October 28, 2024 • 45 mins
Text Beyond the Threshold w/ your thoughts or questions!
In this episode of Beyond the Threshold, host Sidney Evans and guest Chase Bethea dive into his story of becoming a multi-award-winning video game composer.
With over a decade of experience and contributions to 25 games, Chase's career is result of dedication and the intersection of the creative synergy of music and technology.
Beginning with his upbringing in Chicago, in this episode we discuss:
- His experiences with music and a Game Boy Camera in his youth.
- The significance of chance encounters including his first paid gig.
- Using capture cards for streaming and creating game demos.
- Challenges he faced as an African American in the audio industry.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Everyone has a price and if you understand
negotiation, then everybody cancome and meet in the fairground
of somewhere in the middle,along the line, somewhere.
It's not always about the money.
Yes, I do want what my value is, but there's other ways to get
to that.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Tune in as we give flowers to Black men and women
making waves in the audioindustry.
I'm your host, sidney EvansEvans, and this is Beyond the
Threshold.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
(00:44):
I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Beyond the
Threshold.
I'm your host, sidney Evans, anaward-winning audio editor,
mixer and producer.
For those of you who don't know,on this show I interview Black
men and women working in theaudio industry to highlight the
lessons and experiences it takesto achieve success in the field
.
I want to walk you all toanother episode.
(01:04):
Like I said, we've got anothergreat one in store for today and
I will introduce the guestsshortly, but before I do, I just
want to note something, and myside of the audio industry is
more focused around podcasting,so a lot of the guests that I
first recorded for this seasonwere within that realm, people
(01:26):
that I already builtrelationships with and were
connected with, and one of thepromises that I wanted to
fulfill in the show is that Ihave people across the board in
the audio industry, and in orderto keep true to that promise, I
had to reach out to people thatI don't know, which is a bit
uncomfortable, but this is oneof the first gentlemen, who I
(01:48):
reached out to and agreed to beon the show.
He's actually from the maybe usmillennials, something that
we're very familiar with thevideo side of I'm sorry the
video game side of audioproduction.
So he has over a decade ofexperience as a multi-award
winning video game composer,actually, with over 25 games
shipped thus far.
(02:08):
He's also given over 45 talks,in which he most recently was
the keynote speaker at the 2022Global Game Jam.
He's also been exhibited in theNational Association of Music
Merchants Museum and given liveperformances at MAG West and
IndieCade.
So, without further ado, I'dlike to introduce our guest for
(02:29):
today, chase Bathia.
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, man, I would love to learn a little bit more
about you outside of what Ialready know, and for the guests
that don't know you to learnabout you, period.
So could you just share alittle bit about your background
, man, and what kind of yourinterests were you know growing
up and what kind of led you togoing down this path and ending
(02:57):
up as a video game composer?
Sure?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
So I was born and raised in Chicago, so I was
there until I was about like 13and then I moved out to LA and
so while I was in Chicago myupbringing was mostly I was a
nerd, so I really I enjoyedToonami and anime and stuff
really early.
I was watching Dragon Ball Zwhen it was on Fox just before
baseball came on.
A lot of people didn't catch ituntil it came on to Cartoon
(03:22):
Network or Toonami and then theywere all excited about it but I
knew it was on way before then.
I had a Game Boy growing up.
My grandmother bought me that.
I had an Alto saxophone that myfather bought me.
My mom was always into music.
My father was into music but hewas a Chicago police officer
but he was kind of like a musicaficionado really.
(03:43):
So I'd grown up around this andI was in choir and I was first
tier in alto saxophone, fifthand sixth, seventh grade and
just really have been playinggames, mostly before I picked up
the instrument, because I gotthat my first Game Boy when I
was around seven and was playingthat, and then 64 and
(04:04):
PlayStation in my dad's houseand then my dad, when I moved
with him he had a Sega Genesishe bought me from Hollywood
Video and so I'd been playingMega Turrican and Pitfall and
Earthworm, Jim and Beyond, Oasisand Game Boy game titles like
Turok, Battle of the Binosaurusand Bugs Bunny, Crazy Castle 2
and Godzilla and Stargate.
(04:25):
So, and then PlayStation gameslike Tomb Raider in 1996 and
kicking my dad's ass in Tekken 2and Resident Evil and Final
Fantasy 7, playing games likethat.
So I already, I guess, had thesignature sound.
I also was playing Game BoyCamera when it first came out in
98.
(04:45):
And so I was writing music onthe Game Boy Camera and I was
listening to sound tests onFinal Fantasy Legend 2 on the
Game Boy and the other gamesthat I mentioned as well.
So Game Boy Camera was mostly,I would say, my first
introduction to game music thatI had been writing, and so it
wasn't until I moved down toCalifornia and then my mom and
my aunt bought me a computer.
(05:05):
I was working off of this threegigabyte hard drive to just try
to make beats, really andthings like that.
But folks had always said youknow, the very first thing that
I showed someone, it was thisgirl at the bus stop named Tasha
and she said sounds like itshould be in a video game.
Hand me back my CD player.
When I burned it I was thinking, oh okay, that's not what I'm
(05:30):
trying to achieve, but all right.
And so, several years ofhearing that from many different
people, you know, the God inthe universe really just told me
that you should probably thinkabout the video game thing.
And so it wasn't until a friendof mine had told me hey, did you
see who did the voice for Godof War?
And I said, no, this is God ofWar 3 on PS3.
(05:53):
And I looked at it and I wasshocked because it actually
turned out to be someone that Iknew.
It was a family friend who Ireferred to as my uncle, as
Uncle TC Carson and my mom andhim were no longer speaking, and
I didn't know until I went andsaid hey, uncle TC's the voice
of Kratos, and I'm thinking sheknew I had already decided I
(06:14):
wanted to go into video gamemusic and go to GDC.
And I started taking pianolessons.
My aunt started to share withme uh, to provide for me, rather
and I was like that's nice.
And so I was thinking, okay,that's not gonna be my in.
So I learned how to videocapture from a very old turtle
(06:36):
card.
I was already a, I had alreadywent to los angeles recording
school, sorry, and graduatedfrom there, and then I decided,
during the recession, I wasgoing to go back to school.
Once I've discovered that thiswas a thing, because I unlocked
a video that talked about musicnot being pigeonholed.
You can do whatever style youwant.
And that's since I've been toldthat I already had that sound.
(06:57):
I was thinking I want music to,not, I want my music to be that
way and free, and so I canamalgamate all that styles.
And so so then I I'm playingPS3.
I locked that video of othercomposers and they had showed
that video of, like how musiccould just for games, could just
be that.
And I'm thinking, oh my gosh,I've been told that this is my
sound.
I've been trying to do thisother thing.
(07:18):
It's not working.
And I finally put it together.
And my first I did get aninternship at a mobile game
studio while I was still incommunity college, just before I
crunched for uni.
So I was trying to figure thisthing out but I sorry, I went
back to capture that card.
I did a capture card, I did ademo, put it up on YouTube it's
(07:39):
still on my YouTube to this day.
For Gran Turismo I tried tofigure out how to go to GC.
It was so expensive.
I didn't do that.
I got a job at LensCrafters.
That job at LensCrafters led meto two different paths that
could have happened.
One was a composer signing withone of the composers the main
composer of God of War that Iended up meeting and friends
with to this day but didn'tbecome his assistant.
But then got an internshipthrough someone at LensCrafters.
(08:01):
Their uncle was in games.
That internship was really coolbut the studio shut down.
I bought a book called theComplete Guide to Game Audio,
read half of the book, wentonline to game dev forums,
posted my work and mostly landeda gig which ended up being a
paid and my first ship gamecalled Electron Flux on mobile,
because now there's ElectronFlux that came out some years
later and it's on pc.
So I have to specify what thatis.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's a long story, but I wanted to give you the
full context of where it allkind of comes from okay,
honestly, like a lot of theterminology and stuff as far as
the video game in I'm not asfamiliar with, so I'm sure
people listening aren't as well.
So, uh, the terms that you justmentioned, could you kind of
like explain them?
Just kind of you were doingsomething video related to video
(08:48):
games, but then you were alsomaking okay, and then you were
also creating music, but youweren't necessarily
intentionally creating music forvideo games at the time.
So explain into a littlefurther detail what exactly you
were doing with the capture cardwhich you just mentioned, sure,
sure.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So the capture card is a card that captures video of
the input of something that youare taking from one device and
transferring it to another, andthis is how people are typically
able to stream retro games onTwitch nowadays.
But back then that technologywas hard.
I had to rig different cablesand just have this little medium
and then have a software gofrom the PlayStation into the
(09:30):
actual PC that I built.
And, yeah, it wasn't sostraightforward until late as
Twitch became Twitch, becauseTwitch used to be just in that
TV where we used to watch sports, so NBA games, things like that
Legitimately I would say.
But they had that platform andso that's where that came from.
And so, like I was saying before, I was trying to do hip hop and
(09:52):
R&B.
On any beats and styles that Iwas doing, they always would say
like a sound should be in avideo game.
So I just transferred theenergy in terms of just not
doing that anymore, even thoughproducers kind of was getting to
that sound.
I was thinking how is it stillnot accepted?
Our culture plays this type.
But now it's funny, now it's awhole medium, it's called
(10:13):
Nerdcore.
But I was doing that 24 yearsago, way ahead before it got
popular and I still have thosetracks to this day.
So it's just funny.
I was mostly I was told I'm afuturist and I still have those
tracks to this day.
So it's just funny how I was.
Mostly I was told I'm afuturist and I'm ahead of my
time.
Okay, hopefully that kind ofexplains what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, that makes things a little more clear.
So I'm just curious like whatwas your yeah, like what was
your setup as far as makingmusic at that time?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
It was super simple.
I didn't even get an MPC 500until, I think, the sixth or
seventh year into producing, soI was using.
I started on FL Studio 3,Fruity Loops 3.
Before that I was on Hammerhead.
Then I found Fruity Loops 3.
