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6.23.2008
Interview with Adam Levenson, Director of Talent and Audio, Activision Publishing, Inc.
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Adam Levenson serves as Director, Talent and Audio Management Group at Activision where he oversees original music, sound effects, voiceovers, audio technology, celebrity talent, and scriptwriters across Activision portfolio of titles.  In addition, he is spearheading the creation and implementation of shared audio standards and technologies across Activision’s global studios.   He joined Activision in 2006 as the Director of Central Audio.

Adam Levenson has more than 15 years experience in video game audio production having contributed to games as a composer, sound designer, supervisor and audio director.  Prior to joining Activision, he founded Immersive Sound, a full-service game audio production company where he directed audio production for publishers such as Electronic Arts and Atari.  Before this he had worked on the award-winning audio team at Interplay Entertainment and began his career in audio production at Trilobyte.  Prior to joining the video game industry, Adam Levenson worked as a recording artist and performing musician for several years.

M4G: Tell us about your journey into game audio. When did you decide you wanted to work with music, interactive entertainment and technology? Did you have any formal training in interactive audio/music? Has gaming always been in your periphery?
Adam Levenson: Way back in about 1991, I was working as a freelance composer and musician.  In other words, I had seven roommates in a Haight Street apartment, ate Ramen for lunch, and dinner, and sometimes for breakfast too.  Unlike some of my other Ramen eating musician friends I had two stable gigs: playing live for dance classes, and freelancing in local orchestras.  I used to get around San Francisco with all of my percussion gear on public transportation.  Quite an adventure, especially when the bus broke down, and I had to run to the dance studio. Eventually, I started composing music for some of the dance companies that I had been accompanying including Project Bandaloop, Liss Fain Dance, Company Chaddick and more.  Liss Fain’s husband had a small multimedia company in Sausalito.  He took a liking to my music, and asked if I would provide sound and music for his game called, Bones,” a Fantastic Voyage style edutainment title.

M4G: Tell us about your various audio supervisory roles at other companies before joining Activision and what are some of the major titles you have worked on?
Adam Levenson: I started supervising teams at Interplay, under the tutelage of Charles Deenen.  My first title with the Sound Supervisor role was a game called Giants on PC and PS2, and almost immediately following was Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.  On BGDA, game audio mastering guru Craig Duman and I ventured into new technical territory that was pretty risky at the time.  It was really the first time that we played sounds at runtime as “events,” comprised of layers that varied in pitch, volume, and timing at every replay.  All of the sound events were imported from Pro Tools sessions.  Pretty cool for 2000, right?

M4G: What does your role as Director of Talent and Audio at Activision entail and how does it crossover/differentiate from the responsibilities of Tim Riley, Worldwide Executive of Music for Activision?
Adam Levenson: As you know, things are constantly changing in our world, and my title is no exception.  I’m now Director, Talent and Audio Management Group at Activision.  My role includes the business, creative, and technical supervision of performing talent, creative talent, original audio content, and audio technology.  So that includes composers, voice talent, scriptwriters, sound designers, etc.  Tim and his team do an amazing job handling all music licensing, including any coordination with bands, music publishers, and record companies.

M4G: Working at different companies over the years, you’ve collaborated with several notable composers including Jeremy Soule, Inon Zur, Christopher Lennertz, Bill Brown and Harry Gregson-Williams. What are your criteria when selecting composers for new titles at Activision? How much involvement does marketing have in the decision-making?
Adam Levenson: We select composers based on our assessment of a candidate’s ability to work within the style established for each product, and the cost.  Another consideration is the composer’s ability and experience in managing production, including live orchestral recording.  Any PR opportunities that may come from a composer’s past credits are only significant if the candidate is very well-known.

M4G: Some argue that composers need to play games in order to understand the gamer’s mindset and create the most immersive music for games. Do you agree/disagree?
Adam Levenson: In the old days of PS1 and PS2, the composers needed to understand how to prepare music that worked within the technical limitations.  The harshest limitations have mostly evaporated, so that’s no longer a major concern.  There are so many ways to work with the composer of your choice, even if he/she has no previous game experience.  That said, although I would work with a composer that has never scored a game, I would advise against working with composers that don’t play game games.  Understanding basic game navigation and mechanics is essential to good collaboration with a game developer.

M4G: Poor implementation has continually been a glitch to an otherwise bright future for music being used as a tool in creating a cohesive, immersive environment.  Why do you think this process has been overlooked with some of the biggest game titles in the business? Do you believe it has to do with scheduling, or inefficient music systems, or poor music decision-making, or even a mixture of all the above?
Adam Levenson: I think most of our music implementation is essentially forcing linear content, the music, into a non-linear structure.  We’ve invested so much time, energy, and money into the evolution of game graphics, animation, physics, etc., and you can certainly see the results.  I’m confident that music playback will get the right dose of attention and we’ll have much more sophisticated solutions before the Next Next Generation consoles.

