Sound Business with Akash Thakkar

Building a Music Production Career from Scratch with Chong The Nomad

#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, Apple, Universal Audio, and Nike. She has also opened for artists like Odesza and Death Cab for Cutie.

 

In this episode, we talk Alda’s musical upbringing—transitioning from piano lessons to music production in high school, her choice to go to music school and how she made the most of it, her struggles and realizations with the business side of her music career. and so much more.

 

Find Alda here:

Website: https://www.chongthenomad.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chongthenomad/?hl=en

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1TCIxnDm8SASkB6dTMrFCy?utm_medium=share&utm_source=linktree

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/chongsongs

 

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

Composing Across Cultures with Mikey J

#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 in hip-hop and dance music.

 

In this episode, we talk Mikey’s musical upbringing as a child of African immigrants in the United Kingdom, how he started as a mixing engineer and producer working for the tiny sum of five pounds an hour for his work, his recent work on the movie Kneecap which celebrates Irish hiphop and cultural preservation, and so much more.

 

Find Mikey here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeyjdotnet/?hl=en

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/michael-mikey-j-asante

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4647621/

 

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

From Roadie to Hollywood Sound Designer with Dror Mohar

#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 career. We also talk about he started playing in bands as a guitarist and vocalist and then trained transitioned to becoming a mixing engineer and roadie, how he then transitioned from mixing into sound design in Hollywood, and so much more.

 

Find Dror here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drormohar/

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3346677/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drormohar/

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

Sound Design and Nature Recording with Andy Martin

#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 also has extensive experience in nature field recording as a part of the project NorthWest Soundscapes.

 

In this episode, we talk about how the winding path Andy took into the world of professional audio, why it’s okay to change your career goals and pivot, building a career while having ADHD, Andy’s love of nature recording and how’s he’s turned it into a business, and so much more.

 

Find Andy here:

Website: https://soundeziner.com/andy-martin/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northwestsoundscapes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andymartinnaturesound

 

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

Building a 40-Year Career in Audio with Rob Pearsall

#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 about how Rob broke into the game audio world before it was “cool”, the extreme importance of networking, how he dealt with the industry in his 40s, and much more.

 

Find Rob here:

Website: https://www.robpearsall.com/

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7111207/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7MKfJOI5YFJfr8K4Ur1nVJ

 

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

The Psychology of Working in Game Audio with Raison Varner

#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 talk about Raison’s wide array of interests and skills, how to stand out as someone who’s interested in working across multiple disciplines, the deep psychology of working as a team in gave development, and so much more.

 

Find Raison here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raison-varner/

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1770713/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/raisonvarner?lang=en

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/rvarner

 

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

Becoming a Sound Designer Later On During Your Career with James Thatcher

#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 titled, “Firearm Mechanics and Handling”.

 

In this episode, we talk about James navigated the past starting off as a cook and then transitioning into audio much later, how he transitioned from working on Halo Infinite to going out into nature and recording, how he releases, edits, and sells as many sound libraries, and so much more.

 

Find James Thatcher here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skyriversound/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-thatcher-6871469a/

Sound Library: https://www.asoundeffect.com/sounddesigner/sky-river-sound/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAab3LSvQIIpzQ0N-WH-_6lBny6T3EQQEGjRV4F-d9bsfJYrlFuAffv75YMU_aem_5nMgdxQ-UOp1vXWIKTv6fw

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

Creating the Audio of The Bear with Steve “Major” Giammaria & Evan Benjamin

#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 post-production sound, and so much more.

 

Find Evan Benjamin here:

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0071301/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-benjamin-a6aa304/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fortytwofortypost/

 

Find Steve Giammaria here:

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2652377/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hearsmajor/

Twitter: https://x.com/hearsmajor?lang=en

 

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

From Sound Designer to Hollywood Composer with Nainita Desai

#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 how she transitioned her career into composition, learned tons of compositional and scoring skills—mostly on her own—the importance of saying “no” to great opportunities, why we should advocate for our art, and so much more.

 

Find Nainita Desai here:

Website: https://nainitadesai.com/

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0220831/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nainita_desai/?hl=en

Twitter: https://x.com/nainitadesai?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

 

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod

Standing Out as an Audio Generalist with Nathan Moody

#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 about the benefits of being a generalist in the world of professional audio, how Nathan started his full-time sound career after the age of 40, how he built his skillset and network over a huge period of time, how to stand out in an industry where audio is becoming more commoditized, and so much more.

 

Find Nathan Moody here:

Shipscape Website: https://noisejockey.net/main/project/shipscape/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/n4th4nm00dy/?hl=en

Twitter: https://x.com/noisejockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

IMBD: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11708054/

 

 

And if you're interested in making music and sound for games, I have a newsletter and free courses that will get you started, and help you find paying work in games. Just go to http://www.bit.ly/soundbizpod