For all the game developers that have found their way here, WALL of SOUND inc (http://wallofsoundinc.com) is a full-service music company providing the highest quality musical experiences for the video game industry. Led by industry legend Jack Wall, the company is a creative collective of individuals working together to produce, mix, master and implement music on any and all gaming platforms.  (Click READ MORE to continue)

Wall of Sound is the team responsible for the music in Mass Effect 2 among other games.  The team currently consists of Jack Wall, David Kates, Sam Hulick, Brian DiDomenico, myself, and Cindy Shapiro.  There’s a lot of solid industry experience spread across a wide field of knowledge.  From scoring, producing, remixing, mastering, orchestrating, editing, and implementing music in video games, all the bases are covered.  It’s a one-stop package for all that a developer needs to ensure that only the highest quality music not only makes it into their game, but works the way that it should.  Stop by our site, learn about our team, learn what we can offer you, and contact us about your project needs!

-My first GDC!

-Getting to actually meet the rest of the Mass Effect music team in person.

-Seeing many of the good folks I’ve admired for years and rubbing shoulders with them.

-Meeting many of the other great folks in G.A.N.G. (Game Audio Network Guild).

-Meeting some of the other minds behind the audio for Mass Effect 2.

-Finally getting some face-to-face with my Deus Ex ReMix co-collaborator (and original composer) Alex Brandon

-Attending the Valve party

-Attending the God of War 3 pre-release party

-Attending the GANG Awards

To summarize, I was a little star-struck in a sense.  GDC is full of people who I have looked up to for a long time, and it’s also full of plenty other doe-eyed admirers like myself.  The most flattering and humbling part of it was having people come up to ME and say “Hey, I love the work you’ve done!”  Truly an amazing feeling.  I met a ton of awesome people from all kinds of varying aspects of game development, and I was truly impressed by just how great everyone there was.  I don’t think I met a single person who seemed like they didn’t have time to chat with me, but rather in I think every case, they seemed just as happy to talk to me as I was to talk with them!  I’ll definitely be back next year.

TIMELINE:

Sept 1 - Mass Effect 2 Soundtrack nominated for Golden Joystick Award

Aug 17 – Mass Effect 2 to arrive on PS3

May 25 -Mass Effect movie announced.

May21 – Wall of Sound Interview with OC ReMix. BioWare endorses it.

Apr 10 – Mass Effect sales reach over 6.6 million copies

Feb 22 - Mass Effect 2 OST reviewed at Original Sound Version

Feb 01 - Mass Effect 2 OST reaches #11 in Top Soundtrack Albums on iTunes

Jan 31 - Jack Wall interviewed by Daily Best Articles

Jan 29 - Mass Effect 2 sales hit over 2 million copies 3 days after game’s release

Jan 28 - Mass Effect 2 attains top rankings with over 40 perfect scores

Jan 26 – Mass Effect 2 released in North America

Jan 19 – Mass Effect 2 Soundtrack released on Amazon, iTunes, etc.

Jan 11 - Gamespy announces composers

Jan 11 – EA announces composers for Mass Effect 2

The past several months have been some of the most exciting months of my life.  I have so much to be grateful for, and I’ve been really humbled by it all.  When I was formally brought on board to be a part of the Mass Effect 2 composer’s team, I felt a huge mixture of excitement and anxiety.  Those were serious shoes to step into, and initially, I think the anxiety occupied a bigger chunk of my emotions than the excitement.  As time went on though, the thrill and excitement gradually overtook that anxiety and converted what remained into humility.

Honestly, I think of my involvement with this magnificent game as the result of a kind of butterfly effect that notably began some 10 years ago when friend and colleague David Lloyd created OverClocked ReMix.  Without OC ReMix, I may have never found that outlet to share my love for the music that has accompanied me through the countless hours I’ve spent playing video games throughout my life.  The dominoes continues to fall as I met more and more people, and made more and more friends through the site.  I was later fortunate to be offered the opportunity to donate my time as a submission evaluator on the site.  I was given the opportunity to hear many fantastic pieces of music from many great or aspiring artists.  Eventually I made my way to see Video Games Live, where I met Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico.  I found employment at Guitar Center and met some great people there like Jeremy Cole, and I  I was able to build up my arsenal of high-quality plugins.  I wish I could name everyone, but the list goes on and on and on, and I’m thankful for each of you who would be on it in any extent.

