A Little Bit About Me

I’m originally from the very small town of Beaver Meadows (yes there are beavers, not so sure about the meadows…) in Pennsylvania. Video games and music have always been two very important aspects of my life. I started playing video games at age four, Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis to be exact. I was hooked instantly. I loved the stories, emotions, and fun games brought to players everywhere. Most notably though, I fell in love with the music. Most children my age were singing Barney and Sesame Street. I went around humming Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario songs! Not much later, at age six, I started taking classical piano lessons. I would continue on to take lessons for ten years, while also learning to play bass, drums, marimba, and some other instruments as well.

It was in my early teens when my passion for video games and music truly came together. I had been getting my feet wet with composing music in a very early version of Sibelius (Music Notation Software) at age 12, but it wasn’t much later that I decided to start arranging my own music. I created sheet music for my favorite video game tunes and performed piano covers of them in Youtube videos. I got very into the video game music scene, being very active at a majority of video game music websites and forums. I arranged over 100 sheet music songs for piano, and performed over 200 songs in piano cover videos during this time. I was a moderator and admin at a variety of different video game sites, and to say the least, video game soundtracks became my premiere listening choice wherever I went. In the car, at home, in my MP3 player… you can bet it was playing a game soundtrack!

When I was 20, I switched over from arranging a lot, to doing a lot more of my own composition. It was during this time that I really decided I wanted to have a career involving game audio. I had actually always had dreams to work making games, but my ideal path was all over the place. At first I wanted to be an artist, then a designer, then a programmer. Surprisingly… it never dawned on me to be a sound designer up until this point. I was also hesitant to pursue the field as well because my family and high school counselors were very against it. They said stuff like, “Video games are for little kids!” or “You’ll never make money making games.” Advice on the internet about breaking into the game industry was also demoralizing with quotes like “What makes you think you have what it takes to get a job in such a competitive and shaky industry?”, or “It’s too hard to get your foot in the door. Don’t bother.”

Well, I decided to bother. At the time I was a Kinesiology major at Penn State, but I was very upset with the education I was getting. I just felt like I should have been following my heart to pursue my passion for music and games from the start. In 2010, I took the plunge and enrolled at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences to study Audio Engineering. I was finally going to pursue a job in the video game industry.

I graduated from the school with a 4.0 GPA in August of 2010. Thanks to a lot of hard work and a bit of luck, I landed an audio internship at Volition Inc., having the opportunity to contribute my work towards AAA console titles like Red Faction Armageddon and Saints Row the Third. I was quickly promoted to a Contract Assistant Audio Designer at the studio, finishing Saints Row the Third before my contract with the studio ended.

While I searched for more full time employment, I started a freelance audio business branded Firebug Audio that centered on providing music and sound design for games, as well as other miscellaneous audio job for my clients. Through this freelancing, I contributed to a variety of different iOS, Facebook, and mobile games, and I still continue to freelance my audio services for indie developers till this day.

I just love games, and I love being able to be fortunate enough to be able to work on them. It makes me so happy to get up in the morning knowing I get to work on something that makes me so so so happy inside. I am looking forward to all my future projects, and what the game industry holds for me. To anyone looking for advice on getting into the game industry, the best I can say is never give up that dream no matter what anyone says. Always keep pegging away at getting any work experience you can no matter how dire the situation seems. Good things will come your way!

What I’m Doing Now

Currently, I am working as a Contract Sound Designer with A Bit Lucky. I am the sole sound designer on their current unannounced game. I am responsible for the entire audio pipeline, including all sound design, ambience, voice, implementation, mixing, and really just about any other miscellaneous audio work. I’m having a ton of fun, and the team is great to work with!

I also am working on some small Indie titles under my Firebug Audio company, and finishing up contract work as an Audio Assistant at Volition Inc.