Then I stuck with that.
I could never get this sound.
Timbaland had a track, demotrack that was in there.
(10:57):
It was amazing.
I'm thinking how do we get tothis production sound?
Which is what led me to go intoLos Angeles Recording School
and trying to better myproduction skills, even though I
was there for audio engineeringmostly.
But I figured the two wouldwork together because you need
to use EQs and compressors andso on.
So the setup was pretty simple.
I had even hustled togethersome money to get an M-Audio
(11:22):
Axiom 61.
I was very proud about that formy MIDI controller, and that's
it really.
It really wasn't much.
I had some Yamaha HS-ADMs thatI did purchase too.
I still have those and that'sit.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Okay, was there a particular individual who I
don't know, who I guess servedas like a mentor?
Who was that person?
That kind of?
Or did you kind of just have tolike, do everything on your own
as far as like a mentor?
Who was that person?
That kind of um, or did youkind of just have to like, do
everything, you think, on yourown as far as like getting
access to people who wereblocking, who would give you a
chance, like who really gave youyour first opportunity to
compose for a video game,whether, no matter, uh, the
(11:57):
level of the skill that it wason?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
well to compose for my first video game.
I did it on my own.
I had boss.
Why I bought that book?
Because that internship onlygot me so far, but I never got
to ship.
I did technically ship the game, but I just don't even know if
I was credited.
And that game was ZombieWonderland 2.
And it was supposed to writefor a different game called
Airborne Geyser, but the studiowas shut down due to some drama
(12:22):
and even though there wasopportunity to write, continue
further and do that, I turned itdown because it didn't feel I
thought it might've been shady.
So by buying the book, theComplete Guide to Game Audio by
Aaron Marks, second edition, Ihad figured that out on my own.
So I gave myself the firstopportunity.
In terms of mentors, they didn'tcome until later, until, like I
said, the composer from God ofWar, gerard Marino.
(12:45):
I didn't become his assistantdue to some scheduling, but I
ended up becoming a good friendand it was fortunate to earn the
trust of him, which led to mehelping him move a couple times
and then that introduced me tohis friends.
So Cole Hicks, who used to beat Riot, and Ken Jakobson, who
became my first mentor and hetook me in and showed me
(13:08):
different production things thatI wouldn't have been able to
kind of achieve otherwise.
And Kyle Johnson, who worked atNeversoft and he wasn't there
while there but later on, and hewas always helping me and he
ended up mastering a couple ofmy soundtracks, as well as Ken
from my games as well.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Okay.
So when you came across thosepeople because usually there's
like a the kind of the path ishow you kind of like you did,
like you do everything you're on, you're kind of like you know,
in your basement, or at leastthe modern way of doing it back
(13:47):
then you probably had to like,you know, 20, 30, I don't know
30 years ago, like the only wayfor really for you to get in was
to work at a studio or youwould actually have to leave
home to actually do the thing.
But now you, or maybe in yourstages around that time, the
transition was to where youcould do things from your
bedroom.
But then there's that alsopresents an issue as to where,
like, you're comfortable withinthat environment and even though
(14:08):
, if you create something andhave people listen to it, it's
from that comfort zone of youknow, your own space.
But what was it like for you?
Like going outside of that andmaybe having to actually, you
know, maybe produce with otherpeople around or somebody like
over your shoulder critiquingyou, or maybe just getting, like
the high level of feedback thatyou may not necessarily have
(14:30):
gotten from doing it in your ownspace.
So, uh, was that a thing thatactually existed for you?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Not really.
I've to be honest, I really I'mnot someone who really asked
for a lot of help because I'm soused to doing a lot on my own
because I couldn't rely onpeople, because they weren't.
They didn't have the same workethic that I did.
I'm someone who's very reliable.
I came into this industry veryprofessional thanks to my mom
teaching me professionalism andetiquette and decorum, and it
(15:01):
was unmatched.
It was so rare to find.
So I think one of the reasonsthat Kyle and Ken had gave me
some kind of tutelage is becausethey realized that I'm a hard
worker.
If I was looking for feedback, Istruggled before I asked for it
, because I understand whenyou're an apprentice or you're
an assistant, it's not about you, it's about them and you're
(15:25):
servicing them.
And because I worked in so manyretail jobs over for 10 years
in conjunction with going toschool and uni and pursuing this
career path, I took extremelyhard path.
Most people would do one andthen transition to another and
then maybe do two, but I did allthree and so I understood that
I'm servicing.
I'm not trying to say, hey,look at me, this is what I want,
(15:47):
can you help me?
Can you help me?
In fact I wasn't even lookingfor that internship with Ken.
He asked me a couple questionswhen I was at a it was called a
Game Audio Network Guildbarbecue the last one, I think,
in Los Angeles at the time, overa decade ago and he asked me
two questions and I think Ianswered those questions and he
(16:08):
said, okay, give me a call nextweek.
He didn't ask me if I've beenan assistant before, and I was.
I'd been an assistant composerbefore.
So yeah, again, it just kind ofhappened.
I wasn't looking for it and so.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
But I'm very thankful because it shows that that
person saw something in me andbelieved in me and I in the
industry, for even like gettingan agent nowadays, that's it's
that doesn't even exist,especially for minority
americans of african descentokay, uh, I'm glad you actually
brought up that part because, uh, the reason why I wanted to
start this podcast is because Ijust didn't see a lot of black
(16:46):
men and women in the autoindustry and, to be honest, the
ones that I did see were theywere like more producers and
stuff.
Even for the ones that wereblack, I noticed that it was
more women than men, which itwas.
It's kind of been more of a ofa task to try to find men to
(17:09):
have on the podcast as well.
So did you think that?
Um, cause, obviously, like youspeak the language, like you,
you live and breathe like whatyou were doing, as far as music
and video games, like that is apart of you.
I could just tell from you know,from the short conversation
we've had so far, but, you know,for somebody outside of our
community, to you know, maybehear your work or something like
that, and then to actuallyrealize that it was you, you
(17:30):
know young Black kid or man, youknow, no matter what stage you
were, that had done those things, had done the work.
Do you feel like it was harderbecause you were?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
black.
When I started in the industryI tried my best to go in with it
with my work speaking foritself.
But the past five years I thinkI've come to a pragmatism that
it definitely has been harderand I think even with all the
awards and the things that I'veachieved and being in the museum
(18:01):
, you know I'm saying, oh well,no, it's like, but I've been in
this.
I say this bigger numberbecause I guess the, the other
number doesn't seem to have thisgravitas.
So I say 4 745 days versus 13years, but that's what the
equivalency of those are.
So 4745 days sounds bigger thanit was.
Like oh, it's just 13 years.
(18:22):
Like well, when is it a numberof of meaning to someone?
It's like, oh, you've been this40 years, like that seems like
a bigger number.
Like oh, 13, like yeah, so it's.
I mean, even at that barbecue Iwas the only minority american
of african descent there, uh,but I was comfortable because my
mama taught me how to becomfortable in these spaces.
But in terms of trying to getto the next level of the
(18:45):
opportunities that I want toachieve and also value that
people have offers, whereas Iknow they wouldn't offer that to
this person, why are theytrying to slight me?
So that's what I've beenexperiencing the past five years
and it's been it's beenactually very frustrating.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay, so yeah, so so you got.
I guess the stage is just likefirst is actually people like
okay, I'm going to hire you,like wanting to work with you,
and then you get over that humpand then you're like okay, they
want to work with me, but theydon't want to pay me the way I
should be paid.
They don't to pay yeah, that'sexactly it yeah, that's, that's,
(19:23):
that's um.
That's unfortunate and I triedto um.
Obviously, like the money, partof it is no matter what field
you, what field you're in, it'san aspect of it.
You know, as much as we mayfall in love with the creative,
with the technical stuff, if youwant to do it as a career,
you're going to have to like youknow, no matter how much you
try to avoid it as a career,you're going to have to like.
You know how about you try toavoid it that those
conversations, that reality ishas to exist.
(19:46):
So, and I guess, just in a, in ageneral sense, I guess this is
this is an opportunity to pointthis out as well do you think
that, especially now, do youfeel that people that work in
the audience, do you feel likethe audio or the audio medium in
general, is something that islike undervalued?
Like I feel like, out of allthe, based on my experience from
(20:07):
the production process, whetherit's pre-production,
post-production or the actual,the main part of production,
that people will throw money ata lot of things.
The video sets, the, you know,whatever, I don't know, depends
on, obviously, the medium, but,like, when it comes to audio,
it's kind of like people justkind of want to give you what's
left over.
You know the scraps um, andmaybe for you, know people, for
(20:32):
black people in our lives.
That's how we feel.
So if you're black and workingin audio, it's like twofold.
So do you think?
Yeah, just uh, I to.
I believe.
I do believe audio is somethingthat is undervalued, but would
you agree?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Definitely concur.
And it's worse in video gamesbecause there are sites that
make it cheaper in terms of, youknow, royalty free tracks.
Or then it's worse whenstudents don't understand the
business side and they come outof college and they just,
they're just eager to work andtry to say yes to everything and
they offer their time for free.
(21:05):
And so my goal is to re-educatethe newer ages.
To cap it, before it gets toaudio, not talk to the audio
people, but the game designersare coming up and if there's
still games around by that time,with AI tools now they're able
to kind of just circumvent thatand they are just thinking it's
(21:25):
the afterthought.
I'm thinking, hold, hold on.
Like these microphones arethree to four thousand dollars,
or, you know, three hundreddollars, two thousand dollars,
four thousand dollars, ten grand, etc.
The you know the mic presitself are very expensive for
good quality stuff.
The instruments aren't cheap.
The time at school I'm sure youhad to get a loan of some sort.
Not everybody's getting grantsor you're coming out of your
pocket.
(21:47):
Where did you think that freewas good to give away?
At what point did bills stop?
And there's a certain affluence, obviously because they're
getting kickbacks from differentpatronage type of parents.
