Jory Prum

Jory Prum (January 31, 1975 – April 22, 2016), also known as Jory K. Prum, was an American audio engineer, best known for his work in film and video games. He was the owner of a recording studio located in the San Francisco Bay Area.^[1][2][3]

Jory Prum
Photo of Jory Prum in 2005.
Born	(1975-01-31)January 31, 1975 Fullerton, California
Died	April 22, 2016(2016-04-22) (aged 41)
Other names	Jory K. Prum
Occupation(s)	Audio engineer, sound designer
Years active	1993–2016
Website	studio.jory.org

Biography

Prum was born in Fullerton, California, attended Troy High School's technology magnet,^[4] and later studied sound for film & video as an undergraduate student at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in the 1990s under John Payne, Craig Smith, and Doug Loveid.^[5] While studying at CalArts, Prum worked on many student films, some of which were screened at festivals, such as Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation. One such film, a parody of Schoolhouse Rock! titled Political Correction, was a collaboration between Prum and fellow student Steven Fonti.^[6][7] Another was Adam Lane's Sea Slugs, a stop-motion animation about pirate slugs on the open seas, which was also featured as part of MTV's Cartoon Sushi.^[8][9]

After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Prum worked as an Electron at Jim Henson's Creature Shop^[10] and then briefly at Disney Online. After being let go, he inquired during a CalArts job fair about employment opportunities in the sound department of LucasArts Entertainment Company.^[11] He joined the LucasArts sound team in January 1999 and was involved with all of the Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace release titles and most of the other games published by both LucasArts and Lucas Learning between early 1999 and the beginning of 2001.

Prum departed LucasArts at the start of 2001 and continued to work in video game sound. He contributed sound effects, recorded voiceover and music and mixed cutscenes and orchestral scores for numerous games, such as LucasArts' Knights of the Old Republic,^[12] Telltale Games' The Walking Dead: The Game^[13][14]—for which Prum and his team won the Game Audio Network Guild's 2013 award for Best Dialogue^[15]—The Wolf Among Us,^[16] and Sam & Max^[17] episodic titles, Double Fine Productions' crowdfunded Broken Age, Ubisoft's CSI games, and Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.^[18][19] Prum and his dialogue production team have been nominated nine times for "Best Voice Acting" Aggie Awards and have won three times.

In addition to video games, Prum worked in post-production audio for feature films. He created the voice of the big bird, Leo, in Pixar Animation Studio's animated short film For the Birds,^[20][21][22] earning him a mention in Ralph Eggleston's acceptance speech at the 74th Academy Awards.^[23] Prum also worked as the foley recordist on Focus Features' Lost in Translation, and Sony Pictures' Adaptation..^[24]

In 2004 Prum set up a recording studio, Studio Jory, near his home in Fairfax, California.^[25]

In August 2014, Prum recovered the aging audio archives of the classic point-and-click adventure game Grim Fandango as part of Double Fine Productions' restoration and remastering effort.^[26][27] He also worked with composer Peter McConnell to record and mix the new orchestral score, performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.^[28]

Jory died on April 22, 2016, after suffering severe injuries in a motorcycle accident.^[29]

The final game Prum worked on was 2064: Read Only Memories, which is dedicated to him.

Accolades

Year	Game	Ceremony	Category	Result	Ref.
2007	Bone: The Great Cow Race	Independent Games Festival	Excellence in Audio	Nominated	[30]
2008	Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space	Aggie Awards	Best Voice Acting	Nominated	[31]
2009	Tales of Monkey Island			Won	[32][33]
2010	Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse			Won	[34][35]
	Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent			Nominated	[34]
2011	Back to the Future: The Game			Nominated	[36]
2012	The Walking Dead			Won	[37][38]
2013		Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Dialog	Won	[15]
	The Walking Dead: 400 Days	Aggie Awards	Best Voice Acting	Nominated	[39]
2014	Broken Age	Golden Joystick Awards	Best Audio	Nominated	[40]
	The Wolf Among Us			Nominated	[40]
		Aggie Awards	Best Voice Acting	Nominated	[41]
	The Walking Dead, Season 2			Nominated	[41]
2015		Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Best Dialog	Nominated	[42]
	Among the Sleep	National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers	Best use of Sound, New IP	Nominated	[43]
		Spillprisen (Norwegian Game Awards)	Best Audio	Won	[44]
	UHR-Warlords			Nominated

