Level With Emily Reese

Join us on Discord to discuss the episode!   This is music by John Robert Matz for Ambition: A Minuet in Power, an adventure game/interactive visual novel with all sorts of romance options, set during the ramp-up of the French Revolution in the 1780s.   John Robert’s music is also set in the 1780s, the height of the Classical era in music, and composers like Wolfgang Mozart and Joseph Haydn were popular in France even if they  weren’t of French origin themselves.   Two things: a neighbor started mowing their lawn right as we began our interview. The noise from the mower will stop eventually! And I forgot to hit record on the video, so when you view it on YouTube, it'll be about 20 minutes before the scene kicks in :)   You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.    

Composer Carlos Eiene began his career at age 14, uploading video game music covers to YouTube from his living room on piano and saxophone. He posted a video at the beginning of 2022 stating he would no longer be uploading game covers, but that he would be focusing on original composition. Carlos and I talk about some of his new music, and some of his old music, on this episode. Find him on YouTube, Spotify and elsewhere by searching insaneintherainmusic. You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists, including a special playlist from Carlos.

Video game music remix artist Lacey Johnson is a content machine! You can find dozens of remix videos of Lacey’s on YouTube, she’s got a Persona 4 album on Bandcamp and several more album projects planned (including Persona 3!) with dozens more YouTube videos scheduled. I got to meet Lacey in April at VGM Con here in Minneapolis. We were on a panel together and we chat about that briefly, but also her background, all the instruments she plays, we talk about Elden Ring, Kirby, Final Fantasy, Persona - and 80s music, including the B-52s. Patrons have access to a special 5-track playlist Lacey prepared of some of her favorite music! You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

A song by composer Robert Wolf is nominated for Best Original Song in the upcoming Game Audio Network Guild Awards on May 25, 2022. He composed "Immutable" for the game Arknights, a mobile tower defense/ tactical RPG from Hypergryph. Robert is a composer for Hexany Audio, a company that provides music and sound for many different game projects around the world. Robert also composes for Honor of Kings and Call of Duty Mobile. Visit the Level with Emily Reese YouTube channel to see our conversation. You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to the Level with Emily Discord server.

Mark Schimmelbusch - known as "Mahn" in the VGM world - talks about his album called The Old Blood: A Bloodborne Concept Album. This album was recently awarded best remix album at the 2022 VGM Con Remix Awards in Minneapolis. Mahn has remixed many other favorites from game music, and we enjoyed talking together about his musical adventures! You can support Level with Emily on Patreon. Find us on YouTube, Twitter and Discord.

Composer Mason Lieberman works for Tencent Games, and writes music for all types of games and projects, like PUBG Mobile and Teamfight Tactics. He's composed for tons of different anime projects too, like RWBY and Beyblade Burst Evolution. Mason has a keen ear for composing J-rock, and other J-styles and C-styles, and was exposed to these styles starting at a young age when his family had a foreign exchange student from Japan.  You can view the conversation with Mason on the Level with Emily YouTube page, and subscribe to be notified of new videos from us. Support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Drummer Dom Palombi talks about his new album Game Night! with game music covers and three original tracks. The album features several seasoned video game, anime and all the J-styles performers like Patrick Bartley (J-Music Ensemble), Carlos Eiene (insaneintherainmusic), the Super Soul Bros., Charlie Rosen (8-Bit Big Band) and more. Dom and the Game Night! band recently traveled to Minneapolis for VGM Con to perform. Dom and Emily talk about that experience, Dom's background and his KILLER Game Night! band and album. Find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon!

Andrew Hulshult's music for the Quake-like retro first person shooter called Dusk is fabulous. Dusk, from New Blood Interactive, originally came out in 2018. Andrew’s music for the original Dusk is symphonic metal - a lot of electric guitars and epic orchestral music. And that’s all wonderful and amazing and you’ll hear a bunch of it. EVEN MORE AMAZING, in 2021, New Blood released a tiny prequel even MORE retro than the original Dusk called Dusk ‘82, with pixel art and a conversion of the music from epic orchestral metal to 8-bit metal, and it’s WONDERFUL music. We loved talking with Andrew about his music for Dusk and Dusk ‘82, and you can catch a video of our chat on YouTube - please subscribe!  Find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon.

