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Pixelated Harmony: The Voices Behind Video Game Music - Megan McDuffee
16 Plays1 month ago
We're back! After missing the last couple of months, I'm excited to bring Pixelated Harmony back! Kicking off our 2026 lineup, I'm joined by award-winning composer, music producer, and recording artist Megan McDuffee. Megan's work can be heard and seen across video games, trailers, tv and film. Megan has been instrumental in crafting the sounds and music for the modern day Atari collections, the Streets of Rogue 2, Halloween and Ash vs. Evil Dead, and of course the River City Girls series.
Make sure to check out everything that Megan has going on! Megan McDuffee All Sites: https://hyperfollow.com/MeganMcDuffee
Pixelated Harmony YouTube: https://youtube.com/@pixelated-harmony X: https://x.com /smitty2447
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:08
Speaker
And welcome to another episode of Pixelated Harmony, the voices behind video game music. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and safe new year. After a little bit of a hiatus, we are finally back and I am super pumped to introduce you to our next guest, multi-award winning composer, music producer, and recording artist, Megan McDuffie.
00:00:31
Speaker
Megan, thank you so much for joining the show. How were your holidays? How have you been? So glad to be here. Thanks for inviting me. um Holidays were good. yep It was really nice to have a break. i Got some family time in there too, which was its own blend of chaos and awesome. So ah yeah, doing well. Hopefully your holidays were good also.
00:00:54
Speaker
Yeah, no, they were fantastic. I feel like i was about to say, such are the holidays. ah It's always ah a mixture of happiness and chaos and, you know what i mean, this and that. So they can always be stressful times for a lot of folks, but we made it. We're here. It's 2026. You know, we've got a great outlook. And again, and you're going to be our first guest here for 2026. So again, thank you so much for joining us.
00:01:20
Speaker
I'm going to jump, you know, right into it and and just kind of get down to some of the questions here.
Educational Journey in Music
00:01:27
Speaker
I realize, and you know, a lot of times, especially during interviews, you know, you can go back and like, oh, how'd you, how'd you start and whatnot? I've already done some research. I know how you started. You, you love music. My question is, and we're going we're going to, I just want to touch on college just a little bit. um You know, your, your major and minor, you, you minored in electronic music and then your, your major was in, it was, was it film composing? Yeah. Film scoring.
00:01:53
Speaker
Yes, yes. So tell me, what you know kind of drove you ah to major, minor in those? And you know what was it that that said, you know, I think this is the route I want to take to start off?
00:02:07
Speaker
Sure, yeah. um It's funny that we start with college because I'm literally wearing my... Let's go!...UCAC sweatshirt today. It was just coincidence, so I love that. um Yeah, I...
00:02:21
Speaker
went into my undergrad knowing that obviously I was going to do a music major. um Since I had been singing my whole life, it just made sense for me to start with the vocal major. And sophomore year, it kind of just wasn't quite what I wanted. it was very, very focused on classical, an opera,
00:02:44
Speaker
And i did not see my life trajectory becoming an opera singer. So i was like, you know, this is cool, but it's not quite the entire fit. um And around the same time, i took a film music class. It was in a big lecture hall. We had to do a bunch of like in-depth analyses of films and the score and why they work so well together, why they didn't work. And i had pretty much an epiphany During that class, like, holy crap, I have always listened to film soundtracks. Why didn't I put two and two together? Definitely want to pursue music for film. It just it made way more sense for me. So from that point on, I pivoted and started kind of doing the composition side of things instead of the vocal performance side of things. um I went into school always planning on doing an electronic music minor simply because I loved electronic music and I loved producing it.
00:03:44
Speaker
So that was actually one of the reasons that drew me to UC Santa Cruz in the first place was that program. So yeah, that's that's how that happened. So is that something, is that, is with the electronic minor, is that something specific to UC Santa Cruz? Or is that something that you see in other, like, music departments when you're going through the curriculum?
Mastering Orchestration at Berklee
00:04:07
Speaker
I, at the time, going to date myself a little bit here. This would have been looking in the... early 2000s schools. Since then, I haven't looked at, you know, core curriculums for other universities. But at the time, it seemed pretty unique, um especially for a state school.