Obviously for those thingsthose resources are not typical
across the board, obviouslythrough cultures.
(22:09):
So it's just a broken systemoverall that it's hard to break.
There's small areas wherepeople understand yes, you need
good work, yes, you do see thevalue, and I think that just
comes with then that circle ofsmall work ethic when people see
like, oh, he's winning awards,oh, he's always here, he's
always there.
You've got to show the value inother ways.
(22:31):
But it's still about, it'sstill so much more that 10 more
steps than the average, you know, versus a majority American
could do than a minorityAmerican and many years and many
more steps.
And so it's just not only isundervalued, it's very unfair,
it's very unbalanced.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I would agree and I think that in a lot of things
related to audio, like you know,music producers do this a lot
now too, like you have to, maybepeople even artists, because of
, like you know, digitalstreaming, and like the amount
of money that's pumped into themusic industry, like obviously
prior to this generation, likeit was very sustainable to just
(23:12):
produce or be an artist, go ontours, sell records, sell, merch
, you know, basically throughyour label or whatever, and like
you can, it's very lucrativeand it's like now you're doing
that, you're creating content,you got to do all types of
things and that's but that's notonly to you know, back then it
(23:32):
was like very lucrative.
Now that's just to stay abovewater.
So if you implement any, any ofthat type of stuff by creating
content or like, maybe, puttingout stuff to say this is how I,
you know, created this game, or,you know, maybe you give tips
or tips or tricks on, you know,your process and those type of
things.
There's a lot of different waysyou can create content, but
(23:53):
have you been having to usethose type of things to
compensate for maybe not itbeing as sustainable from a
lifestyle standpoint?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I've been streaming onTwitch my composing process.
I'm one of the few that do it,and especially one of the few in
the minority American Africandescent that do it.
For 10 years I've been doing agamer composer on Twitch and I
would show how it's done,because I started it because I
went to show game developersthat were looking to hire
(24:22):
composers that I'm not justpressing a key on the keyboard
and it's done.
I've really got to think aboutchord regressions.
I got to think about how thisis going to work with the game,
the sound palette, therestrictions, why it's going to
work, why it's not going to work.
I specialize in interactive andadaptive and dynamic music.
So I take it a step above justnormal loops.
I'm not just making tracks andthrowing into the game.
(24:43):
I'm really tying it to gamemechanics.
I'm tying it to level designs.
I'm creating musical scoresthat are going to adapt to the
player's inputs, that are basedif it's being a story or if the
player pulls out a tool or ifthey've got to encounter combat.
I've taken it to a higher level.
So I've done that on Twitch for10 years.
(25:03):
And then I also started arecent series on my YouTube
channel called how I Composed,and that's a higher production
thing.
It takes a lot of time andeffort, but I've realized it's
starting to take off as of thisyear.
So I'm going to be creatingmore, whereas then I break down
just in the format.
If I'm not doing it in the guestspeaking form of the
presentation I'm doing at gameconferences, it's more so of
(25:25):
this is how I designed thispiece of game music.
For this, I had this document,I had this vertical slice, which
is a prototype of the game, andthis is how I approached it.
This is my musical idea.
This is where my thoughtprocess were, and it's very
unique and so it's myperspective of that.
And then recently I started apatreon, just as last week,
whereas and I'm giving myinsight in terms of my thoughts
(25:48):
on my professional playeropinion is what it's called, and
it's not only going to betalking about audio, but it
discusses, when I'm playing agame, what I'm thinking about,
what I enjoyed about it, why Ithought something did work, why
I thought something was great.
But also the recent one is theNobunaga Matsu, we're saying
where game music is stagnant,and the briefing to that is like
(26:10):
I concur that it is and Idiscuss why, and so those are
the three pieces of content isyou know streaming on twitch for
the past 10 years?
The youtube series, how Icomposed, and then professional
pro player pro player opinionreally is what is discussed on
my patreon, and I think thatgives that.
It gives a lot of value.
What I understand, though, ispeople still.
(26:31):
There's been so much modicolingthat's been happening in the
industry because a lot of peopleget stuff for free that their
old saying is like people haveto pay attention before they can
pay.
You People have been payingattention to me, but they still
don't want to pay.
They don't realize that I'mjust going to be disrupting the
model overall, because if youwant quality, especially on the
(26:52):
thought leadership that I bring,you will have to pay something
for it, just like as you did inschool.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
And that's just where I stand.
Yeah, like you said, like youmentioned earlier, with all the
accolades and stuff, like havingto, you know when people
approach you, you have to bringawareness to all that you do so
people can see the values to, towhere they want to pay.
And you, you going into depth,uh, about what you just
mentioned.
It kind of reminds me because,um, I have no musical talent
(27:19):
whatsoever but I definitelyappreciate it, so I consume a
lot of behind the scenes stuff,not just music, tv film too.
But since we're on the topic ofmusic, and there's this, um,
there's this podcast that Ilisten to called the soundtrack
show, which is goes into likethe musical breakdowns of like a
lot of the, a lot of thepopular scores from films that
we all love, um, whether youknow it's past or present.
(27:42):
And what you mentioned aboutyour process of showing how you
do just reminded me of that, andon that I did hear like they
kind of pull clips.
You know how some of these dvdsand stuff they have like
feature red, so they have thecomposer and stuff on there or
the director talk about stuff,and my favorite composer is john
williams and I think it wasspecifically home alone, the one
(28:05):
that I was watching, and hementioned that you know a lot of
people won't come to him.
Obviously, if you're JohnWilliams, like this is not as
relevant as far as the moneypart of it, because I can only
imagine how much money he's madefrom doing scores.
He's been doing it.
He's probably been doing this50 years and some of the biggest
you know blockbuster moviesever blockbuster movies ever.
(28:29):
But he said, like some peoplemay have been hesitant to come
to him to ask him to do a, to doa score, because it may not
have been a blockbuster budgetmovie.
But he talked about how hedecides.
What he's going to do and notdo is based off his visceral
reaction to, to the story, tothe movie or whatever, and that
will, and if it's if inspireshim to want to create, he'll do
(28:50):
it kind of really no matter thescale of the production, until
when people come to you foropportunities or whether you
seek them out.
We've already mentioned that alot of, a lot of them don't want
to pay what you're worth.
But how do you go aboutdeciding like what you're worth,
but how do you go aboutdeciding like what you will and
won't work on outside of themoney part, like do you kind of
(29:11):
get a feel for like okay, thisis, it might be a nostalgia
thing, like, oh, this reminds meof this video game and I kind
of want to do my own take on it,so I'll accept it.
Or maybe if somebody is willingto pay you what you're worth,
but you're like you know, I feellike if I take it, I'm just
doing it because of the moneyand it might show in my work
Like I might not be able todeliver deliver as much on this
(29:34):
than if I were doing somethingthat I was more excited about
doing.
So what is your kind of processfor deciding those things when
I am approached from differentprojects.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I typically it's very rare I'll turn down some game
work, the work that I did, oneTV show that I did some music
for called Cold and Windy, whichwas some years ago.
I was the main composer atfirst and then I'll just be
transpicuous and say I was firedbut the team was not the best
(30:05):
and so that got taken over thebest and so they that got taken
over.
And I would only do tv or filmstuff if it's like game,
documentary related or if theteam is really cool and creative
.
I've worked with them beforesomething.
I've got some film friends thatwould say hey, we want you to
do it now.
I might try it again for thatin that regard.
But some in terms of games, whenI I've not approached as much
(30:27):
mostly because I think I didn'tknow that john william this
problem, but it makes sense I'vebeen the fairground of
somewhere in the middle, alongthe line, somewhere.
(30:50):
It's not always about the money.
Yes, I do want what my value is, but there's other ways to get
to that in terms of negotiations.
There could be back-end, therecould be live performance, there
could be right retaining, therecould be revenue share plus
back end, or there's just somany.
(31:10):
I've come up with so manydifferent combinations.
There's there's payment plans,there's it's just so many things
, but some people just aren'tcognizant enough, or even just
wanting or willing to even havethat next step in the
conversation.
And so I just say this, andthey offer that, and they're
like no and okay, which shows methat in one sense, they're
(31:33):
doing business in the way ofthey want the cheapest thing
that they can get, but it's getwhat you pay for, and I've seen
this before happen even wearingthe quality, you're not going to
get good, fast and cheap whenyou got to pick two right.
You're only going to get good,fast and cheap.
You're only going to get two.
Yeah, you're only going to gettwo.
(31:54):
So you better pick two.
Very well, I know what two Iusually would pick.
It's not going to be cheap.
So when they come to me withthat, it's just.
I can always sense that theyjust want the cheap and they
hope to get good and it's goingto be good enough and I don't
offer that.
My work has integrity, my workhas quality.
I put over 10,000 hours intothis well, above and more as I
(32:14):
continue on, and I only want towork with mindsets of people
that understand the value,understand their value, because
the craziest thing to me in mymind is thinking, if you invest
in me, you're going to get this,but you're investing in
yourself, which is, you want theplayer to invest in you so you
can recruit.
That.
You're not just, you're notjust being a patron to me so you
(32:36):
can have it, and you can justlisten whatever and say you got
chase bethea, multi-worldwinning video game compositions
on your phone to play on yourbluetooth in your car.
You're putting something intoan entire art form that you want
players to receive anexperience from, that you want
them to pay for, whether it's $5or $30 or $70 or $100, whatever
(32:57):
you're pricing it for.
So it blows my mind that theyjust do not come back to yeah,
this is going to be worth it.
This is set work.
He's not a rookie here.
He's not a newbie.
We're going to get we're goingto get a great experience.
We're going to get stuff on themilestone.
We're going to get high qualitycomposition.
We're going to we're going toget a lot for what we're going
(33:20):
to be putting out.
But I have no interest intrying to control people and try
to buy something anymore.
So so I stand where I'm at andthat's what.
So, if it is come to me, I justlooking for mindsets of the
same.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Okay, cool, I, I, I try to think of audio like
toilet paper, like that's theone thing you can't.