Selected games

• 2064: Read Only Memories (2017), MidBoss
• Earthlock: Festival of Magic (2016), Snowcastle Games
• Through the Woods (2016), Antagonist
• Manual Samuel (2016), Perfectly Paranormal
• Grim Fandango Remastered (2015), Double Fine
• Among the Sleep (2014), Krillbite Studio
• Broken Age (2014), Double Fine
• Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (2014), Pinkerton Road
• The Walking Dead: The Game, Season 2 (2014), Telltale Games
• The Walking Dead: 400 Days (2013), Telltale Games
• The Wolf Among Us (2013), Telltale Games
• The Walking Dead: The Game (2012), Telltale Games
• Brütal Legend (2009), Double Fine
• Tales of Monkey Island (2009), Telltale Games
• The Sims 2 (2003), EA/Maxis
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003), LucasArts
• SimCity 4 (2002), EA/Maxis
• Escape from Monkey Island (2000), LucasArts
• FlixMix (1993), Celeris

References

1. Johnson, Heather (1 April 2005). "What's Your Story, Jory?". Mix Magazine. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
2. Brown, Janice (18 November 2005). "StudioJory Gets in the Game". ProSoundNews. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
3. Whitaker, Tad (21 January 2007). "Fairfax studio finds recording niche with video games". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
4. Singer, Brian (4 March 1993). "Scoring With a Pair of Keyboards". Los Angeles Times. Fullerton, California. Retrieved 2 February 2015. In another facet of the Troy Tech program, Prum is taking classes outside campus. He is enrolled in a Regional Occupation Program graphic arts class and a music theory and musicianship class, the latter at Fullerton College.
5. Fraser, Paul (25 March 2013). "The Walking Dead Video Game 'Sound Guy' Jory Prum Discusses His Work". blog.calarts.edu. Retrieved 2 February 2015. Craig Smith, Doug Loveid, and John Payne were my mentors.
6. Holden, Stephen (20 June 1997). "Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation". New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
7. Fonti, Steven; Prum, Jory (May 1996). "Political Correction". Vimeo. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
8. Petrakis, John (5 June 1998). "This 'Sick And Twisted' Animation Fest Not Worth Your Time". Chicago Tribune. The festival does manage, in spite of itself, to sneak in a couple of MINOR successes, including Adam Lane's "Sea Slugs," about a crew of adventurous slugs who yearn for the open seas...
9. "IMDB -- Cartoon Sushi". IMDB. Retrieved 2 February 2015. Also contains "Ye Old Woodshop", "Sea Slugs", a "Great True Moments in Rock & Roll History" about Jim Morrison, and seven "Sex & Violence" shorts by Bill Plympton.
10. "Acorn/Macintosh Compatibility thread". 31 October 1997. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
11. Fraser, Paul (25 March 2013). "The Walking Dead Video Game 'Sound Guy' Jory Prum Discusses His Work". blog.calarts.edu. Retrieved 2 February 2015. A year after I'd graduated—just after being laid-off by Disney—I applied for a job at LucasArts. It took four months, four interviews, and two failed skills tests, but I was then hired by LucasArts and worked as part of the staff sound team for two years.
12. "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Manual". Scribd. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
13. "The Walking Dead -- Jory Prum interview" (Video). GameReactor.eu. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
14. Köhn, Johan (9 July 2013). "The Voices Behind The Walking Dead". Level7.nu (in Swedish).
15. "Game Audio Network Guild 2013 Award Winners". Game Audio Network Guild. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
16. Mulrooney, Marty (16 December 2013). "INTERVIEW – In Conversation With Adam Harrington (Bigby Wolf, The Wolf Among Us)". Alternative Magazine Online. Retrieved 2 February 2015. I've said it before, I'll say it again… some of my very best performances have been captured right there in Jory Prum's 'Studio Jory'...
17. Jackson, Blair. "From Scarface to Simlish". No. October 2006. Mix Magazine. Retrieved 8 February 2015. One of those is Jory Prum, another LucasArts alumnus who has been doing dialog recording for the Sam & Max Series (and other Telltale games) at his Fairfax (Marin County) facility called studio.jory.org.