00:04:31
Speaker
I mean, there were definitely and still are private universities that, you know, have very specialized music departments and music programs. But for a state college, this was a big win. Yeah, that's huge. And then, of course, afterwards, you went on to get your master's at Berkeley, I believe?
00:04:50
Speaker
Yes, Berkeley College of New York. Okay, yes. And that was in orchestration? was it So let me ask then, was that kind of like a natural flow going from, you know, your undergrad and then getting into your graduate school and then going into like, or the focus being in orchestration? What was the choice behind that?
00:05:15
Speaker
For me, it was very personal. um It wasn't like UCSC was a feeder school for Berklee College of Music. um I did my master's certification online, so I wasn't actually on the East Coast where the school is physically located. That was because I was working at Apple at the time and trying to you know balance life.
00:05:36
Speaker
um So for me, it was that I felt that I didn't get enough real world practice in orchestration, specifically for film and TV. I wanted way more in-depth, hands-on, bootcamp style, you know, focus on writing for orchestra and arrangements and literally knowing how to take any orchestral instrument and write sheet music for it that I could hand to a player and it would make sense to them. So yeah, it was just for my own personal toolkit. I felt like I was
00:06:13
Speaker
just missing that final element to my education.
Composing for Atari Games
00:06:17
Speaker
You know, it's interesting that you say that, because a lot of musicians that I've spoken with too, I feel like there's always some variation or we end up speaking about their toolkit, whether that be physical instruments, their voice, how they, you know, how they compose music. There's always that that toolkit of things that you can use and that you gather as you go through life and and and go through, you know, different experiences. that you then take and and are able to use within your creations.
00:06:54
Speaker
For sure, yeah. Yeah, no, I love that. And and speaking of which, of of creations and whatnot, I know that there is so much Really, that we can go over that that you've done. And it has been it is extensive in TV, film, commercials, podcasts, freaking video games, obviously. Let's start with video games, though. um I kind of wanted to touch on I know that you've done a lot of work with Latari.
00:07:27
Speaker
Things like, you know, Centipede, Yars, a huge collection. I want to know kind of what was that experience like, especially somebody that like like that's like me, I'm a little older. Those are games that I played, music that is ingrained, you know, in my head. So I kind of want to know what that experience was like for you, especially having some sort of idea of hearing that music before.
00:07:52
Speaker
Yeah. so those classics that you mentioned, things like Centipede and Asteroids, they didn't really have soundtracks before. It was kind of, I mean, I don't want to diminish it in such a way, but it was kind of a collection of beeps and boops. um Not, you know, a soundtrack as we would consume a soundtrack nowadays.
00:08:15
Speaker
um And I had never had an Atari growing up. Obviously, I was very, very familiar with Atari as a name, as a system. I didn't get into video games until the N64. So Atari was like just barely before my time. um But as far as working with them, they're fantastic. They reached out to me after hearing one of my other major projects and they were like, hey, we really like your stuff. You want to, you know,
00:08:44
Speaker
make some magic on our revamped classics and of course i said yes and it was a great partnership um yeah they basically started with centipede that was the first one i did and each game in their uh recharged series which are the classics that they then revamped they each kind of had a flavor that atari wanted So I think for Centipede, it was like 90s break, or not 90s breakbeat, that was later, but it was kind of like acid bass lines and sort of ninety s and 80s flair for that one that they specifically wanted. And other than that, they kind of just gave me the flexibility to do what I wanted, which was amazing. That's the best kind of client, right? They were just like, here, this is kind of our direction and to go forth and make some make some tunes.
00:09:39
Speaker
I love that. and And, you know, you make ah a great point, too, because a lot of that those older games were just comprised of of sounds. You know, there was only so much that they could put. So you weren't able to do like full soundtracks and whatnot. um Yeah.
00:09:53
Speaker
You know, going through and and the fact that they were like, hey, have at it, go through it, do what you're feeling. Yeah. Did that then spurn you to go in and like dive into the games and start playing them to get a better feel for like the atmosphere and what they're about?
00:10:10
Speaker
So for those projects, um Atari basically kind of gave me uh, gameplay footage and some of the artwork direction, simple game design document to go off of, but I didn't actually get to play any of them until they were done and out.
