ABC Classic features Signs of the Sojourner music

Game Show, the weekly radio program on ABC Australia that features video game music and is hosted by Meena Shamaly, featured music from the soundtrack to Signs of the Sojourner this week.

The music on the program, titled “The music of linguistic puzzles” primarily featured games where language was a primary mechanic. Signs of the Sojourner, developed by Echodog Games in 2020, was made known for it’s creative card-game mechanic that utilized language and communication in a metaphorical sense, influencing your relationship with the cast of characters and principle plot elements.

Listen to the program here:
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/game-show/game-show-the-music-of-linguistic-puzzles/104429502

From Russia With Lev Premiers on MSNBC

Check out From Russia with Lev on MSNBC this week! My friend Brian Robertson composed the score and solicited Amy and I to record woodwinds for it.

From MSNBC:

“From Executive Producer Rachel Maddow, "From Russia With Lev" reveals the outrageous scheme that led to former President Donald Trump's first impeachment. It follows the much, much larger-than-life journey of Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-born hustler and former small-time mafia operator whose random, almost accidental association with Trump and Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani took him around the world, and ultimately to prison. Lev reveals the ham-handed workings of the furtive campaign to dredge up false but damaging allegations against then-candidate Joe Biden. Tune in to the broadcast premiere of “From Russia With Lev” on Friday, Sept. 20 at 9 p.m. ET on MSNBC.”

Steve Pardo Quartet Debut at Rudy's Jazz Room

If you are in Nashville this weekend, stop on by Rudy’s Jazz Room to hear my new quartet with Rod McGaha, Chris Brush, and Jon Estes! It’s a bunch of new original music I’ve written and arranged just for this group. This is our first show and sure to be a special one - and if you miss it we’ll surely be playing again soon!

Check out the show details here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/steve-pardo-quartet-tickets-940016463547

Billie Eilish on the Fortnite Festival Main Stage

Huge shout-out to the incredible audio team I’m leading at SkewSound for cranking out mix after mix in support of the Jam mode feature for Fortnite Festival!

The latest huge update is a collaboration with the one-and-only Billie Eilish. Her new music is incredible (as always) and we are feeling so lucky to have our hands in the playable versions on the Jam stage!

DOS is released

My album/game DOS has been released to the public! It is the first game release by indie game dev studio The Pardo Brothers, founded by my bro and I (obviously).

Check out all the details here!
dosalbumgame.com

EIN Presswire - Vanderbilt University to Host MusicTech

This summer I’m once again supporting Vanderbilt University in their MusicTech program for young folks interested in interactive music and audio for games, led by my friend and composer/pianist extraordinaire, Pascal Le Boeuf. It’s always such a great hang!

Here’s a write-up on it via EIN Presswire.

Cypher 007

Coming soon! I had the privilege to score, as well as serve as Audio Lead, with Tilting Point/MGM/Eon on the Apple Arcade exclusive Cypher 007! The team at SkewSound crushed the audio treatment for this, and I’m stoked to dive into the process for music making on it.

This is certainly exciting, and I can’t wait to share more! For now, congrats to all that worked on it and stay tuned for the release later this month.

Indie is the new AAA (i.e. ProbablyMonsters!!!)

Here we go! I’ve been welcomed onto the team at ProbablyMonsters, alongside my SkewSound teammates, helping bring music to their suite of upcoming AAA games! On top of composing for upcoming titles, I’ll be directing and executing music strategy across the board, as well as helping other composers fully realize their music for their respective titles.

Looking forward to an incredible season of life with this team!

Announcing ⚡️MOONBREAKER⚡️

Steve is currently working on the music for the upcoming game by Unknown Worlds and Krafton: Moonbreaker!

Much more news to come on it, but for now, look forward to the Early Access release in late September on Steam!

Farthest Frontier EA Release!

Just released on Steam Early Access is Crate Entertainment’s Farthest Frontier!

I really enjoyed scoring for this one, wholly connecting with the spirit of the environment and pace of the gameplay. It was a joy to continue working with the fine folks at Crate.

As well as enlisting the incredible string talents of Jeremiah Barcus, Avery Bright, and Liz Estes, I was also happy to have my mom, pianist Julie Chapman, on every track on the soundtrack!

OST is currently on the ole youtube for now :)


Nominations for GANG Awards 2021

Happy to say that SkewSound has been nominated for a number of GANG Awards this year! It is incredibly humbling to be included among these titans - we snagged four nominations this round!

