The Video Game Composer Podcast

Growth never happens in the comfort zone. In this episode, I share stories from my own career as a game composer—times when I stepped into unfamiliar, uncomfortable situations and how those moments led to real breakthroughs. If you’re looking to grow your game composition career, this episode will challenge you to embrace risk, push past fear, and recognize that the opportunities you’re seeking of...

What should you charge to score a game? Should you sign an exclusive contract—or not? How do you protect your creative rights without burning bridges? In this episode, I sit down with  Noa Beazley , a Boston-based composer and multi-instrumentalist whose game scores span genres—from the Latin-metal fusion of  Protodroid DeLTA  to the orchestral fantasy of  A Token War . Noa teaches game scoring at...

How does your music sound? Maybe the notes are good, but the recording sounds like General MIDI from 1991. Maybe the production is good, but your music sounds like everyone else. Maybe you have no idea how your music stacks up. Today's guest, Jason Walsh, has worked for over a decade on some of the largest projects in the game industry. Jason's high level of expertise comes in part from wearing ma...

At the start of your game audio career, you’ll need to grind. A lot. Finding consistent work means meeting people, stepping out of your comfort zone, and spending an inordinate amount of time on business activities—not just writing music. But over time, your career can pivot. Opportunities begin to flow to you, and your days become more focused on the creative work you love. Chris Rickwood has mad...

Gina Zdanowicz, Founder and Audio Director of Serial Lab Sound, has cultivated a dynamic career spanning over two decades in the game industry, leaving an indelible mark on titles such as Eternights, Paladins, Just Cause 3, Bioshock 2, and numerous indie, e-Learning and midcore games. Gina has been instrumental in shaping the future generation of game audio professionals. Her impressive tenure inc...

Megan is primarily a video game composer. She did the music for  River City Girls  1 & 2, the  Halloween  and  Ash vs Evil Dead  games from Retro Realms, and I believe she composed most of the music for the Atari Recharged games. Not only does Megan do a ton of custom work for games, but she also earns income by licensing her music for TV and releasing her own music as an artist. I brought Meg...

Today you’ll be listening in on a conversation with lifelong gamer, composer, and music designer Olivier Deriviere. He has created the music for games such as  A Plague Tale: Innocence ,  A Plague Tale: Requiem ,  Dying Light 2 ,  Streets of Rage 4 , and, most recently,  South of Midnight . Equally impressive to his composing skills are Olivier’s talents in music design. He is a leading voice in p...

Tobi Weiss is a video game composer who has amassed a following of over 120K on Instagram. He emphasizes the importance of being genuine with your audience and staying true to yourself while working hard to become known and find more work. This is a value-packed conversation for anyone looking to become more visible as a composer in a genuine and authentic way. Follow Tobi on Instagram: https://ww...

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 Legend...

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...

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 jo...

Today’s Guest, Ryan Ike, is a very accomplished indie game composer and an all-around awesome dude. You can hear his music in indie game hits like Wizard With a Gun, Shadows Over Loathing, Where The Water Tastes Like Wine, Gunpoint, and more. We had a great conversation about Ryan's diligent method for becoming a strong game composer. I learned a lot from this conversation and had a lot of fun...

Jeff Broadbent is an award-winning game composer who has worked on many of the industry's largest franchises, including Diablo, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, and many more. Not only is Jeff a talented composer but he is an effective networker and strategic business person. He has so much great information to share. I hope you are ready to take notes and implement some ideas. We talk...

This episode discusses three areas of focus that can help you make great progress in your video game composing career. Having a system and goals for music creation, building up a team of people around you, and tracking your progress are all powerful tools to help you achieve and succeed in this competitive and exciting journey. For even more detailed and hands-on help to kickstart your composing c...

Today’s guest is Jeff Kurtenacker, an amazing composer and sound designer for AAA games. He is currently the audio director for Deck Nine Games, and has also worked as a senior composer for Blizzard and worked on a ton of projects as a freelancer before that. Jeff wrote over 14 hours of absolutely killer music for a game called WildStar that got canceled before it ever saw the light of day. Check...

Grammy-nominated composer J Scott Rakozy talks to us about his background in music, his process for creating convincing midi mach-ups, how he got to do the music for Hogwarts Legacy and much more! Check out more about Scott at his website and Instagram: https://www.jscottrakozy.com https://www.instagram.com/rockinrakozy/ Emerging and Mid-career composers for film and games: check out this Mastercl...

Enjoy this special edition episode celebrating my 5-year anniversary as a video game composer. I give career highlights and share the big lessons I learned each year. If this episode is helpful or inspiring please share it with another game audio person you know. If you don't know any, meet someone. You can start with me, shoot me an email at thevideogamecomposerpodcast@gmail.com

Vinicius is an LA-based composer for film, tv and video games. He was nominated for an Emmy with his music editor work on Go Go Cory Carson. Vinicius reveals what he did to build connections and start working with well-established composers on major projects. There are a lot of invaluable and fresh ideas shared in this episode. Listen carefully and be ready to take notes and then take action! Be s...

Nate Madsen is a long time veteran composer in the video game industry, with extensive experience as a freelance and in-house game composer. Nate shares really great insights and personal experiences on networking, prospecting for projects, personal improvement and so much more. Follow Nate at his website https://madsenstudios.com

In today's episode, composer David Fairfield talks about what he calls the creator's journey. Going from hobbyist, to time liberated, to mastery. David is a Music Composer, Sound Designer, and Audio Director who has worked in the gaming industry for 15 years. He has worked with some of the world's top companies and brands including Disney, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, and the Olympics. Most notably...

Today's guest is Kristofer Eng who is an award-winning composer for his work on the game It Takes Two. He is also the CEO of Elias software, which is audio middleware initially designed exclusively for video game music (sound design capabilities were added later). Kristopher talks about his musical upbringing, his entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, and how game composing led him to create hi...

Maclain Diemer of Guild Wars 2, Salt and Sacrifice, and other great games joins us to share his valuable perspectives and experience on being a full-time composer for games. 

Building strong relationships is crucial to any creative career, and it is especially true for game composers. A majority of the opportunities for game composers are freelance. With most of us working outside the "in-house" or company setting, having a robust network with solid relationships is essential. (It is also very essential to those wanting to work in a company setting as well). This is no...

In this episode, I share where I am focusing and what I am currently doing to grow my business.  As video game composers our biggest problem, and the reason we don't have more work, is visibility.  If every game developer on the planet knew who you were and was familiar with your music you would have more paid work than you could ever handle.  Becoming less and less obscure, and mor...