M4G: Have any game soundtracks impressed/inspired you where you thought, “we need to get that guy!”? Which soundtrack(s) that you’ve worked on are you most proud of and why?
Adam Levenson: “We need to get that guy!” is something we say all the time!  My team meets every Wednesday to review promising games and identify prospective talent.   You’ll probably laugh, but the recent soundtrack that I am most proud of is Rupert Gregson-Williams’ (Harry’s brother) Bee Movie Game score.  I am proud of the way we developed a creative, unique stylistic idea, gathered samples as reference, gained consensus, and worked with Rupert, and co-composer James Dooley to execute.

M4G: During this year’s MIDEM Music For Images conference, composers Jesper Kyd (Assassin’s Creed) and Nithin Sawnhey (Heavenly Sword) shared their desire for more opportunities in games for creating more intimate, subtle emotions with music, comparable to independent film making rather than mainstream blockbuster movies. Do you see room for this type of approach in today’s game marketplace? What do you think are some of the most emotional moments in gaming using music?
Adam Levenson: We need much more sophisticated script writing and game directing in order to illicit an emotional response.  You can loop Samuel Barber’s "Adagio for Strings" over and over, but if the scene isn’t well scripted, the camera isn’t well animated, then you’ll likely have no real response.  The most dramatic scene in a game with a real emotional impact was the opening cinematic in Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.  

M4G: There’s been an increasing trend to hire film/TV composers in recent years. What do you think the games industry can learn from Hollywood?
Adam Levenson:  Tough to make a generalization.  There are talented people in all media, but orchestration, creativity, dynamics, innovation, stylistic focus, and more can be gleaned from Hollywood talent.

M4G: No stranger to games, Harry Gregson-Williams was recruited by Activision to compose the Call Of Duty 4 main theme and introductory cinematic “The Coup”. Were you a fan of his music from Metal Gear Solid or was it his work on any particular film(s) that attracted your attention? Any particular reason why he did not write the whole score which was actually composed by his assistant, Stephen Barton?
Adam Levenson: Harry is a musical genius.  During a visit to his studio last year, he played a portion of the in-progress “Déjà Vu” movie score.  His music sculpted a relatively straight forward opening scene into a poignant, intriguing overture.  There are many ways to work with rock star level talent like Harry, and Stephen Barton’s collaboration on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a great example.

M4G: Though Activision-Blizzard is now the world’s biggest video game publisher we assume there are still boundaries concerning music budgets that you have to consider when approaching an artist/composer/producer…but if you were given an open check book, who would you like to work with in a creative capacity?
Adam Levenson: I can’t answer questions about Activision-Blizzard at this time.  What I can say is that more money doesn’t necessarily point to more talented musicians, and I’m very proud of the high-caliber group of people that we’ve been working with.

M4G: What projects are you currently working on that you can mention? Tim Riley recently revealed that Activision is working with Radiohead. Are you directly involved with this project and if so will they be writing original music for Activision?
Adam Levenson: I can’t answer questions about future projects at this time.

M4G: What’s currently playing on your ipod or personal sound system?
Adam Levenson: I am constantly looking for new music, especially scores or orchestral art music.  This is going to sound impossibly snobby, but I don’t really enjoy listening to the compressed audio formats.  I kind of like my 16bit 44.1k CD audio!

Now playing in my car is:

Michael Gandolfi’s “The Garden of Cosmic Speculation”
James Newton Howard’s “Signs”
Steve Reich “Music for 18 Musicians”
Will I Am “Songs About Girls”
Loreena McKennitt “An Ancient Muse”
And I recently added, Erykah Badu’s “Mama’s Gun”

M4G: What do you most enjoy about your job and working in the games industry? What would you most like to see change in the industry…1) better technology  2) bigger budgets 3) more staff?
Adam Levenson: I love my job.  Now, there’s a good dose of stress, and this is absolutely the most challenging job I’ve ever had, but that’s also what makes it so great.  Of the things you listed, better technology is an ongoing goal, but the most significant advance that I think we need to make is better story-telling.  I’m looking forward to creating games that appeal to a much wide audience, and provide a true interactive dramatic entertainment experience.

M4G: What advice would you offer those readers interested to become audio directors/music supervisors? Is it simply a matter of working your way up the ladder?
Adam Levenson:  My advice is to first master one of the interactive audio crafts.  Focus on being an audio programmer, a music supervisor, a sound designer, a scripter, a composer, an audio producer.  Learn everything you can in that field, and get some experience, build a credits list.  When you feel you’ve attained a high-level of expertise, start expanding your understanding of the other areas that appeal to you.  That combined with learning about the music business, the talent unions, contractual agreements, and…well, anyway, it takes years of experience and working your way up the ladder.

www.activision.com

 
 
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    2.16.2007
Activision partners with Dolby to optimize North American game dev studios for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound
 
 
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