Composer Chance Thomas

Videogame music innovator Chance Thomas will keynote GameSoundCon 2015, taking place November 3-4 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The event brings together some of the most acclaimed composers and producers in the video game industry for two days of intensive presentations and hands-on training sessions.

Thomas has created original music for some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world, including games based on the films Avatar, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and King Kong, as well as those derived from the Marvel Entertainment and Monopoly properties.

Thomas created the music for the Sony Pictures Imageworks’ animated The ChubbChubbs! (2002),  which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, and his projects have been honored by the Emmy Awards, GANG Awards, Addy’s, Telly’s, IGN, Aurora Awards and Gamer’s Choice Awards, among others.

Thomas, whose HUGEsound is based in Utah, where he records with the Utah Film Orchestra and Salt Lake Choral Artists, has been a real mover on the game music scene, spearheading  a number of technological innovations throughout the ’90s and ’00s. He led the successful campaign to have game music included among the Grammy categories (as of 2000 they could compete among soundtracks). He helped found the Game Audio Network Guild, and also composes for film and television. His music has generated more than one million mp3 downloads.

Thomas got his start as an in-house composer for Sierra Entertainment. He says that in addition to writing music, those making music for video games face the added challenge of implementation, which presents a host of technical challenges. “You create musical assets, and those assets have to be connected to the game.” But as with any compositional challenge, the main objective “is to get inside the head of whoever holds the creative vision of the project.”

In addition to Thomas, this year’s GameSoundCon speaker roster includes:

• 343 Studios Senior Audio Director Paul Lipson, who composed award-winning scores for “Halo: The Master Chief Collection,” “Halo: Spartan Strike” and “Bioshock 2.”
• Recording Engineer John Rodd, who has mixed scores for “World of Warcraft,”  “Starcraft II” and  “Call of Duty: Black Ops”
• Composer Jason Graves, creator of scores for more than 100 games, including “Tomb Raider,” “The Order: 1886,” “Dead Space 3” and  “Devil May Cry”
• Hexany Audio Director Richard Ludlow, who developed and designed audio for blockbuster films and games “Disney Infinity,”  “King’s Quest” and  “Family Guy: Back  to the Multiverse”
• Four-time Emmy-winning composer Laura Karpman, whose work enhances the popular games “Everquest 2” and  “Halo 3”
• Sound Librarian Director Stephen Schutze, who created the official curriculum for students and institutions for FMOD Studio, an audio middleware engine for video games
• Xbox Advanced Technology Group Senior Development Lead Scott Selfon, who has composed music for television, film, and games including “Titanfall” and sits on the advisory board of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.)
• Formosa Sound Group Director Chip Beaman, whose projects include  “Metal Gear Solid 4,” the series “God of War,” “Final Fantasy XIV”and “Assassin’s Creed”

Attendees will be able to experience workshops in the latest game audio design tools including FMOD and Wwise in addition to intensive sessions, panels and classes that cover the essentials of game music.  This year’s panels and session topics include: Essential Game Audio Tech, Game Music and Sound Design Tools and Navigating the Video Game Music Business.

Tickets are available through the GameSoundCon registration page. Early bird registration tickets are priced at $425, available now through October 2. Pre-registration tickets costs $575, available from October 3 – November 2. On-site tickets are priced at $625, available for purchase November 3 – 4.