Michael Sweet is a video game composer, sound designer, audio director, and all around audio pro. He has also been teaching game audio at two of the top music programs in the world.

He has worked on over 100 award-winning games and has basically done it all in the world of game audio.

In our conversation, we talk in-depth about what interactive or adaptive music is, the fundamental building blocks of interactive music, how and when to use it, and how to compose it. This conversation is a masterclass on how to plan and create adaptive scores. Sweet also mentions different resources for improving as an adaptive music composer.

Youtube channels to check out:

• Michael Sweet - https://www.youtube.com/@michaelsweet5043/videos


• Olivier Deriviere - https://www.youtube.com/@oderiviere


• Austin Wintory - https://www.youtube.com/@awintory

Games that are good examples of adaptive audio:

• Peggle 2


• Red Dead Redemption 2


• Ghost of Tsushima


• Mass Effect


• The Batman Arkham Series


• God of War (every recent version after the reboot)


• Almost any Sony Product has terrific adaptive music systems

Books

• Interactive Music for Video Games: A Composer's Guide - Michael Sweet


• Composing Music for Games - Chance Thomas


• A Composer's Guide to Game Music - Winifred Phillips