Tim Follin | |
---|---|
Birth name | Timothy John Follin |
Born | St Helens, Lancashire, England | 19 December 1970
Genres | Electronic, new age, orchestral, rock, chiptune, video game music |
Occupation(s) | Composer arranger programmer |
Instrument(s) | Piano/keyboard, guitar, violin |
Years active | 1985–2006, 2015–present |
Labels | C64Audio.com (formerly High Technology Publishing) |
Spouse(s) | Clare Follin (m. 2003) |
Website | Baggy Cat LTD |
Timothy John Follin (born 19 December 1970) [1] is an English video game music composer, cinematographer, visual effects artist and game developer, who has written tracks for a variety of titles and home gaming systems, including the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Nintendo Entertainment System, Mega Drive, Super NES, Game Boy, Dreamcast, and PlayStation.
Follin has also co-founded a TV advertising company called ABF Pictures and a general-purpose media company called Baggy Cat Ltd, which to date has produced two video games, Contradiction and At Dead of Night, the latter receiving massive attention and acclaim on Steam.
Among Follin's works are the soundtracks to Solstice , Silver Surfer , Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge , Plok! , and Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future .
As a child, Follin had no significant music training. [2] Leaving Liverpool's Sandown Music College after one year of studies, [2] [3] Follin's career began at the age of 15 working at Insight Studios. [4] Follin ended up in video games due to his older brother Mike Follin learning how to program for the ZX Spectrum and obtaining professional work at Insight. [2] [3] After developing a pulse-width modulation effect Tim wrote the music driver and soundtrack for their first professional game, Subterranean Stryker, [5] followed by an arrangement of Stravinsky's "The Firebird", used for the game Star Firebirds. [6] Follin then developed a three-channel sound routine which he used to create the music for his third soundtrack, Vectron. [5] He then went on to create 4- and 5-channel music for games such as Chronos and Agent X. In his early career, Follin's music was praised in magazine game reviews. [3]
Follin's sole game programming credit (not counting music drivers) came with his fourth title, Future Games, where he created one minigame of the several featured. [5]
Hired by Richard Kay, Tim followed brother Mike in moving to Software Creations [2] in 1987, his first full-time job, where he spent a significant portion of his career. Follin's arranged soundtrack to Bubble Bobble was his first written for a soundchip, the AY-3-8910. [5]
Follin wrote the music for Black Lamp in one night after a bout of writer's block. [3]
Within the level 1 music of Ghouls'n Ghosts for the Amiga is a voice sample played backwards saying "secret authority", considered nothing more than a joke by Follin. [7] Alongside Ghouls'n Ghosts, two other Amiga soundtracks, Sly Spy and Puzznic, were presented in the Amiga music format "Follin Player II". [8] To arcade soundtrack arrangements like Bionic Commando and Ghouls'n Ghosts, Follin added richer sound palette and occasionally composed some new songs (the title music of Ghouls'n Ghosts).
Follin described the NES title Solstice as "a very inspiring game to do music for," demanding atmospheric music within the game's dark castle environment, as well as powerful music choreographed with the title sequence. [9] Follin did not use a keyboard or any instruments for the Solstice soundtrack, composing while "thinking along the lines of the computer and not [...] a keyboard." [9] Follin felt the programming-only approach allowed him to work with "a more open mind". [9]
In a 1990 interview, Follin expressed "a bit of desolation" over the prospect of no longer composing for the Commodore 64, stating "I don't see myself staying with this machine," perhaps sensing the transition occurring in the European gaming marketplace as the third generation of video and computer game platforms reached its end. [1] Follin's final Commodore 64 release came with 1991's Gauntlet III .
Beside contributing the soundtrack with brother Geoff, Follin recorded live sound effects for 1993 SNES title Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends . [5]
Citing a declining work environment, [4] Follin departed Software Creations in 1993 (with his final title there being Rock N' Roll Racing ). [6]
After leaving Software Creations, Follin joined Malibu Interactive for 18 months. While working for Malibu, Follin provided the soundtrack for Time Trax on the Sega Mega Drive and (along with brother Geoff) Prime for the Sega CD, doing "virtually nothing and getting paid" [7] for the following year before winding up out of work. Another title composed alongside brother Geoff, Firearm, went unpublished. Follin would spend the remainder of his video game career as a freelancer. Following Malibu Interactive's collapse, Follin then worked with groups that made unsuccessful game pitches to Psygnosis and the BBC. [7] Follin provided part of the soundtrack for Batman & Robin, developed by Probe.