00:10:30
Speaker
Oh, so you didn't play until after. Didn't play until after. Yeah, it was, it was cool. I had, like I said, for visuals, I had art and I had art style, like direction and, uh,
00:10:42
Speaker
some gameplay footage that they had screen captured for me, but that's it. That's what I had to go on. Interesting. And I know too, I mean, with the plethora of projects that you've done, do you ever, I mean,
00:10:54
Speaker
Do you prefer a style like that or like going in kind of not really knowing other than just like, here's some art direction, here's, you know, or here's some art, here's some direction in terms of what we're looking for and then have at it. Or do you find that being able to kind of get your hands on gives you maybe a more, or I shouldn't say more, I should say like maybe like a deeper connection to it?
00:11:20
Speaker
For me I actually kind of like that hazy middle ground where it's it's not completely open-ended where they don't have any sort of direction because that can lead to disappointment like oh we didn't give you a direction but that's not what we wanted uh nor is it super super strict where they're literally like you have these four snares to choose from and you can only use these four snares uh so i like i like that middle ground where there is definitely a style direction and ideally some reference material uh you know style of music tracks that they like, a lot of clients will send me links to things to listen to. And from there, I am like, okay, I have a very good idea of instrumentation, tempo, genre, at least. And that space is where I find that I am most creative and also on brand for the client.
00:12:23
Speaker
I love that. no and and just, i mean, knowing your music and stuff like that, I feel like it fits so well into that style, that genre. And then, of course, with it being ah ah essentially a reboot of these older games into this generation,
00:12:39
Speaker
It fits so well. It's just a lot of fun. and I'm glad that it was ah a good experience for you and being able to work with such a classic company as Atari. As they're coming back, we're seeing more and more from them, which I absolutely love. So I'm glad that was a great experience in terms of that. Is there, I don't know, i guess looking back...
00:13:01
Speaker
Is there anything within, you know, the music that you created and and just working on those games, is there anything that maybe you would look and and say, ah, maybe I'd change that or do something differently here? Hmm.
00:13:15
Speaker
It's been many years now since the beginning of that collection, 10 games later. ah i think, I mean, I'm i'm pretty satisfied with with what came out of it. um Yeah, I dig it. I love it. I love it.
00:13:35
Speaker
Let's move over to, obviously, I have to talk about it.
Scoring River City Girls
00:13:38
Speaker
River City Girls, River City Girls 2, and then there was River City Girls Zero as well. um You've gotten to work on the music of this, the the entire series, right? and Yeah.
00:13:54
Speaker
I mean, that's got to be really nice to be able to to do. Take us back to, you know, kind of leading up to getting that, getting the gig of of being able to compose for River City Girls. And then just that expansion of it, you know, DLC, sequel, all that.
00:14:16
Speaker
Yeah. So I always call this one my networking miracle because that's what it was. Um, i was part of a group of video game soundtrack and music enthusiasts, arrangers, uh, cover artists, people like that in the video game space, um, called the materia collective. I think they are still around, but just maybe operating at a slightly different level.
00:14:45
Speaker
Uh, And one of the other members was Dale North, who is a very prolific, amazing composer in his own right. he just so happened to be part of this group, as well as me.
00:14:57
Speaker
We didn't really know each other, but he had been friends with and had worked with WayForward for many years. So when um one of the River City Girls directors, Adam, was talking with Dale, he' was like, hey, you know, we're working on this new project. We need someone who's really, you know, in the sort of synth pop, electro pop realm. do you know anybody who might be a good fit? And unbeknownst to me Dale recommended me to WayForward.
00:15:31
Speaker
And they reached out after hearing some samples of my work and it was just the perfect match. ah I owe Dale an infinite amount of gratitude for him putting me in their in their brains, basically, because It was just meant to happen, I think.
00:15:53
Speaker
And yeah, I didn't know at the time just how big in scope, like the amount of work that I would need to be doing for this project and the fact that it just had this huge visibility.
00:16:07
Speaker
ah I had heard of River City Ransom, like I i kind of knew that that existed beforehand, but yeah I didn't realize just how big this game and then subsequently the sequels.