You can't get, you can't gocheap on man Like you will
instantly regret it.
That's instantly regret it.
That's a real.
That's a great analogy.
Obviously, like if you becauseI'm thinking about, like for
people who you know, this ismore so like if you're like an
(33:54):
independent, you know producerof something, whether it's film
or podcast or do whatever.
I mean, obviously a large,probably majority of podcasts
don't have a visual element, sothat shows you that you don't
even actually need that part ofit.
But people want to pay.
All put the whole budgettowards you know, cameras and
video and things like that andto be honest, like if you have a
(34:15):
good audio experience, peoplewill be more forgiving for the
other stuff.
I'm not telling you to you know,pay us and go cheap on somebody
else, but I'm just saying youcould at least even the
distribution of it a little bitand I think it would take you a
longer way.
Like the whole experience of ifyou ever watched a scary movie,
you know what do people do whenthey try to alleviate them
(34:41):
being scared.
They cover their ears, theydon't cover their eyes.
If you're watching a horrormovie and it's just dialogue,
it's not scary, it's the musicand the anticipation and the
jump scares.
The jump scares are scarybecause there's this huge lift
in the music kind of.
(35:02):
You know, harped on this for along way, for a while, but I'm
very passionate about it.
So I try to always give myopinion and try to express how
valuable I think.
You know, obviously I do it ona smaller scale with podcasting,
but especially those who areimmensely talented like you and
you take it to a whole, notherdifferent level.
(35:23):
I just want to, you know, kindof make sure you are valued as
much as possible.
Thank you, yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
So, and likewise, podcasting is not not easy.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
I've done, I've been, I've been a panelist on podcast
for three years Game Audio Hourand also Chronicle of the
Gamers with one of my closefriends, so I know how hard work
it is, yeah, um, for me themost, I think the most talented
people when it comes to mediaare people who do music, whether
(35:55):
it's composed, like you, orjust do it, as you know, in a
traditional artist sense, andpeople who write writers, like I
.
Feel like those are the two mostimportant things in media in
general, because, obviously, ifyou don't have writing, you
don't have a script, you don'thave a song, you don't have
anything, and the music justelevates it, it puts you in the
(36:17):
thing, no matter what it ismusic or video games.
Speaking of video games and afew other things, we're getting
to the end of the interview hereand a few other things.
We're getting to the end of theinterview here, but for all my
guests, I do like to ask them afew questions about their
favorites.
It only makes sense for thisparticular instance to ask what
(36:37):
is your favorite video game ofall time?
Speaker 1 (36:41):
It's tough for me because I have this thing about
the all time phrase.
Time is still going with humans, so it's like of our time.
It makes the sense, so I can'treally answer that I'll ask this
what game have you played themost?
That you can give me an answeron that I think I've at least
played shadow of the colossustwo times.
(37:02):
Definitely beat it twice beatit twice.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Okay, I'm uh, I've never.
Actually, I play a lot ofsports games, especially
baseball, but for other games Inormally don't play them through
twice.
I usually play like the storymodes and then I'll just switch
to like the online play once Ido that.
But a game that was just such acrazy experience and I enjoy so
(37:27):
much more than any other gamewas Red Dead Redemption 2.
So now I'm gonna go back andplay it on hard Like I've never
played a game that detailed inmy life.
I was blown away to find outthat it's a game that's like
four or five years old and Iprobably played it two years ago
, a year or two ago.
So that game has motivated meto do so.
(37:48):
Okay.
Next, favorite album of alltime.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Sorry, before I go on all of the games that I've
played twice with Beyond Oasis,so it's a tie between those two
and that's on Sega Genesis thefavorite album that I've has the
most spins.
I consumed a lot of music so Imay not I'm being able to answer
this.
This Just fear memory blank.
In terms of soundtracks, itprobably most it might be
(38:14):
between Ridge Racer R4 or TurokBattle of the Dinosaurs on Game
Boy.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Okay, cool.
So soundtracks to games?
The music producer who youadmire the most?
I'm trying to rephrase thesequestions because you kind of
threw a dent in the way Iusually ask it.
So I gotta kind of read, Igotta rephrase it.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, you got.
You got something fresh.
The all times is the only thingthat you weren't expecting.
So but this one I rememberanticipating I was.
I can answer this one the waythat I think you instructed
before, so I can answer like twoparts, so I could do the video
game composer or I can do themusic producer.
It's a really big toss-up.
I was hoping to talk this oneout to see if my brain would
(38:54):
come with an answer, but it'sreally between Timbaland and
Pharrell and ironically they'recousins, so it wouldn't go wrong
either way.
I'm trying to think who I'mmostly influenced by, just by
just the edge.
I'm probably gonna say pharrell, just because I know that with
timbaland I'm mostly influencedthrough the rhythms.
But between it's it's hard.
(39:16):
I should really say theneptunes, because it's chad and
chad hugo and pharrell williams.
So I really should say theneptunes versus timbaland, and
it's really hard because theproduction of Timbaland had
inspired me very early, justbefore I found out about
Pharrell or the Neptunes in whatwas that?
2001, when they they would beenalways.
(39:37):
They produced, were produced inthe nineties, but they're
really big heads with clips anddoing.
Justin Timberlake and otherother artists really were were
influencing me and the Jay-Zpieces that they were doing and
collaborating, yeah, so I I'msorry it's not gonna be straight
, it's just just give me somegrace between the Netflix and
Timberlake okay, that's, that'sfair.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
That's fair.
You, when you go into that toomuch detail you got.
I have no choice but to giveyou grace.
Next, the last two.
Next is favorite film score.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I have a favorite film cue which is one piece from
the entire soundtrack whichsays perfume story of a murderer
Perfume story of a murderer.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
I'm going to have to follow up with you in the email
so you can put pen to paper, soI can actually go and do the
research on these, because I'mvery curious and I like learning
and I like being exposed to newthings.
So these are a lot of thingsthat I haven't heard of, so I'm
definitely looking forward tochecking them out.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
And last favorite TV theme song the 90s X-Men
animated series for sure.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Oh, that's a good one .
That is a good one, man.
I'm gonna have to listen tothat once we hop off here,
because I haven't heard it in awhile oh yeah, it's gonna give
you goosebumps for sure yeah,that one in the power rangers
one to me.
They're neck and neck all thepower rangers.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yeah, I only forgot about that.
Yeah, and I just thought aboutthe goosebumps.
One is pretty good too yeah thethat tv.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Yeah, that one was pretty cool oh okay, I think
that's pretty much it, man, youwent to extreme detail about
your journey.
I learned a lot about videogames on the composing side.
My only familiarity with thembeforehand was just being a
consumer, so it was a greatlearning experience.
You're one of the guests thatyou know.
(41:24):
A lot of people have kind ofinteresting journeys, and my
journey was interesting intogetting into audio.
But every now and again youkind of meet people who are kind
of just born to do the thing,and you I think you're my the
first one that I've had on here.
He was just like I was lockedin from my early age, so I was
definitely glad to know thatabout you, man.
Um, is there anything that youyou wanna share?
(41:45):
Obviously, you mentioned a lotof the content you create.
If people wanna actually playthe games or go listen to some
of the stuff you've done before,can you just point them in the
right direction so they cansupport you?
Yeah, we wanna make sure we goout of our way to support the
guests we have on here.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Thank you.
Thank you, yeah, I'd love toshare.
So some of the games that youcan support by playing on Steam
are Deity Quest on the Power ofParrots, which is the award I
won for best original soundtrack, for the next award and a
global music award, a Ground aswell.
A Ground is not only on Steam,but it's my first console game,
so it was a big milestone for meand hopefully the first of many
.
And, if you like, minecraftmixed with Roblox and Terraria,
(42:26):
that game is that, but it'sbetter because it has
progression and story.
So it's not just the same typeof thing.
A lot of people enjoy it andyou also can.
I mean, if you go to my website, chasewiththeacom C-H-A-S-E.
B, as in boy E, as in Eric T,as in Tom H, as in Harry E, Eric
T as in Tom H, as in Harry E,as in Eric A, as in Apple,
you'll see all the other thingsthat projects that I've been
(42:48):
part of limited run games, gixtrilogy trailer that I did, the
set 10 Rumble remix by TeamFight Tactics you can check that
out.
But please give me a follow onSpotify.
Spotify is playing games withartists.
If you don't have like athousand plays, add my music to
the playlist.
If you don't have a thousandplays, they're going to give
that work to some other personand I just think that's stuff
(43:10):
and that's bogus.
But if you really, really wantto support my work, please go to
chasepathiabandcampcom purchasea soundtrack.
I'm going to also be doing waymore live performances.
I have a performance at MagWestin September.
It should be MagWest on the24th or so over the weekend and
that's in san jose, and then, ifyou're in the los angeles area,
I have a live performance ofwork that's being performed.
(43:32):
Star dander, school for witchesis a lot of.
It's going to be a smallensemble where they're going to
be doing encore performance of awork, and actually I'm the
brainchild of this kind of smallconcert, because I went to them
and said, hey, do you do videomusic?
And they took my idea and itbecame what it is, and so it's
really cool to see it beingperformed again, as it was a
(43:53):
year ago.
And that's in Los Angeles.
That's September 7th, threeo'clock in West LA and tickets,
and that's, I guess, coming upon a month away.
So there's that as well, and Ibelieve.
Yeah, like I said, just followon all the platforms.
Follow my YouTube channel Ifyou want to see how creating
different content, see differentother interviews that have done
(44:14):
the how Compose series, and Ithink that's it.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Okay, I appreciate you sharing man and once again,
I appreciate you for joining.
I enjoyed having you on and foreverybody listening.
I will catch you on the nextepisode.
Thank you for joining us ontoday's episode.
Please don't forget tosubscribe to the show and leave
us a review.
If you'd like to work with meor connect, please go to
(44:40):
soundbossedcom and schedule acall there.
You can also check out the fulllist of productions I've worked
on.
