"Beer, gear and things you hear."
07 Mar
“Best Use of Sound Design –
The Wave Studios Award for Best Sound Design in Gaming” – masawards.com
Battlefield 3 has been given The Wave Studios Award for Best Sound Design in Gaming at the Music+Sound Awards UK 2013. I am credited as VO Producer in the game and created all the dialogue.
01 Mar
“Geometry detail, lighting and effects work are a leap beyond anything we’ve seen on the current generation consoles.” – Digital Foundry
Now that Sony finally announced the upcoming Playstation 4 console, with the event showing Killzone: Shadow Fall played 100% live on the PS4 in real-time, I can at last reveal what I have been working on recently. After having worked on several titles such as for instance Battlefield 3 and 4 at DICE in Stockholm it was time for a change of scenery and the stars were all aligned so I have moved over to Sony Computer Entertainment at Guerrilla Games where I work as Dialogue Producer.
Yes, I now live in Amsterdam. Tot Ziens!
Link to PS4 Event Demo Live Playthrough in HD on YouTube
Link to Official Announcement at Sony Playstation Blog
Link to Jimmy Fallon Show Live Play Preview
Link to Announcement Trailer on YouTube
Link to Digital Foundry’s Tech Analysis of Live Demo at Games Industry
Link to Killzone: Shadow Fall at Wikipedia
07 Feb
“Tomas Danko landed in amsterdam to work on still secret games for even more mysterious machines, today he is in the studio to talk about his work with audio in the field. Expect 8bit, computer classics and other samples. Apparently Danko is also into beer brewing, so that might become an interesting toppic and a BOTW (Beer Of The Week) of course.” – Rick Nelson
I was featured and interviewed during one hour on the live radio show Kimchi Radio broadcasted over Red Light Radio on the 5th of February 1800-1900. We discussed topics such as sounds and dialogue for video games, old Commodore 64 music and of course drinking and reviewing the beers of the week. All this while playing some electronic music including 8-bit compositions. The radio station is actually broadcasting in a red lit room in the red lights district in Amsterdam. Bypassers looked fairly surprised when they did not find the usual service minded woman behind the window, but instead myself and Rick Nelson.
Link to a recording of the show at Soundcloud
Link to Red Light Radio
Link to Kimchi Radio
Link to Kimchi Radio on Facebook
29 Jan
“Tomas Danko, vän och gästskribent, öldrickare av rang, tillika vice huvuddomare på Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival tillika Belgisk admin på Ratebeer, reder ut en del trendiga begrepp som vi nog alla kan ha nytta av att lära oss. Han kan sin sak, det lovar vi. Korka upp en öl, mys ner dig i soffan och förkovra dig. Det är en rejäl bit text att bita tag i!” – M2 @ Manker Beer
I’ve written an article, or is it a rant, on current buzz words regarding off-flavors and bi-products in beer and how some beer journalists, bloggers and forum warriors tend to have an opinion on those with no fundamental knowledge to base it upon. To remedy this I explain what some of these words mean in terms of flavor, smell and what causes them. Read up on diacetyl, oxidation, DMS, 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole and more. The article has been published on one of the biggest beer blogs in Sweden, and caused quite a stir.
Link to Article at MankerBeer.com
Link to Mankerbeer at Facebook.com
Link to MankerBeer.com
28 Sep
“Med sig till Farfar Pär hade man två stycken saisons, Treudd Saison Insidieux och Treudd Saison Régulier samt deras special ale Lurudden. Tillsammans med Ölhunden Fredrik och den för många kända ölkunskapsbasen Danko så provade vi de tre ölen.” – Manker Beer
I’ve written an article on the new belgo inspired brewery Bryggeri Nyckelbydal situated on Ekerö outside of Stockholm. You can read the three page article in the third issue of 2012 of the Maltesen beer magazine. The magazine is in Swedish and distributed in hard copy and prescription only although members of Svenska Ölfrämjandet can download the magazine in PDF-format.
Link to Maltesen
Direct link to issue 2012-3 and the article in PDF-format
Link to PDF archive of the magazine
19 Sep
“This is one of the most important beer festivals in the world.” – A Sweden Attraction
I have the honor of being deputy head judge at the second biggest beer festival in the world. This is a highly prestigious competition with a high level of integrity and International profile. It is a tough task but someone has to do it.
Link to Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival
Link to Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival on Facebook
05 Sep
“En av de som har lärt åtminstone Manker oerhört mycket om öl och på oanade sätt inspirerat honom att lära sig mer om Belgisk öl är en man med namnet Tomas Danko. Vissa känner han genom diverse ölrelaterade forum (Belgisk admin på Rate Beer, BeerSwedenForum etc), andra för hans kunskap om öl, bryggning och livet i allmänhet och än andra efter att ha sett honom svänga åtskilliga Westmalle Tripel på diverse krogar runtom i Stockholm.” – Manker
The well known and highly esteemed Swedish beer blog Manker Beer is doing a series of interviews with people involved in the upcoming Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival, myself being part of the event which resulted in this interview. I am sharing my thoughts on current trends in the world of beer as well as recommending food and beer pairings for an all nighter hangout with good friends and even better beer.
Link to article at mankerbeer.com
Link to Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival Homepage
22 Aug
“With the recent large budget allocated for higher caliber sessions, incredible actors were hired for the latest series. Unlike recording for singing or broadcasting, the days of using traditional ultra-expensive microphones and other gear are starting to shift.”
“To find out more about this I have interviewed Tomas Danko who is the Voice Over Producer and Engineer at Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (aka DICE) in Sweden.”
