Akash Thakkar interviews successful audio professionals from every corner of the music and sound industries. From educators, performers, pop stars, game audio p...
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
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45:36
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
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57:44
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
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1:05:02
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
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43:05
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
Akash Thakkar interviews successful audio professionals from every corner of the music and sound industries. From educators, performers, pop stars, game audio professionals, voice actors, composers, sound designers, plug-in designers, audio programmers, and everything in between, we dive deep into the business and mindset skills it takes to ”make it” in the worlds of music and sound.
Brasil