Follin joined the development team of Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future as the title's lead composer around mid-1998, [2] leaving Attila Heger no longer responsible for providing the entirety of the soundtrack. (Heger was made primarily responsible for scoring the game's cutscenes.) [10] Follin had been offered the composer position by Sega UK producer David Nulty, who was a fan of Follin's Commodore 64 work. [2] The soundtrack received very favourable reviews from Edge , DC-UK , and Official Dreamcast Magazine . [11]
The 2003 multiplatform release Starsky & Hutch was given a funk-style score by Follin, who said at the time, "This is the project I had hoped I would get one day. I've always loved Starsky & Hutch and it's[ sic ] original title music." [12] While with Software Creations, Follin had previously arranged the Starsky & Hutch television series' theme as the title music to the 1991 NES release Treasure Master .
Around August 2005, Follin announced on his website "with much delight" that he had chosen to stop composing music for video games, citing its irregular work not providing a substantial income, light-heartedly adding that the situation caused him "distress and illness". The tenuous nature of game development caused several instances of Follin being hired and subsequently having the project shelved. Follin noted that Starsky & Hutch had been in development for around three years before eventually being released. [6]
Towards the end of 2012 Follin decided to dust off an idea originally conceived as an interactive audio adventure game and reworked the concept as a video-based adventure game called Contradiction, which he designed and scripted, then filmed and programmed, also composing the game's soundtrack. [13] The game was subsequently released on iPad and later on Steam. Follin then worked on another game, At Dead Of Night, again using the FMV format but this time in the horror game genre, which was released at the end of 2020. In mid-2021, a playthrough of At Dead of Night was created by gaming YouTuber Markiplier, leading to a surge in popularity. A sequel is now in the works. [14]
His brothers Geoff Follin and Mike Follin also worked in the video game industry as musician and programmer respectively, with both having moved on to other careers. Much like his brothers, Follin has changed careers, choosing to pursue films, television advertising, graphic design, visual effects and game design. Follin never considered himself a gamer as much as a musician or developer. [6]
Game | Release Date | Platform(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
At Dead of Night | 2020 | Windows | |
Contradiction: Spot the Liar! | 2015 | iOS, Windows, OS X | |
Lemmings | 2006 | PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 | |
Ford Racing 3 | 2005 | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows, Nintendo DS | co-composers: Muddy Funkers, Paul Stroud |
Future Tactics: The Uprising | 2004 | PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Windows | |
Ford Racing 2 | 2003 | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Macintosh, Windows | co-composer: Bjørn Lynne |
Starsky & Hutch | 2003 | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows, GameCube | sound, additional storyline; co-composers: Dave Sullivan, Matthew Costello |
Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future | 2000 (2002: PS2) | Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 | co-composer: Attila Heger (cutscenes) |
Bust-A-Move 4 | 1999 | Game Boy Color | arranger, co-arranger: Andy Brock |
South Park (cancelled) | 1998 | Game Boy Color | arranger, co-composers/co-arrangers: Andy Brock, Steve Rockett |
Batman & Robin | 1998 | PlayStation | film score arrangements (no compositions) |
WWF War Zone | 1998 | Game Boy | |
Firearm (cancelled) | 1995 | PC | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Ultraverse Prime | 1995 | Sega CD | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Batman Forever | 1995 | Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES | co-composer: Geoff Follin (Super NES) |
Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball | 1994 | SNES | arranger; co-composers/co-arrangers: Geoff Follin, Chris Jojo, Paul Tonge, Matthew Cannon |
Moto-X(completed, unreleased) [15] | 1994 | SNES | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Time Trax | 1993 | Sega Mega Drive | music driver designer, game never released |
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends | 1993 | SNES | arranger; co-composer/co-arranger: Geoff Follin |
Rock N' Roll Racing | 1993 | SNES | music driver designer, arranger; co-composer/co-arranger: Geoff Follin |
Equinox | 1993 | SNES | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Plok! | 1993 | SNES | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Super Off Road | 1992 | SNES | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge | 1992 | Super NES, Genesis | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
