The Video Game Composer Podcast

There is a lot to do and learn as a freelance game composer and it can be hard to figure out what activities are most important to focus on, what skillsets are most important to develop, and how a composer needs to think to make this career happen. This episode will help you get inside the head of professional composer Brendon WIlliams. He has composed for major franchises such as League of Legends, Guild Wars, and Start Wars. He has worked both as an in-house composer and a freelance composer. Follow Brendon and listen to his music: IG: https://www.instagram.com/brendoncomposer?igsh=MTVidDR4NXI2dTI3NQ== Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendoncomposer/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/BrendonComposer

Game composer, sound designer, and audio engineer Robbie Dolan talks about the top handful of skills that are essential for composers in order to carve out a career in today's marketplace. Robbie wasted no time establishing a strong career in the game industry and the knowledge and experience he shares are invaluable.

Michael Sweet is a video game composer, sound designer, audio director, and all around audio pro. He has also been teaching game audio at two of the top music programs in the world. He has worked on over 100 award-winning games and has basically done it all in the world of game audio. In our conversation, we talk in-depth about what interactive or adaptive music is, the fundamental building blocks of interactive music, how and when to use it, and how to compose it. This conversation is a masterclass on how to plan and create adaptive scores. Sweet also mentions different resources for improving as an adaptive music composer. Youtube channels to check out: Michael Sweet - https://www.youtube.com/@michaelsweet5043/videos Olivier Deriviere - https://www.youtube.com/@oderiviere Austin Wintory - https://www.youtube.com/@awintory Games that are good examples of adaptive audio: Peggle 2 Red Dead Redemption 2 Ghost of Tsushima Mass Effect The Batman Arkham Series God of War (every recent version after the reboot) Almost any Sony Product has terrific adaptive music systems Books Interactive Music for Video Games: A Composer's Guide - Michael Sweet Composing Music for Games - Chance Thomas A Composer's Guide to Game Music - Winifred Phillips

Today's episode is taken from module 3 of the START course. Module 3 is all about how to write demos that can help you find video game scoring work. This episode discusses the how and why of creating targeted demo music, and how targeted music is different than making music as an artist in general. If you are interested in taking the START course head to thevideogamecomposerhq.com/start and join the waitlist. The course is completely free and you will be given access as soon as the course is launched.