A New Tune
David Konow: What's your experience with gaming?
ALEX KATUNICH: I've been gaming off and on for a really, really long time. I think my first gaming experience was probably somebody's Atari or Colico Vision, but then I remember when we got a computer sometime in the early to mid-1980s. I had a copy of Castle Wolfenstein and absolutely loved that. Obviously, that version of the game looks nothing like what it does now. Then I got a Nintendo NES, and got super into that in the mid-1980s. Mario, Pro Wresting, Elevator Action, all kinds of games. I didn't own another game console until probably the year 2000. I had friends who had SEGA, they had Dreamcast, they had PlayStation One. But once we got on tour and there was a lot of downtime, I got more into gaming. I got into fighting games, first-person shooter stuff. We'd go to Europe, and I'd play Final Fantasy for an entire summer.
Then somebody turned me onto Halo and that kind of just blew it open for me. I realized that I really did enjoy gaming. So between the Halo series, Splinter Cell and a few other things, I've tried to stay active. It's funny because even though I've got a company that gears itself towards gamers, I rarely have enough time to actually play games myself.
David Konow: Where do you see game soundtracks going?
ALEX KATUNICH: Well, it's a very competitive business, and it's difficult for most companies to take it seriously. They're so focused with their production schedules on just getting the game out there. Typically, when it comes time to allocate resources and budget items for things, the audio's like the last thing there.
There are always a few exceptions to that, like Jeremy Soule, who scores a lot of very major games. But when EA can put out a game and charge people to be featured on it, charge record companies, and actually play their bands, it kind of shows you the state of affairs. It's a difficult business to break into. I know a lot of people who don't even own a recording background, but they're super talented and they've just been struggling for years to get off the ground with that kind of stuff.
Alex Katunich during his time as Incubus' bass player.
David Konow: When you first got into working for games was it like starting over again?
ALEX KATUNICH: It was starting from ground zero when I went out to try and pitch myself to do more games. The first three games that I did were smaller platforms. There was a device called Nokia N-gage. I fell into those games; I didn't really have to sell myself. But once those games were done, I saw that there was a business, and I had to go out there and try and pitch this to people. I found out there were plenty of people who were probably willing to hire me if I didn't want to charge anything for it. It wasn't going to be an apples to apples comparison between scoring a small title for a publisher, and going out and playing a huge concert. There's obviously more money in playing the huge concert. But it was an eye-opener, and borderline insulting when people wanted to treat you as if you had never done anything before, and they're doing you a favor. My whole point at the time was, "Look, there's a lot of people who are curious about what it is that I'm doing. You might actually move more units because of the press associated with this. Isn't that worth what it should cost? Considering it will pay for itself at hype alone?"
So it's always difficult when you have to go out there and sell yourself. It was starting over in the sense that when I left the group I was really, really successful with that and well-known for what the band had done and accomplished. Probably a few weeks before, we played in front of 18,000 people. Then I went in and basically had to explain why someone should give me a job. It was starting over. I guess there wasn't a lot of correlation in publishers' minds between selling records and scoring a videogame, although to me it seems like a no-brainer. It's music. You either play the game, understand it and can do it. Or you don't. There's a huge audience to tap into. So I had expected a much easier transition than it actually was.
David Konow: Do you have be business savvy to be in the gaming business?
ALEX KATUNICH: With regards to being involved in the music side of the game business, I think, as with most businesses, who you know is just as important as anything else. In any business, it helps to know the ins and outs of the industry. The people who succeed on the game side, from the music component or otherwise, they understand their audience. They understand their product and they know how to sell to their audience.
I met some very smart people in the game space, I've also run across some people that you wonder how they have a job, because they don't know anything. I think that it helps to have a clear understanding, and an idea of what it is you're trying to do, as well as have a good network of people to take that idea, and that product, to get it out to the masses.
Join our discussion on this topic
