Jason Tratta

Here is a test video I did a while back for a developer I was interviewing with. This was by far one of the harder ones I have seen in the various interview processes. I tried to make this sound a great as possible in a rather small amount of time. They always say, “Take your time.”, and of course your thinking…o heck…I need to get this done tommorrow if I have any chance to get this job!

Anyway. I’m pretty happy with the way this turned out. The music in this video is not mine. The position was for a sound design position…once I finished most of the assets here it was missing something. I opted to use the music of the person who was interviewing me. The thinking was….surely he’ll know his own music and just listen to the mixing. Needless to say…I didn’t get this gig and I never did hear back from them after I mailed this in.

A Montage of Various Theatrical Designs

A montage of various shows can be heard here. There are about 10 shows in this rather long reel.¹ Someday I suppose I’ll make a shorter one. For now, this one has served me well. The one thing that no one seems clear on in the entertainment business is how a demo is supposed to be. So…like everyone else this was my best guess.

*1 Remember when reels were actually reels?

Making a new sound desgin demo can be both fun and the hardest thing you ever try. The example above is an action sequence a game developer asked me to make with the audio assets the provided, as well as, add anything new of my own. The instructions: “Make and exciting sound montage that is under 2 minutes long.”

Where do you even start? I have talked to other designers before about stuff like this. What are they looking for? Are there things I should be adding….EQ tricks…anything? I can say without a shadow of a doubt that landing the next big gig is a mixture of skill and luck. You never know what someone is looking for…and your going to kill yourself trying. So…make the coolest thing you can out of what you have to work with and hope for the best. Who ever is listening to your demo might be in a good mood and say, “Hey…lets talk to this person!”

Why am I writing about this? I don’t know…I had this file sitting on my computer and I thought I might as well add it here. You know…so no one will ever read it!