While studying the Wwise 201 course on interactive music, I found that the Music Segment Editor could be used to perform aleatoric music like the score from Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption series. Taking inspiration from composer Woody Jackson, I asked my family members to improvise 8 bar musical phrases in A minor at 130 bpm with the simple direction of imagining the vastness of the American landscape. Afterwords, I edited their performances and added my own acoustic and lap steel guitar playing.
Pictured is Wwise’s Music Segment Editor which contains the individual stems. From here, each stem was given a 25-50% chance of occurring in a given iteration of the 8-bar loop, except for the acoustic guitar and harmonica, which had strict patterns to preserve musical clarity. In this audio file, you can hear a couple iterations of this music system as it cycles through phrases.
Hi! I’m Jasper Johnson, a sound designer with a passion for game audio.
I’ve always been interested in the relationship between sound and image. Inspired by Dungeons and Dragons manuals, I spent my childhood dreaming up and drawing fantastical worlds. When I began studying music, I realized that those fantasy worlds needed sound to feel truly alive. It was only once I attended university that I discovered my passion for sound design, which utilized a skill I didn’t even know I had been cultivating throughout my life: thinking sonically as well as visually.
Currently, my studies at UT Austin are focused on sociocultural anthropology, providing me with the human-centered and systems-oriented perspective I bring to each of my creative projects. While working towards my certification in digital arts and media, I’ve had the opportunity to study video game audio implementation via Wwise, computer programming, and storytelling for interactive media. These disparate academic experiences have provided me with a nuanced approach to game audio as something which combines technical acuity with emotional intuition.
As I continue practicing my craft, I’m working towards becoming a senior sound designer for a video game studio. I believe that the skills I’ve gained in academia, combined with my practical knowledge from years of live audio engineering, make me an ideal candidate for a position where creativity, collaboration, and fast-paced problem solving are key. When I’m not practicing my craft, I enjoy reading philosophical fiction, cycling, bouldering, and cooking new recipes.