Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546054
EM: What a rich background. How did you land your first job in the industry? BA: I was in Los Angeles after CalArts and needed to relocate to the Seattle area. I put together a reel and a resume and started making calls. Through a chain of connections, I got the name Steve Boyce—someone who was doing work with Microsoft's CD-ROM projects. I called him, mentioned I'd studied electronic music at CalArts and he said, "Come on over for lunch." We had lunch and I got a job soon after. It doesn't work that way now—I know that. But it was such a unique moment in time. If you had those interests and skill sets, you were one of maybe 50 people on the West Coast who could do this. I started the following week in the consumer products division, working in multimedia. That was 1994. EM: Did you have mentors or north stars as you moved into your career? BA: At Hampshire, I had a teacher named Daniel Warner who taught electronic music. I was coming from a life of performance and philosophy, just beginning to write music, and he genuinely believed in me and encouraged me to keep going. He could see something in me and pushed me toward CalArts. At CalArts, Morton Subotnick became my mentor—in terms of how to think about composition, performance, and technology. Just being in his orbit, being part of that cutting edge, shaped how I work. He was a pivotal figure. Those two helped launch my direction in electronic music composition. For video games specifically, I can't say I had a mentor—we were all just figuring it out together. EM: As you gained traction in those early years, what responsibilities interested you most? BA: I started out helping with the publishing side under Jon Kertzer, but after a couple of years I moved to production— editing, music, and eventually becoming an audio lead. That's where I was happiest. Once I had my own studio and four tracks to work with, I was in my element. When I started, there were only a couple of people in the audio group at Microsoft. We grew to around 10. What sparked my interest was all of it—the editing, the problem- solving, the constraints of the technology. We started doing "shows" on the internet over 14.4 modem connections, trying to make audio sound good at those speeds. When we got to 28.8, it felt like a revelation. There was one project I especially loved—an online comic called Reman. I was the audio lead. Every week I'd build music and soundscapes for these graphic novel style panels. My sound designer handled sound design, and we'd put it all together. It was just pure creative fun. Back then, you did everything. You weren't specialized— you learned all of it. EM: Your roles have spanned dialogue, sound effects, music, cinematics, and gameplay. What surprises have you found about those divisions of labor as you've moved further into your career? BA: In the beginning, everyone was a generalist because the industry was so young. As technology and tools matured, specialization became possible—and then standard. Now you have people whose entire career is dialogue or sound design or music. Audio generalists have largely disappeared. That said, it swings back around. If you become too specialized, you can lose flexibility. Making games is hard, and the people I always want on my team are the ones who can jump in and help wherever it's needed, even beyond their core role. The big surprise and delight—honestly—was the advent of third-party middleware like Wwise and FMOD. Those tools gave audio designers real control over systems and environments. Before them, if you wanted variation or Becky Allen at CalArts in 1990