The Incredible Crash Dummies | 1992 | Game Boy, Game Gear, Master System | co-composer: Geoff Follin, music conversion: Matt Furniss (GG, SMS) |
Gauntlet III | 1991 | Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum | co-composer: Geoff Follin (C64, Spectrum) |
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Taito version) | 1991 | NES | |
Treasure Master | 1991 | NES | |
The New Zealand Story (known in America as Kiwi Kraze) | 1991 | NES | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Tom & Jerry (and Tuffy) | 1991 | NES | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Pictionary | 1990 | NES | |
Silver Surfer | 1990 | NES | co-composer: Geoff Follin |
Solstice | 1990 | NES | |
Sky Shark | 1989 | NES | |
Ghouls'n Ghosts | Dec 1989 | Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST | arranger, composer |
Qix | 1989 | Commodore 64, Amiga | |
Magic Johnson's Fast Break | 1989 | Commodore 64, NES | |
Chester Field | 1989 | Commodore 64 | |
Missile Ground Zero | 1989 | ZX Spectrum | |
Solar Invasion | 1989 | ZX Spectrum | |
L.E.D. Storm | Feb 1989 [5] | Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum | |
Bionic Commando | June 1988 [5] | Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST | arranger |
Target: Renegade | 1988 | NES | arranger |
Sky Shark | 1988 | Commodore 64, NES | arranger |
Peter Pack Rat | 1988 | Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | arranger |
Bodyslam | 1988 | Commodore 64 | |
Psycho Pigs UXB | 1988 | Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | co-composer: Geoff Follin (C64) |
Aigina's Prophecy | 1988 | Commodore 64 | |
Star Paws | 1988 | ZX Spectrum | arranger |
Raw Recruit | 1988 | Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | |
Black Lamp | Apr 1988 [5] | Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | |
Bubble Bobble | Oct 1987 [5] | ZX Spectrum, Atari ST | arranger |
Renegade | 1987 | Amiga, Atari ST | arranger |
Scumball | 1987 | Commodore 64 | |
Agent X II: The Mad Prof's Back | 1987 | Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum | |
Chronos | 1987 | ZX Spectrum | |
The Sentinel | Mar 1987 [5] | ZX Spectrum | |
Agent X | 1986 | ZX Spectrum | |
Future Games | June 1986 [5] | ZX Spectrum | |
Vectron | Oct–Dec 1985 [5] | ZX Spectrum | |
Star Firebirds | Oct 1985 [5] | ZX Spectrum | arranger |
Subterranean Stryker | Mar 1985 [5] | ZX Spectrum |
![]() | This section may be too long and excessively detailed.(October 2023) |
Follin's methodology of music was that music is "basically an unconscious experience" that does not and should not "engage your intellect". [7] Rather, Follin believed game music was "more of a sort of atmospheric thing" [9] and had "always written music to be part of something else", intending for the video game (or other media the music is composed for) to provide the image or scene of context. [7]
Within his personal experience, Follin always found the hardest part of creating music to be the concept phase, saying "I probably tear my hair out more over arrangement than over anything else." The easiest part was the execution of the solidified concepts. [2]
Follin felt the idea of computer music was "a silly one to begin with", as soundchips from the earliest platforms (e.g. ZX Spectrum) were only meant to produce sound effects. [16] As early as 1994, Follin expressed his desire to move away from scoring video games and transition to films, stating that he preferred never to work with chip-generated music again along with his hopes that the games industry would not move backwards from the emerging standard of CD audio. [16] Whether dealing with the audio limitations of older consoles or a game's narrow style guidelines when composing for modern soundtracks, Follin regarded the challenge of creating music within constraints to be an interesting part of working in video game music. [17]
During his game music career, Follin never had the mood or interest to join any demoscene groups. [1] Though Follin knew few fellow video game composers, he highly respected Richard Jacques for the amount of work put into his music. [18]
Follin cited progressive rock [2] [6] as well as many musicians (including Quincy Jones, Jethro Tull, [7] Led Zeppelin, and John Martyn [3] ) as having had some casual or subconscious influence on his music, and has also enjoyed music by Deep Purple and Guns N' Roses. [1] However, he did not feel that any specific artist or style had been a primary inspiration during his career. [3] Follin acknowledged that in one instance he went for a more contemporary style when scoring the award-winning soundtrack [2] to Bionic Commando, actively choosing to mimic other people's music for fear of potentially losing his job. [3]
