The 7th Guest Welcomes You Back to Stauf’s House
When I was a kid, a buddy of mine invited me over to play a new game on his Macintosh. I had no idea what was in store for me. The 7th Guest was a game that blew my mind. I hadn’t seen graphics like that before. I’d not played a narrative, spooky story in a video game before. I’d not heard music like that before. The 7th Guest, and it’s sequel The 11th Hour, quickly became a favorite of mine and I had to explore every nook and cranny of Stauf’s creepy, old mansion.
Fast forward about… hmmm, 25 years or so and I got an email from a buddy of mine: Jonathan van den Wijngaarden. We’ve been friends via social media over ten years. I know because I can remember us joking about the “dad chores” I posted about once becoming a first time dad… and now my oldest is 10. 😛 Jonathan and I have similar sense of humor and he’s an extremely talented composer and just all around, great guy. But we’d never worked together.
This would change when he emailed me asking “hey, want to lay down some saxophone for some music I’m writing for a VR game?” He didn’t say what game and the very first cue I got sounded creepy, atmospheric and cool. I recorded several takes, including some improvisations and sent them his way. He liked what I was doing so he sent me another cue to work on. In this one I recognized some of gentle nods to some music I’d heard in The 7th Guest as a kid. But still, no official mention about what this VR project was, so I kept quiet and recorded the second cue. Then I got to do another and this also had reflections of the original score. It was at this time I pretty much knew what I was working on!
Making the connection
A bit more time goes by and then the announcement trailer comes out and Jonathan mentioned “well, now you know!” I was THRILLED! It’s very exciting to work on such an iconic game that impacted so many! And I know this VR remake will continue to impact many more! I love playing saxophone and the approach Jonathan wanted for me was very interesting – not full, loud and bombastic saxophone. Subtle, fragile, sub-tune, broken sounding saxophone. It definitely adds to the vibe and mood of the music! I think you’ll enjoy it! Thank you Jonathan for letting me be a part of this project!
Check out the trailer below and pick it up if you have a VR set.
You can purchase and stream the full OST here.
Sounds From Beyond Released
I’ve been working with Red Room Audio since around 2017. Dickie Chapman and his crew create really interesting, useful and affordable libraries for composers and producers to use. Dickie reached out to me and asked me to test and write a demo cue for an upcoming library that recently launched: Sounds From Beyond! This library features intriguing, different and unique sounds that can help give your productions a definitely out of this world feel. Over 10GB of spacey sounds in 9 categories, specifically created for sci-fi, action, suspense, and out-of-this-world-audio. This gripping and dramatic collection will provide a fresh, diverse, and evocative arsenal of cinematic tools for your compositions. The direction I went was an industrial, sci-fi cue that combined ambient and aggressive sections.
Check out the product here and below is the demo I wrote for this product:
ENGAGE!
For this year’s Halloween, I dressed up as Captain Picard from Star Trek The Next Generation. I figured… I had the hairline for it! Might as well and embrace it! My friend and colleague helped take my costume to the next level with her awesome Photoshop skills! ENJOY!
(And I’m available for birthday party and holiday event bookings.)
I hope your Thanksgiving season is full of laughter, fun, friends and family and LOTS of delicious food! I set a new personal record of enjoying THREE desserts at one of my Thanksgiving gatherings. (And it’s not even actual Thanksgiving yet…) What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes?
BIO
Nate Madsen is an established composer, sound designer with 18 years experience and over 1,100 credits. He’s worked in-house at FUNimation Entertainment, NetDevil, Bee Cave Games, SciPlay and is currently a Lead Audio Designer at Unbroken Studios and is working on Harry Potter Quidditch Champions. His three recent side quests include Harry Potter Magic Caster Wand, Great Wolf Lodge’s Magiquest and Glass Bottom Game’s SkateBIRD. Nate also teaches Interactive Game Audio at The University of Tennessee Knoxville. He lives in Austin, Texas, loves craft beer and dreams of queso. He’s also scheming how to pull off the world’s largest Thin Mints heist. Be sure to reach out to Nathan with any audio needs you may have!