), and also work in some nice designed audio for your transitions (or just wrangle the fades better than your vid editor can).

In terms of how to showcase video games specifically, especially something subtle like foley and ambiances, consider giving us a walk-through of your work one layer at a time. Gradually bring in other elements until you have your work within the full mix. Going back to Kyle's Saint's Row demos, my biggest critique is I would have loved to hear his materials on their own as well as in the mix (but I watched all of his demos anyway because they are hilarious and brilliantly edited). As a bonus, maybe you could split-screen parts of the demo and show off a bit of your implementation. I've demoed Camtasia (more than once!) for that purpose.

Answer 5

I've seen quite a few videos mainly advertising sound libraries that use background music, but I guess this is just to stop people ripping the audio off the video and using the sound effects. But you shouldn't have to worry about this - if you're showing off foley and ambient sounds then BG music will probably just mask it.

Answer 6

I have had to make a few of these audio overdub projects during my education. We had to assemble a sound reel at the end of the term. We would take a clip from each one and then edit it smoothly to transition between clips. I have always been a fan of Final Cut Pro 7 although I recently began to use AVID Media Composer 7 and I really am beginning to like it. Adobe Premiere is a great choice too. Here is a link to an example of a reel my friend did. Best of Luck to you!!!