The soundtrack to Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future may have been influenced by the works of American minimalist composer John Adams, whom Follin explicitly acknowledged as a current influence during the time he was completing the soundtrack, citing Adams' work as "the only minimalist stuff I've heard which struck a chord with me." [2]
Follin did not have much time to listen to the work of his musical contemporaries while in the video games industry, a situation he implied as having been a benefit to his career. Follin speculated that in actively listening to those works, he likely ran the risk of encountering ideas he had not thought of and subsequently becoming discouraged and/or prone to copycatting. [2]
Particularly in the earlier days of his career, Follin often composed game soundtracks while the games themselves were still in the writing stages, meaning that there was usually no frame of reference or genre objective in mind. Follin himself humorously felt these situations created many instances where the soundtrack was unsuited to the game, though at the time neither he nor any game developers had any issues. Given another chance, Follin said he would have given more effort toward making his earlier soundtracks better suited to the games, feeling that his failure to do so (despite the compositional quality) likely cost him future work. Back then, Follin instead focused on exploring the various consoles' audio limitations. [17] [6] The technical limitations of the most primitive video game system soundchips made Follin's primary goals to create original sounds as well as not allow the resulting music to sound poor. [16]
Follin also never had the interest to join a demoscene group, though, near the end of his time working with Commodore platforms, he claimed he enjoyed himself when he made music. [1] Outside of Ghouls'n Ghosts however, Follin later described his Commodore 64 work as nonsense that he was not particularly happy with. [3]
Follin noted Ghouls'n Ghosts on the Commodore 64 as his favourite work, [2] [6] though the game was a known entity, unlike many of Follin's early projects. Software Creations programmer Steve Ruddy, who created the music driver for the game (with design input from Follin) [19] [20] recalled Follin describing a wide array of imagery for the title theme. [19] For the Ghouls'n Ghosts soundtrack, Follin retained parts of Tamayo Kawamoto's original arcade soundtrack within most tracks, only to transition into his own ideas for other portions of those tracks. [6] Similar circumstances resulted in Follin's soundtrack for Bionic Commando. [1]
Follin has found it difficult to listen to works he created, feeling them outdated by the time they were completed. [20] Follin disliked working with the Atari ST [3] and the ZX Spectrum's AY chip, feeling the NES had more character. While not feeling very successful composing music for the Amiga, Follin enjoyed working on soundtracks for the SNES and Commodore 64. He described writing for the C64's SID chip as "playing an instrument in its own right", [7] appreciating the analogue sound it produced, despite having only three channels to work with. [2] [3] Follin also recalled the SNES's Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge being fun due to the inclusion of cheesy '70s guitar synths and brass synths. [6]
Despite not considering himself adept at any live instruments, and composing several soundtracks beyond the fifth generation of video game consoles using samples, Follin disliked sampled music. Instead, Follin strove to make his music sound as close to live instrumentation as possible. [7] His most notable work using sampled instruments was the soundtrack to Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future , an experience he enjoyed, but also felt frustrated with on account of "a lack of equipment and resources – such as a string orchestra and choir!" [4] Follin finds orchestral music inherently more human-sounding and listenable. [18]
Several contemporaries of Follin's have cited him as an inspiration or top composer including Richard Jacques, [21] Jesper Kyd, [22] David Wise, [23] Frédéric Motte, [24] Markus Schneider, [25] Matt "Gasman" Westcott, [17] Ramiro "Extremer" Vaca, [26] graphic artist Haydn Dalton, [27] and programmer Dean Belfield. [28] Frequent Software Creations collaborator Steve Ruddy, who programmed music drivers used by Follin with Follin's design input, marvelled "I had no idea how he made it do what it did," and described his music as "astonishing". [29]
Regarding fan communities dedicated to arranging video game music, including his own, Follin remarked, "It's really good. A lot of the stuff, you just think 'Well, that's much better than what I would have done... could do now.'" [6] Follin is consistently mentioned as a favourite composer among European musicians within the Commodore arrangement scene.
