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How I Started Creating Soundtracks

 

It was 2011. I was actively exploring the art of composing music for game soundtracks, using not only my usual guitar but also various synthetic and orchestral sounds through special software and music libraries. I wanted to write grand and engaging music.

 

After putting together several demos, I started looking for my first clients. I had no connections, no contacts, and no experience in this field. I scoured dozens and dozens of game‑related websites online, searching for links to developers. It took a lot of time — but it was worth it.

 

I sent out over a hundred pitch emails, only to find that most people weren’t in a hurry to reply to a brand‑new freelance composer. The response, as a rule, wasn’t even a rejection email — just nothing, silence.

 

However, my faith and persistence paid off: I got a reply from a then‑well‑known game development company. They liked my demos. They told me they were working on a new large‑scale MMORPG Royal Quest and were open to collaboration. They showed me some screenshots and described the kind of music they wanted.

 

Full of enthusiasm, I got to work on my first track. It wasn’t very convenient to compose: at the time, I didn’t have a MIDI keyboard, so I had to make do with a mouse — “imagining” which notes would work best and clicking on keys in a virtual keyboard inside the software.

 

My first draft was criticised and rejected. But that only spurred me on. My next few attempts also missed the mark. I just couldn’t quite grasp what they were looking for — I simply lacked the experience. Still, I wasn’t about to give up.

 

Finally, after making more revisions, I composed a musical theme and sent it to the developers — and, lo and behold, they loved it and accepted it successfully! I received my first‑ever professional fee.

 

I think it was almost the very same day that I went to a music store and spent all that money on a brand‑new MIDI keyboard. It served me faithfully for several years after that.

 

I remember how happy I felt driving home from the store, realising that those who back then (and even now) kept insisting that “you can’t make a living from music” had been proven wrong. From that moment on, my career as a composer in the game development industry began.