Sound Business with Akash Thakkar

Creating a Niche of Your Own with Myuu

#63: Today's guest is Nicolas Gasparini, also known as Myuu. Nicolas is a long-time pianist and composer who's been uploading dark piano horror music since 2006 and has built a huge following in that time with over 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and another 300,000 subscribers on YouTube. He's also worked on short films and video games and is currently working on the upcoming horror game Post Trauma.

In this episode we talk about finding your niche as a composer and how important it is to dive deep into your interests. We also talk about how Nicolas started writing horror music in the first place, why he releases music for free, and what up and coming composers can do to get out there, and so much more.  

 

Find Myuu here:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Myuu 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5sP3ci0jwrXUBo76t8pGTF?si=sVFG_WI_TVuUVIUYudUwhQ

Website: https://www.thedarkpiano.com/bio

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

 

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

How to Move to LA (And Succeed) with Joy Ngiaw

#62: Today's guest is Joy Ngiaw, an award-winning composer based in Los Angeles. Joy has worked on a ton of projects including the animated short Blush, Disney's experimental short series Short Circuit, Cobra Kai, What Remains of Edith Finch, and many others. 

 

In this episode, we talk about how she grew up in rural Malaysia, made her way to Shanghai, China, and eventually Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music. We also talk about how she got into composition from her early days as a classical pianist, how her first gigs came about, and much more. 

 

Find Joy Ngiaw here:

Website: https://www.joyngiaw.com/

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

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7267486/?ref_=rvi_nm

Twitter: https://twitter.com/joyngiaw 

 

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

How to Quickly Break In to the Game Industry with ZW Buckley

#61: Today's guest is ZW Buckley, a musician, producer, and composer based in Seattle writing in a broad variety of genres and styles for a ton of different projects. His work includes writing a pop soundtrack for Barbie: You Can Be A Fashion Designer VR, teaching music production at Point Blank Music School and running the game audio co-op, Plant Based Audio. 

 

In this episode, ZW and I talk about how to join and be a part of the game dev community quickly, how to find your first projects, how to learn and practice the skill of music production, getting over the fear of jumping in and becoming a full-time artist, and so much more. 

 

Find ZW Buckley here:

Website: https://www.zwbuckley.com/ 

Newsletter: https://zwbuckley.substack.com/

 

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

Releasing Hit Music (Without a Record Label) with TheFatRat

#60: Today's guest is Christian Büttner A.K.A. TheFatRat, who is a producer, DJ, and musician based mainly out of Germany. Chris has millions of listeners from all over the world, and has accumulated billions of plays so far. He did this without a major record label, all while giving his music away for free. 

 

In this episode, we talk about how he started in the world of classical music and transitioned into electronic music much later. We also go into how he taught himself electric music production skills, why he releases basically all of his music for free and lets people use his music, why he steers artists away from signing with major labels, and much more. 

 

Find TheFatRat here:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa_UMppcMsHIzb5LDx1u9zQ

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3OKg7YbOIatODzkRIbLJR4

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

 

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 Creating Metal Music to Writing for Angry Birds with Henri Sorvali

#59: Today's guest is Henri Sorvali, a musician and composer based in Finland. He started off his career has a classical and jazz pianist who ended up starting two successful Finnish black metal bands, Moonsorrow and Finntroll. He is also a full-time game composer working in-house at Rovio Entertainment, the company most famously known for The Angry Birds games. 

 

In this episode, we talk about how why Henri stopped his life of being a touring musician in front of thousands of screaming fans to instead focus on video game composition, how he ended up in the world of metal music, and how he made the transition from heavy metal music to making lighter-hearted video game music, and much more. 

 

Find Henri Sorvali here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trollhornmusic

Website: http://www.trollhorn.com/

 

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 Sound Particles with Nuno Fonseca

#58: Today's guest is Nuno Fonseca, founder of the company Sound Particles. Sound Particles started off their journey by making a piece of software with the same name, which allows anyone to create immersive 3D audio. Since their founding, Sound Particles has gone on to be used in countless movies, TV shows, and video games such as Oppenheimer, Assassin's Creed Origins, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and many others.  

 

In this episode, we talk about how Nuno got started in the world of creating audio software, what it was like promoting Sound Particles in the beginning, what he believes the future of audio is, and much more. 

 

Find Nuno Fonseca and Sound Particles here:

Website: https://soundparticles.com/

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

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sound.particles

 

 

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 Engineer to Voice Actor with Katherine Tole

#57: Today's guest is Katherine Tole, a voice actor and dialogue editor based in Seattle. She's a dialogue editor at Jackbox Games and is working on the soon-to-be released Jackbox Party Pack 10. She's also teaching courses on how to get jobs as a voice actor, especially through the voiceover marketplace Voice123. She's currently working on some exciting top-secret projects as well. 

 

In this episode, we talk about how Katherine transitioned from being a full-time engineer in Silicon Valley to becoming a voice actor, how she got her first gigs in the world of voiceover, how to stand out in a sea of thousands of other voice actors, and much more. 

 

Find Katherine Tole here:

Website: https://katherinetole.com/

Video Game Audio Collective: https://plantbasedaud.io/

Jackbox Games: https://www.jackboxgames.com/

 

 

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 Full-Time Voice Actor with Dawn M. Bennett

#56: Today's guest is Dawn M. Bennett, a voice actor based in Los Angeles. Dawn has been a professional voice actor for almost ten years, and has voiced hundreds of characters across games, movies, and anime. She's worked on iconic franchises such as Dragon Ball Super, World of Warcraft, Street Fighter VI, Monster Hunter, Diablo IV, Pokemon, and Attack on Titan, among many others. 

 

In this episode, we talk about Dawn's rise to voice acting success considering she didn't go to theater or acting school, her advice for up and coming voice actors, how she made the move to Los Angeles and thrived there, and many more. 

 

Find Dawn M. Bennett here:

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/DawnMBennettVA

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DawnMBennettVA

 

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

 

Breaking Into Hollywood Film Scoring with Amit May Cohen

#55: Today's guest is Amit May Cohen, a composer based in Los Angeles. Amit has worked on projects such as Zombies 2 and 3, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone, and many others.

 

In this episode, we talk about her journey into becoming a film composer in L.A., her growth as a musician over the years, how she recommends new composers break into the industry and Hollywood scene, and so much more. 

 

Find Amit May Cohen here:

Website: http://www.amitmaycohen.com/

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

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0XmtL3Aq8d8KtOoqb77MKV?si=htVO1smWRw6n4uK2OeS8Hw

 

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 (Without Going to School) with Chris Parker

#54: Today's guest is Chris Parker, a freelance sound designer based in Seattle. He has worked on games such as Shadows Over Loathing, Wizard with a Gun, Beast Breaker, and is also the wonderful editor of this podcast. 

 

In this episode, we talk about how I met Chris years ago at a PAX Conference in Seattle. Since moving from Seattle, Chris has gone from being a budding sound designer to a being a full-time pro. We also talk about his journey on becoming a full-time sound designer knowing especially that he did not go to college for it. 

 

Find Chris Parker here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CpSqueaks
Website: https://www.chrisparker.audio/

 

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