My name’s Ian, and I listen.
I listen to the world around me with a sort of critical curiosity, with an ear for the unexpected, with a desire to hear something new.
I listen to those around me, to my family and friends, to my colleagues, mentors, teachers, and students. I listen with an excitement for the cutting edge in the present, a nostalgia for the traditions of the past, and perhaps most of all, I listen with a hopeful optimism to the beginnings of the music that is the future.
In 2021, I earned a Doctorate in Music, during which time I developed Touching Light, a first of its kind, real-time live musical Mixed Reality recital and published a methodological framework for the pursuit of music-making in Mixed Reality via the Microsoft HoloLens 2. My project received the 2021 Mary Tiffany Ferer Award for Excellence in Doctoral Research at WVU and required me to design, develop, and deploy a self-contained, cutting-edge XR experience for the first time.
Since then, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to be part of the team at 31st Union, pushing the envelope of what it means to design sound for AAA games. As part of the audio department, I’ve worked closely with designers and engineers to spec, design, iterate, QA, and deploy compelling, dynamic, adaptive audio implementation across the entire pipeline, including Ambience, VO, Foley, Music, UI, and Spatialization.
My training has taught me to pay meticulous attention to detail, enabling me to focus on the intricacies of sound design, whether it's layering atmospheric textures or crafting the perfect impact for a film scene. Moreover, the rigorous practice required of professional musicianship has instilled in me a strong work ethic and a keen sense of discipline, all of which are transferrable to the creative realm of sound design and a game development pipeline.
I’m excited to continue forging a path forward into an ever more beautiful-sounding world.