00:16:19
Speaker
would be. So it's been, it was a dream come true, honestly, to work on that. I mean, what ah what a fun project. Number one, River City Ransom is an absolute classic. I remember playing that as a kid. So like the fact that it has expanded so much from that point, uh, already has my heart. Uh, I was always a huge fan of that, but yeah, Again, this is another one where, you know, when it comes to a project like this, and I know that, you know, they're saying they're looking for a a specific sound sometimes, or at least like within a genre. um Do you find yourself ever, or are you, do you have the ability, I should say, um to kind of experiment a little bit with that and with the genre?
00:17:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, especially on River City Girls 2, it was slightly different in that Bannon, the director on that one, really wanted me to, like, within the overarching synth pop umbrella to also then...
00:17:36
Speaker
kind of go in to really more specific micro-genres, which was super, super fun and a challenge to keep everything cohesive because not only did it have to sort of fit the River City music universe, but I had to do like,
00:17:53
Speaker
Hard techno, I had to do, ah what's it called? Electro swing, like big band jazz meets... He gave me like a cowboy bebop reference, which is like a full ass orchestra. So like super jazz influenced. There was one track that had to be very Latin flavored and It's got mariachi shouts in there. Like, it's just, it's a wacky soundtrack. And again, I had so much fun with it. So yeah, there is definitely some flexibility.
00:18:26
Speaker
i was going to say, i was like, just because, yeah, listening to the soundtrack, there it is... It really, it's a lot. It covers a lot of different genres. You know, he's like, oh, yeah, it's like got a little bit jazz feel to it. And then all of a sudden, boom, there's the horns. It's like, oh, okay, I like that Latin flavor. It's like, you know, but again, this is something that, you know, I think it's important too for folks to, what you said here is keeping it cohesive. So, you know, within those respects and just kind of going from one to two,
00:19:01
Speaker
What does that look like exactly? How do you keep something like that cohesive that both marries the game, the environment, along with the story that you guys are telling?
00:19:12
Speaker
I think for me, sonically, the simplest route was to keep a lot of the instrumentation core elements very similar. So I would use the same three or four drum kits on the entire two soundtrack series.
00:19:31
Speaker
Just like that core element, um using the same virtual synths that I used on the first one to carry over into the second one, that helped a lot. Tempo, just basically instrument choices. i don't know there it's ah it's kind of a hard thing to define. yeah yeah But keeping, like I said, those core elements as you know running from soundtrack one to soundtrack two really did help.
00:19:58
Speaker
Yeah, no, that and that that would definitely keep things cohesive. And there's that familiarity to it that's always kind of in the background, kind of. But, like, it's it's lingering in there throughout ah the series, which is which is huge.
00:20:12
Speaker
Yeah. I do have to talk about, because these games were apps, I remember when they were announced. Halloween and Ash vs. Evil Dead. The pixel art games. Those things are are freaking amazing. a ton of fun. What was your experience working on those? Again, these are are cult classics that people are very familiar with. So you you kind of got a base to work with. What was the experience like for you?
Composing for Horror Games
00:20:41
Speaker
I mean, i'm I'm a huge horror fan, so getting thing to work on those was, again, a really, really cool thing. WayForward, like Atari, is fantastic in that they kind of, they hire me for me. So just within the general guidelines of like, keep it, you know, kind of spooky, but also fun and upbeat.
00:21:04
Speaker
ah Probably, you know, synthy, because it's sort of 80s, you know, Halloween being late 70s, of course, and then Ash vs. Evil Dead. More modern, but obviously based on the Evil Dead franchise, which is also 80s. So 80s adjacent. Yeah. ah Yeah, it they kind of just gave me free reign within those guidelines. Like, here's some art.
00:21:29
Speaker
Here's some gameplay. ah It's sort of pixely, like a lot of our games being WayForward's games. um So yeah, that that determined instrument choice and tempo obviously is upbeat. These are side-scrolly and beat-em-up style things, so you gotta keep the energy high But obviously the horror element too. So melodic choices to make things creepier, a little more dissonant maybe, a little less
00:22:00
Speaker
melodic, although I do just love writing melodies. That is my favorite thing in the world. So hopefully that helps. Yeah, no, that that's awesome. man I was going to say, it's it's funny that you say that because I feel like that's something that's really unique about you. You're not only creating and composing, but you're also out there singing as
Collaboration and Singing
00:22:22
Speaker
well. ah You know, what is it?
