I'm 32, born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. Recently laid off from Relic Entertainment where I was working daily with Wwise to create and manage music, ambience, and game-state flow systems. Before finding a foothold in games, I was working in the ever changing world of live sound engineering for theatres across the lower mainland (including an extended stint with the City of New Westminster at the Massey Theatre), while composing, producing and performing in numerous musical projects.
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dcowling at cowlingplus dot com
My background in sound is rooted in music. Early inspiration from the Talking Heads, and Devo had me singing screaming around the house from an early age. I played trumpet in elementary school band, then guitar in high school senior jazz band. A music technology course taught me about DAW’s, and since then I’ve been obsessed with recording and manipulating sound.
Yes, that is an eclectic mix of gear for a busking festival in the summer 2012; and yes, KD Lang's Juno performance of Hallelujah made shoes obsolete.
Evenings disappeared as I taught myself mixing and recording techniques in Steinberg’s Sequel 2, and eventually, Pro Tools. When I was accepted by UBC and SFU’s music programs, I leapt straight for the one with “Electroacoustic Music” in the title. At Simon Fraser University I learned about active listening, acoustic ecology, and the history of electronic music. I performed 8-channel pieces with pre-recorded and live elements, composed for modern small ensembles, and landed on the cover of the school newspaper.
The other pages on this website further detail the breadth of my audio experience, from theatre, games, video, and of course, music.
When not actively listening or screaming singing I’m playing ice-hockey at 8-Rinks, volunteering on my local Electoral District Association, playing bass with a pick in a wedding band, and building Windows computers inside old AV equipment.
Inspired by the incredible sonic work found in Hades, Disco Elysium, Dear Esther; although, sometimes I wonder if any game will ever sound as good as Halo: Reach.