This is a panel from VGM Con with composer Andrew Benon for Chex Quest, a game that came out in boxes of Chex cereal from General Mills in 1996. Andrew, at the time, worked for a company in Minneapolis called Digital Cafe. General Mills also is located in Minneapolis (well, a suburb called Golden Valley, to be more precise). In any event, Andrew will tell you the story of the CD Rom cereal game, Chex Quest. VGM Con just happened here in Minneapolis over the weekend of April 1st 2022, and it was amazing - we cannot recommend this con highly enough. The musicians who performed were spectacular. It was incredible and if we didn’t see you this past weekend, we hope to see you there next year. You can see a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Composer Lee Jackson's legacy in the world of game music includes the theme song for Duke Nukem 3Dcalled “Grabbag”. Lee talks about writing music for Duke Nukem 3D and other Duke projects, as well as how quickly he wrote music for Rise of the Triad, and how he made sounds for Balls of Steel (all games from Apogee Software / 3D Realms). Lee also takes commissions to write new music, and his albums on Bandcamp include music he wrote inspired by Duke Nukem, and other Duke projects. No video for this interview, but please do head over to the Level with Emily YouTube channel to find our newest videos - and subscribe! You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon.

You’ve probably heard DB Cooper's voice at some point in your gaming life. I first heard her in BioShock 2 as the voice of the PA system. Most recently, she cast and directed the voices in Lake (in my intro to the episode, I mention she voiced characters in Lake, which is incorrect). And she is one of only two who voice ALL of the characters and sounds in the strategy roguelike deck builder Monster Train. And there have been many, many others. Currently, DB is on the Voice Over Team at ZeniMax Online Studios, the makers of The Elder Scrolls Online. You can support Level with Emily on Patreon.

One of my favorite soundtracks from 2021 came from Neil Bones (a.k.a. Corey Jones) for Twelve Minutes, a creepy time-loop game from Annapurna Interactive. Corey’s music caught my attention for its simplicity and beauty. Find it on Bandcamp and all the places! You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Maclaine Diemer talks about his music for the newest expansion for Guild Wars 2 called End of Dragons. The music is inspired by traditional Korean music and instruments, a much needed educational dive into a rich tradition! Emily and Maclaine talk at great length about the special instruments he chose to use and the beautiful music for GW2: End of Dragons. You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Ego Plum talks about his music for The Cuphead Show, a new animated TV series on Netflix based on the 2017 game Cuphead. The music Ego composed for the TV series is inspired by the early jazz that accompanied cartoons in and around the 1930s, and that you heard in the original score for the game itself (props to composer Kris Maddigan and here is his interview about Cuphead). Netflix recently announced that The Cuphead Show is renewed for two additional seasons with Ego as the composer. You can support Level with Emily on Patreon.

We’ve talked with composer Chase Bethea in the past about his music for the game Aground, but this soundtrack release is different, so we talked again. The Aground Deluxe Edition includes nine more tracks, and piano sheet music for three of the tracks. This interview took place on December 30th in 2020. You can support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Hear a conversation with Inon Zur about his music for Syberia: The World Before. The game comes out in February 2022, but the soundtrack came out late last year. That gave me the chance to speak with Inon about all of the music, and the music in this game is special for several reasons. One of the main characters is a concert pianist and part of the game is set in 1937 with clear parallels to World War II - all of this sets the stage for some great music. You can support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Erik Desiderio is composing music for Last Epoch, an action RPG from Eleventh Hour games. Erik just released a music video with the performers from Last Epoch's Main Theme and you can view it here! Last Epoch has been in early access for quite a while, and Erik is busy filling in the music - 4+ hours of music, to be exact. He used the Scandinavian instrument called the tagelharpa (which you see in the video link above!), and he used fretless bass in a great way. You can support Level with Emily on Patreon!

Mike Raznick composed music for AWAY: The Survival Series. In this game, you control a sugar glider as he is trying to make his way to safety in a new world. The game is narrated, like a nature documentary. And the music is absolutely gorgeous. If you buy the AWAY soundtrack on Bandcamp, Mike is giving all proceeds to the Audubon Society, dedicated to the protection of birds, so be sure to visit Mike Raznick on Bandcamp for the AWAY: The Survival Series soundtrack. Consider supporting Level with Emily financially on Patreon.

Composer Tom Salta has been busy in 2021 launching his master class and also doing the music for Deathloop. We talk about the unique gameplay and how the music adapts to the time of day and the enemy at hand. Support Level with Emily on Patreon.

In June 2018, we began interviewing five of the people responsible for audio in Half-Life: Alyx from Valve Corporation.  The Audio in Half-Life: Alyx introduces you to each person involved in the creation of sounds in the game, and highlights their individual roles for bringing the game to life. Mike Morasky wrote the music for Half-Life: Alyx.  Roland Shaw made audio for the creatures and monsters, and for all of the physics objects like matchboxes and lockers and footsteps.  Dave Feise did the ambiences, UI sounds, and some of the tools like the Combine fabricator and the hacking puzzles.  Emily Ridgway wrote and processed the dialog from the Combine soldiers, and designed the speakers that float alongside a player’s ears on Valve’s VR Index headset.  Lakulish Antani co-invented Steam Audio, a tool for game developers to make environments and the objects in them react with realistic sound. All of the source audio for this documentary is available to patrons of Level with Emily. The source audio inclu