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The Media Cafe - The Ring Disc
Company Description :
The Media Cafe began in 1994 as a sound-oriented production
and technology company. Commercial music composing and soundtracks
were the majority of the company's revenue in its early stages.
This quickly changed to sound technology-based solutions for
industry such as developing interactive soundtracks for video
games, compression algorithms, and real-time sound environments
for 2D and 3D applications. With offices in New York City
and Urbana, Illinois, the small company grew from 4 to 30
people within a year (in 1997).
Project Background:
The RingDisc, a CDROM-based interactive guide to Wagner's Ring
Cycle, features the Vienna Philharmonic recording (Sir Georg
Solti conducting). All 14.5 hours of digitized sound - captured
by The Media Cafe's audio compression technology - are synchronized
to the full piano-vocal score, the German libretto with English
translation, and a running analytical commentary. This product
was reviewed by numerous publications such as the New York
Times (a full spread on the front page Sunday Art section),
NewsWeek, The Chicago Tribune, and many more. It was also
named one of PC World's Top 100 CDROMs.
Read Ring Disc reviews >
My Role:
My initial position was director of production, but I soon
became the VP of Production and sat on the board of directors.
Every product that was created by the company was developed
and coordinated by the VP of Technology and myself. This sounds
pseudo-impressive but consider there were only two dozen people
in the company: who else was going to be in charge of production,
user interface development and marketing? One wears many hats in a start-up
company. In the first stages of business, I was responsible
for all the production from GUIs to application mockups to
websites and 3D graphics. As the company matured, I managed
a small, but potent production group which consisted of a
graphic designer, 3D modeler/animator, writer/editor, web
specialist/coder, and sound designer. Overseeing production
was not the only responsibility; participating on the executive
board and developing new business opportunities and plans
were also part of my position.
Ring Disc - Product Release: March 1997
Product Description:
A brilliant educational and entertainment package, The Ring
Disc features the definitive Vienna Philharmonic recording
(Sir Georg Solti conducting). All 14.5 hours of digitized
sound - captured by The Media Cafe's innovative audio compression
technology - are synchronized to the full piano-vocal score,
the German libretto with English translation, and a running
analytical commentary.
Comprehensive analyses, hypertext links, and powerful search
functions are included to increase the user's access to this
multi-dimensional resource. The Ring Disc also contains more
than one hundred original essays by Monte Stone and J.K. Holman,
and a full-color image database including some rare and unpublished
archival photos. This CD-ROM will open new windows into The
Ring Cycle for expert and enthusiast alike.
Dylan: interactive, real-time environments - 1996/7
Product Description:
The Dylan project was born out of the real-time sound environment
developed for Esoteria. Real-time sound synthesis and scheduling
didn't exist for developers or creative producers and Dylan
was The Media Cafe's attempt at filling that void. This was
the working demo used to sell the idea. Dylan was a very cool
prototype... but it didn't go too far.
Esoteria was a million-dollar effort to revolutionize the
gaming industry with fluid, real-time 3D environments coupled
with dynamic sound tracks and effects. Conceived by Mobeus
Designs, the video game used The Media Cafe's interactive
sound track technology which dynamically responded to a user's
every move. The music would change depending on scenario/narrative,
'intensity' of scene (number of enemies or friendlies in area),
terrain, environment, etc. Real-time sound processes would
also add to the sound effects.
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