00:22:26
Speaker
I guess... I imagine, i'm i'm I'm only guessing, is it almost like wearing two different hats? like What is that experience like where you're you're composing a piece, but you're also singing on that track? What is that process like?
00:22:42
Speaker
Well, it's not they're not super far removed from one another, especially if I'm doing the entire thing. So when I sit down to produce a track, If I know from the beginning that it's going to be a vocal piece, then that kind of informs how I structure the track, how much space I leave for a vocal. Usually once i get a beat, basically the drums and baseline going, vocal melodies will come to me and I'll just sort of lay down a scratch, you know, scratch take of the melody.
00:23:23
Speaker
that um And then from there, around that scratch take, I will build out the track so that the vocals have room to breathe, the synths have room to breathe. Everything is. It's work instead of just like a whole mush. Right, right.
00:23:38
Speaker
um But yeah, I, I, also love just being basically a session vocalist for other producers. That's super fun. I find that, ah oftentimes when I collaborate with people, we will each do something the other person didn't ever think to do. So that's what makes conversation really fun. Yeah. So likewise, like I love hiring vocalists, uh, to sing on my productions because again, like they'll come up with melodies that I necessarily wouldn't have. So. Right.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's all just one big process. Yeah, and and that's part of the fun of collaborating with people too, is the fact that, you know, maybe they give you ideas or inspiration for something that you didn't even think about. And then likewise, and vice versa, um the creations that that people come up with are are can be absolutely amazing. and And just, you know, looking at some of some of your collaborations, like with Alex and, you know, other folks, like,
00:24:43
Speaker
I guess when it comes to, all right, we're let's let's work on something together. Let's create something together. um What is it, like getting together? Or are you guys doing that like online? Or do you guys like physically get together in a space and just like sit down and like, yo, let's bang this out?
00:25:01
Speaker
I have, to my knowledge... Yeah, to my recollection, I don't think I've ever actually sat in a physical space with somebody to work on something. Oh! It's all online. It's all virtual. It's all just kind of sharing ideas via you know text or some sort of text-based chat and then sending files back and forth.
00:25:25
Speaker
Oh, okay. And you guys just... Yeah, so like so what does that look like? Is there somebody I'm guessing... or Well, I shouldn't guess. they're So when it comes to actually putting the tracks together then, ah is that then you guys just send the files off ah to somebody else if you're not working on it yourself or to have them like mix it down and like put everything together or what does that What does that look like, I guess? That seems like I figured, I don't know why I never, especially in this day and age where, you know, with the internet and accessibility being at an all time high, it makes sense that a lot of work is done online.
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, almost exclusively for me. I've only really worked with somebody local to Seattle, I even didn't even like work with him in person. We met in person, but then we each went to our own respective places to focus and do our thing. So that's the one tiny exception, and we weren't even creating at the same time in the same location. ah So how it usually works is take my multi collaborations with my buddy Alex. um
00:26:43
Speaker
I will either reach out to him or he will either reach out to me depending on if I have a track that I want him to kind of take and massage and work his secret sauce on or vice versa. If he's got a track that he wants vocals on or extra production, then he'll send it to me.
00:27:00
Speaker
um And then we get to just kind of work out like Who's doing here this? Do you like these vocal melodies? And, you know, if it's kind of more his baby, I'll let him mix it. And if it was my conception, then I'll mix it.
00:27:18
Speaker
And yeah, we just kind of decide from the get go who's going to do what. No, that totally makes sense. And do you like kind of going back to the video games and film and stuff like that, do you find that there's any kind of differences, um you know, when you're composing for one or the other, or is it really more so kind of project based or more specific to the project?
00:27:44
Speaker
The main difference um between the two, technically speaking, is that A film is very linear, so the music will start and the music will end at a certain point in the story.
00:28:00
Speaker
Whereas a game, you don't know how long, unless it's a cut scene, you don't know how long a level area track is going to play, right? This person who's playing the game and experiencing it could be with this one piece of music for an hour instead of, you know, the three minute section that will then loop. So it's just more of a consideration when starting to produce for a game score that you don't know how long somebody is going to be hearing this piece of music. So the loop point has to be real seamless.
