2022 JUROR
John Morgan The Coalition - Microsoft Studios
Audio Director // Gaming
Vancouver, Canda
John Morgan is the Audio Director at the Coalition Studios, leading the franchise development of Microsoft’s Gears of War. He grew up listening to synth bands such as Depeche Mode and Skinny Puppy, eventually following this musical path into electronic music production in the late 80’s.
John is a specialist in all types of interactive audio for games, learning his craft since 1997 at EA Canada, working on titles such as SSX, Need for Speed and FIFA Street.
His work on the interactive music for the SSX series was pioneering in the use of a vertical approach to adaptive music and remixing licensed popular score.
During the last 12 years he’s been working on growing an audio team that has journeyed deep into the frontlines of new Unreal Engine 5 development with Wwise, and has collaborated with creatives to deliver an award-winning audio vision that holds up to the ever-changing modes of gameplay we see in today’s AAA titles.
John and his team at the Coalition Studios, along with Microsoft Research, recently pioneered the creation of Project Acoustics, a wave acoustics engine for virtual 3D environments. John’s music can be found on television shows such as the Sopranos, NCIS, and Big Bang Theory and in 2010 John did the sound design for the Olympic Winter Games opening ceremonies.
