Flying under the radar in recent months was Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound, a new, largely crowdfunded documentary focusing on the topic of sound design in the world of video games.
“No longer just the ‘ugly stepchild’ of the games industry, Beep traces the history of game sound from the Victorian penny arcades through pinball and to today’s massive industry of soundtracks and live music,” the film’s description reads. “With clips from over 80 interviews with game composers, sound designers,voice actors and audio directors from around the world, Beep is the definitive documentary on game sound.”
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Expert talking heads throughout the film, which was directed by Karen Collins, include Marty O’Donnell (Halo), Nathan McCree (Tomb Raider), George “The Fat Man” Sanger (7th Guest), Stephan Schutze (Jurassic Park: Operation), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts), David Thiel (Q*Bert) and Winifred Phillips (God of War, Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation), among others.
The current incarnation of the doc also includes several special features, including “Big in Japan,” focusing on Japanese game audio masters, and a tribute to the late composer Ryu Umemoto. A soundtrack composed by Canadian artist Leonard J. Paul which was entirely produced using the open source visual scripting language Pure Data.
Watch a trailer for the film and listen to the soundtrack below: