Maize Wallin

Interests

  • Audio technology
  • Technology innovation
  • Pipeline development
  • Musicianship in games, and audio systems
  • Advocacy, worker rights
  • Ethical small business

Skills and Technology

  • Composition and sound design
  • Community engagement
  • 3D audio and spatialisation, XR
  • Dynamic music systems
  • Unity, Unreal, Godot, Wwise, FMOD
  • C#, Blueprints, C++

Education

  • Bachelor of Fine Arts (contemporary music – interactive composition) Victorian College of the Arts | University of Melbourne Nov 2014
  • Short course: Designing Musical Games | Stanford CCRMA 2016
  • Graduate Certificate in Community Arts Engagement - Victorian College of the Arts | University of Melbourne Sep 2015
  • Cert III Business | TSS Westaff 2012

Experience

2024

Teaching

  • University of Melbourne - guest lecturer on technical audio and basic game making, and marking panel member for videogames studies
  • Lyrebirds - day long workshop in Brisbane on game engines and game audio
  • Next in Audio - opening game audio workshops at Arts Centre Melbourne

Advocacy

Awards

  • Freeplay - Wayward Strand | Nominated for Best Sound, Best Design, Best Visual, Winner of Best Narrative

2023

Game Audio

  • Ghost Pattern - Audio director, composition, sound design, and engineer
  • Wolfire -  audio implementation and sound design
  • Vector Storm - audio implementation and sound design
  • MusicAtollsVR - audio implementation and production, shown at Maldives National Arts Centre

Advocacy

Conference Involvement

Awards

  • Australian Game Developer Awards - Wayward Strand | nominated for best serious game 

2022

Game Audio

  • Wayward Strand - Audio director, composition, sound design, and engineer
  • Wolfire  audio implementation and sound design
  • Apartment - audio implementation, sound design, and music

Advocacy

Broadcast

Conference Involvement

  • Freeplay Festival - Indie bands * Indie Games panel
  • Freeplay Festival - Games Gig - online concert
  • HighScore - Presenter on the Sound of Wayward Strand
  • GCAP - GCAP 2022: Ambition: 25,000 lines of VO in an Aussie indie... talk presenter
  • Group Up - Game Workers Australia union event
  • PAX Aus - panellist on panels to do with Wayward Strand and Game Workers Australia

Awards

2021

Game Audio

  • Wayward Strand - Audio director, composition, sound design, and engineer
  • Receiver 2 - audio implementation and sound design
  • UFOTOFU - audio implementation, sound design, and music
  • Godfall - audio implementation

Advocacy

Broadcast

Conferences

2020

Game Audio

  • Wayward Strand - Audio director, composition, sound design, and engineer
  • Receiver 2 - audio implementation and sound design
  • God Fall - audio implementation with A Shell In The Pit

Advocacy

Teaching

  • Make Games Now - teacher and facilitator of month long game development education program with regional youth in South Australia
  • University of Melbourne - guest lecturer on technical audio and basic game making, and marking panel member for videogames studies
  • Audio Game Jam - facilitator and teacher
  • NYU Game Center - guest lecture on technical audio pipeline in games
  • Voice Booth - guest lecture on audio engineering voice over

Broadcast

Other

2019

Game Audio

Solo Projects

Advocacy

  • NonBinary.Zone - cofounder
  • Widget - Director
  • Game Workers Unite Australia - Melbourne Representative

Awards

  • 30 under 30 MCV Develop
  • Pixelles GDC Program
  • Film Victoria GDC Grant
  • Izotope Sponsorship for Train Jam Audio Room

Conference Involvement

  • Women in Music Festival 2019 - NoiseDrawers VR Music performance and presentation (Melbourne)
  • Fast Forward Music Industry Conference 2019 - NoiseDrawers showcase (Sydney)
  • Freeplay Festival 2019 - Game Workers Unite small business workshop, NoiseDrawers performance and presentation (Melbourne)
  • Creative State Summit 2019 - NoiseDrawers VR Music Industry Performance and Presentation (Melbourne)
  • ATOM Youth Media Festival 2019 - Media Industry expert panellist (Melbourne)
  • MELT Gayming 2019 - Personal Queer Games panellist (Brisbane)
  • CHANGES 2019 - Future Industries panellist (Melbourne)
  • XR:WA 2019 - Future Industries Panellist (Perth)
  • XR:WA 2019 - NoiseDrawers a deep dive into VR audio (Perth)
  • GCAP - presentation with Jason Bakker on co-op business structure in game development (Melbourne)
  • Level Up KL - Panel Member on crunch culture in games (Kuala Lumpur)
  • Playtopia - Noise Drawers, talk about VR music performance (Cape Town)
  • VR Deep Dive - teacher of one day VR development workshop (Colombo)

2018

Game Audio

Conference Involvement

Teaching

Other

  • Appointed to Widget Board of Directors

2017

Teaching

  • SAE Melbourne guest lecture - getting in to game audio, for sound designers
  • Freelance composition consultation in games, media and general teaching.

Guest appearances

Game Audio

2016

Teaching

  • Australian Institute of Music - Lecturer in Sound for Interactive Media, and composition tutor (2015-current)
  • Freelance composition consultation in games, media and general teaching.
  • TASJam - Audio workshop "Audio Done Quick" at UTAS, and jam mentor
  • SAE Brisbane - guest lecture on ideal work pipeline and management between composers and game development teams
  • University of Sunshine Coast - Diversity Week guest lecture on soudn in media.
  • Monash University Centre for Performing Arts, Melbourne - Guest lecture on sound design, audio cues, and immersive live speaker set-up for theatre
  • AIE Melbourne - Guest lecture on the role of sound in media

Game Audio

Awards

Festival involvement

  • Freeplay - Composure: Game Music (panelist with Tim Shiel, Meghann O'Neill and Dan Golding)
  • PAX Aus (live composer on "Nanojam - Designing a game in 45 minutes", panellist on "Hey Listen! What makes games sound so good?")
  • Design and Play exhibition - RMIT Design Hub. Terraphone made with Thomas Ingram.
  • Contours - History of fringe game development in Melbourne, held at Library on the Docks, City of Melbourne, Melbourne International Games Week (interviewee)
  • VideoBrains Christmas - Prescriptive and Postscriptive audio presentation

Other

  • musicianship in games - series of interactive compositions
  • Parley - composition and sound design for theatre

2015

Directed/Produced

  • Encounters (co-director) - 5x10x5m interactive public art installation with Microsoft Social NUI lab and Victorian College of the Arts
  • Terraphone (composer and producer) - producer to visual programmer, Thomas Ingram and composer to exhibitions of Tiny Planet at Arts Centre Melbourne, and Climarte Festival's Maldives Exodus Caravan at Federation Square and Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdansk, Poland
  • Ctrl_Coda (co-director and composer) series of video games controlled by musical instruments, touring exhibition
  • Sublime (visuals producer) real-time audio-reactive visuals by Thomas Ingram for live concert about science by Charlie Marshall
  • All The Animals We Ate (visuals producer) visuals by Thomas Ingram for theatre, written by Sean Whelan and James Tresise

Festival/Conference Involvement

  • PAX Aus (live composer on "Nanojam - Designing a game in 45 minutes")
  • Freeplay Independent Games Festival (panel speaker on Games in the Arts World: Five Perspectives and Contexts of Games and Play and Collective Intelligence, and guest composer on Dynamic Music in Games)
  • You Are Here (CTRL_Coda at Canberra Gallery and Museum)
  • Summer Salt Festival (Encounters at Victorian College of the Arts)
  • White Night Festival (Encounters at Victorian College of the Arts)

Composition

  • Meet Me For Meaning (theatre show by Harley Hefford, directed by Georgia Symons for youth theatre)
  • Terraphone (composer and producer) - producer to visual programmer, Thomas Ingram and composer to exhibitions of Tiny Planet at Arts Centre Melbourne, and Climarte Festival's Maldives Exodus Caravan at Federation Square and Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdansk, Poland
  • Ctrl_Coda (co-director and composer) series of video games controlled by musical instruments, touring exhibition
  • Encounters (co-director and composer) - 5x10x5m interactive public art installation with Microsoft Social NUI lab and Victorian College of the Arts

2014

Directed/Produced

Conference Involvement

  • DiGRAA 2014 Guest panel speaker on ‘indie gaming communities outside scholarly pursuits’
  • PAX Aus 2014 Guest panel speaker on ‘Where to now for Australian Game Development?’ (with Mark Serrels, Chris Wright, Clara Reeves, Morgan Jaffit and Tony Lawrence) and 'Solo Games Development' (with Izzy Gamp, Alexander Bruce, Chris Johnson and Ken Wong)

Education Involvement

  • Wyndam College VCE Composition workshop (student composer from Victorian College of the Arts)
  • Brunswick Secondary College VCE (guest speaker on composition studies)
  • 'Many Cultures - Many Voices' - Centre for Cultural Partnerships (VCA&MCM - University of Melbourne) (team of composers running sound workshop at West Richmond Primary School)

Music for Games

  • Söka (PC, minimal soccer based PC game by Harrison Smith) Composer, Sound Design
  • Framed - Loveshack Entertainment (award-winning IOS game) Composition consultant to Adrian Moore
  • Cyber Lasso (browser based puzzle game by Alan Hazelden) Composer, Sound Design
  • Emma (tablet based game with Harry Lee, Kevin Chen, Ngoc Vu, and Bill Kalominidis) Composer, Sound Design

Music for Film

  • Look On (Short directed by Constantine Ballis) Composer
  • Lavender and Tangerine: A Drama in Four Movements (Feature directed by Constantine Ballis) Composer
  • Mightier Than The Sword (Short directed by Christel Chia) Composer
  • Merging (two short dance films by Chad McLachlan) composer and collaborator

Awards

  • Victorian College of the Arts LA & NYC Global Atelier (sponsored intensive arts trip to Venice Beach and New York)

2013

I graduated my BFA at the Victorian College of the Arts in Interactive Composition, at the end of 2013. So this year is a mix of student and professional work. During my degree I also did a variety of music for advertising, and other student film and dance projects. Most of my self-directed work was in live art, as I transitioned in to my game audio career.

Directed/Produced

Conference Involvement

Music for Games

  • Foliage (IOS game by Reuben Covington) Composer, sound design
  • Dim (PC game by Reuben Covington) Composer, Sound Design
  • Mountain Raiders (PC game) Composer, sound design

Music for Film and Theatre

  • A Bridge Across Time (short film - directed by Constantine Ballis) Composer
  • Along The Road (short film - directed by Trent McClure) Composer
  • Moos of The World (animation and game concept by Tom Yandell) Sound design
  • Tuesday (play written by Louris van de Geer, directed by Alice Darling) Composer, sound design
  • Seeing Red (short film commissioned by Red Cross - directed by Lucy Cooke) Composer
  • Personal Prints (short film - directed by Constantine Ballis) Composer

Awards

  • Victorian College of the Arts encouragement award for innovation (Monetary grant)

2012