Sound Business with Akash Thakkar

#44: Our guest today is Azuria Sky, AKA Sky Lu, who is a composer and producer based in Los Angeles. While Sky has worked on games such as Solar Ash and is currently working on Hyper Light Breaker, she's also known well-known in the world of electronic music production.    In this episode, we talk about how Sky found her voice as a musician, why she decided to sing on her own music despite being t...

#43: Today's guest is Dr. Fabiana Claure, who is an award-winning pianist, educator, business strategist, and entrepreneur who occupies a great niche in-between music, business, and helping musicians make a great living from their art. She's also the CEO of the The Musician's Profit Umbrella.  In this episode we talk about the struggles that most musicians deal with and how to get through them, pa...

#42: Our guest today is Mark Abrams, a mixing engineer, producer, and audio educator who has worked with people such as Angel Lopez and clients such as Sony, Toyota, Nintendo, and many others. He is also a mentor at PureMix.com and runs the company Echopunch.  In this episode we talk about how important it is to promote our music and how to do it, how to help others in our field and how helping ot...

#41: Today's guest is Anne-Sophie Mongeau, a sound designer based in Montreal, Canada. She has worked on projects such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider and It Takes Two. Anne-Sophie is currently the lead sound designer at Eidos Montreal.  In this episode, we talk about Sophie's growth as a sound designer, her leaving Eidos Montreal to work in Sweden, and what it's like to return to Eidos many years la...

#40: Our guest today is Michele Arnese, who is the founder and CEO of amp sound branding. Based in Munch, Germany, amp has done audio branding for top companies such as Mercedes, Mastercard, Porsche, and much more.   In this episode, we talk about what audio branding is and how Michele got into the field, how he brought his company to work with all these big names, and how he's using AI in audio w...

#39: Our guest today is composer Maclaine Diemer who has worked on projects such as Guild Wars 2, Salt and Sacrifice, Rock Band, and many others. In this episode we talk about the simplicity of networking in our field, transitioning from being a rock star to being a sound designer, and then transitioning from sound design to composition, and much more. Find Maclaine Diemer here:   Instagram: https...

#38: Our guest today is Film and TV Composer, Sherri Chung who has worked on projects such as Family Guy, Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Kung Fu, and many others. In this episode we talk about what it takes to become a full-time composer, the difference between composers and film composers, dealing with impostor syndrome and much more.  Find Sherri Chung here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sh...

#36: Today, our guest is Hrishikesh Hirway - musician and creator of the wildly successful podcast, Song Exploder.  In this interview, we talk about growing up in an Indian immigrant household, the fear of side projects taking away from our main musical interests, how his studies in philosophy and graphic design in college contributed to his career, how he created Song Exploder in the first place,...

#35: Today, our guest is Steve Horowitz - a composer who has worked on quite literally hundreds of film, TV, concert, and video game projects throughout his career.  In this interview, we talk about not niching down as a composer, why he chooses to compose for practically every type of media, what it's like to compose for over 100 projects in radically different styles, and much more.  Find Steve...

#34: Today, our guest is Jeremy Blake, the man behind the wildly successful music-focused Youtube channel, Red Means Recording!  In this interview, we talk about the importance of educating others in our field, how getting fired from his day job helped him become a full-time musician, the importance of pivoting and changing our goals within our career, and so much more.  Find Red Means Recording h...

#33: Edouard Brenneisen is a composer for video games, film, and TV who has worked on projects such as League of Legends, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dr. Oz, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, and tons of other projects!  In this episode we talk about the long uphill climb to becoming a full-time composer, how composers sometimes need to pivot and transition their careers, what a composer's actual job is, and so much m...

#32: Bryan Wilson is a touring, composing, and performing cellist based out of New Jersey. Unlike most cellists, however, Bryan doesn't focus exclusively on the world of classical music, instead focusing on the worlds of music improvisation and comedic music.  Bryan is also the author of two books: String Jams and Cello Chords, both of which help cellists play their instruments in a more improvisa...

