We recently connected with Sean Beeson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi SEAN, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
When I was first starting off as a full-time freelance composer (around 2006), I was encouraged to move away from Ohio to a larger city like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, or Seattle.
I decided that I could stay in Ohio, start my career entirely online, and work remotely to build my portfolio, career, and business.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a 39 year old music composer, producer, sound designer and UX audio designer who lives in the middle of nowhere Ohio, about 10 minutes away from where I was born and raised.
I got my start in music as kid, by playing with keyboards and playing sega genesis. It fueled my passion and love of both music and technology! I started taking piano lessons at 11 years old, and that was the flame that ignited the start of my composing. From the time I was close to being a teenager, I was composing music, and haven’t stopped composing music since!
I went to college at Capital University, and received a BM in Music Composition from their Conservatory of Music. During my time in college, I began working as a freelance composer on small indie games and films, but it was the beginning of my business Sean Beeson Studio. By the time I graduated, I was working nearly full-time as a freelance composer and producer.
I began working primarily as a videogame freelance composer, but have moved into speciality areas within composing, including UX/UI Audio Design and sonic branding, and Catholic/Faith-Based media.
I am now close to 40 years old, have been doing this professionally for close to 20 years, and absolutely love what I do. I feel so blessed that I am able to create music and sound to help inspire, motivate, and engage players (if it is a game!) or viewers (if it is a film/ad/product). Music and sound is such a powerful part of a audio/visual (and interactive) experience, and so to be able to work hand in hand with the developers and producers to craft, create, and shape a message is a vital part of my job.
At the end of the day, I am just a guy writing music and making sounds in a cabin. Although I utilize cutting edge technology, I am going to work in my shorts and t-shirt, and hanging out with my family (there are 9 of us total, 7 kids, and my wife of 17 years, Laura), between projects and sessions. I am most proud of my family and that my work hasn’t consumed me, which is a challenge in this line of work!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
When I was starting off as a freelance composer (roughly 2003/04) I was constantly being told that I had to live in L.A. if I ever wanted to be working as a media/film/game composer. I never really understood that, as I saw a lot of successful and talented composers (albeit older) who lived all around the world! “No one will take you seriously if you stay in Ohio…” is something I heard all too regular.
I never had desire to want to leave Ohio, as my family and my wife’s family (many generations) came to and lived in this area. We wanted to be in a rural part of the country and live as isolated as we could. I made a decision to continue to work as hard (online) as I possibly could, and hustle at every opportunity I could so that I wouldn’t have to live in bigger city like L.A.
While L.A. is a wonderful city, and without a doubt, it offers many opportunities for career advancement, I knew that my heart wasn’t ever going to be there if we ever lived there. Even with job opportunities being offered to me on west coast cities (San Fran, Mountain View) I decided to stay in Ohio. I did sacrifice some incredible opportunities by not moving, but these decisions made me also realize that my job, my career, my lifestyle of music, was just that. A job. It isn’t me, and it doesn’t fully define who I am, or what I am.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My particular mission is make viewers, listeners, and players, feel anything. That seems very generic, but in context it will make more sense. Modern consumers are inundated with stimulus ALL THE TIME. I feel that my job is get them to stop, take a listen, take a breath, and truly hear or see what is happening.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.seanbeeson.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanbeeson
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/gamecomposer
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanbeeson
- Twitter: @seanbeeson
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sean-beeson