Schedule a call there.
You can also check out the fulllist of productions I've worked
on.
If you'd like to connect onsocial media, my handle is
soundbysaidcom on Twitter andInstagram and I'm Sidney Evans
on LinkedIn.
Don't forget to follow Beyondthe Threshold on Instagram as
well.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Everyone has a price and if you understand
negotiation, then everybody cancome and meet in the fairground
of somewhere in the middle,along the line, somewhere.
It's not always about the money.
Yes, I do want what my value is, but there's other ways to get
to that.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Tune in as we give flowers to Black men and women
making waves in the audioindustry.
I'm your host, sidney EvansEvans, and this is Beyond the
Threshold.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
(00:44):
I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Beyond the
Threshold.
I'm your host, sidney Evans, anaward-winning audio editor,
mixer and producer.
For those of you who don't know,on this show I interview Black
men and women working in theaudio industry to highlight the
lessons and experiences it takesto achieve success in the field
.
I want to walk you all toanother episode.
(01:04):
Like I said, we've got anothergreat one in store for today and
I will introduce the guestsshortly, but before I do, I just
want to note something, and myside of the audio industry is
more focused around podcasting,so a lot of the guests that I
first recorded for this seasonwere within that realm, people
(01:26):
that I already builtrelationships with and were
connected with, and one of thepromises that I wanted to
fulfill in the show is that Ihave people across the board in
the audio industry, and in orderto keep true to that promise, I
had to reach out to people thatI don't know, which is a bit
uncomfortable, but this is oneof the first gentlemen, who I
(01:48):
reached out to and agreed to beon the show.
He's actually from the maybe usmillennials, something that
we're very familiar with thevideo side of I'm sorry the
video game side of audioproduction.
So he has over a decade ofexperience as a multi-award
winning video game composer,actually, with over 25 games
shipped thus far.
(02:08):
He's also given over 45 talks,in which he most recently was
the keynote speaker at the 2022Global Game Jam.
He's also been exhibited in theNational Association of Music
Merchants Museum and given liveperformances at MAG West and
IndieCade.
So, without further ado, I'dlike to introduce our guest for
(02:29):
today, chase Bathia.
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, man, I would love to learn a little bit more
about you outside of what Ialready know, and for the guests
that don't know you to learnabout you, period.
So could you just share alittle bit about your background
, man, and what kind of yourinterests were you know growing
up and what kind of led you togoing down this path and ending
(02:57):
up as a video game composer?
Sure?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
So I was born and raised in Chicago, so I was
there until I was about like 13and then I moved out to LA and
so while I was in Chicago myupbringing was mostly I was a
nerd, so I really I enjoyedToonami and anime and stuff
really early.
I was watching Dragon Ball Zwhen it was on Fox just before
baseball came on.
A lot of people didn't catch ituntil it came on to Cartoon
(03:22):
Network or Toonami and then theywere all excited about it but I
knew it was on way before then.
I had a Game Boy growing up.
My grandmother bought me that.
I had an Alto saxophone that myfather bought me.
My mom was always into music.
My father was into music but hewas a Chicago police officer
but he was kind of like a musicaficionado really.
(03:43):
So I'd grown up around this andI was in choir and I was first
tier in alto saxophone, fifthand sixth, seventh grade and
just really have been playinggames, mostly before I picked up
the instrument, because I gotthat my first Game Boy when I
was around seven and was playingthat, and then 64 and
(04:04):
PlayStation in my dad's houseand then my dad, when I moved
with him he had a Sega Genesishe bought me from Hollywood
Video and so I'd been playingMega Turrican and Pitfall and
Earthworm, Jim and Beyond, Oasisand Game Boy game titles like
Turok, Battle of the Binosaurusand Bugs Bunny, Crazy Castle 2
and Godzilla and Stargate.
(04:25):
So, and then PlayStation gameslike Tomb Raider in 1996 and
kicking my dad's ass in Tekken 2and Resident Evil and Final
Fantasy 7, playing games likethat.
So I already, I guess, had thesignature sound.
I also was playing Game BoyCamera when it first came out in
98.
(04:45):
And so I was writing music onthe Game Boy Camera and I was
listening to sound tests onFinal Fantasy Legend 2 on the
Game Boy and the other gamesthat I mentioned as well.
So Game Boy Camera was mostly,I would say, my first
introduction to game music thatI had been writing, and so it
wasn't until I moved down toCalifornia and then my mom and
my aunt bought me a computer.
(05:05):
I was working off of this threegigabyte hard drive to just try
to make beats, really andthings like that.
But folks had always said youknow, the very first thing that
I showed someone, it was thisgirl at the bus stop named Tasha
and she said sounds like itshould be in a video game.
Hand me back my CD player.
When I burned it I was thinking, oh okay, that's not what I'm
(05:30):
trying to achieve, but all right.
And so, several years ofhearing that from many different
people, you know, the God inthe universe really just told me
that you should probably thinkabout the video game thing.
And so it wasn't until a friendof mine had told me hey, did you
see who did the voice for Godof War?
And I said, no, this is God ofWar 3 on PS3.
(05:53):
And I looked at it and I wasshocked because it actually
turned out to be someone that Iknew.
It was a family friend who Ireferred to as my uncle, as
Uncle TC Carson and my mom andhim were no longer speaking, and
I didn't know until I went andsaid hey, uncle TC's the voice
of Kratos, and I'm thinking sheknew I had already decided I
(06:14):
wanted to go into video gamemusic and go to GDC.
And I started taking pianolessons.
My aunt started to share withme uh, to provide for me, rather
and I was like that's nice.
And so I was thinking, okay,that's not gonna be my in.
So I learned how to videocapture from a very old turtle
(06:36):
card.
I was already a, I had alreadywent to los angeles recording
school, sorry, and graduatedfrom there, and then I decided,
during the recession, I wasgoing to go back to school.
Once I've discovered that thiswas a thing, because I unlocked
a video that talked about musicnot being pigeonholed.
You can do whatever style youwant.
And that's since I've been toldthat I already had that sound.
(06:57):
I was thinking I want music to,not, I want my music to be that
way and free, and so I canamalgamate all that styles.
And so so then I I'm playingPS3.
I locked that video of othercomposers and they had showed
that video of, like how musiccould just for games, could just
be that.
And I'm thinking, oh my gosh,I've been told that this is my
sound.
I've been trying to do thisother thing.
(07:18):
It's not working.
And I finally put it together.
And my first I did get aninternship at a mobile game
studio while I was still incommunity college, just before I
crunched for uni.
So I was trying to figure thisthing out but I sorry, I went
back to capture that card.
I did a capture card, I did ademo, put it up on YouTube it's
(07:39):
still on my YouTube to this day.
For Gran Turismo I tried tofigure out how to go to GC.
It was so expensive.
I didn't do that.
I got a job at LensCrafters.
That job at LensCrafters led meto two different paths that
could have happened.
One was a composer signing withone of the composers the main
composer of God of War that Iended up meeting and friends
with to this day but didn'tbecome his assistant.
But then got an internshipthrough someone at LensCrafters.
(08:01):
Their uncle was in games.
That internship was really coolbut the studio shut down.
I bought a book called theComplete Guide to Game Audio,
read half of the book, wentonline to game dev forums,
posted my work and mostly landeda gig which ended up being a
paid and my first ship gamecalled Electron Flux on mobile,
because now there's ElectronFlux that came out some years
later and it's on pc.
So I have to specify what thatis.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's a long story, but I wanted to give you the
full context of where it allkind of comes from okay,
honestly, like a lot of theterminology and stuff as far as
the video game in I'm not asfamiliar with, so I'm sure
people listening aren't as well.
So, uh, the terms that you justmentioned, could you kind of
like explain them?
Just kind of you were doingsomething video related to video
(08:48):
games, but then you were alsomaking okay, and then you were
also creating music, but youweren't necessarily
intentionally creating music forvideo games at the time.
So explain into a littlefurther detail what exactly you
were doing with the capture cardwhich you just mentioned, sure,
sure.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So the capture card is a card that captures video of
the input of something that youare taking from one device and
transferring it to another, andthis is how people are typically
able to stream retro games onTwitch nowadays.
But back then that technologywas hard.
I had to rig different cablesand just have this little medium
and then have a software gofrom the PlayStation into the
(09:30):
actual PC that I built.
And, yeah, it wasn't sostraightforward until late as
Twitch became Twitch, becauseTwitch used to be just in that
TV where we used to watch sports, so NBA games, things like that
Legitimately I would say.
But they had that platform andso that's where that came from.
And so, like I was saying before, I was trying to do hip hop and
(09:52):
R&B.
On any beats and styles that Iwas doing, they always would say
like a sound should be in avideo game.
So I just transferred theenergy in terms of just not
doing that anymore, even thoughproducers kind of was getting to
that sound.
I was thinking how is it stillnot accepted?
Our culture plays this type.
But now it's funny, now it's awhole medium, it's called
(10:13):
Nerdcore.
But I was doing that 24 yearsago, way ahead before it got
popular and I still have thosetracks to this day.
So it's just funny.
I was mostly I was told I'm afuturist and I still have those
tracks to this day.
So it's just funny how I was.
Mostly I was told I'm afuturist and I'm ahead of my
time.
Okay, hopefully that kind ofexplains what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, that makes things a little more clear.
So I'm just curious like whatwas your yeah, like what was
your setup as far as makingmusic at that time?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
It was super simple.
I didn't even get an MPC 500until, I think, the sixth or
seventh year into producing, soI was using.
I started on FL Studio 3,Fruity Loops 3.
Before that I was on Hammerhead.
Then I found Fruity Loops 3.
Then I stuck with that.
I could never get this sound.
Timbaland had a track, demotrack that was in there.
(10:57):
It was amazing.
I'm thinking how do we get tothis production sound?
Which is what led me to go intoLos Angeles Recording School
and trying to better myproduction skills, even though I
was there for audio engineeringmostly.