Risk of Rain 2:
* Best Audio for an Indie Game

Terrible Posture Games "3 out of 10"
* Best Dialogue for an Indie Game
* Best Ensemble Cast Performance

VR Video Games and Music Composition: an Interview with SkewSound by Andrew Cheek
* Best Game Audio Article or Publication!

Songs of Wonder (Amy Pardo) out today!

Now out everywhere! Check out Amy’s site for more details!

From Amy:

“Songs of Wonder is a collection of songs spurring on children and adults alike to notice the beauty in nature all around us. We all share the stars, the moon, the birds, the clouds, and all of creation. It’s just waiting to be taken in and cared for by the big human heart we all share.

Thanks so much for all those who helped us put this together! First of all, Steve Pardo, who always takes what is in my heart and makes it into sound. I'm so thankful to have a collaborator as my best friend and spouse. I couldn't have done any of this without him!

Take a good peek at the album art by Bonnie Fitch! Our family has been very blessed by nature journaling, and the album art might help you start one with your family. Journaling helps us to really *see* and hold memories in our minds that last a lifetime.

Jon and Elizabeth Estes added strings that, to me, reinforce the sound of the tender care of loving parents. Extra thanks to Jon who also mastered the album. My sister-in-law Cara Pardo added more familial love with her background vocals throughout the album. My sister Lindley Cameron co-wrote "Humble Flight of Love" with me a few years back on a very memorable visit to Boston. William Austin Whitney added warmth to the tune "Wonder" with his brass artistry.

We hope these songs take what may seem ordinary in the world around you and turn it into a glimmer of hope we all long for.”

SAXOPHONE Interview for Everything Virtual Podcast

Jonathan and I were featured on the Everything Virtual Podcast! Check it out for the latest updates on SAXOPHONE, the debut VR project from The Pardo Brothers LLC. We had so much fun!

Signs of the Sojourner - Original Soundtrack now released!

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What a privilege it has been working on music for this game and helping to tell this story. To Dyala, Zach, Holly, and everyone else at Echodog that’s helped bring to life the experience of Signs of the Sojourner, thank you so very much for asking me (and all of us at SkewSound) to be a part of it. This one has been special.

Listen now on all the digital platforms, including Bandcamp, Spotify, or Apple Music.

I really appreciate the thoughtful words from Dia Lacina over at Paste Magazine:

It takes a whole lot of soundtrack to contain all the possibilities of something after this. And a lot of media doesn’t try. Picking and choosing, reducing humanity to its basest, most desperate existence. Not here. Pardo links the isolation with the fullness, giving exhilaration to the places beyond.

Three Busy Debras

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Episodes are rolling in! I loved working on the score for this show with Josh Moshier! SO funny.

Stream it now here!

First Person Blog

A place to sit in my studio. Cozy.

A place to sit in my studio. Cozy.

I’m going to stop pretending this site is run by someone else and I’ll start writing this in first person. Sorry.

The “News” section of this website, while it is a bit obsolete since one can simply follow me either on Twitter or Instagram for all the breaking news, is a nice way to collate some of the “big” stuff that goes on from time to time. I guess that’s enough validation, for now.

Since I last updated this, my family up and moved to Nashville. That was in October 2018. Since then, I helped ship Dance Central (I was audio lead) as a launch title for the Oculus Quest, after which I made the big move-on from Harmonix Music Systems as a full or part time commitment (I had been part time since January 2019).

So, for the last month or so, I’ve been fully independent working through the company I co-founded, SkewSound. It’s great to be fully committed alongside by Skew-brothers Dan, Chris, and Nick. They are all very handsome and are actually (surprisingly) a joy to work with. We also re-designed the logo so it’s a little less embarrassing when folks stumble upon us. But, yeah, this last month, June, was the first time that all I did was make music for various projects. Nuts.

Wrapped up my full-time Harmonix stint with Dance Central for Oculus Rift/Quest.

Wrapped up my full-time Harmonix stint with Dance Central for Oculus Rift/Quest.

Also, starting last January, I up and started a game audio class at Belmont University here in Nashville. It was kind of perfect timing: they were looking for someone who actually knew some game audio in order to build a curriculum and, well, teach it, and I needed an excuse to move to Nashville. Perfect.

Oh, and my brother Jonathan and I are also making SAXOPHONE. You probably have already heard about this. Sorry. It’ll be out soon, we hope.

Berklee - Music & Sound Production for Games

Steve is teaching MTEC-321 as an Assistant Professor for the Electronic Production and Design department at the Berklee College of Music this winter semester 2018. It is his first semester teaching at the college and he is excited to join a talented faculty and vibrant young sound community.

 

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