EarlyGame Artist of the Day: Psydtracked

My name is Zachary Campbell, born (Jan. 14, 1997) and raised in Tupelo, Mississippi (the birthplace of the King, Elvis Presley). I attended Tupelo Middle and High School where I joined the Tupelo Drumline. That is probably where I would say I get most of my musical influence from, is just the constant rhythmic progressions and changing ever so slightly, but with just enough finesse to stay inside the pocket. Being a part of drumline got me the opportunity to travel to Germany with the Mississippi All State Lyons Band, and we won the parade competition that year! It also gave me the opportunity to travel to New York for TWO Thanksgivings to march and be a part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, as a quad drummer for the Macy's All American Marching Band.Ever since high school though, It took me some years to figure out what exactly the type of degree I wanted to go for was, but now I have finally found it! I am currently attending Full Sail University for Audio Engineering! I have learned so much in just my first 13 months of classes, that I finally felt I got to a good point where I should really start creating my brand and doing my best to make whatever I can happen with this, happen, and happen very quickly! So I am excited to start this new/old journey, and I'm ready to pick up where I left off 5 years ago!

Where I left off 5 years ago was playing sets at bars like Canvas of Memphis, Tennessee, and clubs like the Lightclub in Memphis, Tennessee, to playing small festivals like Priml Instinx near Nashville, Tennessee, and Lift Off Music Festival in Lebanon, Tennessee, to playing block parties somewhere in the middle of nowhere East Tennessee, to also playing house parties for Colleges like Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi, and University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. I also played for a kayak racing event that happened at the Buffalo River near Waynseboro, Tennessee.BUT---What's most important is I have recently discovered what I believe to be my "sound", if you will. I like to call it "Flowstep". It's a combination of all the music you've ever heard in your life, from guitar hero rock to heavy metal, from hip hop to jazz, from psychedelic to soundtrack, and any other type of genre you could possibly think of, all topped off with a very fitting drum groove in the background, just to bring it all home, because I mean, hey, what's a song without a phat drumbeat, ya feel me?!So I hope you all enjoy this journey with me as I continue to grow and expand my knowledge of producing my Experimental, IDM, Flowstep, Electronic music, and I hope to see many familiar faces throughout my years on this Earth!If you give my music a second to listen too I greatly appreciate it!☺️ also, be sure to check out all of the links to my other websites with all the rest of my music as well! I'm currently planning on releasing an ep for New Years 2022 called Discombobulation. You can Spotify pre-save it through this link right here!Thanks for taking the time to learn a little bit more about me and what I'm about! I'm just a fun loving, energetic guy, looking to tell his story through some speakers, yo🤙

Gaming and Music

What is your favorite video game soundtrack?

The Last of Us Part 2

Who's your favorite video game music composer?

Gustavo Santaolalla/Mac Quayle

What’s your favorite video game?

Probably something like Skyrim, Super Mario 64, Smash Bros., marvel vs. capcom, soul caliber 7

What game inspired you to do music?

Probably Super Mario 64, or something like that, because I knew early on in life that I wanted to do music!

What video game are you currently playing?

I am currently playing Phoenix immortal rising!!

Would you ever like to write music for video games? What would it be like?

Oh yes! I would LOVE that! I'm actually attending Full Sail University online for Audio Engineering, and we just completed a class a couple of months ago called project and portfolio 2: audio engineering, and it was taking what we had learned from sound design for video games, and implementing it into a project portfolio, where we actually recorded/downloaded sounds for two video games that our instructors Made, and we edited the sounds with pro tools to make sure they sounded natural and fitting, and then we followed instructions on how to use the program. Wise to implement the sounds into the actual video games that our instructors had created, and we learned about attenuation curves and how you have to write in the curves for sounds to pop up where they are supposed to pop up In the game! And also, I learned that video games apparently run off of 360 sound, so you have an x and y-axis that you type in numbers and depending on which numbers you plug in, that will determine where the sound will pop up around you whenever you have headphones on! it's pretty freaking awesome! I learned a lot!! But if I made music for video games, it would probably have to be like some type of old school retro game like Tron, because my music is experimental flowstep electronic music, and so there's a lot of techno noises, but not necessarily got a techno feel to it, more of a halftime, to on time feel with a lot of percussion grooves in the forefront/background. But I would also probably use the opportunity when making sounds for a game, to make sounds that not only are musical, but add a lot of dynamics to the scenes.

How important is music for video games / video games for music?

Music literally can make a video game, it can add suspense to a moment, it can add dramatic effect, or it can add whatever type of vibe you need to be happening in that moment in a game, happen. I feel like even without video games there would still be music, but video games have opened up a whole new territory field of sound work that people, back before video games were invented, may not of ever even thought about existing! So I think in the end, they go hand in hand, honestly!

Here's an unreleased track from Psydtracked's next album, coming New Year's Day:

Enjoy!

Powered by