Sound Business with Akash Thakkar

#94: My guest today is Chris Bolte, who is a technical sound designer and audio implementer based out of Massachusetts. Chris has built a wide-ranging library of sound effects used by creatives all over the world, co-wrote the book Elevate Your Audio Production with REAPER, and is most known for his work on the hit game Ghost of Yotei, where he implemented and designed sound across tens of thousan...

#93: My guest today is Virginia Leo, who is a composer, sound designer, and pianist based out of Austin, Texas. Virginia has worked on projects like Wobbly Life, had her work played by orchestras around the US, and is most known for her work on the hit game, The Baby In Yellow, which has hit over 300 million downloads to date. In this interview, Virginia talks about her shift into video game music...

#92: My guest today is Kevin Senzaki, who is a sound supervisor and sound designer based in Los Angeles. He has an incredibly diverse background starting first as a visual artists but then transitioned into sound during his college days. He got his career started during the early 2010s when he staretd working with YouTube Creators who would become massive like RocketJump and Corridor Digital.   Si...

#91: My guest today is Beatrix Moersch, sound designer based out of Montreal, Canada. She has worked on projects including Dead By Daylight, Gears 5: Hivebusters, Museum of Symmetry, Stories: The Path of Destinies, and is currently the audio lead at Don’t Nod Montreal, most recently working on Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.    In this episode, we talk Beatrix’s transition from wanting to work in...

#90: My guest today is Noa Beazley, who is a composer and music educator baed out of Boston, Massachusetts. She has composed for projects like Protodroid DeLTA, A Token War, and Phosfi working across a huge variety of genres all the way to dark folk music and everything in between. She’s also an assistant professor at the Berklee College of Music teaching game scoring. She’s also on the Board of D...

#89: My guest today is Alejandro Pérez Heinze who is a composer, Flamenco guitarist, audio engineer, Kontakt instrument producer, and audio educator based in Mexico. He has worked on a wide variety of projects including Kontakt instrument production on Kena: Bridge of Spirits, also working with Austin Wintory on projects such as Thai Cave Rescue, and composing on games such as Frogreign.   In this...

#88: My guest today is Venus Theory, who is a music producer and Youtuber based out of Nashville, Tennessee. Venus Theory is known not only for his lush electronic music, but also his massive YouTube channel. He also recently finished writing the soundtrack for the hit game Avowed by Obsidian Entertainment.   In this episode, we dive into Venus Theory’s rise as a musician due to YouTube, how he la...

#87: My guest today is Jamie Brindle, who’s actually our first ever non-audio guest for the podcast! Some of you may already be familiar with Jamie and his work on social media, where he helps out freelancers across all industries, focusing on aspects around pricing, dealing with client pushback, finding quality clients, and much more.   In this episode, Jamie and I talk about the skills, mindsets...

#86: My guest today is Alexander Brandon, a game audio designer based out of Seattle, Washington. He has had an incredibly diverse and impactful career, starting off in the early ages of game audio working on projects like Unreal, Thief, and Deus Ex. He also contributed to projects such as Skyrim, Job Simulator, and so so many others.   In this episode, we dive deep into Alexander’s initial start...

#85: My guest today is Radhika Vekaria, a musician and recording artist born in the UK and based out of Los Angeles. Radhika is known for creating the album WARRIORS OF LIGHT, which was recently nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Age Ambient and Chant category.   In this episode, we dive deep into Radhika’s Indian music upbringing, how she became a mantra-based artist in the first place, the c...

#84: My guest today is Devendra Cleary, a production sound mixer based in Los Angeles. He got his start working as a boom mic operator in college and eventually got his first big break working on the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Since then, he’s worked on projects such as Firefly, Anchorman, Sex and the City, and, recently, Twisters and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.   In this episode, we talk abo...

#83: My guest today is Alda Agustiano, also known as Chong The Nomad, who is a music producer and DJ based in Seattle, Washington. Alda has been producing music for well over a decade now, recently releasing her debut album titled “Do We Make Of This?” and also working on projects such as Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings, and getting music sync spots with companies like Singapore Airlines, App...

