About Me

Hi, I’m Justin!

…and I am an audio professional from the Greater Pittsburgh Area! I have been working and messing around with music and sound ever since I was a young child playing my mom’s pots and pans like drums. I exceled in my early music classes and in fourth grade and started learning the trumpet. From there, my audio prospect blossomed as I became more and more interested in anything and everything related to sound and music!

From my very first musical performance when I was very young to working with professional orchestras and video game projects with thousands of fans, my audio career has been a crazy one with many twists and turns into different niches!

Now, I work professionally as a sound design, and audio editor looking to work in either video games, television, or film! Most of my work is gigs here and there, but I’m never opposed to full-time opportunities. I also make my own music and other little projects on the side, while also making content for YouTube and Twitch for fun in my free-time!

Learn more about me and my skills below!

Skills

I listen to my clients for what mood and intensity they need for their projects and work with them to create a stand-out sonic palette that feels purposeful and interconnected with every element of the project. My experience working on teams and solo in video games and other visual media over the past 4 years has made my sound work a staple in whatever I work on.

Sound Design

Production

From working with fellow musicians in the studio to editing dialogue for podcasts and online videos, my 9 years of professional production and post-production experience range from live bands to orchestras and from electronic and hip-hop to rock and pop. I have experience with many different software, like Reaper, Izotope RX, Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, and I’m even Pro Tools User Certified.

Composition

After studying the works of many composers and musical artists in and out of school, I have developed a strong competency in the art of music theory and composition. With my 7 years of composition work, I have developed a strong understand of the fundamentals of music and tested it’s boundaries through rigorous experimentation in various styles and genres.

Technical

Audio for games and other visual media mean little when they are not implemented into the project. With my 4 years of implementation experience across video games with audio middleware software like FMOD and Wwise in engines like Unity and Unreal Engine 5 and across other visual media like implementing sound, music, and dialogue into videos for YouTube and livestreams on Twitch.

Musicianship

Being a practiced musician myself, I understand the struggle of working with someone who hasn’t touched an instrument in their life. I have up to 15 years of experience with various instruments, like trumpet, French horn, piano, guitar, bass, drums, vocals, and many others while working with fellow musicans in various groups and for various settings.

Content Creation

Online entertainment is moving faster than ever and everyone is getting involved. With my 4 years of online content creation on platforms like YouTube and Twitch, I have learned how to find a niche and build a community around different types of content. It has also allowed me to develop version skills for media, like video and image editing, design, and lighting.

Education

In May of 2020, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Commercial Music Technology from the California University of Pennsylvania (now Pennsylvania Western University California) in California, PA, about an hour south of the great city of Pittsburgh, PA. I graduated with a 3.98 GPA. Some of my important core classes included:

  • Music and Recording Technology I-V

  • Comprehensive Musicianship I-IV

  • Commercial Music Arranging

  • Jazz: History, Form, and Analysis

  • Music in the Media

  • Digital Performance

  • Multimedia Foundations

  • Private Instruction in High Brass and Piano

While in college, I was a member, section leader, and Vice President of the University Band Program playing various instruments such as the trumpet in the Jazz Ensemble, French horn in the Concert Wind Ensemble, and mellophone in the Vulcan Marching Band.

I was also the president and parliamentarian of the Theta Gamma chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi, the co-ed National Honorary Band Fraternity, whose mission is to promote the advancement of college and university bands through dedicated service and support to bands, comprehensive education, leadership opportunities, and recognition for the benefit of its members and society.

Fun Facts

Here’s some random facts about me if you wanna learn about me as a person:

  • I play a lot of different types of games, but mainly adventure and role-playing games. But the two games I play the most regularly are Tetris and Splatoon 3 (I’m even on a competitive Splatoon 3 team!)

  • I grew up listening to a lot of rock and metal music but eventually started listening to a lot of EDM music in high school. Now, I listen to a wide variety of styles of music because there’s so much to appreciate from different genres.

  • I love streaming on Twitch and making fun videos on YouTube for my friends. It always makes me smile whenever I can make someone else smile!

  • I play a few table-top roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, Call of Cthulhu, and Cyberpunk 2020/RED. I have plenty of experience being a player and a game master running both pre-written and my own custom games.

  • I’m an only child so I had a lot of time by myself to get creative and make fun for myself. It’s made me have to think outside the box and grow a sense of ingenuity to entertain myself and grow as a person.