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Brian Schmidt | |
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| Genres | video game |
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Brian L. Schmidt is a music composer for various video games and pinball machines.
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Brian Schmidt | |
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| Schmidt in Studio | |
| Background information | |
| Genres | video game |
| Occupations |
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Brian L. Schmidt is a music composer for various video games and pinball machines.
Schmidt received dual undergraduate degrees, a B.M. in Music and a BSc in computer science from Northwestern University in 1985, where he created the first dual degree program between the School of Music and the Technological Institute there. [1] Following that in 1987, he received his master's degree entitled "Computer Applications in Music" also from Northwestern University. Portions of his thesis were published in the Computer Music Journal in 1987. [2] Early in his career, he worked in Chicago writing commercial jingles. [3]
Schmidt began in the video game music and sound industry in 1987 as a composer/sound designer and programmer for Williams Electronic Games in Chicago writing music and creating sound effects for pinball machines and coin-operated video games. At Williams, he was the lead composer and sound designer for games such as Black Knight 2000, [4] Space Station, Swords of Fury, Banzai Run as well as the video game, NARC and also contributed to Fire and Big Guns. [5] In 1989, his theme from the video game, NARC, was recorded and released by the Pixies. [6]
In 1989, Schmidt left Williams to become one of the video game industry's first independent composers, sound designers and audio technologists under the company name of Schmidt Entertainment Technologies. While a consultant, he worked on over 120 console and arcade games. [7] Schmidt is also the creator of the BSMT2000 audio DSP, [8] which is used in various pinball games and video arcade machines and the QSound "Q1" 3D game sound chip used by CAPCOM.[ citation needed ]
In 1998 Schmidt was recruited by Microsoft to become Program Manager for DirectSound and DirectMusic. From 1999–2008, Schmidt was the program manager of the Xbox Audio and Voice Technologies division at Microsoft and was responsible for much of the audio architecture for the Xbox and Xbox 360. [9] He created the start up sound for the original Xbox console, using 'old-school' techniques to create an 8-second sound using only 25 kilobytes of memory. [10] Schmidt is also credited with bringing real-time Digital Surround to video gaming with the inclusion of Dolby Digital Live on Xbox. [11] Schmidt left Microsoft in February 2008, and formed Brian Schmidt Studios, L.L.C., an independent consulting firm. He is also the creator of GameSoundCon, a conference and seminar on composing video game music and video game sound design for the professional audio community. [12]
Schmidt was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) in 2008 for his contributions to the game audio industry. [13] He also received the 2009 G.A.N.G. recognition award at the 2010 Game Developers Conference for his work founding GameSoundCon. [14] In 2017, he was inducted into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame. [15] His work has received the Sega Seal of Quality award for "Best Sound" [16] and the Game Audio Network Guild's "Best new audio technology" awards. Game music by Schmidt is featured in the CD Box set, Legends of Game Music.[ citation needed ]
In 2024, Brian received the Shining Star Corporate Partner Award from Education Through Music-Los Angeles (ETM-LA), for GameSoundCon's ongoing support of the non-profit's mission. [17]
Schmidt is the Founder and Creative Director of EarGames, an independent video game development company specializing in audio games; videogames that rely on sound for gameplay. EarGames' initial release, Ear Monsters, was released in June 2013. [18]
| This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(January 2024) |
Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to the style of music known as chiptune, which became the sound of the first video games.
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, also known as Sonic Spinball, is a 1993 pinball video game developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega. It is a spinoff of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog, who must stop Doctor Robotnik from enslaving the population in a giant pinball-like mechanism. The game is set in a series of pinball machine-like environments with Sonic acting as the pinball.
Jet Set Radio Future is a 2002 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Xbox; it is a sequel to the Dreamcast game Jet Set Radio (2000). As a re-imagining of the original game, it features refined gameplay mechanics, updated graphics, larger open world environments, new characters, an altered plot, a new soundtrack and multiplayer gameplay. The player controls members of the youth street gang, the GGs, that use inline skates to traverse a futuristic Tokyo, spraying graffiti, challenging rival gangs and evading authorities. Jet Set Radio Future uses a cel-shaded style of animation like the original.