“Tomas was very generous to share with me his years of experience of using various gear for the “best sound”.” – Watson Wu
In this interview I share some information regarding my work techniques and thoughts on developing dialogue for video games, including details regarding my work on Battlefield 3.
Link to article
Link to Designing Sound
Link to Creating Sound
Link to Über Patrol
Link to New Media Garden
16 Aug
“Over 230.000 votes have been submitted and a new record has been broken in the biggest online voting for games in Europe.” – gamasutra.com
Battlefield 3 has been given four awards at the European Games Awards 2012. We at the DICE Audio team won Best European Sound. The awards were announced during Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. I am credited as VO Producer in the game and created all the dialogue.
Best European Sound
Best European Action Game
Best European Multiplayer Game
Best European Console Game
Link to Eurogamer Article
Link to European Games Award Website
02 Aug
“Med tvåtusen olika Belgiska öl provade under bältet är det ingen underdrift att kalla Tomas Danko för belgofil. Som skribent i Svenska Ölfrämjandets tidning Maltesen, hembryggare, öldomare samt hållande av många ölprovningar genom åren på Belgiska ölbarer är han en etablerad figur i Sveriges ölvärld. I detta seminarie följer vi med Danko på hans sex veckor långa cykeltur runt Belgien från Trappistkloster till Trappistkloster. Med fokus på de anrika kloster-bryggerierna runtom i Belgien vilka drivs av Trappistmunkar tillhörande den romersk-katolska Cisterciensordern berättas det om historia, religion, munkar och så öl förstås men bjuds även på lättsamma habila anekdoter från resan.”- SMÖF
The good people of SMÖF have for the second year asked me to hold two seminars, this time on the topic of Trappist beer (i.e. beer brewed at Trappist monasteries in Belgium and The Netherlands) on Saturday 27th of October at 1400 and 1700. I will also be part of the jury of beer judges for the festival beer competition.
Link to Seminar Information
Link to SMÖF Söderbärke Beer Festival
02 Aug
“With a focus on replicating the sensory experience of being on a real battlefield, the game’s multi-layered audio benefitted from a process of constant refinement that enabled the sound to compliment impressive visuals.” – www.developawards.com
DICE Audio won the 2012 Audio Accomplishment award at the 10th Annual Develop Industry Excellence Awards in Brighton for Battlefield 3. I am credited as VO Producer of the title and created all the dialogue in the game.
Link to Article at ComputerAndVideoGames.com
Link to Article at Games Are Evil
Link to Develop Industry Excellence Awards Website
Link to Develop Awards 2012 Nominees
10 Jul
“The fact that a simple three channel Commodore C64 song won over several modern and advanced PC multi channel songs is reassuring. SID is still going strong!” – Groovemeister
Once again I find myself composing music on ancient hardware. This time the target was a music competition at the Edison 2012 hacker party in Stockholm. All formats competed against each other (i.e. Amiga modules, C64 SID, PC FastTracker etc, Gameboy and other chip tune platforms).
The track is called Ignorance and it won the oldschool music competition held 7th of July at Edison 2012 in Stockholm.
I used a version of Jens-Christian Huus’ New Player (20.G4) and Editor (3.04), running on an original Commodore C64 computer equipped with the 8580 SID sound chip.
Enjoy!
Link to my SID track as an MP3
Link to competition results at the Edison webpage
Link to Edison 2012 at CSDB
Link to the Edison webpage
16 May
“2006 genomförde RateBeer-redaktören, belgoölexperten, ölfrämjandemedlemmen, ja helt enkelt ölgurun Tomas Danko en resa som torde vara ölets heliga graal-äventyr.”- Christer leivo
Six years ago I decided to bicycle around all of Belgium over a five week period visiting a lot of breweries and beer pubs. I kept a diary during the >1000 kilometer trip and the end result will hopefully turn into a book one day. You can read a nine page article excerpt in the first issue of 2012 of the Maltesen beer magazine, with focus on my visits to the six Trappist monasteries that brew beer. The magazine is in Swedish and distributed in hard copy and prescription only although members of Svenska Ölfrämjandet can download the magazine in PDF-format.
Link to Maltesen
Direct link to issue 2012-1 and the article in PDF-format
Link to PDF archive of the magazine
19 Mar
“Arguably, the most impressive aspect of the game is the audio. From soldiers yelling in the background to far off gunfire, everything sounds crisp and perfect. About 10 minutes into my first match, standing next to a building, a tank leveled the wall. I jumped in my chair: the sounds were terrifying and my heart raced. DICE has absolutely nailed the sound of war.” – Sarcasticgamer.com
Battlefield 3 received three awards at the 2012 British Academy of Film & Television Awards. We on the audio team at DICE won our second BAFTA for Audio Achievement over two consecutive years. I was credited in the game as VO Producer and created all the dialogue in the game.
Audio Achievement
Online Multiplayer
GAME Award of 2011 (The only award to be voted for by the public)
Link to BAFTA 2012 Winners
Link to BAFTA GAME Award of 2011
Link to Audio Achievement Winner Video
Link to Online Multiplayer Winner Video
Link to GAME Award Winner Video
09 Mar
“The talented audio folks in this industry have literally been rewriting the history books in terms of quality and historic significance.” – Tommy Tallarico, G.A.N.G. Founder, CEO and Chairman
We at the DICE Audio team won three 2012 G.A.N.G. Awards for Battlefield 3. The awards were announced during the Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco. I am credited as VO Producer in the game.
Audio of the Year
Sound Design of the Year
Best Audio Mix