#31: Marshall McGee is a video game sound designer who's worked on projects like Just Cause 4, Roblox, Outriders, and has worked with clients such as Nike and Adidas. He also has a wildly successful (and incredibly fun) Youtube channel where he breaks apart sound design in a beautifully clear way that anyone can understand.  In this episode, we talk about the importance of showing up, building a n...

It was my birthday this week, and in what's become an Akash tradition, here are three things I've learned over the last year about life, careers, and what I've learned to focus on.   Send me a message: hello@akashthakkar.com @akashthakkaraudio on Instagram

Every single one of us is making tiny decisions every single day, and those micro-decisions make all the difference when it comes to our life and career. In this episode, we dive into some of the most important decisions you can make to ensure a successful game audio career and life.  Book recommended in this episode: Personality Isn't Permanent by Dr. Benjamin Hardy   Send me a message: hello@aka...

#30: Vanessa Flores is a sound designer and post production audio expert who works at Banana Post in Los Angeles. Vanessa's work focuses on the world's of TV, ads, and film, working on projects like Total Bellas, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Top Gear and many others. In this episode, we dive into how to break into and succeed in the worlds of linear media, how she got her first jobs (even thou...

A lot of us are working day jobs while pursuing or dreams to work in game audio full-time. That's great! But, ideally, we'll want to leave those boring careers behind as soon as we can. So, how can we make our escape from those more normal jobs and transition into our dream career?   Send me a message: hello@akashthakkar.com @akashthakkaraudio on Instagram   And if you're interested in making musi...

#29: Sigurd Jøhnk-Jensen is a guitarist, drummer, sound designer, and composer who's had an insanely successful career as a touring musician, as well as a composer for some of the world's biggest movie trailers. He's worked on trailers for movies like House of Gucci, Scream, Marvel's Eternals, and many others. In this episode we talk about the importance of creating and working no matter what resu...

In my 12+ years of working as a full-time game audio freelancer, the thing I see trip people up most is asking for money for their work. To help with that, here are three ultra-effective ways to make sure you're paid super well for your music/sound in and out of the game industry.  Check out my course, which opens on April 25th, 2022: bit.ly/gameaudiopro Send me a message: hello@akashthakkar.com @...

#28: Star Victoria Power is a video game composer who's worked on projects like The Stars Between Us, Calico, and the Steven Universe Anti-Racism PSAs.  In this episode we talk about breaking in to the music industry from humble beginnings, finding the right teachers and musical education, working day jobs, dealing with non-deserving complex when things start to go well, and so much more.  Find St...

#27: Bad Snacks is a violinist and music producer who is known for her string-centric lo-fi hip hop style. Bad Snacks has played violin on countless sessions, has produced music for Google & Youtube, and has released her own successful albums such as Neat Tapes 1 & 2 and Bathtub Bumps. In this interview, we talk about building a community to help support a music career, moving to/away from big cit...

If you want to dodge problem clients in your career, asking the right questions before the project starts goes a very very long way toward helping with that.  And to download my full client questionnaire, you can go here: bit.ly/gameaudioquestions Send me a message: hello@akashthakkar.com @akashthakkaraudio on Instagram

#26: Jongnic Bontemps had a very different path into film and video game music, in that he initially started his career in the tech world as a programmer, and didn't officially start his music career until he was 36 years old.  In this episode, we talk all about how he restarted his career in his thirties (with a wife and kids!) all while giving up his high-salary tech job that had supported him a...

#25: Michael Sweet is an award-winning composer, sound designer, and game audio educator who's worked on over 100 games and has had a huge impact on educating the next generation of game audio designers. I was lucky enough to study under Michael at the Berklee College of Music, and he is one of the handful of people I can point to and attribute a large amount of my success to.  In this episode, we...

There's a lot that goes into preparing for a video game conference... but most composers and sound designers totally miss the mark when it comes to making the most of a networking event.    So, in this episode, host of The Video Game Composer Podcast, Tyson Cazier, and I sit down to discuss how to prep for a video game conference - whether it be online or off.    A huge thank you to Tyson for givi...