Bill Black

Past

Freelance Sound Guy at Monkey Gods LLC
Sound Design/Audio and Video Director at Bionic Games Inc.
Audio Lead at Blizzard Entertainment

Voice Over Director, Sound Designer,Video Editor at Big Fat Kitty Productions aka Bill Black Audio Video
Instructor at The Art Institute of Los Angeles
Manager Technical Support at Steinberg North America
MIDI Keyboard Sales at West L.A. Music

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Recommended

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Connections

177 connections

Industry

Computer Games

Websites

Bill Black’s Summary

I am fortunate enough to have contributed to some epic AAA titles, a few of note:

•Lineage II The Chaotic Chronicles
•Neverwinter Nights
•World of Warcraft The Burning Crusade
•Mech Warrior II
•Battlezone
•Delta Force Black Hawk Down
•Civilization III Call to Power
•Snood Redood

Great sound doesn't sell games, yet audio is half the experience, great dialog, music and SFX can go a long way to enhance the immersive experience of a game.

I have 16 years of experience in the video game industry. I have made noise for PC, MMORGs,Social Networking Games PS1, PS2, XBox, Wii, iPhone, Facebook, Flash and Macintosh Games.

Bill Black’s Specialties:

•Sound Effects Designer
•Character voice over casting and directing
•Editing and Creating dialog.
•Music Composer games and TV
•Localization
•Video Editing, trailers demo reels, music videos

•Software I Most Use

•Pro Tools •Logic 8•Cubase •Kyma •Nuendo •Reason •Final Cut Pro •Avid Media Composer•Maya•After Effects•Perforce •Visual Source Safe •Windows•OS X• Bink• Excel• Word•

•Proprietary software for audio implementation and video compression.

Bill Black’s Experience

Freelance Sound Guy

Monkey Gods LLC

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

March 2009 — September 2009 (7 months)

Create Sound Effects
Create Music
Speak and record Snoodlish Fluently
Assist with localization stuff
Sound Design/Audio and Video Director

Bionic Games Inc.

(Computer Games industry)

September 2007 — February 2009 (1 year 6 months)

I am responsible for:

•Casting and Directing Voice Over Talent
•Sound Effects Design
•Mixing cinematics
•Composing Music
•Subcontracting musicians, actors, singers etc.
•Creating subcontractor Professional Service Agreements
•Working with programming on the persistently evolving game audio engine
•Oversee audio pipeline for localization.
•Cinematic editor,light effects, composite, compile and compress cinematics.
Audio Lead

Blizzard Entertainment

(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Computer Games industry)

January 2006 — June 2007 (1 year 6 months)

I am responsible for

•Overseeing audio department at Blizzard console
•Lead Audio on Starcraft II
•Cast and/or Direct actors for all Blizzard titles
•Create Sound Effects
•Edit video segments when borrowed by Video department.
•Mix cinematics
•Assist localization
Voice Over Director, Sound Designer,Video Editor

Big Fat Kitty Productions aka Bill Black Audio Video

(Computer Games industry)

June 1995 — December 2005 (10 years 7 months)

Independent contractor on an exclusive contract with Activision from 1995 through 1998. Later I further performed work for clients including Bioware, Disney Interactive, NC Soft and NovaLogic. I served as a Sound effects designer, voice over casting and dialog director for SAG and non-SAG productions. Consult and advise on the implementation of VO for game audio. Write and edit voice over scripts. Advise on MIDI implementation for games and music systems.
Instructor

The Art Institute of Los Angeles

(Education Management industry)

1998 — 1999 (1 year )

Instructor in audio technology classes at a post-secondary degree-granting proprietary institution. Developed beginning and advanced digital audio curriculum based on outline from corporate office. Wrote lesson plans, created and graded exams lectured and worked with students in audio and the post production and pro audio process.

I continue to guest speak at various collages and guest direct various acting courses whenever invited.
Manager Technical Support

Steinberg North America

(Music industry)

January 1991 — June 1995 (4 years 6 months)

I managed technical support for Steinbergs exceptional line of Music and Post Production software products. My section grew to three people over the years. I still use their extraordinary programs in my work.

Working at Steinberg was one of the best experiences of my career. I am honoured to have played a small part in Charlie, Manfred and Steve's remarkable legacy.

Best known for Cubase and Nuendo, Steinberg is now a subsidiary of Yamaha, Japan.
MIDI Keyboard Sales

West L.A. Music

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Music industry)

October 1988 — January 1991 (2 years 4 months)

Sold MIDI gear to musicians and those that wish they were...
Working for the store manager Rick Waite and Keyboard manager Than Silverlight was a great experience.