Member Spotlight – Blacklightsnd

It’s time for another of our Spanish asset creators to be featured in the Member Spotlight series, with audio composer Blacklightsnd giving us some insight, a member on GDM since June 2017, check out their assets here.

GDM Username: Blacklightsnd

Name or Nickname: Paco González

Age: 41

Country: Spain

Developer, Asset Creator or are you a bit of both?:   

Asset Creator. Music for video games mainly. 

Full Time, Part Time or Hobby?: 

Part-Time. I’m a music teacher at a public primary school. At the same time, I’m a composer and SFX designer on Pixel Planet and Lamentum. Both are indie game projects.

As well I’ve made music for Demon Video Games, a Spanish developer brew that’s mainly into retro computer games. I composed the tunes for SkyJaguar 2 (an homage to the original Konami’s MSX shoot’em up) and another game that is inside the default games of the MSXVr (a retro computer designed in Spain which is MSX compatible and has a lot of features).

How long have you been doing this?: 

Since I was 18. At the same time, I started playing as guitarist and composer on metal bands and play the recorder and the harpsichord on a recorder ensemble

What made you become a dev/artist?:  

I’m passionate about video games since I was a child. I have never been good at coding, graphics, or such things. But I’m good with music since childhood. In the early times of the internet, I searched for projects in which I could make contributions.

Favourite software/tools to use?:  

Cubase 1 on a Mac Pro. Softube Console 1. Plugin Alliance, Steven Slate, and Softube Plugins, Composer Cloud, Arturia Software Synths, microphones, acoustic instruments, two keyboards (A Nord Electro 5D an a Kurzweil PC3K8) and also MIDI controllers (an Arturia Keylab 61), electric guitars, bass guitars, acoustic and classical guitars, tons of pedals and multi-effects units, valve amplifiers and preamps and a Silver-Bullet from LouderThanLiftOff for mixing and give and huge sound out-of-the box.

What’s one tip you would give to someone starting out?:   

Listen to tons of music, not only from video games. Learn to play well and know the theory behind music, buy good gear and licensed software. And last but not least, make the music you will like to hear, have fun and be kind.

How do you promote your work (games or assets)?:  

Via Instagram and social networks.

 

What project are you working on now?:  

 

Lamentum and Pixel Planet.

 

https://youtu.be/_tG6tFYl8OQ?t=2

https://youtu.be/MKOdqlRST5Y?t=12

https://soundcloud.com/lamentum

 

And finally, favourite game ever & why?:   

Thunderforce IV (Genesis/Megadrive) the music is awesome and detailed. Love the early FM sounding electric guitars and drums. Also the gameplay is extremely addictive. It let you learn from your mistakes. It’s my favourite shoot’em up.

 

https://www.instagram.com/blacklightsound/

paco-gonzalez.com