00:28:37
Speaker
And that's a whole technical thing. But also just the fact that you don't want them to get fatigued by it. So that's more of an arrangement and a flow and ah and a headspace consideration.
00:28:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy. guy I didn't even think about that. There would have to be because because you don't have there's not a determined time. You know there's got to be at least some sort of clean looping point so it could keep going or maybe it's a different area or whatever. However, it plays out. But yeah, those are those are things that I never really considered where.
00:29:12
Speaker
film and and you know that medium has you know a specific start time to an end time i know exactly what that run time is going to be in video games it's like well yeah yeah and i guys yeah yeah exactly so oh that's interesting i like that that that's uh I just, yeah, I never really thought about that being something that, and again, it's somebody that's on the outside trying to look in It's some of the stuff that's hard for me to like, like I, I, I enjoy it.
00:29:44
Speaker
I just don't know how it gets done from what is that process like to build what I'm hearing and enjoying to you know, Hey, I got this project here. what are you thinking about? Yeah.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah, and everybody's got their own process too. This is just my personal experience. Yeah. And is there anything like a part of that, like before you sit down to start creating, is there any kind of like rituals or anything that you have that you do to kind of get you in that mind space?
00:30:15
Speaker
I, not really. i just ah go to my desk. then And pull up references, you know, if the client's given me references, I listen to things and I analyze them and look at any art direction descriptions, just kind of go from there.
00:30:33
Speaker
Yeah. And well, and do you, you have a lot of music that's been licensed, um you know, for TV shows, for all kinds, a number of of different things. Is that,
00:30:46
Speaker
That's music that you've created not for something specific. They just like, what what does that, how do how does one go about and say, you know what, I you know i love Megan, i love the sound. yeah How do I go and take a look at her collection if I want to license something for a project that I have?
00:31:05
Speaker
Yeah, so it's ah it's both. um I have created music specifically for kind of sonic collections. So for example, I worked on a trailer album, specifically very like hard, edgy, dark, horror, sci-fi for a company called Position Music. And that's kind of how they work. And a lot of these production music places, this this is how they work, is that they will commission an album of, um you know, with a theme and a genre, either from one producer or from multiple multiple producers to then sort of pitch to any sort of briefs that they get or, you know, trailer houses will be like, hey, we're looking for stuff in this realm. Do you have anything? And they can just hand over the album and say, hey, take a look through these things.
00:31:58
Speaker
So I have done music specifically for licensing in that respect. um But yeah, other times I will, like you say, somebody will just kind of come across a piece of music and say, hey, I want this in my project. What do I have to do? And then I have my own just sort of personal licensing fees and we sign a thing and it's pretty simple. Uh, and there's also where I have in my inbox, I'll get like different companies that are requesting certain things like, Hey, does anybody have this type of track? And then I will submit something if I have it, or sometimes I will decide to jump on it and create something new just for that specific brief. So it's kind of the full spectrum of things.
00:32:46
Speaker
Interesting. So if you don't have anything in mind and you're just sitting down like, look, I'm just going to, I'm just going to make something here. Is it yeah kind of like, uh, you know, do you just kind of reach in and and go off of your experiences, what you're, what you're going through, what the mood is, what kind of drives you, when you are creating a new piece of meat music?
00:33:11
Speaker
If it's just for my personal enjoyment and the enjoyment of my fans who just want to listen to my work, then usually i actually have a spreadsheet with different tabs.
00:33:25
Speaker
of different sort of thematic or genre elements that I like. And I will have a running list of other pieces of music that have inspired me where it's like, Oh, I really like this bass sound from this one track. going to stick that on my spreadsheet. Oh, I really love this vocal melody and how they're jumping from here to here. Stick that on a different spreadsheet. Maybe it's a different genre. And then when I go to produce something of my own,
00:33:51
Speaker
um I'll either pull from spreadsheet for inspiration, go back and listen to a track that I had put there and like, oh yeah, that bass thing, I'm really digging that. Let's start with a similar bass.
