AUGUST 2024
Brendon Williams is an accomplished composer with extensive experience creating music for AAA games, including League of Legends, Destiny 2, Guild Wars 2, Wild Rift, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, Call of Duty: WWII, and more. He also works as a music producer and songwriter, and has collaborated with artists including Porter Robinson on “Everything Goes On” and Vo Williams and Boslen on “Coming Alive.”
Brendon has built a name for himself through his ability to fuse modern music production techniques with traditional orchestration, harmony, and global influences, often transcending musical genre limitations.
After numerous successes as a freelancer, Brendon joined Riot Games full time as a senior composer in early 2020, where he helped shape Riot’s modern musical identity over the following years. At Riot, he worked as music lead for numerous large scale global marketing campaigns, wrote music for major music videos and cinematics, and created interactive music for Riot’s many games. Most recently, he’s returned to freelancing to pursue new creative collaborations.
So, let’s hear it Brendon…
MASA: What first sparked your passion for composing?
BRENDON: I first got into composing through writing music for my metal band in high school. I’d been getting really into learning guitar and transcribing music from bands I liked since middle school, but there wasn’t much of a music program where I was attending, so music was mostly something I did in my own time. In high school, I transferred to a school that actually had a music program, and in concert band (as a saxophonist) I met some like-minded musicians that I started composing, recording, and playing shows with. From there my musical interests quickly expanded into a ton of different styles of music, and the rest is history!
MASA: How did you get your first break into the industry?
BRENDON: Though I’d gotten other smaller breaks before then and had been composing full time for almost three years (for indie games, short films, web series, and commercial work), my first real break in the industry was when I got brought on to compose combat music for Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire in early 2017. I was fortunate enough to be suggested by Wilbert Roget (who wrote the other half of the expansion’s combat music) to lead composer Maclaine Diemer, since extra help was needed. I’d gotten to know them both over the few years before since we were all composers in the Seattle game audio community.
MASA: And what made you ultimately focus on game scores?
BRENDON: I naturally ended up focusing more on games because I always found games the most fun to write for. I related to the people the most, and I was based in Seattle, which felt like it had more opportunities in games. Good vibes, friendly and welcoming people, and fun music to write - what’s not to love? I’m also a gamer myself, so I love getting to contribute to creating fun and immersive experiences for people like I grew up enjoying!
MASA: You’ve worked on a number of the all-time most successful AAA games. Is there a particular soundtrack you're most proud of, and why?
BRENDON: It’s hard to pick since every project I’ve been fortunate enough to contribute to has been amazing in different ways! Overall though, I’m most proud of the music I wrote while in-house at Riot Games in 2020-2024 for League of Legends, Wild Rift, and TFT. Since Riot’s games are live games, most of that music was released incrementally as singles (if at all) rather than as full soundtrack releases. “K’Sante, the Pride of Nazumah,” “Star Guardian 2022 (Official Orchestral Theme),” “Akshan, the Rogue Sentinel,” “Space Groove - 2021,” and “Tournament of Souls” are some of my favorites from my time at Riot.
As for why - with all of these, I was able to come up with a sound for the associated characters or events that incorporated influences from a number of genres of music to create something sonically unique. It’s something that I find very difficult to achieve, but thanks to the amount of creative agency, time, and advice from other in-house composers at Riot, looking back I’m really proud of what I was able to achieve.
MASA: Are you able to tell us about any interesting challenges you’ve managed to overcome in your composition?
BRENDON: I think the biggest challenge for me was the realization that being a modern composer really means being a music producer as well. There really isn’t the distinct line between the two that there used to be in the past. When I was studying in college, I was originally primarily focused on the “notes” - rhythm, harmony, melody, arranging, music notation, etc. But modern composers for media are tasked with delivering fully produced and mixed music, not handing over music notation. It’s not just the note and instrument choices that matter: the way those have been shaped to sound has just as big of an impact on the emotional response of the listener. So to be self-sufficient in this industry, it’s important to develop music production skills just as much as traditional compositional skills.
For me, this has meant that in the last 10+ years since graduating, I’ve had to heavily focus on developing my skills on the music production side of things, which initially felt like being a beginner all over again. Fortunately, in recent years it’s felt like that effort has paid off - what used to be a weak point for me is now one of my strengths and is a part of the sound I’m known for. It’s all a never ending journey of learning though. There are many things I still feel like a beginner in, and I can only hope that I’ll continue to grow and be more well rounded as the years go by!
