Triceratops. Cello.
100/10, no notes. I want one. Thanks to
@ARozmanComposer
for the jam, and
#PrehistoricPlanet
for an opportunity 65 million years in the making!
Seriously, this is the coolest instrument I’ve ever played 😂
Sebastian,
We've travelled the world together. We've worked on projects. Many a time, I've very directly said "hey, X seems like a bad idea, be careful". You will not win a fight with the internet here. You will not win a fight with Undertale fandom.
As a friend, please stop.
Ok, time for the big one. What are appropriate rates for
#gameaudio
/
#gamedev
composers? How do you calculate what to charge? What is everyone ELSE charging? What do the numbers look like in AAA, midcore, indie, and so on? Let's deep-dive.
#GameDevPaidMe
(1/23)
Every other time, I've gone to you privately. As your friend. This time, I'm coming to you publicly, as a colleague in the industry. You are not helping the cause that I KNOW you care deeply about. This is now how you improve the VGM community, you are not helping.
Bad news, Metal Gear Solid fans. You found me out. It really was
#MetalGearSolid3Remake
with
@TheDonnaBurke
, but your expert detective work has forced me to pivot in a new direction for the soundtrack.
@Crush40Johnny
, thank god you were available on such short notice; HELP!
And on today’s episode of “how dare the poors even try”…
What in god’s name is with the gear gate-keeping 🤷♂️ How many times do people need to learn the lesson that price of gear does not correlate with quality of music?
Triceratops. Cello.
100/10, no notes. I want one. Thanks to
@ARozmanComposer
for the jam, and
#PrehistoricPlanet
for an opportunity 65 million years in the making!
Seriously, this is the coolest instrument I’ve ever played 😂
An important career PSA for my fellow musicians: tell people about your passions. Tell people about your goals. Do not be shy about the gigs you dream about. You never know who has the ability to put you on a path that accomplishes them, if they were made aware.
Video game music is officially getting a grammy category of its own! I feel especially proud of this one for a variety of reasons, not least of which being that it has been a goal I've been lobbying for for ages. Sometimes, the right people listen!
Anyone who sees the word “networking” and feels a pit of disgust well up inside… I promise you, it’s not what you think it is. Your network is your community. People who know and care about you. Not people you’ve handed a business card to randomly. They’re your friends.
Rather than lying to you today, let me tell you one of the biggest truths I know.
Finding work as a freelancer (in art or otherwise) is much more about WHO you know than WHAT you know.
Trust me.
Network. Interact. Make friends. Knock on doors. Make yourself and your work known
NEW ANIME CREDIT—- wait a minute…
I am thrilled (and honestly, shocked) to announce my almost-a-decade-later return to the world of
@OfficialRWBY
with Studio Shaft’s new anime adaptation, RWBY: Ice Queendom! Just like the original, I’ve returned as the featured cello soloist ❤️
Just secured one of my dream gigs ❤️ I am SO completely honored to announce I'll be joining the faculty for Berklee College of Music this fall; I've got a very special class to teach for the amazing students of the screen-scoring department!
Are you a VGM composer? Do you like charity? Do you want to do something really special for children in hospitals? Comment here if you want to be a part of my next charity collaboration! Like/RT for algorithm, tag friends whose music you think would put a smile on a kid's face :)
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but to avoid misinformation getting out there: We are not working on Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake 😅 We're also not working for Tencent (before THAT conspiracy takes hold!).
Yes, we're working on Snake Eater. Yes, it sounds incredible. TBA!
I'm teachin' Trojans, y'all!
I am SO unbelievably stoked to announce I'll be joining USC faculty as a professor of video game audio in School of Cinematic Arts' Interactive Media and Games division.
Finally.
On January 12th, my band Tournament Arc's debut album is FINALLY releasing. 12 gloriously arranged, live-performed tracks of VGM history, featuring collaborations with some of the greatest artists and composers ever to grace the medium on the titles they defined.
I got to write official video game music for Mobile Suit Gundam 😳 It was such a joy to become a small part of a franchise I’ve adored since I was a kid. Here’s an excerpt of my main menu theme in Game for Peace’s new Gundam expansion ❤️ Check the distorted slap bass!
Musicians! Sample/VST discount time for Black Friday. Here are some of the big ones to watch out for!
Orchestral Tools - 50% off (a rare sale!)
8Dio - 70% off (Good solo instruments + choirs, amongst other things!)
Cinesamples - 65% off (This is, I think, their usual top sale)
Arcane lays out the clearest path yet for how video games should be adapted: trust the characterizations/lore/designs. Create fresh plot. Don't worry about recreating the experience of playing the game; recreate the feeling of inhabiting the world.
