Emperia Sound and Music

30/08/2024

August 30th will go down in infamy as launch day, which includes both my album of songs "Songs from the Underworld - Original Music from Star Wars Outlaws" and Wilbert Roget II original soundtrack album ""tar Wars Outlaws - Original Video Game Soundtrack"!

Both albums are out now digitally wherever you find your music so run don't walk and listen now!

It's the privilege of a lifetime to be able to work with my best friends. The songs for Star Wars Outlaws could not have been more of a collaborative effort. Each songs begged for a unique musical identity which required some unorthodox instruments, performance techniques, evocative orchestrations, and digitally designing the sound for in-universe instruments (I'm looking at you, Kloohorn)

Sure working alone in a studio is cool, but have you ever put together a band of your friends to make some of the craziest sounding music you've ever produced? I'm infinitely indebited to all of the musicians and my staff for their invaluable contributions.

Please take some time to listen the albums. You can hear the nuturing and hard work that went into making these as great as they could be. It wouldn't have been possible without the insanely talented teams behind them.

I'm doing my best to tag every single person listed on the credits for the cantina songs -- they all deserve every ounce of praise you can throw at them!

Simon Koudriavtsev Tobias Gustavsson Håkan Glänte Dylan Love Alec Justice Nathan Rich Jeff Penny Daniel Rowland Hunter Jacob Pierce John Kurlander Brandon Seliga Eli Heisler Mandy UWU Hélène Choyer Will Chen Ben Hicks Emperia Sound and Music Ocean Way Nashville Studios Emily Hopkins Eddie Spencer Laura Intravia Nick Torretta Ashley Jarmack Charlie Robbins Gabriela Carrillo Peter Reid Jones Thor Bremer Julian Ho John Theodore Michael Van Bodegom-Smith Tom Strahle George Doering A.J. Sealy Chester Englander Mason Lieberman Marshall McDaniel Jake Baldwin Jason Butler Sophia Trevor Doug Perry Zach Marley John Robert Matz Matilda Stray Shealeigh Atkinson Rachel Robison Alan Umstead

30/08/2024

Only one more sleep until Star Wars Outlaws is released to the world. Never before have I felt more called to challenge my skills as a composer, producer, and songwriter. The songs in Star Wars Outlaws represent two years of iteration to make these songs *just right* for the story the game is telling.

This post is to show immense gratitude and humbled acceptance because none of this would have been possible without the following people:

First and foremost, Wilbert Roget II, who saw me for who I was in the earliest days of my career - years before asking me to join the Star Wars Outlaws music team. It's undisputed that Will's music is the very best coming to come out of games and he keeps all of our inspiration well fed and pushing our creative limits. Will's score, co-composed along with Jon Everist & Kazuma Jinnouchi with additional music support from Benjamin Ash Joel Santos & Brendon Williams, is undeniably adventurous, emotional, masterful, and thrilling. All star cast!

Simon Koudriavtsev the legend himself - a stalwart mentor and our leader over the last two years. The perfect guiding hand to uplift both the score and songs to be the perfect balance of fresh, hip, and nostalgic.

Håkan Glänte & Tobias Gustavsson with our weekly calls to keep the creative aligned and production on track.

Of course the support from Lucasfilm the rest of the Massive Entertainment - A Ubisoft Studio team Charles Antoine Guillemette Erik Jacobson Romain Brillaud, & Manu Bachet.

My right hand over the last two years Dylan Love who worked with me in the trenches, week in and week out, to produce some insanely weird and creative songs for this game.

Alec Justice my main man at Emperia who hustled to find the "sound" of so many different bands from across the galaxy - the mixes absolutely crush.

Nate Rich & Jeff Penny who worked tirelessly to arrange and orchestrate the music for dozens and dozens of unique instruments from all around the world.. plus or minus some juicy reharms.

And the rest of my core team at Emperia Sound and Music without whom this ambitious body of work would have never come together: Jeff Rona Brandon Seliga Hunter Jacob Pierce Mandy UWU Hélène Choyer Will Chen Ben Hicks

This is just a fraction of the people who have been responsible for my making a long-life dream come to fruition. 12 years ago when I moved to Los Angeles to pursue music I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams I would be hours away from my music being forever ingrained in Star Wars history.

It's an honor to have the privilege to call these collaborators and colleagues my friends. Tomorrow we honor all of the incredible musicians and celebrate the release of the album!

09/08/2024

A special day to announce our debut Arknight’s release! As longtime fans of the music from Arknights it has been an absolute dream to be invited by Hypergryph to create songs for their universe.

Presenting “Nightmare’s Descent” — created in collaboration with Jason Walsh and Dana Zulpykharova. Writing and producing music is a joy alone, but add in collaborating with your closest friends and you have an undeniable banger of a song.

