Dynopunk: Sounds of the Retro Future

The Creative Brief

This was a video game soundtrack and sound design project with a truly unique challenge: how do you blend 80s synthwave, lofi hip hop, hair metal and Japanese city pop into a cohesive musical universe? The developers of Dynopunk wanted to find a sound that was fun, playful, cozy and paying homage to a huge variety of classic 80s sounds.

Developing the Concept

This project began with a lot of genre exploration, playing with sounds and textures and rhythms that I wasn’t initially familiar with. I also knew that I would need some assistance in the process, so I brought in a bunch of collaborators to help with electric guitar, saxophone and 80s rock vocals.
Because I needed to write so much music (30 tracks) I decided to approach it in sections, writing four or five tracks in a single genre at a time. This helped me to immerse myself in that sound for a while and to explore it more fully. For each batch of of new songs, the developers and I came up with fictional band for those songs to help give the game’s world a little more depth and backstory.

Takeaways

I’ve always loved 80s music. There’s something about the synth and guitar tones of that period that just feels perfectly nostalgic, even though I never experienced them at the time! This game allowed me to dive into those sounds on my own terms, bringing my own musical sensibilities into the mix. It was an incredible opportunity to build a whole musical universe for a game and because of the volume of music needed, I really got to immerse myself in that world and write from a place that felt authentic to the characters and the story.