00:34:04
Speaker
um sometimes I'll just pop open a synth that I really like working with, flip through some presets, and every once in a while one will just jump out at me and I'll just start producing with that sound and see where it goes.
00:34:19
Speaker
I love that. It is that, that kind of blank canvas. Let me see a little bit here. And then all sudden it just turns into something. yeah It's amazing how that, how that comes together too. And like, not only that, but like, I mean, you're, you're doing, you're creating music, you're singing, uh, you're in music videos. You've, you've worked on like a podcast and stuff like that as well. Um, you know,
00:34:48
Speaker
What is it that I guess, and of course it's, it's a lot of it is, you know, music driven and, and music based.
Current Projects and Future Plans
00:34:58
Speaker
Is it just you that likes to do all kinds of things? Cause feel like, yeah I feel like, you know, there's a lot of times you're like, yeah, I, I do this, uh, or I do that. And I feel like Megan, you're like a Swiss army knife of, uh, music here. um
00:35:21
Speaker
There's just so much depth. And then not only that, but I mean, I haven't even touched on like some of the covers that you've done and stuff like that, too. I'm a I'm a huge fan of like covers of songs. so I feel like a lot of times the covers end up end up in just my own personal opinion better than sometimes than the original. So I'm i'm really into listening to covers and stuff like that, too. um But yeah, is it is that just experience? Is that just, you know,
00:35:47
Speaker
Just going and and being like, hey, somebody is presenting me an opportunity. Let's check it out. let's let's Let's see what it's about or let's do this. Yeah, for sure. um i love doing anything music or audio related, basically. um ah Part of that, of of course, was kind of seeing what would stick, essentially, ah because I tried to do a bunch of different things in similar realms in my career to basically see what was going to
00:36:20
Speaker
come to fruition for me. Because when I first graduated, I was like hitting hitting hard on film soundtracks and it was very slow going. wasn't getting as many gigs as I wanted. Like it just, it didn't feel like it was quite happening. which is when I kind of pivoted to video games, which is something I wanted to do as well. But I can only do so much at once. So I had started with film focus and then moved to video games. And that's just what kind of took off for me. So that is where I then put my energy. and Again, like, tried this, the trailer thing. I'm still doing some of the licensing stuff. But yeah, it's better. Which is, again, why i put so much time and effort into games is because it started to work. And I was like, okay, well, then that's where I'm going to focus most of my energy. um But yeah, in in essence, though, I do just really love to do a bunch of different things.
00:37:19
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no, I i see that. what from the very busy I know, I know, but busy busy is a good thing. Busy is a good thing. So let me ask, we're into 2026 here. i don't know um um I don't know if there's any projects or anything that you're working on that you're able to speak about or speak on. If so, is there anything that you have planned? What are you excited for for 2026?
00:37:48
Speaker
I am continuing to work on Streets of Rogue 2. The first game was the big indie smash, and this one hopefully will be the same. It's been in the works for a while now. I've been kind of chipping away at it alongside Matt Dabrowski, who is wo solo developer. I don't know how he's doing it, especially with two kids. It's wild to me that he has time for any of that, but he's cranking along and...
00:38:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i'm I'm hopeful that the game will get some sort of up update this year. um But yeah, that's been a fantastic project. He's super easy to work with one of the best clients.
00:38:27
Speaker
That's kind of like once we settled on a direction, he was like, Okay, go. Yeah, that's the best. And yeah, so that's been a real joy to work on. I'm still working on that. And um potentially the biggest news of 2026 is that a few weeks ago, i want to say it was end of November, maybe early December, randomly a band that I have been a fan of since 2016, 2017, reached they, this so crazy. My is still blown.
00:38:59
Speaker
reached out to me because they this is so crazy I'm freaking out about it ah there i'll I'll tell you the band in case anybody wants to come.
00:39:14
Speaker
And you should. Anybody who sees this who wants to come, please do. ah Dance with the Dead. They're a really cool synthwave rock band. Synth metal. I don't know what to call them. They're like a haunted house dance party with electric guitars.
00:39:29
Speaker
ah They are co-headlining a tour with Magic Sword, another very cool synth band. And their opener had to drop out.