All the love and support in the world to the entire Emperia team on this: Jason Walsh Dana Zulpykharova Brandon Seliga Jeff Penny Alec Justice Jeff Rona Emperia Sound and Music

Streaming now 🫰

21/12/2023

We could not be more elated to be nominated for a collective 15 Game Audio Network Guild Award nominations alongside our Emperia Records family!

All of these projects feature our wildly talented team of in-house creatives at Emperia Sound and Music and release artists at Emperia Records.

Congratulations to everyone involved in each of these nominations and a special shoutout and thank you to our incredible client partners at Pumpkin VR and TiMi Audio Lab!

11/11/2023

Imagine the shock when three of our projects were nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award!

Resounding appreciation and congratulations to our composers and music teams across all three of these nominations: Jeff Rona, Alec Justice, Dylan Love, Brandon Seliga, WiLL Chen, Hunter J Pierce, Cody Matthew Johnson 👏👏

And of course an immense thank you and gratitude our partners at George P. Johnson Experience Marketing, KRAFTON Inc., Neil Huxley, and LIGHTSPEED STUDIOS

11/07/2023

"You'll never escape.."

Composing original music and dialing the final mix for the Callisto Protocol - The Final Transmission trailer has been a highlight of the year so far!

Krafton called us in to provide a massive sounding mix and a hypnotic score for this gameplay trailer.

Music by Jeff Rona and Alec Justice
Mix by Hunter J Pierce
Sound Supervision by Cody Matthew Johnson

03/07/2023

Our soundtracks for Quantaar and The Walking Dead Last Mile are on the consideration long list for the World Soundtrack Awards 2023 Game Music Award!

An incredible up to be on the long list next to some of our colleagues and favorite music and albums of the last year.

Information on how to vote in the comments!

03/07/2023

🤘😏🤘

29/06/2023

Our partners at Universal Production Music US are featuring Brandon Seliga as part of their Pride Month talent spotlight!

Brandon is insanely talented and an integral part of the day-to-day success of all things Emperia Sound and Music, Emperia Music Group, & Emperia Records!

Big impacts, deep beats, chill vibes -- Brandon does it all!

29/06/2023

Our partners at Universal Production Music US are featuring Brandon Seliga as part of their Pride Month talent spotlight!

Brandon is insanely talented and an integral part of the day-to-day success of all things Emperia Sound and Music Emperia Music Group a& Emperia Records!

Big impacts, deep beats, chill vibes -- Brandon does it all!

27/05/2023

26/05/2023

Welcome to the New World🤖

We teamed up with our friends at Universal Production Music and BAER to create the official theme song for T3 Arena's 'Arena League' tournament series!

"New World" is groovy and full of attitude thanks to our all star production crew: Matilda Stray Alec Justice Cody Matthew Johnson

26/04/2023

It’s an honor to be nominated for Best Game Audio at Digital Dragon Awards for Trek To Yomi! Creating the music for Trek to Yomi was a close collaboration with the sound team — the music quickly transforms from edo period to hellish soundscapes, blending seamlessly with the ambience of the game.

03/04/2023

REALITY (feat. Troy Baker) is finally streaming on DSPs released by our friends at Decca Records US!

Fire up your favorite service, give it a spin, and vvibe out to the cyberpunk-rock infusions.

Bit of a dream team collaboration on this:

Music by Weifan Chang
Mixed by Rich Aitken
Lyrics by Gina Kouyoumdjian, Troy Baker, Cody Matthew Johnson
Produced by Alec Justice, Hunter Jacob Pierce, Cody Matthew Johnson

03/04/2023

Are you ready to get LOUD? We worked with pop-punk artist Devin Papadol of Honey Revenge to help record and produce "BREATHLESS", a rock infused, energetic, and quite literally "loud" anthem for the musical rhythm game LOUD: My Road To Fame.

Music Production – Emperia Sound and Music
Creative Director – Cody Matthew Johnson
Producer – Gina Kouyoumdjian
Performer – Devin Papadol
Recording Engineer – Brandon Seliga
Mixing Engineer – Alec Justice
Recorded at Emperia Sound and Music

31/03/2023

We are so proud of the incredible women on our team at Emperia! Our partners at Universal Production Music featured Hélène Choyer, Gina Kouyoumdjian, and Brandi Thomas as part of their Women's History Month celebration!

Hélène, Gina, and Brandi are founding contributors of Gamescape Audio and the Emperia Music Group Emperia Music Works licensing catalog that launched earlier this year!

👏👏👏

16/03/2023

Alright Runners, its time to load out and hunt some Tyrant Nanoes in SYNCED, the upcoming techno-apocalyptic match-based, Rogue-Looter-Shooter PvPvE. We produced some insanely chaotic and massive synth driven music for the PvE encounters of the game!

Take a sneak peek at some of the cyberpunk, drum and bass, and EDM inspired music for SYNCED by our very own Cody Matthew Johnson and Alec Justice.

Thank you to Next Studios for bringing us on board to create some aggressive combat music for the game.