I do a lot of educational tweets about game audio, but let's do a quick fundamentals-of-music thread for all the indie
#gamedev
folk out there, to help get everyone on the same page! As ever, RT if you find this helpful. (1/25)
NEW ANIME CREDIT!
Well, not THAT new; I've been a part of this franchise before! However...
I am thrilled to announce I was the choir director and a vocalist on the soundtrack of Kevin Penkin's latest and greatest, the highly-anticipated 2nd season of Made in Abyss!
Music is a team sport, but this is just embarrassing.
A full 3/5(!) of the nominees for best music at the BAFTA Games Awards this year are credited to the development teams, without a single named composer. Stunning.
And sure enough,
@joinhitpiece
is preparing to disappear. Another classic NFT fly-by-night rug-pull. If you’re unsure of why so many artists and creators cannot stand this technology, look at the culture of the community that is currently investing in it.
Presenting: Guitario! Six strings of pure VGM, distilled into one incredibly goofy instrument. Thanks are owed to Bravos Guitars in Whittier for the INCREDIBLE hand-brushed finish!
Doing fan arrangements of video game + anime music led to:
- a six-figure record deal
- working with my favorite artists of all time
- working on some of my favorite franchises of all time
Any way you slice it, the VGM scene has given me a LOT both emotionally and literally
Show of hands, who all has done fan art that’s bolstered their careers? Bonus points if you’ve gotten to do paid work for said IP you’ve done fan art of. 🙋🏿♂️
So uh... I'm a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree in the Gaming category, and they legitimately used a picture of me at Disneyland 😂
I am honored to represent the video game music community on this year's list! Next year, let's get TWO slots!
#ForbesUnder30
And why will most of you lack perseverance? Because you have bills to pay, family to support, and the inability to have the sort of patience a long-tail career will take to spin up. It’s not a moral failing, and it doesn’t mean you aren’t competent!
Aspiring composers.
Most of you won't make it, won't have a career in VGM, won't ever have one commercial project. Not because of lack of talent, passion or competence but for lack of perseverance.
Don't ever let go. Ever! Those who won't will make it eventually!
I want to try and articulate something that maybe gets a bit lost in the “you’ve got to work crazy hard” conversations that surround a career in the arts. As much as I love music, video games, and the general process of creation… It’s never going to love me back. People will. 🧵
After last night’s west-coast premiere of Belle, I had the opportunity to meet director Mamoru Hosoda and chat for a few minutes with him! He mentioned liking video game composers because of their versatility ❤️
The movie was INCREDIBLE. Seriously. See it when it’s out, y’all.
Unpaid work. At some point, we all do it. We are certainly always being buffeted with requests to do it, anyways! Let’s dig into this concept and discuss when it is(?!) a good idea to pursue!
Strap in,
#gameaudio
friends. We’re gonna figure out what is or isn’t exploitation!
Well, having been tagged out of nowhere, I guess this one’s public!
I’m on Stray Gods ❤️
You know how much I love musical theatre, so it was a tremendous joy to contribute as (checking notes) lead composer, for (eyebrows furrowing)
@awintory
’s gorgeous score as a cellist.
I’m seeing a lot of random people complaining about X game not being nominated, or confused about how Y composer got the nod, or where did Z game come from— let’s discuss the grammy nominating process from a recording academy member in game audio.
As a lover of both hard rock music AND Sonic the Hedgehog, it really has been one of the great joys of my career that I’ve somehow ended up randomly intersecting with (and then collaborating with) both of these stupendous artists. I’ve learned so much from both of you!
Um… wow. Rooster Teeth gave me my career. Without working on RWBY, I probably wouldn’t be here talking to you. I never would have made it into anime, never gotten in-house, none of it.
Heartbreaking to see…
Rooster Teeth is biting the dust after more than two decades.
Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, after unsuccessful attempts to sell the unprofitable fandom, gaming and comedy entertainment division, is shutting down Rooster Teeth’s operations.
Since it appears to have come out in the press, I can go ahead and brag about my wife AGAIN, for the BILLIONTH TIME.
She's developing a Legally Blonde spinoff series for Amazon! Considering how much she LOVES those movies (and pink!), it's amazing to see her continue to shine.
I’m SO HYPED to say I contributed solo cello to the Star Wars: Visions episode “The Village Bride”, scored by my dear friend
@kevinpenkin
. Being involved with Star Wars is a literal dream come through, as my lifelong favorite franchise ❤️
Meant to post earlier, but…
Happy Loving day, y’all! On this date fifty-five years ago, the US Supreme Court ruled against bans on interracial marriage. My fiancée and I owe it to this exact case (Loving Vs. Virginia) for paving the way for us to get married this fall!
From a random hallway encounter 12 years ago to the unbridled joy of contributing additional arrangements and performances to a grammy-nominated masterwork… You just can’t predict this stuff.
What an honor to be even the tiniest part of the vision of a genius like
@awintory
!