18. Flasnes, Maren Omli (10 May 2009). "Lyden av Norge i spill" (in Norwegian). Trondheim, Norway: VG. Retrieved 2 February 2015. «Mercenaries 2» har lyden av oslotog sneket seg inn i lydsporet. - Jeg var på t-banestasjonen på Nationaltheateret i Oslo og ventet på flytoget, og jeg tror det var t-banen som kom og hadde en helt fantastisk lyd både når det kom og dro. Det var vakkert! sier Prum, som alltid passer på å ha med seg lydopptaker for å fange interessante lyder.
19. "MobyGames -- Jory K. Prum". MobyGames. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
20. "For the Birds". ReportingPoint.net. February 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2015. Director Ralph Eggleston performed the voice of the large bird, Leo, which was sound designed by Jory Prum.
21. Amidi, Amid (25 February 2009). The Art of Pixar Short Films. San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books. p. 31. ISBN 978-0811866064. "...every aspect of the production, from the animation to the inventive sound design, which he recorded with Jory Prum. No detail was too insignificant for the director to notice.
22. Pinch, Trevor; Bijsterveld, Karin (5 January 2012). The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 369. ISBN 978-0-19-538894-7. Retrieved 2 February 2015. In the 2001 Academy Award-winning short "For the Birds", director Ralph Eggleston and sound designers Tom Meyers and Jory Prum build comedic tension around the squeaks, squawks, and pecking of a gang of birds who want their club to remain exclusive.
23. "For the Birds Wins Animated Short Film: 2002 Oscars". YouTube. 24 March 2002. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
24. "New York Times / All Media Guide". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2016. Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
25. Fairfax studio finds recording niche with video games Retrieved 2016-12-19.
26. "PAX Prime 2014: Grim Fandango: Bringing the Dead Back to Life". YouTube. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
27. Tach, Dave (27 January 2015). "Digital Archeology: How Double Fine, Disney, LucasFilm and Sony resurrected Grim Fandango". Polygon. Retrieved 2 February 2015. Using a program called Retrospect, he rebuilt the catalog files for each and, bit by bit, recovered Grim Fandango to the tune of nine hours per tape, including restoration.
28. Irwin, Jon (29 January 2015). "Long Live Grim Fandango". Kill Screen / Longreads. Retrieved 2 February 2015. According to McConnell, Jory Prum, sound mixer for the newly orchestral score, cobbled together some Rube Goldbergian machine of wire and hard drives to enable access to the old material.
29. Philips, Thomas (April 25, 2016). "Double Fine, LucasArts audio legend Jory Prum dies, aged just 41". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
30. "Independent Games Festival 2007". IGF. Archived from the original on 16 December 2008. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
31. "2008 Aggie Awards Nominees". Adventure Gamers. 7 February 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
32. "2009 Aggie Awards Nominees". Adventure Gamers. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
33. "2009 Aggie Awards". Adventure Gamers. 17 February 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
34. "2010 Aggie Awards Nominees". Adventure Gamers. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
35. "2010 Aggie Awards". Adventure Gamers. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
36. "2011 Aggie Award Nominees". Adventure Gamers. 3 February 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
37. "2012 Aggie Awards Nominees". Adventure Gamers. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
38. "2012 Aggie Awards". Adventure Gamers. 20 February 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
39. "2013 Aggie Awards Nominees". Adventure Gamers. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
40. "Golden Joystick Awards 2014 Nominees". Golden Joystick Awards 2014. 30 August 2014. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
41. "2014 Aggie Award Nominations". Adventure Gamers. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
42. "13th Annual GANG Award Finalists". Game Audio Network Guild. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
43. "NAVGTR Awards 2015". NAVGTR. 26 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 November 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
44. Kristiansen, Jesper K (16 January 2015). ""Among the Sleep" Triumphs at Norwegian Game Awards". Nordic Game Bits. Retrieved 7 February 2015.

External links

• Official site