This article is part of the Get Into Games feature presentation. Check out the rest of the series for a complete look into the reality of getting a gaming career, as told to us by some of the industry’s best talent.

The complexities of modern audio may be lost on the majority of gamers, a 7.1 audio setup costing more than a console and requiring marital diplomacy on a supernatural level. But the needs of the enthusiast, together with the industry’s zealous desire to wrap you ever more in its games, makes those challenges seem lightweight.

Amid the gravel trays and circus props of a foley room or the dials and keyboards of a studio, a job in audio belongs to just a select few, and can involve a lot more besides simply making noise. Just ask Peter Hajba, the man behind the sound, particle effects and textures of Remedy’s cacophonous Max Payne, currently at work on the forthcoming Alan Wake.

Have you always aspired to work with audio in games?

I’ve wanted to work on games for as long as I can remember, but audio came at a later point when I started getting into computer music with Scream Tracker 2, the first Amiga tracker-style program for the PC. I joined the PC demoscene and became primarily known as a musician. Audio design for games came as a natural next step, though I have also worked on character animation, texture art and particle effects.

What opportunities were available for an aspiring audio engineer back then, and how did you find your way into the industry?

My opportunities in audio were purely hobby-based. I built a reputation in the hobbyist circles and later some of my scene friends founded Remedy. They knew me and what I could do, and asked me to join. At that moment, I was studying animation in Dublin and had to decide whether to continue my studies or abandon them and join the company. Had I not been offered the opportunity back then, I would have finished my animation studies.

How does a working day pan out for an audio engineer at Remedy?

I may be asked to create a set of randomly varied one-shot collision sounds for a physical object like a crate, a certain game event, or to create voice sync and foley work for a cutscene. We have a curve-based ‘simulated sound’ editor built into our world editor tool, which allows me to create more complex and parametric sound behaviours for car engines, weather and other sounds. These take a good deal of tweaking. Every now and then I need to spend a day or two to go through all the sounds in the game and make sure they work together and don’t conflict with each other.

A lot of audio engineers record their own sound material, but I only do it in special cases and mostly rely on stock footage – properly mixed and matched, of course. Recording and editing sound effects can involve an enormous amount of work if it’s to be done properly. Luckily, our publisher has very good audio production facilities at our disposal for more special recording needs, such as car engine sound loops.

How much did you learn before you embarked on your career?

It’s hard to say how much I’ve learned at any particular time. During the hobby phase and in the beginning of my career I learned many basic things, then later on whatever I learned got refined. But there’s still tons of new things to learn – for anyone.

Audio is a select aspect of most studios. Is it quite hard to break into it?

Somewhat, yes. This is mainly because, while programmers and artists usually work in large groups, there’s usually only one or two audio designers in a game company. There may not even be enough audio work for a single designer during the whole span of a game project. Due to this, many game audio designers and musicians work as freelancers.

What would you consider the ideal portfolio for a candidate looking to get started today?

It depends a lot on the company. Some companies expect the audio engineer to also program the audio engine. Others expect music composition skills in addition to sound design. Some companies only hire freelancers.

You learn best by doing. Join your friends’ hobby game, animation or video projects. Find your best talents and focus on them, but keep at least a thin coverage of all the basics. And build a portfolio. Keep in mind that game audio, especially for mobile devices, can get pretty technical due to hardware limitations. Just having a good musical and aural sense may not be enough – the audio also needs to conform to the technical limits.

Audio design for games is also very different in nature from film audio. Instead of creating a linear soundtrack, you need to create a large set of individual sounds which must work well together. This scatters your work into small and tricky-to-manage bits that require a good ability to see – and hear – the whole picture.