But I figured the two wouldwork together because you need
to use EQs and compressors andso on.
So the setup was pretty simple.
I had even hustled togethersome money to get an M-Audio
(11:22):
Axiom 61.
I was very proud about that formy MIDI controller, and that's
it really.
It really wasn't much.
I had some Yamaha HS-ADMs thatI did purchase too.
I still have those and that'sit.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Okay, was there a particular individual who I
don't know, who I guess servedas like a mentor?
Who was that person?
That kind of?
Or did you kind of just have tolike, do everything on your own
as far as like a mentor?
Who was that person?
That kind of um, or did youkind of just have to like, do
everything, you think, on yourown as far as like getting
access to people who wereblocking, who would give you a
chance, like who really gave youyour first opportunity to
compose for a video game,whether, no matter, uh, the
(11:57):
level of the skill that it wason?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
well to compose for my first video game.
I did it on my own.
I had boss.
Why I bought that book?
Because that internship onlygot me so far, but I never got
to ship.
I did technically ship the game, but I just don't even know if
I was credited.
And that game was ZombieWonderland 2.
And it was supposed to writefor a different game called
Airborne Geyser, but the studiowas shut down due to some drama
(12:22):
and even though there wasopportunity to write, continue
further and do that, I turned itdown because it didn't feel I
thought it might've been shady.
So by buying the book, theComplete Guide to Game Audio by
Aaron Marks, second edition, Ihad figured that out on my own.
So I gave myself the firstopportunity.
In terms of mentors, they didn'tcome until later, until, like I
said, the composer from God ofWar, gerard Marino.
(12:45):
I didn't become his assistantdue to some scheduling, but I
ended up becoming a good friendand it was fortunate to earn the
trust of him, which led to mehelping him move a couple times
and then that introduced me tohis friends.
So Cole Hicks, who used to beat Riot, and Ken Jakobson, who
became my first mentor and hetook me in and showed me
(13:08):
different production things thatI wouldn't have been able to
kind of achieve otherwise.
And Kyle Johnson, who worked atNeversoft and he wasn't there
while there but later on, and hewas always helping me and he
ended up mastering a couple ofmy soundtracks, as well as Ken
from my games as well.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Okay.
So when you came across thosepeople because usually there's
like a the kind of the path ishow you kind of like you did,
like you do everything you're on, you're kind of like you know,
in your basement, or at leastthe modern way of doing it back
(13:47):
then you probably had to like,you know, 20, 30, I don't know
30 years ago, like the only wayfor really for you to get in was
to work at a studio or youwould actually have to leave
home to actually do the thing.
But now you, or maybe in yourstages around that time, the
transition was to where youcould do things from your
bedroom.
But then there's that alsopresents an issue as to where,
like, you're comfortable withinthat environment and even though
(14:08):
, if you create something andhave people listen to it, it's
from that comfort zone of youknow, your own space.
But what was it like for you?
Like going outside of that andmaybe having to actually, you
know, maybe produce with otherpeople around or somebody like
over your shoulder critiquingyou, or maybe just getting, like
the high level of feedback thatyou may not necessarily have
(14:30):
gotten from doing it in your ownspace.
So, uh, was that a thing thatactually existed for you?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Not really.
I've to be honest, I really I'mnot someone who really asked
for a lot of help because I'm soused to doing a lot on my own
because I couldn't rely onpeople, because they weren't.
They didn't have the same workethic that I did.
I'm someone who's very reliable.
I came into this industry veryprofessional thanks to my mom
teaching me professionalism andetiquette and decorum, and it
(15:01):
was unmatched.
It was so rare to find.
So I think one of the reasonsthat Kyle and Ken had gave me
some kind of tutelage is becausethey realized that I'm a hard
worker.
If I was looking for feedback, Istruggled before I asked for it
, because I understand whenyou're an apprentice or you're
an assistant, it's not about you, it's about them and you're
(15:25):
servicing them.
And because I worked in so manyretail jobs over for 10 years
in conjunction with going toschool and uni and pursuing this
career path, I took extremelyhard path.
Most people would do one andthen transition to another and
then maybe do two, but I did allthree and so I understood that
I'm servicing.
I'm not trying to say, hey,look at me, this is what I want,
(15:47):
can you help me?
Can you help me?
In fact I wasn't even lookingfor that internship with Ken.
He asked me a couple questionswhen I was at a it was called a
Game Audio Network Guildbarbecue the last one, I think,
in Los Angeles at the time, overa decade ago and he asked me
two questions and I think Ianswered those questions and he
(16:08):
said, okay, give me a call nextweek.
He didn't ask me if I've beenan assistant before, and I was.
I'd been an assistant composerbefore.
So yeah, again, it just kind ofhappened.
I wasn't looking for it and so.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
But I'm very thankful because it shows that that
person saw something in me andbelieved in me and I in the
industry, for even like gettingan agent nowadays, that's it's
that doesn't even exist,especially for minority
americans of african descentokay, uh, I'm glad you actually
brought up that part because, uh, the reason why I wanted to
start this podcast is because Ijust didn't see a lot of black
(16:46):
men and women in the autoindustry and, to be honest, the
ones that I did see were theywere like more producers and
stuff.
Even for the ones that wereblack, I noticed that it was
more women than men, which itwas.
It's kind of been more of a ofa task to try to find men to
(17:09):
have on the podcast as well.
So did you think that?
Um, cause, obviously, like youspeak the language, like you,
you live and breathe like whatyou were doing, as far as music
and video games, like that is apart of you.
I could just tell from you know,from the short conversation
we've had so far, but, you know,for somebody outside of our
community, to you know, maybehear your work or something like
that, and then to actuallyrealize that it was you, you
(17:30):
know young Black kid or man, youknow, no matter what stage you
were, that had done those things, had done the work.
Do you feel like it was harderbecause you were?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
black.
When I started in the industryI tried my best to go in with it
with my work speaking foritself.
But the past five years I thinkI've come to a pragmatism that
it definitely has been harderand I think even with all the
awards and the things that I'veachieved and being in the museum
(18:01):
, you know I'm saying, oh well,no, it's like, but I've been in
this.
I say this bigger numberbecause I guess the, the other
number doesn't seem to have thisgravitas.
So I say 4 745 days versus 13years, but that's what the
equivalency of those are.
So 4745 days sounds bigger thanit was.
Like oh, it's just 13 years.
(18:22):
Like well, when is it a numberof of meaning to someone?
It's like, oh, you've been this40 years, like that seems like
a bigger number.
Like oh, 13, like yeah, so it's.
I mean, even at that barbecue Iwas the only minority american
of african descent there, uh,but I was comfortable because my
mama taught me how to becomfortable in these spaces.
But in terms of trying to getto the next level of the
(18:45):
opportunities that I want toachieve and also value that
people have offers, whereas Iknow they wouldn't offer that to
this person, why are theytrying to slight me?
So that's what I've beenexperiencing the past five years
and it's been it's beenactually very frustrating.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay, so yeah, so so you got.
I guess the stage is just likefirst is actually people like
okay, I'm going to hire you,like wanting to work with you,
and then you get over that humpand then you're like okay, they
want to work with me, but theydon't want to pay me the way I
should be paid.
They don't to pay yeah, that'sexactly it yeah, that's, that's,
(19:23):
that's um.
That's unfortunate and I triedto um.
Obviously, like the money, partof it is no matter what field
you, what field you're in, it'san aspect of it.
You know, as much as we mayfall in love with the creative,
with the technical stuff, if youwant to do it as a career,
you're going to have to like youknow, no matter how much you
try to avoid it as a career,you're going to have to like.
You know how about you try toavoid it that those
conversations, that reality ishas to exist.
(19:46):
So, and I guess, just in a, in ageneral sense, I guess this is
this is an opportunity to pointthis out as well do you think
that, especially now, do youfeel that people that work in
the audience, do you feel likethe audio or the audio medium in
general, is something that islike undervalued?
Like I feel like, out of allthe, based on my experience from
(20:07):
the production process, whetherit's pre-production,
post-production or the actual,the main part of production,
that people will throw money ata lot of things.
The video sets, the, you know,whatever, I don't know, depends
on, obviously, the medium, but,like, when it comes to audio,
it's kind of like people justkind of want to give you what's
left over.
You know the scraps um, andmaybe for you, know people, for
(20:32):
black people in our lives.
That's how we feel.
So if you're black and workingin audio, it's like twofold.
So do you think?
Yeah, just uh, I to.
I believe.
I do believe audio is somethingthat is undervalued, but would
you agree?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Definitely concur.
And it's worse in video gamesbecause there are sites that
make it cheaper in terms of, youknow, royalty free tracks.
Or then it's worse whenstudents don't understand the
business side and they come outof college and they just,
they're just eager to work andtry to say yes to everything and
they offer their time for free.
(21:05):
And so my goal is to re-educatethe newer ages.
To cap it, before it gets toaudio, not talk to the audio
people, but the game designersare coming up and if there's
still games around by that time,with AI tools now they're able
to kind of just circumvent thatand they are just thinking it's
(21:25):
the afterthought.
I'm thinking, hold, hold on.
Like these microphones arethree to four thousand dollars,
or, you know, three hundreddollars, two thousand dollars,
four thousand dollars, ten grand, etc.
The you know the mic presitself are very expensive for
good quality stuff.
The instruments aren't cheap.
The time at school I'm sure youhad to get a loan of some sort.
Not everybody's getting grantsor you're coming out of your
pocket.
(21:47):
Where did you think that freewas good to give away?
At what point did bills stop?
And there's a certain affluence, obviously because they're
getting kickbacks from differentpatronage type of parents.
Obviously for those thingsthose resources are not typical
across the board, obviouslythrough cultures.
(22:09):
So it's just a broken systemoverall that it's hard to break.
There's small areas wherepeople understand yes, you need
good work, yes, you do see thevalue, and I think that just
comes with then that circle ofsmall work ethic when people see
like, oh, he's winning awards,oh, he's always here, he's
always there.