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Narc is a 1988 run and gun arcade video game designed by Eugene Jarvis for Williams Electronics and programmed by George Petro, Todd Allen, and Eugene Jarvis, with art by Jack Haeger, John Newcomer, and Lin Young. It was one of the first ultra-violent video games and a frequent target of parental criticism of the video game industry. The object is to arrest and kill drug offenders, confiscate their money and drugs, and defeat "Mr. Big". It was the first game in the newly restarted Williams Electronics coin-op video game division. Shortly before its release, Williams acquired the video and pinball divisions of Bally/Midway.
Madden NFL 2003 is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon and Budcat Creations and published by EA Sports. The 14th installment of the Madden NFL series, the game features former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk on the cover. This edition of Madden was the first to have EA Trax, the Mini Camp mode, and to feature Al Michaels as play-by-play announcer, who took over for Pat Summerall. Although it featured the expansion Houston Texans and the relocation of the Seattle Seahawks to the NFC, it was actually the second to do so. The game was released on August 12, 2002, for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The PlayStation version also includes the Sega Genesis version of John Madden Football 93.
Richard Adrian Jacques is an English composer of film, television and video game music. He is best known for his scores for games such as Sonic R, Headhunter, Jet Set Radio Future, Mass Effect, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, LittleBigPlanet 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Jacques has collaborated with numerous premier TV and movie theatre campaigns for some of the world's largest media agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann Erickson, and global brands such as Audi, Bacardi, Mercedes-Benz and Stella Artois. His music for television includes top brand shows for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
Crüe Ball is a 1992 pinball video game developed by American studio NuFX and published by Electronic Arts for the Sega Genesis. Themed to glam metal band Mötley Crüe, it features three of their songs: "Dr. Feelgood," "Live Wire," and "Home Sweet Home."
Christopher P. Granner is a freelance music composer, best known for composing music for video games and pinball games.
The Pinball of the Dead is a pinball video game developed by Sega's Wow Entertainment division and published by Sega. It was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002 and 2003. Based on Sega's The House of the Dead series of light gun games, particularly The House of the Dead and The House of the Dead 2, the game contains three tables and includes a "Challenge" mode. Full-motion video sequences and audio samples from previous games were also added. The game was first announced during the 2001 Nintendo Space World. Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto was involved with making the game's music.
Jack Wall is an American video game music composer. He has worked on video game music for over 20 games including the Myst franchise, Splinter Cell, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Call of Duty. Wall earned a degree in civil engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and, after a brief stint working in civil engineering, transitioned into music production. He worked with musicians such as John Cale, David Byrne, and Patti Smith, and, after performing increasingly complex production and sound engineering tasks, moved into music composition in 1995.
The Xbox is a home video game console manufactured by Microsoft that is the first installment in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was released as Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and Japan in 2002. It is classified as a sixth-generation console, competing with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast and Nintendo's GameCube. It was also the first major console produced by an American company since the release of the Atari Jaguar in 1993.
Laura Shigihara is an American singer-songwriter, composer, video game developer, and Twitch streamer of Japanese ethnicity. She is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for the tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies and the creator of the acclaimed indie RPG Rakuen.
Sonic Generations is a 2011 platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, and Nintendo 3DS. Produced in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the game follows Sonic and his sidekick Tails as they form an alliance with their past selves and travel through levels from previous Sonic games. It features two gameplay styles: "Classic", which plays from a side-scrolling perspective like that of the original Sega Genesis Sonic games, and "Modern", 3D levels similar to those in Sonic Unleashed (2008) and Sonic Colors (2010).
Zaccaria was an Italian manufacturer of pinball and arcade machines that operated in Bologna from 1974 until 1990. The factory was sold to tecnoplay.
Harley-Davidson is a Sega Pinball pinball machine released in September 1999 and was the last machine released by this company. It was designed by Jon Borg and Lonnie D. Ropp.
In the video game industry, a console war describes the competition between two or more video game console manufacturers in trying to achieve better consumer sales through more advanced console technology, an improved selection of video games, and general marketing around their consoles. While console manufacturers are generally always trying to out-perform other manufacturers in sales, these console wars engage in more direct tactics to compare their offerings directly against their competitors or to disparage the competition in contrast to their own, and thus the marketing efforts have tended to escalate in back-and-forth pushes.
Lyman F. Sheats Jr. was an American pinball champion, game designer and coin-operated game operating system software engineer who had worked for Bally, Williams, and Stern Pinball, among other companies.
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