In part one of this roundup, industry veteran Front of House Engineer Fela Davis talks about her beginnings in live sound and her two studios, 23dB Productions and One of One Productions. Composer Will Roget, II details his compositions for Mortal Kombat 11, networking at GDC, and working with orchestras at LucasArts. Leonard Paul, founder of The School of Video Game Audio, recalls his early years as a programmer and shares how he wrote the soundtracks for Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound and Retro City Rampage. Voice Actor Marion Toro talks about her career in animation and games and explains why voice actors who share the identities of their characters bring valuable intuition and authenticity to games. Composer Chase Bethea shares his processes for composing and performing as well as his personal methods for dealing with writing block. And Game Developer and Professor Jarryd Huntley breaks down how to effectively network in creative industries at last year’s GDC.
This is part of an ongoing effort to feature more conference talks and podcasts hosted by or featuring Black professionals in sound and music. If you have any recent episodes, shows or presentations to recommend for future recaps, we’d love to hear them! Please comment below or email Adriane at ak (at) asoundeffect (dot) com, and stay tuned for part 2.
Episode outline: My guest today is Fela Davis a graduate and recent Hall of Fame inductee at Full Sail University with almost 20 years of experience in audio engineering, working for clients like Clair Global and House of Blues. Fela also has experience mixing live shows for the likes of Ron Carter, Brian Blade, Jose Feliciano, Meshell Ndegeocello and Bilal. She’s currently front of house engineer for 6-time Grammy Award winner Christian McBride, mixing sold out shows across Asia, Europe, Canada and America.
When not on the road, she’s recording and creating new projects at 23dB Productions & One of One Productions Studio.
23dB Productions specializes in live mixing, recording, producing original music, podcasts, creating video and social media content for businesses and offers mobile recording services for Live Nation NYC venues like Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom and SiriusXM’s Real Jazz The Lowdown.
23dB records, mixes, and edits at their One of One Productions Studio located 5 minutes from NYC in Fort Lee, NJ specializing in podcast recordings for clients as well as Fela and cohost Denis Orynbekov’s own The Art of Music Tech Podcast.
Fela’s podcast highlights the latest in audio gear, mixing techniques and interviews with top audio engineers, musicians, and producers like Leslie Ann Jones, Jeff Bova, Jett Galindo, and Patrick Smith about their journey in audio. You can find The Art Of Music Tech on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, iHeart Radio and YouTube.
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Episode outline: In this video, I ask Will about his work on Mortal Kombat 11’s soundtrack, how he made his initial entrance on the game music scene into LucasArts, and much more. His perspective is insanely valuable, so if you’re looking to work as a composer in the field, listen up!
Want to see more content from Will? Join us for the upcoming virtual conference: VGM Academy LIVE! Will is one of many fantastic industry experts who will be joining us to bring free, live content to the game music community.
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Episode outline: Leonard Paul talks about procedural audio, composition and sound for games. beepmovie.com
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Episode outline: An interview with Marion Toro, lead actor in Dot’s Diner, You’ve Got Mail, and other voices for Tales from the Commonwealth, as well as her friend and musician Chibuzo.
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Episode outline: Chase Bethea is a video game and film composer with a unique blend of styles and an intriguing creative philosophy.
We talked about how he got into video game music, how he practices “connecting” with his instrument, and he shared some incredible techniques for beating writer’s block. Seriously, every creative person needs to hear this.
He was also heavily influenced by a very obscure soundtrack on the Gameboy…
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Episode outline: In this 2019 GDC talk, Polytundra’s Jarryd Huntley dives into the complex art of professional networking, with tips for aspiring developers looking to make professional connections.