I can say, working with Jack was a real pleasure.  Not only is he a super talented dude, he’s also a very stand-up guy, and to me, that says a lot, especially considering his numerous achievements and recognitions in the industry.  I’m truly honored to count him a friend.  Brian DiDomenico, David Kates, and Sam Hulick are also amazing people, and I have nothing but respect and appreciation for them.  I learned a great deal from them as well, and I continue to be inspired by their music and talents.  To you, the fans who have bothered to read all this, I’m deeply grateful for your love and support.  Like most other musicians (I hope), I’m only here to try to add something that will give you joy on some level through my words and music.  I hope I can continue to entertain and enlighten you throughout my career, but in the meanwhile, I hope you will pick up the Official Soundtrack and perhaps even the game. BioWare really knocked this one out of the park, and I’m only glad I was able to be a part of it.

*     *     *

Ladies and gentlemen, today I found out some sad news.  It seems a very beloved website has been discontinued, and it’s domain passed onto someone else for different purposes.  That website is music4games.net.  For those of you who don’t know, M4G was an incredible resource for information on video game music and VGM composers.  It had a powerful reputation among gamers and musicians alike.  One of my earliest experiences with the site was a couple years ago when OCR released Voices of the Lifestream, and we had a nice feature article there that highly praised the music.  And it was a big deal to me, to see my name dropped and music praised alongside some of the greatest game composers of our day by such a credible and well-known site.  I can’t help but feel like discontinuing the site is a bit of a disservice to video game music and it’s fans, but for whatever reason the decision was made, I hope it was for a good reason.  I can only hope that we’ll see another website step up and fill the big shoes that M4G left.

Alright, so this post is about a week old, and I would have posted it on my old site if I wasn’t planning on replacing it, but anyway, better late than never.

Some of you might know that I’ve been honing my music skills over at OCR for the past few years.  It’s given me some great experiences–I’ve made lots of great friends and contacts, as well as sharpened up on my composing and producing skills in general!  And I’ve enjoyed some of the most enriching and diverse music I’ve ever listened to!  I owe a lot to OCR, and I only hope to see it continue to thrive and grow for many years to come!
And now, the official article, taken from the site:

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December 11, 2009
Contact: press@ocremix.org

FAIRFAX, VA–OverClocked ReMix today celebrates its ten year anniversary. Started on December 11th, 1999, the website has grown from a small group of avid musicians and gamers to a larger community of artists making a case for the appreciation of video game music as an art form. Over 1,800 fan arrangements of video game music have been posted, along with sixteen albums. To celebrate, ten mixes will be posted today, from ten different games and ten different artists, with each mix writeup briefly summarizing a different year from the site’s history.

Site creator David W. Lloyd writes:

“When I started this site in my parent’s basement back in 1999, I thought it would be a fun diversion that could help me get better at making music, but also serve as an outlet for VGM fans everywhere to pay homage to their favorite songs. When I was much younger, I remember tape-recording the output from my Sega Master System and making mixtapes filled with Alex Kidd, Shinobi, and Space Harrier music. I’ve always loved VGM, especially for its strong original melodies, and this site seemed like a good way to express that. While I didn’t have any idea it would become what it is today, I did have a certain faith – faith that there were others like me, faith that the Internet was full of a lot of talented people who would contribute their music and their time and their energy freely, and faith that we could show the world that video game music is an art form.”

Fans are invited to share their memories of OC ReMix over the last ten years on the site’s forums.

About OverClocked ReMix

Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of video game music. Its primary focus is www.ocremix.org, a website featuring hundreds of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans.