Tom Ekstedt
I am a music composer and designer, primarily focused on the production of video game music. Music is huge part of my life, I spend significant time playing and thinking about music. This has meant that I am capable of playing piano, drums, guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, saxophone and a little bit of cello. I consider myself to be a quick learner and the musical experience I already have makes gaining new experience faster still.
An often overlooked area of music is the music found in games. I am an avid gamer and there is nothing worse than playing a great game with a bad soundtrack.
A good soundtrack can be the difference between a mediocre game and an excellent game. Think of Halo’s iconic choral theme or Undertale’s incredible score, a good soundtrack is always part of a great game.
The start of my musical career…
The start of my musical career was when I played in a band called The Kipflers. I was 10 at the time and although I had done some busking beforehand, this was my first proper gig. The band consisted of myself on ukulele, my brother also on ukulele and three of my friends on ukulele, guitar and percussion . We played for a local festival called Spudfest. We went around and played at various markets in the surrounding area in the lead up to Spudfest as a way to advertise for the festival. We also played on the day of the festival.
Short Fuse
During high-school I was part of a punk rock band called Short Fuse. I played the drums along with my friends on guitar and bass. We played at various events for our school and for the community. We played at an R U OK day event and an international women’s day event among others. We also organised a community event in a local town where our band and three others played to an audience of local young people. We also played in a local competition in which we placed first.
The Future
I have recently finished my final year of school during which I completed VET Music Performance Cert III playing piano. This required me to come up with and then perform a set of songs. I came up with an entire performance built around the music found in video games. I started with the Moon Patrol theme from 1982 and made my way through the generations of video games all the way to some more recent music from games like Skyrim and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
The next step for me is a bachelor of creative arts at ACU. I look forward to furthering my musical education. However, in the meantime I would be delighted to create music for all your video game needs.