MASA: You recently left Riot Games. Are you enjoying the freedom of freelancing? Are you able to tell us what you’re currently working on? What does the next year or so hold?
BRENDON: Yes, I’ve been loving it so far! My entire career before Riot was freelancing as well, so to me it’s a return to the familiar. I’ve been really freeing to be my own boss again, and I’ve loved getting to spend more of my time on the craft/creative side of composing again rather than splitting that with the various responsibilities that come with being in a senior position in a large company.
So far this year, I’ve written additional music for Star Wars: Outlaws (supporting composers Wilbert Roget, Jon Everist, and Kazuma Jinnouchi), and I’ve been collaborating with my colleague Jason Walsh (also ex-Riot) on a number of projects including music for Fortnite, music for several upcoming games that haven’t been announced yet, and trailer music for various games, films, and series.
MASA: Video game music is unique – it needs to be dynamic and adapt to player actions. How do you approach composing music that keeps players engaged throughout the entire gameplay experience?
BRENDON: The key for keeping music engaging throughout the gameplay experience is having a great music system in place. Depending on the game and who’s on the team, how that system is designed and implemented can vary a lot - some companies have teams of people whose entire job is doing that, while for others it’s done by the composer, a sound designer or audio lead, or a collaborative process. Once that system has been figured out, it’s a unique challenge to compose for because the composer needs to account for various gameplay states and how the music will transition between them. It can feel like a challenging puzzle to pull off, but it’s so satisfying once it all comes together!
MASA: Beyond the technical skills, what are some of the most important qualities a video game composer needs to possess?
BRENDON: Outside of technical skills, the most important thing by far is interpersonal skills. Being a good listener, communicator, and collaborator is a huge part of the job, and can make or break the entire collaborative process. Did you ask the right questions at the beginning and during the process? Did you communicate when situations didn’t go according to plan or clear up misunderstandings before the negative side effects had a chance to snowball? Did you advocate for the best approach even when your gut told you to stay quiet to avoid potential conflict? These are skills that need to be honed and practiced over time, just like technical skills.
MASA: How do you see the role of music evolving in games with the increasing growth of technologies like VR and AR?
BRENDON: Years ago, I remember a lot of people speculating that VR/AR development would mean increased spatialization of music within games, but that seems to mostly have been deemphasized as VR/AR has developed because it tends to be distracting for traditional game experiences. So for the most part, standard game experiences have been focusing new technological growth on sound design and gameplay for immersion rather than music, except for when the music is diegetic.
That said, there’s a lot of exciting new types of experiences being created as VR/AR tech continue to develop - virtual concert experiences, interactive music educational experiences, and even music creation - playing virtual instruments in a virtual space, or using DAWs in a deeply immersive environment. It’ll be really interesting to see what the future brings!
MASA: Sound and music often work hand-in-hand in games. How do you collaborate with sound designers to create a cohesive sonic experience?
BRENDON: This varies a lot depending on the project and how the composer interacts with the team. Regardless, it all comes down to great communication (before you write a note!), testing and reviewing together if possible, and hopefully having a great, dynamic audio mix system in place by someone who has a good ear for both sound design and music.
Sometimes there can also be unique collaborations between music and sound design that blend the two - at Riot, for example, we’d sometimes use sound effects from champions or events in their themes, and the sound designers would incorporate music into sound design for emotes and more.
MASA: Any advice for aspiring video game composers out there?
BRENDON: Keep composing and improving your craft, and get out there and meet people who work in the games industry as much as you can!
MASA: And lastly, what will you be looking for when judging? What makes a piece of work worthy of a Music+Sound Award?
BRENDON: I’ll be listening for bold musical ideas that have a strong sonic identity and elevate their associated gameplay or cinematics. Great production and development of ideas will help entries stand out. But most importantly, the best works should evoke a powerful emotional response and make me want to keep coming back for more!
MASA: It was fascinating to learn more about your career, Brendon. Thank you for sharing your story. And thank you for being a judge this year! Having your expertise on the panel is invaluable to us.
