David McKee

A Bit About Me

Hi, I'm David McKee, a music composer and sound designer from Cleveland Ohio. My fascination with sound started with audio dramas and video game soundtracks as a kid, which piqued my interest sound for games and other forms of interactive media. I started playing piano when I was 3 and my parents put me through classical training for gospel and jazz music. So when I heard the music of games like Rayman (Ubisoft), and Ape Escape (Sony Interactive), I was inspired to try putting charactaristics of those songs into my piano recitals... to my teacher's dismay. 

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I graduated from Cuyahoga Community College with a degree in general audio engineering, but soon after, taught myself the ins and outs of game audio and music production. I'm currently experimenting with binaural and in-ear surround sound techniques. I’m working on a sci-fi audio drama in 7th order ambisonics, which you can learn more about on the Other Projects page.

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My love for Japanese games and anime strongly influences my work, especially in how they convey emotion and story telling through sound and visuals. Since 2004, I’ve been composing music that mixes orchestral, electronic, and jazz elements. The interactive possibilities of music and sound continues to fascinate me, especially when using tools like FMOD and Wwise to create dynamic soundscapes responsive to user actions. 

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Something that may not be obvious at first glance is that I am visually impaired. It's for this reason that I pay very close attention to details in sound and music. But beyond that, I am also aware of how playable --or unplayable in some cases--some games can be.  I've been working with other game developers to make sure games are enjoyable for everyone, no matter their needs. 

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Aside from all that, I also run a youth group, am a big fan of table top roleplaying games, and play piano for my church. I also greatly enjoy participating in game jams; mainly because they give me a chance to try out new ideas and roles in the game development process. 

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Skills: Unity sound system, Wwise, Unreal Engine Metasounds, FL Studio, Cubase, Reaper (with ReaWwise integration), Ableton Live, Dialogue editing

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Other skills: Casting director, DaVinci Resolve, game designer, aoice acting

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