#82: My guest today is Mikey J, a composer, producer, and dancer based in the United Kingdom. He has worked on a huge variety of projects from Danny Boyle’s Free Your Mind Matrix Adaptation, scoring and music directing the 2024 revival of Romeo & Juliet starring Tom Holland, founding the award winning dance company Boy Blue, and is even a member of the Order of the British Empire for his work...

#81: My guest today is Dror Mohar, a sound designer and engineer based out of Los Angeles. He has worked on an insane number of projects, including Inglorious Basterds, DJ Hero, Fable III, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and more recently, Lady in the Lake on Apple TV.   In this episode, we talk about how Dror grew up in Africa, ended up in the UK, and then moved to the US to truly start his caree...

#80: My guest today is Andy Martin, a sound designer and nature recordist based out of Seattle, Washington. Andy’s had an incredibly long and varied career in the world of sound design, working on projects such as Grim Fandango, all of the games in the inFAMOUS series, Medal of Honor, and has even worked with Skywalker Sound as a virtual reality sound designer on projects like Vader Immortal. He a...

#79: My guest today is Rob Pearsall, a composer and sound designer based out of Seattle, Washington. He has had a career in game audio spanning over 20 years and dove into game audio for the first time at 46 years old. Since beginning his career he has worked on Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Destiny, République, BattleTech, Falcon Age, The Lamplighters League, and many others.   In this episode, we talk ab...

#78: My guest today is Raison Varner, a voice actor, sound designer, composer, videographer, and writer. He’s had a very broad and varied career, starting in 2006 as an intern on the original Prey game, then working as a composer, sound designer, voice actor, and writer for the Borderlands games for 12 years. He has also  worked as an art director for Obsidian Entertainment.   In this episode, we...

#77: My guest today is James Thatcher, a sound designer and nature recordist based out of Seattle, Washington. He has had an incredibly diverse set of experiences before getting into the world of pro audio, most notably working in Michelin Star restaurants in France before making his way into the world of game audio years later. He has released approximately 17 sound packs, with the most recent ti...

#76: My guests today are Steve “Major” Giammaria & Evan Benjamin, who are re-recording mixers and dialogue editors based out of the audio production house Sound Lounge in New York City.   In this episode, we dive into their recent work on the hit series The Bear, their process for creating and enhancing the soundscape for such a tense and dramatic show, the realities and life of working in pos...

#75: Today's guest is Nainita Desai, an award-winning composer based out of London, England. She has worked with dozens of high profile clients including Peter Gabriel and A24, as well as documentaries, film, game, TV, and game projects such as Immortality, American Murder, Call of Duty, and Tales of Kenzera: Zau.   In this episode, we talk about Nainita’s upbringing as a sound designer first and...

#74: Today's guest is Nathan Moody, a composer, sound designer, mastering engineer, and interaction designer based out of California. He has worked on an insane variety of projects ranging from The Callisto Protocol, Pentiment, to MLK: Now Is The Time.  He has also created sound effects for World War II Battleships, and is even currently working with Skywalker Sound.   In this episode, we talk abo...

#73: Today's guest is Ariel Gross, a game audio veteran based out of Texas with over 20 years of experience in the game industry. He started his career on PC and Game Boy Advance games in the late 90s and early 2000s, and eventually ended up as an audio lead—working on titles like Saints Row, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and so many more. Ariel is now the founder of Team Audio, a team of approxima...

#72: Today's guest is Aaron Brown, a video game composer, sound designer, and audio director based out of Austin, Texas. He has worked in the game industry for over 20 years now and has worked on projects such as Call Of Duty, Uncharted, Redfall, Donkey Kong: Country Tropical Freeze, and so many others.   In this episode, Aaron and I talk about how to make your own path into the game audio world,...

#71: Today's guest is Philomène Gatien, a composer and orchestrator based out of Montreal, Canada. She has worked on films like My Salinger Year and theatrical plays such as Thank You For Coming, and even game-specific software such as Wwise in her theater performances.   In this episode, we talk about how Philomène started as a composer, how she started at a later stage than so many others, how s...

#70: Today's guest is Carla Patullo, Grammy-winning songwriter and composer based out of Los Angeles. She has worked on projects such as Maxine on Disney Plus, films like The Ignition, and more recently her personal project and Grammy-winning album, So She Howls.    In this episode, we talk about how Carla's career as a songwriter and composer, how she likes to experiment in her day-to-day work, t...