00:39:39
Speaker
And so they randomly reached out to me and said, hey, do you want to open for our US tour in the spring? It would be 41 shows across the entire country.
00:39:50
Speaker
but ah And I was like, excuse me? ah it's you dad I had to say yes and then figure out how. yeah You say yes first and then you figure it out later. Yep. yep So right now I'm in the process of figuring it out and I am so nervous and so excited. But yes, I will be playing 41 shows in months, starting at the beginning of April and ending at the end of May.
00:40:23
Speaker
Yo, that is, is it, is it going to be international or is it going to be like here in the States? It's just the States, but it's, okay it's all around. It's yeah. I don't know how many States exactly, but it's 41 shows. So yeah, roughly 35 States.
00:40:41
Speaker
Oh, do you know, do you guys come out to Vegas? You know, surprisingly not. No way! I know. I'm very'm very surprised by this. Yeah, there are a few places that we skip, Vegas being one of them. I don't know why.
00:40:57
Speaker
Interesting. Well, I know, too. there's There's all kinds of other things I go into with venues and stuff like that, so it may not always work out. Yeah. That's awesome, though. Congratulations. That's absolutely huge. And the fact you get to open up for a band that you already love. Are you kidding me?
00:41:14
Speaker
I know it's wild. I was, yeah, I was wearing one of their shirts when they messaged me. Yeah. I've been a fan of theirs. I'd seen them a couple of times. Uh, and so just the fact that they reached out, i was like, Holy crap, you know who I am? This is wild.
00:41:32
Speaker
That is awesome. Do you know, are, are tickets on sale or is there anywhere that we can point people to go to? Yes, they are. um I don't know if anybody here follows me on Instagram, but I have it linked in my Instagram bio. I should have it... Well, I can also give you a link to give to people.
00:41:52
Speaker
if there is like a show notes link that. Yeah, there, yeah, there totally is. If you just want to send, send it to me in an email or something like that, so I can make sure I get that in the description and whatnot. ah Yeah, that'd be fantastic. That's going be awesome. You guys are lucky if Megan and them are coming to your guys' city, because that sounds like it's going to be a dope show.
Dream Collaboration and Social Links
00:42:12
Speaker
Megan, I've got to ask ah before we head out here, if you had the opportunity to collaborate with anybody past or present,
00:42:22
Speaker
Who would it be? and what would you guys create? Oh, no. Past or present. That really opens it up. Present is hard enough, but past and present? Oh, man. ah Well,
00:42:42
Speaker
if I... Oh. Hmm. I think... It would be super cool if John Carpenter came back to direct some new trippy, like super, super cool horror film and asked me to do the soundtrack with some original vocal songs.
00:43:06
Speaker
Yo, that would be amazing. po That would be ace. Yes. No, that is, that is, I'm i'm like envisioning it now. it would be amazing.
00:43:18
Speaker
I love it. Megan, again, I don't want to take up too much of your time here. Please let the people know where can they go and find your stuff at, where you at on the socials, all that good thing.
00:43:30
Speaker
I am everywhere. If you look me up you will find me, but my preferred platforms are Instagram where I am Meg McDuffie, YouTube Megan McDuffie, Bandcamp and Spotify also Megan McDuffie, but I will also give Ryan a link to all the various things as like a little aggregate for you. So please, please check out some of my tunes. There's more coming I am trying to release and have successfully done so for the past year and a half. Every four to six weeks, I'm putting something out. So yeah.
00:44:04
Speaker
Lots of tunes for you. That's amazing. Well, not only that too, but you you have a ah you keep up pretty well with your YouTube channel as well. So if you if you want to go see behind the scenes things, the music videos, listen to soundtracks, that's another great place to go. And I just want to throw up real quickly so the folks can see it as well. Another great source, probably the best source, Megan's website.
00:44:30
Speaker
Go to it. It's got all the links to everything that you could possibly need. Megan. So Megan, again, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.
00:44:41
Speaker
Of course. Thank you so much for inviting me. Absolutely. And again, thank you guys so much for joining us here at Pixelated Harmony. Again, you can go find us or you can hit me up on the socials at Smitty2447. Again, I hope you guys had amazing holiday, new year. Let's kick 2026's butt and we'll see in the next episode.