Alongside the music of fellow video game music composer Rob Hubbard, Follin's musical work in games was spotlighted in listening stations of the worldwide Game On exhibition, organised by the Barbican Art Gallery. [30]
Follin has written, directed, produced, and composed for two short films: Body Counting and The Sun Circle. Body Counting won the Best Short Film under £5,000 award at the Salford Film Festival in November 2004. [31]
Since semi-retiring from video game music composition, Follin has gone on to work in the television industry, working as director of photography for TV ads and dramas, as well as creating graphics, CGI, and music for commercials. In April 2010, Follin joined Matt Barraclough and Paul Ambler to form ABF Pictures Ltd., a company making TV commercials, web videos, and music promos. In 2013, he started a company to embrace his various interests and skills, called Baggy Cat Ltd.
Follin has expressed that he does not use recreational drugs, perhaps counter to inferences made by fans of his music. [7]
Follin considers writing therapeutic. [3]
Tim is married and has two school-age children. Tim, son of Marjorie Follin, was the youngest of three brothers, all of whom had careers in the video game industry. Oldest brother Michael Stuart (Mike) moved on after 16 years as a programmer to become an ordained minister in the Church of England. Middle brother Geoffrey Mark (Geoff), a fellow game composer who was proficient in several instruments, MIDI software, and reading sheet music, later went on to become a primary school teacher and later a part-time math tutor while occasionally composing music; he passed away of pancreatic cancer in May 2024. [32]
Ghouls 'n Ghosts, known as Dai Makaimura in Japan, is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Capcom, released as an arcade video game in 1988 and ported to home platforms. It is the sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins and the second game in the Ghosts 'n Goblins series.
David Whittaker is an English video game composer. He is known for writing video game music in most of the 1980s and early 1990s for different formats.
Flying Shark, known as Sky Shark in North America, is a 1987 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan and published by Taito in Japan, Romstar in North America and Electrocoin in Europe. Controlling the titular biplane, the players must fight endless waves of military vehicles while avoiding collision with their projectiles and other obstacles. The plane has a powerful bomb at its disposal that can clear a portion of the screen of bullets and damage enemies when fired. It was the third shoot 'em up game from Toaplan, and their eighth video game overall.
Rob Hubbard is a British composer best known for his musical and programming work for microcomputers of the 1980s, such as the Commodore 64.
David Wise is a British video game music composer and musician. He was a composer at Rare from 1985 to 2009, and was the company's sole musician up until 1994. He has gained a following for his work on various games, particularly Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country series. Wise is known for his atmospheric style of music, mixing natural environmental sounds with prominent melodic and percussive accompaniment.
Turrican is a 1990 video game developed by Manfred Trenz. It was developed for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts, and was ported to other systems later. In addition to concept design and character creation, Trenz programmed Turrican on the Commodore 64. A sequel, Turrican II: The Final Fight, followed in 1991 for the Commodore 64 and other platforms.
Jeroen Godfried Tel, also known as WAVE, is a Dutch composer. He is best known for numerous computer game tunes he wrote in the 1980s and early 1990s for the Commodore 64. His most popular compositions appear in the following Commodore 64 games: Combat Crazy, Cybernoid, Cybernoid II, Dan Dare 3, Eliminator, Hawkeye, Myth: History in the Making, Nighthunter, Robocop 3, Rubicon, and Supremacy.
