Alumni Information School: LaSalle College Vancouver Grad Year: 2012 Program of Study: Professional Recording Arts Degree: Diploma
Employment/Professional Information Company Name: MDKSound Location: Vancouver Job Title: Composer & Sound Designer for Visual Multimedia.
Describe a Typical Work Day:
The beauty of my job is that each day is unique. I could be writing an intense orchestral score one day, and then switch over to a set of futuristic sounds effects the next. This spontaneity is why I have such passion for my work; it simply never gets boring or repetitive. I work with a plethora of clients from all corners of the world, and each project is a breath of fresh air. This past week alone I’ve designed sounds for a cute puzzle/adventure game, written a spooky orchestral track, and produced a wall-shaking dubstep piece.
What accomplishment(s) are you most proud of?
Aside from creating my company MDKSound completely from the ground-up, there are two other accomplishments that I am incredibly proud of:
Russ Festival – In Norway, there is an annual festival known as ‘Russ’. It is a two-week festival that focuses mainly on the appreciation of electronic music, and has been officially named ‘the second biggest party in the world’. I have been hired as an electronic musician for this festival four years in a row, and have produced a total of nine tracks for it.
Korn Remix Contest – This past January, the band Korn hosted a remix contest for their track “Korn (ft. Skrillex & Kill the Noise) – Narcissistic Cannibal”. I produced a dubstep/electro remix of this track, and was a finalist in the competition.
What are your creative inspirations or influences? Who are your heroes?
I like to draw inspiration from the world around me. It’s quite hard to pinpoint one source, as it can potentially come from anything; friends, family, emotions, other music, travelling, etc. Sometimes inspiration even seems to appear completely out of nowhere. On more than one occasion I’ve woken up in the middle of the night, sat down in my studio, and created some of my best work. I’ve come to realize that whenever you feel truly inspired, you need to drop everything else and just let your creativity flow. It’s amazing what you’ll come up with!
My list of heroes consists of people who I consider to be the ‘masters’ in music production and sound design. The amazing music produced by Rob Swire, Sonny Moore and Hans Zimmer pushes me to improve upon my own work, as do the sounds created by legendary designers such as Ben Burt and Erik Aadahl.
What do you enjoy the most about your career?
What I enjoy most about my career is the amount of creative freedom I have. I literally get paid to spend hours jamming on keyboards and tweaking synths until they’re absolutely perfect. There’s a quote that says “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”, and it’s completely true. Creating audio for visual multimedia is something I would do in my free time anyways, so getting paid for it is just a huge bonus!
How did your education at LaSalle College Vancouver help prepare you for your career?
I was quite familiar with music production when I first enrolled at LaSalle College Vancouver, but I was completely self-taught. I soon realized that there was only so much I could learn from YouTube tutorials, and that I needed to pursue a more authentic education. LaSalle College Vancouver ultimately helped me improve the overall quality my sound, taking it from an amateur level to something much more polished and refined. Instructors not only taught you ‘how’ to do things, they also taught you ‘why’, and how it would benefit your future work. The wide range of material that the program covered has also been immensely helpful, as I now feel comfortable in a variety of other audio-related fields. While my career isn’t focused around recording or live sound, having a strong background in these subjects has certainly proven useful.
What advice do you have for people beginning their careers in your profession?
Never give up. It might sound simple and straight-forward, but sometimes it can be very hard to stick to this piece of advice. The audio-industry is a scary world to dive into, but if you’re passionate and dedicated to working hard, opportunities will arise. They might not always be exactly what you’re expecting, but consider them to be stepping stones on the path to your dream career.
Your profession is constantly evolving, from the technology you use to new career opportunities that didn’t exist five years ago. What trends do you see on the horizon that will affect how you do your job or your profession at-large?
Computers are the staple of the music industry right now; they’re constantly becoming more powerful, and are allowing us to do things we’d never dreamed possible only a few years ago. As advantageous as this may seem, it also has some negative consequences that come with it. It’s so easy to get caught up in having the “latest and greatest plugins & software”, or beefing up your PC so that it can run even the biggest project files, that you completely forget about what your actual job is: creating unique and amazing audio! Having up-to-date hardware/software is almost a necessity, but considering the sea of VST’s, synths, samplers and other gadgets out there, it can sometimes be quite overwhelming. The hardware and software you have at your disposal is only accountable for a small portion of the end product; the actual writing, mixing and editing of your work is where you still need to dedicate the majority of your time.
