Audio
I've made a couple of sounds over the years. My start as a producer began in secondary school with an app (whose name I cannot recall) on my phone, where I made some silly loops that made sounds like "wub".
I guess I can thank that for kicking things off, because in 2014 I purchased a lifetime license (Image Line, you guys rock) for FL Studio, which I'm still using now.
Since then I've done some releases, two of which you can find below, and one of which will follow when it's finished.
My personal album
At Your Own Risk isn't really an album designed to be aesthetically pleasing.
I set out with the objective of expressing some of the uncomfortable and painful things that come along with the worst times of my mental wellbeing.
It's going to depend on you whether you find it affecting or not - it's an album I'm proud of, but one that I don't like to listen to.
All of the tracks were produced in a span of 6 months in 2019, but I didn't publish the album until early 2022. It took those years in between to make it through and out: I see the release as an acknowledgement of what I went through, and that I came out the other side more than I was.
Leth in particular is a piece on a feeling that was highly familiar to me at the time - an utter loss of motivation, mood, social battery all in one. Feeling nothing, except for an anxiety tugging at me, telling me time was passing and leaving me behind.
Have a listen through, with that all in mind.
My first Soundtrack
Feud was the first game we released as Bearwaves, although its soundtrack was not the first I wrote for.
Our first attempt at a game didn't pan out, but I was bursting with ideas before we even got close to needing an OST ready. This was one of the first things I made with FL Studio, as part of our proof of concept for Uplift.
Listening back, I think 20-year-old me had some pretty great ideas floating around in there.
Yeah but you didn't release that, so does it count?
Of course it does >:[
Anyway, to Feud: a different type of soundtrack, with restraints.
I learned a lot here due to the limitations of the project: this had to be something that would fit the theme, that would not be too distracting during play, and that had enough variation so as to have longevity when playing the game long term.
I used a fixed set of instruments for the tracks, but tried to make use of them in slightly different ways. This gave me a lot of freedom in terms of composition, since the consistent instrumentation helped keep it tied together.
My favourite is Marching to Victory.
I also made a "retro" version using only primitive waveforms as an easter egg, which is always a fun exercise.
Did you do anything else?
Yeah, I'm currently making the soundtrack for Dave's Word Game, the most recently released project from Bearwaves.
We haven't released that soundtrack anywhere yet, because what's in the game isn't the full extent of it! There's some that's yet to be written, and some that's been written that's yet to be heard...
I won't post any of it here - to listen to it, go play the game ;)