We won the Hollywood Music in Media Award last night for Best Mobile Game Score for a title I score and direct, Game for Peace!
Pictured below: some supremely excellent game audio lads at the award show last night!
Honestly, I don't really take any offense from this. Ignoring the innate stress present in any awards' show speech, I think he's just trying to credit his parents for providing him with a path to success. Video games can indeed be a part of that path, but for him, they weren't.
Last night, 39-year-old composer Ludwig Göransson won his second Academy Award for his score to ‘Oppenheimer’. In a heartfelt speech, he thanked his parents for giving him his foundation in music.
To all my composer buddies out there who feel like maybe your production is bare-minimum professional,or that other folks are hard-dumpstering you and the gap is insurmountable:
They aren’t, and it isn’t.
Composers! Demo reel time. As an audio supervisor for Tencent, I get a TON of them every day, and have started to develop a lot of feelings about how said reels are shown. I wanna talk today about why I feel
@ReelCrafter
provides the best solution for this!
Another day, another visit to the Pokémon universe ❤️ I am SO psyched to have been the choir director and a vocalist for episode two of Pokémon: Paldean Winds! This marks my… 4th(?) time returning to Pokémon’s OST, this time on the capable score of
@kevinpenkin
Tonight's the night! Finally getting to the insane
#SonicSymphony
at the Dolby Theatre out here in LA.
@Crush40Johnny
,
@crush40
, and
@Kellinquinn
are in the house! Can't WAIT to see some of my favorite people shred it out live to some of my all-time favorite VGM!
Audio friends! Tencent is HIRING for audio designers / voice designers in the UK, Japan, and New Zealand! If you're based there (or if you're open to relocation!), please reach out to me as I'd love to see your resume!
Sometimes, you just get crummy news.
Today was one of those days. I’m probably gonna be sad for the day. Maybe even a few. However, this will pass. All things do. Tremendously grateful to my friends for their support, and to my colleagues for their help in weathering trials ❤️
I'll say it again. Video Game Music is the 21st century, international equivalent of the Great American Songbook. The Zelda Overworld theme is a standard. The VGM community today arguably has more in common with the Jazz scene of the 1930's than the Jazz scene of 2021 does 🤷♂️
Video game music is my folk music. It's the music of my culture, of us who grew up on the internet, sat in their rooms and dreamt themselves away to other worlds, who never saw their friends' real faces. Desktop music, internet music, digital fusion, whatever you want to call it.
Random scoring tip:
Got a TON to write, and it’s dealing psychic damage as you try not to procrastinate? Every time you step away to take a break or finish for the day, leave at a spot where it’s super obvious to you what you’d like to do next. It makes starting back up easier!
Ok, I’ve heard today is
#PortfolioDay
… I usually EXPLICITLY refuse to do this but, on a one-off basis, I’ll provide direct, concrete feedback/notes on any game music demos shared in-thread today! Drop a link and, if I see it before midnight, I’ll reply with thoughts!
#GameAudio
Sometimes feels like the internet needs this reminder, but like...
No one needs composers. You are not owed the successful launch of your own private business. Launching your career is expensive, difficult, and takes a ton of time. Trust takes years (decades, even) to earn.
NEW CREDIT GET!
Announcement month continues apace, and this next one is pretty special too ❤
I got to work on Pokémon! I am honored to announce that I sang on the international release of Pokémon: Secrets of the Jungle. Thank you so much for the inclusion,
@edgoldfarbmusic
!
As an anime nerd, I’m mega-hyped to add this to the roster: Apparently I didn’t post this when it came out but uh— I got to work on One Piece.
More vocal/music production on the soundtrack in collaboration with Funimation (specifically on the Big Mama operatic sequences!). Woo!
*Sigh*... Just say you don't understand what narrative designers do. AI can generate dialogue/barks. It can remember what you said. That's not hard. Writing GOOD dialogue? GOOD barks? Meaningful interactions that connect story? Super tricky. For GOD'S sake, respect writers.
The future of AAA open-world games.
This is a Skyrim VR mod by YouTuber 'Art from the Machine' which lets you talk to NPCs using ChatGPT.
NPCs have their own tailored prompts based on their unique backgrounds which allows ChatGPT to roleplay as that character.
There's also a
2023 by the numbers:
+28 games
+8 film/tv/anime projects
+6 conventions / conferences
+5 albums of music (not counting OST releases from above projects)
+2 new artist endorsement deals
+1 live theatrical production
+1 concert
god i’m tired. time for a nap 🫠
Success in media scoring is like 1% music composition, 99% communication. For a lot of university programs (often by definition, due to the standards and expectations involved in college accreditation) the focus is on that 1%, sometimes to the detriment of the 99%.
NEW CREDIT!