15/03/2023

ICYMI - check out our score to the The Walking Dead: Last Mile created by Skybound Interactive. The music by is reflective of the harsh locale and culture of the indigenous population of Alaska

15/03/2023

This is your invitation to visit Gamescape Audio, our collaboration with Universal Production Music, at GDC where we're showcasing our groundbreaking hybrid of interactive music licensing and services. Come by, say hello, and allow us to share our innovations with you!

We are ONE WEEK away from !

If you're planning on attending the Expo:
✅don't be shy, come by our booth
✅make new friends
✅learn about how Gamescape Audio can elevate the way you incorporate music and audio into your projects

15/03/2023

We are ONE WEEK away from !

If you're planning on attending the Expo:
✅don't be shy, come by our booth
✅make new friends
✅learn about how Gamescape Audio can elevate the way you incorporate music and audio into your projects

13/03/2023

Our soundtrack album for QUANTAAR, the VR Party Brawler from Pumpkin VR 南瓜虛擬科技, is out now on Decca Records US for both digital on all DSPs and vinyl in all major retailers!

Featuring music from Cody Matthew Johnson Jeff Rona and additional music from Alec Justice, EDM artist Daniel Voicians, and performances from Omega Sparx and Gina Kouyoumdjian, the album ranges from various genres including electronic, rap, pop, heavy metal, and high-energy EDM.

Special thanks to our team who helped to create and produce the score and soundtrack for QUANTAAR: Arun Ganapathy Hélène Choyer Rachel Robison Brandon Seliga Emperia RecordsEmperia Records Mary Kate Jiménez-Wall

https://lnk.to/quantaar

10/03/2023

The countdown to GDC begins! Emperia Sound and Music will be at GDC the entire week - Sunday through Saturday!

We're excited to sit in on our colleague's sessions and meet many of you! Who would like to connect? Feel free to schedule a meeting to talk about your project - or anything at all!!

Looking forward to seeing you all at Moscone!

https://emperiasound.com/gdc/

16/02/2023

Excited to share that we've teamed up with Rockhopper Studios on their musical rhythm shooter game Musical Range VR to provide Audio Development, Sound Design, and Instrument Design!

We've been cooking up some compelling and tactic musical weapon and instrument sounds for players to connect to the music in the game on a deeper level! 👾

10/02/2023

Several of our contributions are nominated at the 21st Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards 😱

Trek to Yomi is nominated for multiple categories including: Best Music for an Indie Game, Best Audio for an Indie Game, Best Physical Soundtrack Release for our Vinyl Soundtrack, and Best Game Audio Presentation, Podcast, or Broadcast.

Other nominations includes Best Audio for a Casual or Social Game for Call of Duty: Mobile and Honor of Kings; and Best Original Soundtrack Album for Min He's incredible music for In Nightmare (Original Soundtrack) released on Emperia Records.

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/game-audio-network-guild-2023-award-nominations-1235516173/

07/02/2023

07/02/2023

The future of immersive media and gaming is here. Proud to announce Gamescape Audio, a partnership between Emperia and Universal Production Music.

On our team is an onslaught of incredibly talented musicians and sound designers with support from our friends at Silen Audio.

31/01/2023

Ushering in a new era. Now loading...

ONE WEEK.

20/12/2022

The score for Trek To Yomi is listed on Gamespot's "The Best Video Game Soundtracks of 2022" alongside some of our favorite games, soundtracks, and GOTY contenders from this year!

From epic orchestral sounds to quirky indie compositions, 2022's best video game soundtracks made for some great listening.

10/11/2022

It is an incredible honor and with absolute thrill to announce our involvement in producing and writing lyrics for Viola’s theme “GH()ST” for Bayonetta 3, with vocals from talented Mikaila Delgado of Yours Truly and mix from Andrew Scheps!

There was an amazing team involved, from the creative music team at Platinum Games (Kameyama-san, Yamaguchi-san, Harada-san, and more!) and our team at Emperia Sound and Music.

Performed by Mikaila Delgado of Yours Truly
Music by Tomoki Kameyama
Lyrics by Cody Matthew Johnson & Gina Kouyoumdjian
Creative Director – Cody Matthew Johnson
Music Producer – Alec Justice
Music Director – Yoko Honda
Executive Producer – Arun Ganapathy
Producer – Jeff Rona
Music Coordinator – Hélène Choyer, Rachel Robison
Music Mixer – Andrew Scheps
Guitar – Nate Rich, Cody Matthew Johnson, Alec Justice
Bass – Cody Matthew Johnson
Drums – Ryan Trinh
Recording Engineer – Alec Justice, Daniel Malesev

18/02/2022

“Nothing about Bright Memory: Infinite by is subtle, but in the most fantastical and satisfying way” says composer and creative director, Cody Matthew Johnson , precisely summarizing the Emperia Sound and Music team sentiments. The monumental - and global - tasks of bringing this project together was a beautiful experience. We hope that if you’ve had an opportunity to immerse yourself in the game that you feel the same!