You've got to show the value inother ways.
(22:31):
But it's still about, it'sstill so much more that 10 more
steps than the average, you know, versus a majority American
could do than a minorityAmerican and many years and many
more steps.
And so it's just not only isundervalued, it's very unfair,
it's very unbalanced.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I would agree and I think that in a lot of things
related to audio, like you know,music producers do this a lot
now too, like you have to, maybepeople even artists, because of
, like you know, digitalstreaming, and like the amount
of money that's pumped into themusic industry, like obviously
prior to this generation, likeit was very sustainable to just
(23:12):
produce or be an artist, go ontours, sell records, sell, merch
, you know, basically throughyour label or whatever, and like
you can, it's very lucrativeand it's like now you're doing
that, you're creating content,you got to do all types of
things and that's but that's notonly to you know, back then it
(23:32):
was like very lucrative.
Now that's just to stay abovewater.
So if you implement any, any ofthat type of stuff by creating
content or like, maybe, puttingout stuff to say this is how I,
you know, created this game, or,you know, maybe you give tips
or tips or tricks on, you know,your process and those type of
things.
There's a lot of different waysyou can create content, but
(23:53):
have you been having to usethose type of things to
compensate for maybe not itbeing as sustainable from a
lifestyle standpoint?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I've been streaming onTwitch my composing process.
I'm one of the few that do it,and especially one of the few in
the minority American Africandescent that do it.
For 10 years I've been doing agamer composer on Twitch and I
would show how it's done,because I started it because I
went to show game developersthat were looking to hire
(24:22):
composers that I'm not justpressing a key on the keyboard
and it's done.
I've really got to think aboutchord regressions.
I got to think about how thisis going to work with the game,
the sound palette, therestrictions, why it's going to
work, why it's not going to work.
I specialize in interactive andadaptive and dynamic music.
So I take it a step above justnormal loops.
I'm not just making tracks andthrowing into the game.
(24:43):
I'm really tying it to gamemechanics.
I'm tying it to level designs.
I'm creating musical scoresthat are going to adapt to the
player's inputs, that are basedif it's being a story or if the
player pulls out a tool or ifthey've got to encounter combat.
I've taken it to a higher level.
So I've done that on Twitch for10 years.
(25:03):
And then I also started arecent series on my YouTube
channel called how I Composed,and that's a higher production
thing.
It takes a lot of time andeffort, but I've realized it's
starting to take off as of thisyear.
So I'm going to be creatingmore, whereas then I break down
just in the format.
If I'm not doing it in the guestspeaking form of the
presentation I'm doing at gameconferences, it's more so of
(25:25):
this is how I designed thispiece of game music.
For this, I had this document,I had this vertical slice, which
is a prototype of the game, andthis is how I approached it.
This is my musical idea.
This is where my thoughtprocess were, and it's very
unique and so it's myperspective of that.
And then recently I started apatreon, just as last week,
whereas and I'm giving myinsight in terms of my thoughts
(25:48):
on my professional playeropinion is what it's called, and
it's not only going to betalking about audio, but it
discusses, when I'm playing agame, what I'm thinking about,
what I enjoyed about it, why Ithought something did work, why
I thought something was great.
But also the recent one is theNobunaga Matsu, we're saying
where game music is stagnant,and the briefing to that is like
(26:10):
I concur that it is and Idiscuss why, and so those are
the three pieces of content isyou know streaming on twitch for
the past 10 years?
The youtube series, how Icomposed, and then professional
pro player pro player opinionreally is what is discussed on
my patreon, and I think thatgives that.
It gives a lot of value.
What I understand, though, ispeople still.
(26:31):
There's been so much modicolingthat's been happening in the
industry because a lot of peopleget stuff for free that their
old saying is like people haveto pay attention before they can
pay.
You People have been payingattention to me, but they still
don't want to pay.
They don't realize that I'mjust going to be disrupting the
model overall, because if youwant quality, especially on the
(26:52):
thought leadership that I bring,you will have to pay something
for it, just like as you did inschool.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
And that's just where I stand.
Yeah, like you said, like youmentioned earlier, with all the
accolades and stuff, like havingto, you know when people
approach you, you have to bringawareness to all that you do so
people can see the values to, towhere they want to pay.
And you, you going into depth,uh, about what you just
mentioned.
It kind of reminds me because,um, I have no musical talent
(27:19):
whatsoever but I definitelyappreciate it, so I consume a
lot of behind the scenes stuff,not just music, tv film too.
But since we're on the topic ofmusic, and there's this, um,
there's this podcast that Ilisten to called the soundtrack
show, which is goes into likethe musical breakdowns of like a
lot of the, a lot of thepopular scores from films that
we all love, um, whether youknow it's past or present.
(27:42):
And what you mentioned aboutyour process of showing how you
do just reminded me of that, andon that I did hear like they
kind of pull clips.
You know how some of these dvdsand stuff they have like
feature red, so they have thecomposer and stuff on there or
the director talk about stuff,and my favorite composer is john
williams and I think it wasspecifically home alone, the one
(28:05):
that I was watching, and hementioned that you know a lot of
people won't come to him.
Obviously, if you're JohnWilliams, like this is not as
relevant as far as the moneypart of it, because I can only
imagine how much money he's madefrom doing scores.
He's been doing it.
He's probably been doing this50 years and some of the biggest
you know blockbuster moviesever blockbuster movies ever.
(28:29):
But he said, like some peoplemay have been hesitant to come
to him to ask him to do a, to doa score, because it may not
have been a blockbuster budgetmovie.
But he talked about how hedecides.
What he's going to do and notdo is based off his visceral
reaction to, to the story, tothe movie or whatever, and that
will, and if it's if inspireshim to want to create, he'll do
(28:50):
it kind of really no matter thescale of the production, until
when people come to you foropportunities or whether you
seek them out.
We've already mentioned that alot of, a lot of them don't want
to pay what you're worth.
But how do you go aboutdeciding like what you're worth,
but how do you go aboutdeciding like what you will and
won't work on outside of themoney part, like do you kind of
(29:11):
get a feel for like okay, thisis, it might be a nostalgia
thing, like, oh, this reminds meof this video game and I kind
of want to do my own take on it,so I'll accept it.
Or maybe if somebody is willingto pay you what you're worth,
but you're like you know, I feellike if I take it, I'm just
doing it because of the moneyand it might show in my work
Like I might not be able todeliver deliver as much on this
(29:34):
than if I were doing somethingthat I was more excited about
doing.
So what is your kind of processfor deciding those things when
I am approached from differentprojects.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I typically it's very rare I'll turn down some game
work, the work that I did, oneTV show that I did some music
for called Cold and Windy, whichwas some years ago.
I was the main composer atfirst and then I'll just be
transpicuous and say I was firedbut the team was not the best
(30:05):
and so that got taken over thebest and so they that got taken
over.
And I would only do tv or filmstuff if it's like game,
documentary related or if theteam is really cool and creative
.
I've worked with them beforesomething.
I've got some film friends thatwould say hey, we want you to
do it now.
I might try it again for thatin that regard.
But some in terms of games, whenI I've not approached as much
(30:27):
mostly because I think I didn'tknow that john william this
problem, but it makes sense I'vebeen the fairground of
somewhere in the middle, alongthe line, somewhere.
(30:50):
It's not always about the money.
Yes, I do want what my value is, but there's other ways to get
to that in terms of negotiations.
There could be back-end, therecould be live performance, there
could be right retaining, therecould be revenue share plus
back end, or there's just somany.
(31:10):
I've come up with so manydifferent combinations.
There's there's payment plans,there's it's just so many things
, but some people just aren'tcognizant enough, or even just
wanting or willing to even havethat next step in the
conversation.
And so I just say this, andthey offer that, and they're
like no and okay, which shows methat in one sense, they're
(31:33):
doing business in the way ofthey want the cheapest thing
that they can get, but it's getwhat you pay for, and I've seen
this before happen even wearingthe quality, you're not going to
get good, fast and cheap whenyou got to pick two right.
You're only going to get good,fast and cheap.
You're only going to get two.
Yeah, you're only going to gettwo.
(31:54):
So you better pick two.
Very well, I know what two Iusually would pick.
It's not going to be cheap.
So when they come to me withthat, it's just.
I can always sense that theyjust want the cheap and they
hope to get good and it's goingto be good enough and I don't
offer that.
My work has integrity, my workhas quality.
I put over 10,000 hours intothis well, above and more as I
(32:14):
continue on, and I only want towork with mindsets of people
that understand the value,understand their value, because
the craziest thing to me in mymind is thinking, if you invest
in me, you're going to get this,but you're investing in
yourself, which is, you want theplayer to invest in you so you
can recruit.
That.
You're not just, you're notjust being a patron to me so you
(32:36):
can have it, and you can justlisten whatever and say you got
chase bethea, multi-worldwinning video game compositions
on your phone to play on yourbluetooth in your car.
You're putting something intoan entire art form that you want
players to receive anexperience from, that you want
them to pay for, whether it's $5or $30 or $70 or $100, whatever
(32:57):
you're pricing it for.
So it blows my mind that theyjust do not come back to yeah,
this is going to be worth it.
This is set work.
He's not a rookie here.
He's not a newbie.
We're going to get we're goingto get a great experience.
We're going to get stuff on themilestone.
We're going to get high qualitycomposition.
We're going to we're going toget a lot for what we're going
(33:20):
to be putting out.
But I have no interest intrying to control people and try
to buy something anymore.
So so I stand where I'm at andthat's what.
So, if it is come to me, I justlooking for mindsets of the
same.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Okay, cool, I, I, I try to think of audio like
toilet paper, like that's theone thing you can't.
You can't get, you can't gocheap on man Like you will
instantly regret it.
That's instantly regret it.
That's a real.
That's a great analogy.
Obviously, like if you becauseI'm thinking about, like for
people who you know, this ismore so like if you're like an
(33:54):
independent, you know producerof something, whether it's film
or podcast or do whatever.