I am vengeance! I am the night! I… am excited to say I contributed to Batman: Arkham Shadow! Can’t reveal exactly what at this time, but I highly encourage you to check out the official reveal at Summer Game Fest on June 7th, at 2pm PDT to learn more.
I am so excited to share my newest anime charity project, “Back To You”, an original song and animation where all proceeds went directly to
@animator_shien
and Japanese animators. We raised money for ethical wages in animation, and we’ll do it again!
I am, according to my three year old nephew, officially old now. Please consult me for all your ancient wisdom needs.
…It’s my birthday, and apparently 30 is TOO MANY BIRTHDAYS in his perspective 😭
Allow me to present my candidate for possibly the weirdest GUI in Pro Tools. Yes, they intentionally wanted it to look “real” and angled it. Yes, this is absolutely as annoying in the real world as you’d imagine.
I’ve officially made it, y’all. Yesterday, someone shared a conspiracy theory video with me wherein I was the lynchpin of someone’s beliefs that China was enslaving youtube singers and making them play Mario Kart to raise money for the CCP.
My man, I make wiggly air. That’s all!
Was expecting major good news today. Ended up with... Well, not explicit bad news, but certain a readjustment of expectations. *Technically* this was a positive development, I guess. Sigh. Gonna keep soldiering on and doing my best, regardless.
Today’s winner for weirdest plug-in manufacturer is awarded to, I kid you not, KIA. The car manufacturer. They made a virtual synth as part of the dev process of one of their new cars, and have… released it??
Leaks suck. Having your unfinished work released without your consent is a miserable experience, and it sets up seriously unhealthy problems in the workplace where trust becomes more difficult and teams are sometimes heavily siloed to prevent further leaks being wider-spread.
It's not easier than ever to make a career in music; it's easier than ever to acquire the basic tools of the trade. The added competition of this diminished floor means the required skillset is higher than ever, making it MUCH harder.
Probably one of the coolest part of being an audio director/supervisor is the number of composers who'll shoot me tracks to be like "oh, just doing a thing, thought you might dig it!" and it'll turn out to be the sickest thing ever written.
You people are TOO talented, y'all😭
I know almost every single woman quoted; not a single one of them is even slightly misrepresenting things. They don’t go on the record because the specific men who are MOST known for this have such systemic power. The whisper network is strong in music…
It's out, y'all. New Album from the boys and girls of
@TournamentArc
. 12 spectacularly-joyous arrangements of video game music classics, featuring legendary artists who defined these games in the first place.
Seeing how many of my friends and colleagues have been deeply affected by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s passing tells me I am very overdue for a proper listening session to better learn about him (I have, somehow, largely missed out.)
Tell me your favorite Sakamoto cues/pieces/songs!
With credits from Smash, League, and so many more, it's time to announce the MAGFest return of
@MasonLieberman
! Mason is a titan in the field of composition and audio direction, and we're beyond excited to see what the maestro is bringing to MAGFest Prime in just THIRTEEN DAYS!
Quarantining in the studio with COVID… At least I’ve got company! Meet Yoshi: she’s a fan of
@sequentialLLC
synthesizers, so she insisted I add the Pro 3 SE and the OB-6 to that so-lonely Prophet 6. At least I’ve got time AND a tutor to help me learn today’s new gear 😅
Some of my biggest dream gigs in my career came true because someone remembered me in the moment when they needed to staff up. Or knew how much it'd mean to be to be a part of the team, and threw me a bone because that's what friends do.
Two years ago to the day, I had the indescribably honor of collaborating with forty(!) of my favorite artists, including Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts themselves, on an official Cowboy Bebop charity release for COVID-19 Relief.
I think sometimes, I get raised eyebrows from people when they see me out and about / hanging at events, despite how busy I am. “I don’t know how you’re here if you have so much work to do.”
Honest answer? My highest priority is my family and my community. Work is secondary.
Ok, finally the BIG Kaiju
#8
news is dropping...
I sang for the show! Like... A lot! You can hear me singing the main theme of the show's score (as hear in the pre-release EP and in BOTH trailers) and I start rocking out on Kafka's theme around four minutes into the show.
ON MUSIC DIRECTION
The showrunner of a project I’m currently delivering gave me some damn good direction when I was starting production…
“If you have fun with it, so will we!”
They encouraged me to go crazy, pursue ridiculous ideas, and let my inner kid call the shots.
Discussion: A friendly colleague DM’d me asking if I was mad at them at the GANG awards because I looked right at them, they began to engage, and I instantly ignored them/wandered off. They felt hurt, and worried our relationship was damaged
Allow me to address inattentive ADHD!
Here's this year's roster. Another murderer's row of talent. We had a HUGE shakeup of fresh faces this year, and some really outstanding community members who stepped forward to celebrate this moment. And that's not the only shakeup...