"Mid" audio saves lives

Hey there!

This past weekend, I attended PAX West here in Seattle. I got to participate in a crazy panel (keep your eyes peeled for more about that!) and hang out with so many friends and colleagues that I hadn't seen in a long time. I also got to see some great talks.

My friends Akash Thakkar and Ryan Ike gave a talk about working in game audio. By and large, it was a phenomenal talk but one slide in particular immediately caught my eye and I had to snap a screenshot of it for y'all:

There are two things that caught my eye about this slide. First, it's really funny how all the clips are named farts except for the one named Carl Sagan. Hilarious. Second, the content of the slide.

This slide is the 70% rule in the wild. Everything cannot be perfect. Period. Things have to be good enough or as they said, just okay.

In fact, their final bullet point - "sucking is a pro skill" - is perhaps the most succinct way to summarize the 70% rule I've ever heard. You have to be okay with things not being perfect all the time. You have to be okay with work that's just okay. You have to aim for good enough and then ship that shit.

You have to be your own client

For a lot of my readers, you are just making music for yourself and it can be challenging to accept good enough as a result. You can tinker something to death because that music doesn't have a deadline for implementing in engine or syncing to picture.

You might fall into the trap of believing that it justifies perfection but it doesn't.

You still have to learn to accept good enough. Practice being your own client. Set deadlines for yourself and then ship that shit.

You've got this. As, Akash and Ryan have said, "mid" audio saves lives.

Til next time,

ZW