I mean, obviously a large,probably majority of podcasts
don't have a visual element, sothat shows you that you don't
even actually need that part ofit.
But people want to pay.
All put the whole budgettowards you know, cameras and
video and things like that andto be honest, like if you have a
(34:15):
good audio experience, peoplewill be more forgiving for the
other stuff.
I'm not telling you to you know,pay us and go cheap on somebody
else, but I'm just saying youcould at least even the
distribution of it a little bitand I think it would take you a
longer way.
Like the whole experience of ifyou ever watched a scary movie,
you know what do people do whenthey try to alleviate them
(34:41):
being scared.
They cover their ears, theydon't cover their eyes.
If you're watching a horrormovie and it's just dialogue,
it's not scary, it's the musicand the anticipation and the
jump scares.
The jump scares are scarybecause there's this huge lift
in the music kind of.
(35:02):
You know, harped on this for along way, for a while, but I'm
very passionate about it.
So I try to always give myopinion and try to express how
valuable I think.
You know, obviously I do it ona smaller scale with podcasting,
but especially those who areimmensely talented like you and
you take it to a whole, notherdifferent level.
(35:23):
I just want to, you know, kindof make sure you are valued as
much as possible.
Thank you, yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
So, and likewise, podcasting is not not easy.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
I've done, I've been, I've been a panelist on podcast
for three years Game Audio Hourand also Chronicle of the
Gamers with one of my closefriends, so I know how hard work
it is, yeah, um, for me themost, I think the most talented
people when it comes to mediaare people who do music, whether
(35:55):
it's composed, like you, orjust do it, as you know, in a
traditional artist sense, andpeople who write writers, like I
.
Feel like those are the two mostimportant things in media in
general, because, obviously, ifyou don't have writing, you
don't have a script, you don'thave a song, you don't have
anything, and the music justelevates it, it puts you in the
(36:17):
thing, no matter what it ismusic or video games.
Speaking of video games and afew other things, we're getting
to the end of the interview hereand a few other things.
We're getting to the end of theinterview here, but for all my
guests, I do like to ask them afew questions about their
favorites.
It only makes sense for thisparticular instance to ask what
(36:37):
is your favorite video game ofall time?
Speaker 1 (36:41):
It's tough for me because I have this thing about
the all time phrase.
Time is still going with humans, so it's like of our time.
It makes the sense, so I can'treally answer that I'll ask this
what game have you played themost?
That you can give me an answeron that I think I've at least
played shadow of the colossustwo times.
(37:02):
Definitely beat it twice beatit twice.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Okay, I'm uh, I've never.
Actually, I play a lot ofsports games, especially
baseball, but for other games Inormally don't play them through
twice.
I usually play like the storymodes and then I'll just switch
to like the online play once Ido that.
But a game that was just such acrazy experience and I enjoy so
(37:27):
much more than any other gamewas Red Dead Redemption 2.
So now I'm gonna go back andplay it on hard Like I've never
played a game that detailed inmy life.
I was blown away to find outthat it's a game that's like
four or five years old and Iprobably played it two years ago
, a year or two ago.
So that game has motivated meto do so.
(37:48):
Okay.
Next, favorite album of alltime.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Sorry, before I go on all of the games that I've
played twice with Beyond Oasis,so it's a tie between those two
and that's on Sega Genesis thefavorite album that I've has the
most spins.
I consumed a lot of music so Imay not I'm being able to answer
this.
This Just fear memory blank.
In terms of soundtracks, itprobably most it might be
(38:14):
between Ridge Racer R4 or TurokBattle of the Dinosaurs on Game
Boy.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Okay, cool.
So soundtracks to games?
The music producer who youadmire the most?
I'm trying to rephrase thesequestions because you kind of
threw a dent in the way Iusually ask it.
So I gotta kind of read, Igotta rephrase it.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, you got.
You got something fresh.
The all times is the only thingthat you weren't expecting.
So but this one I rememberanticipating I was.
I can answer this one the waythat I think you instructed
before, so I can answer like twoparts, so I could do the video
game composer or I can do themusic producer.
It's a really big toss-up.
I was hoping to talk this oneout to see if my brain would
(38:54):
come with an answer, but it'sreally between Timbaland and
Pharrell and ironically they'recousins, so it wouldn't go wrong
either way.
I'm trying to think who I'mmostly influenced by, just by
just the edge.
I'm probably gonna say pharrell, just because I know that with
timbaland I'm mostly influencedthrough the rhythms.
But between it's it's hard.
(39:16):
I should really say theneptunes, because it's chad and
chad hugo and pharrell williams.
So I really should say theneptunes versus timbaland, and
it's really hard because theproduction of Timbaland had
inspired me very early, justbefore I found out about
Pharrell or the Neptunes in whatwas that?
2001, when they they would beenalways.
(39:37):
They produced, were produced inthe nineties, but they're
really big heads with clips anddoing.
Justin Timberlake and otherother artists really were were
influencing me and the Jay-Zpieces that they were doing and
collaborating, yeah, so I I'msorry it's not gonna be straight
, it's just just give me somegrace between the Netflix and
Timberlake okay, that's, that'sfair.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
That's fair.
You, when you go into that toomuch detail you got.
I have no choice but to giveyou grace.
Next, the last two.
Next is favorite film score.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I have a favorite film cue which is one piece from
the entire soundtrack whichsays perfume story of a murderer
Perfume story of a murderer.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
I'm going to have to follow up with you in the email
so you can put pen to paper, soI can actually go and do the
research on these, because I'mvery curious and I like learning
and I like being exposed to newthings.
So these are a lot of thingsthat I haven't heard of, so I'm
definitely looking forward tochecking them out.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
And last favorite TV theme song the 90s X-Men
animated series for sure.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Oh, that's a good one .
That is a good one, man.
I'm gonna have to listen tothat once we hop off here,
because I haven't heard it in awhile oh yeah, it's gonna give
you goosebumps for sure yeah,that one in the power rangers
one to me.
They're neck and neck all thepower rangers.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yeah, I only forgot about that.
Yeah, and I just thought aboutthe goosebumps.
One is pretty good too yeah thethat tv.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Yeah, that one was pretty cool oh okay, I think
that's pretty much it, man, youwent to extreme detail about
your journey.
I learned a lot about videogames on the composing side.
My only familiarity with thembeforehand was just being a
consumer, so it was a greatlearning experience.
You're one of the guests thatyou know.
(41:24):
A lot of people have kind ofinteresting journeys, and my
journey was interesting intogetting into audio.
But every now and again youkind of meet people who are kind
of just born to do the thing,and you I think you're my the
first one that I've had on here.
He was just like I was lockedin from my early age, so I was
definitely glad to know thatabout you, man.
Um, is there anything that youyou wanna share?
(41:45):
Obviously, you mentioned a lotof the content you create.
If people wanna actually playthe games or go listen to some
of the stuff you've done before,can you just point them in the
right direction so they cansupport you?
Yeah, we wanna make sure we goout of our way to support the
guests we have on here.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Thank you.
Thank you, yeah, I'd love toshare.
So some of the games that youcan support by playing on Steam
are Deity Quest on the Power ofParrots, which is the award I
won for best original soundtrack, for the next award and a
global music award, a Ground aswell.
A Ground is not only on Steam,but it's my first console game,
so it was a big milestone for meand hopefully the first of many
.
And, if you like, minecraftmixed with Roblox and Terraria,
(42:26):
that game is that, but it'sbetter because it has
progression and story.
So it's not just the same typeof thing.
A lot of people enjoy it andyou also can.
I mean, if you go to my website, chasewiththeacom C-H-A-S-E.
B, as in boy E, as in Eric T,as in Tom H, as in Harry E, Eric
T as in Tom H, as in Harry E,as in Eric A, as in Apple,
you'll see all the other thingsthat projects that I've been
(42:48):
part of limited run games, gixtrilogy trailer that I did, the
set 10 Rumble remix by TeamFight Tactics you can check that
out.
But please give me a follow onSpotify.
Spotify is playing games withartists.
If you don't have like athousand plays, add my music to
the playlist.
If you don't have a thousandplays, they're going to give
that work to some other personand I just think that's stuff
(43:10):
and that's bogus.
But if you really, really wantto support my work, please go to
chasepathiabandcampcom purchasea soundtrack.
I'm going to also be doing waymore live performances.
I have a performance at MagWestin September.
It should be MagWest on the24th or so over the weekend and
that's in san jose, and then, ifyou're in the los angeles area,
I have a live performance ofwork that's being performed.
(43:32):
Star dander, school for witchesis a lot of.
It's going to be a smallensemble where they're going to
be doing encore performance of awork, and actually I'm the
brainchild of this kind of smallconcert, because I went to them
and said, hey, do you do videomusic?
And they took my idea and itbecame what it is, and so it's
really cool to see it beingperformed again, as it was a
(43:53):
year ago.
And that's in Los Angeles.
That's September 7th, threeo'clock in West LA and tickets,
and that's, I guess, coming upon a month away.
So there's that as well, and Ibelieve.
Yeah, like I said, just followon all the platforms.
Follow my YouTube channel Ifyou want to see how creating
different content, see differentother interviews that have done
(44:14):
the how Compose series, and Ithink that's it.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Okay, I appreciate you sharing man and once again,
I appreciate you for joining.
I enjoyed having you on and foreverybody listening.
I will catch you on the nextepisode.
Thank you for joining us ontoday's episode.
Please don't forget tosubscribe to the show and leave
us a review.
If you'd like to work with meor connect, please go to
(44:40):
soundbossedcom and schedule acall there.
You can also check out the fulllist of productions I've worked
on.
Schedule a call there.
You can also check out the fulllist of productions I've worked
on.
If you'd like to connect onsocial media, my handle is
soundbysaidcom on Twitter andInstagram and I'm Sidney Evans
on LinkedIn.
Don't forget to follow Beyondthe Threshold on Instagram as
well.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
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