Music

Lawrence Schwedler earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in classical guitar performance with a specialization in electronic music from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1993. He was a founding member of the Modern Arts Guitar Quartet, a chamber ensemble specializing in 20th century music, performing concerts in Europe, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. Since then he has worked as a composer, sound designer, and audio director in the video game industry for developers such as The Dreamers Guild, JVC Digital Arts Studio, and Nintendo Software Technology. Together with Claude Comair, Rory Johnston and James Phillipsen he was awarded two U.S. patents for Nintendo, one for an interactive music engine and another for a real-time wave table sound generator.

In the spring of 2011, he began working with DigiPen’s Dr. Matt Klassen to develop curricula for two new degree programs in music and sound design, at the request of DigiPen’s president, Claude Comair. In the summer of 2012, he left Nintendo to launch and direct the new programs. Schwedler says he feels lucky to be able to share the unique perspective he gained from more than a decade of making music and sound for Nintendo products with the students at DigiPen.

Selected Game Credits

• Rhythm Heaven Fever (Nintendo Wii 2012)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (Nintendo DS 2010)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis (Nintendo DSi 2009)
• Nintendo CrossworDS (Nintendo DS 2008)
• Metroid Prime: Hunters (Nintendo DS 2006)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo GameBoy Advance 2004)
• Ridge Racer DS (Nintendo DS 2004)
• 1080°: Avalanche (Nintendo GameCube 2003)
• Wave Race: Blue Storm (Nintendo GameCube launch title 2001)
• Pokémon Puzzle League (Nintendo 64 2000)

Brian Schmidt has been creating music, sound, and audio technology for games since 1987. As the 2008 recipient of the Game Audio Network Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Schmidt has a credits list of over 130 games for companies such as Sony, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Sega, Microsoft, Zynga, Namco, and many others. Apart from his work as one of the industry’s first freelance game composers, Schmidt spent 10 years at Microsoft as the primary audio architect for the Xbox team, where he was responsible for technologies such as XMA and XACT. He also created the boot sound for the original Xbox. Schmidt’s work has been featured in the “Legends of Game Music” CD set and received Sega’s “Best Sound” award. His theme from the 1988 video game NARC was covered and recorded by The Pixies.

In 1985, Schmidt received undergraduate degrees in music and computer science from Northwestern University, where he created the dual degree program between the School of Music and the Technological Institute. He went on to complete his master’s degree in computer applications in music in 1987, and portions of his thesis work appeared in Computer Music Journal. Schmidt also presented his thesis work, by invitation, to the Audio Engineering Society (AES) special conference on audio technology. Schmidt is a frequent and in-demand speaker, as well as the founder and executive director of GameSoundCon, the largest professional conference on game music and sound design.

Schmidt sits on the advisory board of the Game Developer Conference and is a founding board member of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.). He is also a former steering committee member of the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group (ia-sig) of the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) and has presented as a keynote speaker at The Game Developers Conference and Project BBQ. Schmidt also belonged to a select group of 10 game audio professionals who successfully lobbied the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) into making video game soundtracks eligible for the Grammy Award in 1999.

Alex Chadsey started piano lessons at age 7 and continued formal music training through college, receiving a B.F.A. in Jazz Studies with High Honors from the University of Michigan in 2003. He relocated to Seattle in 2005 and began working with some of the Pacific Northwest’s finest Latin and jazz artists. Chadsey was featured twice at Meany Hall as part of the University of Washington Visiting Artists in Ethnomusicology Concert Series — in 2007 with Joe Santiago and in 2010 with Laura Rebolloso. In 2009 Chadsey was featured on the independently-released recording Brazilian Songbird by Seattle-based jazz ensemble Sambatuque. Later that year he performed at El Teatro del Estado in Xalapa, Mexico, with the Panamerican Big Band, directed by Rufus Reid. In 2010 Chadsey performed, recorded, and arranged music for the East L.A.-based Chicano rock group, Quetzal. He played the Fender Rhodes piano on two tracks for Quetzal’s 2011 release Imaginaries, which won the 2013 Grammy Award for “Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album.”

Chadsey is a two-time recipient of the City Artist Grant from the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, in 2011 and 2013 respectively. The most recent grant supported a project called “Sounds Beyond Barriers,” which featured collaboration between students from the Seattle World School and a diverse team of artists, community activists, and educators from Los Angeles, Mexico, and Seattle.

John Kim, a native of Tacoma, Washington, received a full scholarship to attend the pre-college division at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree. He earned a Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music studying with New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow. Upon Kim’s graduation, the college’s dean invited Kim to be guest soloist under legendary maestro Sixten Ehrling with the Manhattan Symphony. Kim was a New York String Orchestra Seminar participant under Alexander Schneider and Jaime Laredo with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He led the Jupiter Symphony of New York as Concertmaster and other ensembles at Merkin Hall, New York Town Hall, and Riverside Church NYC. He also served as Assistant Concertmaster of the Sarasota Opera in Florida, attended the Tanglewood and Spoleto festivals, and performed with jazz saxophonist David Sanborn at the White House for President Bill Clinton. He has toured cities in Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, and Italy with the North Carolina School of the Arts International Music Program and also performed in the Seoul Festival Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chung at the Seoul Performing Arts Center in South Korea.

In the Puget Sound area, Kim is the former Concertmaster of the Bellevue Philharmonic and Northwest Sinfonietta, Associate Concertmaster of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Principal 2nd Violin of the Tacoma Symphony, and a member of the Seattle Symphony during their inaugural season at Benaroya Hall. He was the top prize winner of the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle Competition, featured artist on KING FM “Live by George,” and appeared as a guest soloist with numerous regional orchestras. In chamber music, he has collaborated with international artists Richard Stolzman, Elina Vähälä, Ralf Gothóni, Joseph Silverstein, and members of the Philadelphia Orchestra for Ensemble M and performed on the UW World Series at Meany Hall and Second City Strings Chamber Music Series. Currently, Kim plays frequently in the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and Seattle recording studios for motion pictures, Xbox, and Playstation games. He is on the coaching faculty of the Seattle Conservatory of Music and the Seattle Youth Symphony and maintains a private teaching studio in Bellevue, Washington.

Nick Wiswell is an industry veteran with over 20 years of experience and more than 25 shipped video game titles to his name. He has been the Audio Director at Turn 10 Studios at Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios since 2010, overseeing the audio development of the Forza series of games including Motorsport, Horizon, and Street titles. Prior to that, he was an Audio Manager at game developer Bizarre Creations, contributing to series such as Geometry Wars, Project Gotham Racing, and Fur Fighters.

Wiswell has remained at the forefront of audio technology, content creation, and delivering world-class interactive audio experiences for his entire career. He has taught at DigiPen since 2018, drawing on his years of industry experience to share the art of game audio integration with his students.

Rachel Yoder currently serves as adjunct professor of music theory, musicianship, and clarinet at DigiPen Institute of Technology, and as editor of The Clarinet, the quarterly journal of the International Clarinet Association. Based in the Seattle area, she currently performs with the Madera Wind Quintet, Seattle Modern Orchestra, and Odd Partials clarinet/electronics duo, with additional recent collaborations including the Universal Language Project, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, and a video production of Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint at the Classical KING FM studio.

Yoder has performed and presented throughout the United States, including at the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest and the International Computer Music Conference. She previously taught clarinet and woodwind pedagogy at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and taught clarinet as a teaching fellow at the University of North Texas, where she earned a doctorate in clarinet performance. She also holds degrees from Michigan State University and Ball State University.