ABOUT SIMON STEMBERGER
Simon Stemberger is a Melbourne-based videogame/film composer, with a Bachelor of Music Performance at COLLARTS majoring on electric guitar and a Bachelor of Applied Music in Composition from Box Hill Institute.
Recruited by Audio Generalist Aaron C. Edwards, Simon worked as a Music and Audio Editing Assistant on the videogame “Puzzle Quest 3” and the “Gems of War: Gnomapalooza” event. Recently as Assistant Product Manger at Firelight Technologies (FMOD) Simon was key in developing conference demos (Music and Sound Design) and an onboard tutorial series. Simon is also credited as sound designer and music composer for the games “Project Regolith” and “Mage Escape”.
He has also composed music for the Melbourne-based Syzygy Ensemble. In 2020, the label Tremorverse included Simon’s Ambient Gothic piece “Repentance” on their 2020 Compilation Album.
Between his insatiable passion for music composition and his meticulous work ethic, Simon has developed a diverse array of audio creation skills to invest in every project he devotes himself to.
BACKGROUND
Simon's first foray into the world of music was through the Highland Bagpipes. Being his first major instrument, he was taught by many of Australia's most respected Pipers such as Ian Lyons from the former Grade One World Pipe Band Championship-winning group the "Victorian Police Pipe Band" and David McNamara from the seven-time Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo performing band "The Rats of Tobruk". Simon now has over two decades experience with the great Highland Bagpipes.
Next Simon became infatuated with the guitar, moving into more technical elements of the instrument. This pushed Simon through his Bachelors of Music Performance at COLLARTS, where he formed a progressive metal band named AAVAA for the duration of his studies. This band garnered a reputation at the university, earning the group a recording session with Karnivool's live audio engineer Dylan Mitrovitch.
Whilst at COLLARTS Simon began composing more and more music which in turn propelled him into continuing his music education, focusing on Composition for Media at Box Hill Institute. Here, Simon collaborated on projects with Deakin University, AIE University and Swinburne University and composed for the Syzygy Ensemble, a group of critically acclaimed performers - the members of which also perform with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In his final year, he was awarded "Best Film Score" for his work on Mosalas.
AT FMOD
In 2022 after graduating with his Bachelor of Applied Music Composition for Media, Simon was invited to join Firelight Technologies as Assistant Product Manager where he attended meetings with many clients including, but not limited to, associates from Microsoft. He assisted in the creation and editing of FMOD's new onboarding tutorial series (coming soon) and the 2022 and 2023 conference demos; from music and audio to level design.
In 2022 Simon assisted with the APRA AMCOS Song Hubs event sponsored by FMOD, the APRA AMCOS High Score game audio conference, the Games Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) conference and interacted with current and potential users at PAX Aus.
The following year Simon further aided in conferences by presenting material, in addition to the above. Attending the 2023 APRA AMCOS High Score game audio conference, he helped present and demonstrate a newly curated FMOD minigame. Simon facilitated the GCAP interview hosted by Aaron Edwards (FMOD Product Manager) looking at the Cult of the Lamb FMOD session with Narayan Johnson aka "River Boy".
Simon assisted Aaron Edwards at both the Global Gaming Expo and Game Sound Con (GSC) conferences in the United States. At GSC he manned the FMOD booth and presented a custom-made demo by Aaron Edwards consisting of technical adaptive music systems in FMOD and their horror minigame. This showcased a diverse array of game audio techniques from beginner to expert level tool uses.