The Revd. Michael Stuart Follin is a former computer game programmer, working until the late 1990s. Among other companies, he worked at Software Creations and, while there, worked on ZX Spectrum. The titles included highly rated arcade conversions of Bubble Bobble and Ghouls 'n Ghosts, as well as the innovative The Sentinel, one of the first games on the Spectrum to feature true 3D graphics. The music for these games was often written by his younger brother Tim Follin.
Acclaim Studios Manchester was a British video game developer based in Manchester, England. The company was established in 1985 by Richard Kay. They were primarily known for their video games based on movie and comic licences like Marvel Comics, Cutthroat Island , Disney's Beauty and the Beast and the original titles Plok, Solstice, and its sequel Equinox.
Jesper Kyd Jakobson is a Danish composer and sound designer who has worked on various video game, television, and film projects. He has composed soundtracks for the Hitman series, Assassin's Creed series, Borderlands series, Darksiders II and State of Decay, among many others. His scores use orchestra, choir, acoustic manipulations and electronic soundscapes.
Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos, or simply Solstice, is a 1990 puzzle video game developed by Software Creations. It was published by Nintendo in Europe and CSG Imagesoft in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game focuses on the wizard Shadax's bid to defeat the evil baron Morbius and rescue Princess Eleanor, whom Morbius plans to sacrifice. Shadax aims to gather the six pieces of the titular Staff of Demnos hidden within the fortress of Kâstleröck. The game's setting is non-linear, and consists of 250 rooms, each with a particular puzzle to solve.
Charles Deenen, is a Dutch video game audio director, composer, sound designer, and mixer. He wrote music created sound effects for many Commodore 64 and Amiga games, in addition to working for Interplay, Electronic Arts, and other video game developers.
David Lowe also known as "Uncle Art" is a British composer known for his work on computer games from 1985 to 1998.
Gauntlet III: The Final Quest is a home computer game by U.S. Gold and Tengen it was released in 1991 for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC. Besides the standard four main Gauntlet characters, Thor, Thyra, Merlin, and Questor, four new playable characters were available: Petras, a rock man; Dracolis, a lizard man; Blizzard, an ice man; and Neptune, a Merman. The game is viewed from an isometric perspective and the cooperative multiplayer mode supports two-players.
Black Lamp is a platform game, originally published by Firebird Software for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers in 1988, and later published by Atari Corporation for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1989.
Bionic Commando, released in Japan as Top Secret is a run and gun platform game released by Capcom in arcades in 1987. It was designed by Tokuro Fujiwara as a successor to his earlier "wire action" platformer Roc'n Rope (1983), building on its grappling hook mechanic; he was also the designer of Commando (1985). The music was composed by Harumi Fujita for the Yamaha YM2151 sound chip.
Space Gun is a 1990 first-person shooter arcade game released by Taito. The game is set aboard a crippled space station that has been overrun by hostile alien creatures. The objective is to rescue human crew members while destroying the alien creatures. The game lets the player shoot limbs off the creatures, resulting in blood splatters.
Alberto José González Pedraza is a Spanish video game graphic artist, music composer, designer, producer, and co-founder of Bit Managers and Abylight, who has worked on a variety of titles, most notably games released by French video game publisher Infogrames. He has composed music for or worked on over 60 games, ranging from music composition to graphic programming, and eventually became one of the lead designers at the Spanish developer Abylight. Despite having composed dozens of full soundtracks for video games, González has never had any formal music training.
Mark Knight, also known as TDK and Madfiddler, is a British musician, video game music composer and sound designer. He started out writing chiptune and module file music in the Amiga demoscene, and began his games industry career as a composer in 1992. He continued until 2000 when he moved to sound design, and since 2014 has had a split role as a sound designer and composer culminating by going self employed in 2017.
Aleksi Eeben, born Antti Aleksi Mikkonen, is a Finnish composer, sound designer, musician and programmer. He is best known for his musical contributions to the demoscene under the alias Heatbeat, where he has composed hundreds of modules using music tracker software and developed his own tools. He has also composed for video games, and was employed as a sound designer at Nokia between 2002 and 2015, creating many ringtones and sounds. His brother is Konsta Mikkonen, also a demoscene musician and dance producer known under the alias Muffler.
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