Kevin Valenzuela is a freelance composer, recording engineer and lover of all things sound related. Currently he composes music (and eventually sound design) for Catalina Games on their upcoming release (http://www.catalinagames.com). He hopes to get hired into the video game industry and work on sound effects or music (or both), and would also really love to get his music published and performed.
Bio: Kevin was born in the San Francisco bay area but grew up in Northern California, experiencing the eclectic cultures of Humbolt and Siskiyou Counties. He took an interest in music from an early age and began singing through church and grade school. He wrote his first few compositions in High School, and went on to study music at California State University, Chico.
While at CSU, Chico, Kevin studied everything he could about music and sound. He dabbled in music education and vocal performance while studying composition and later recording arts. While at Chico State, he became Chair of the student chapter of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and earned a number of academic scholarships every year. He earned the Manual Esteban Aspiring Tenor Scholarship in 2009 and was the first ever recipient of the Raymond Barker Recording Arts Scholarship in 2011. He was a regular name on the Deans list and maintained a 3.49 GPA.
Kevin graduated in 2012 with a Bachelors in Music: Composition and a Bachelors in Music Industry and Technology: Recording Arts.
Yeah, what else can you tell me?
The Music: Kevin has put on a number of performances (both solo and ensemble), and has had a number of his works performed. His work has been present at the annual New Music Symposium for the last three years. His biggest premiere was this past spring when the CSUC Wind Ensemble performed "Elegy of the Falling Leaf", his first piece for concert band, alongside the works of Wagner, Mendelssohn and Bernstein.
As a composer, Kevin has worked with a variety of mediums from solo instrument to large ensemble. He has written for voice, strings, winds, brass, percussion and electronic instruments. He has experience programming synthesizers and has worked with atonal elements, algorithmic music, and music concrete. A sampling of his work, both programatic and classical can be found in the Portfolio section of this website.
Recording, SFX and other Experience: As a recording engineer, Kevin spent over 280 hours in the recording studio, recording both musical and theatrical acts. He has experience with a wide variety of professional audio gear both analog and digital. He has gained knowledge of a broad array of music software for both notation, recording, mixing and producing. Finally, he has mixed in both stereo, quadrophonic, and 5.1 surround.
Kevin's experiences have brought him far beyond the classroom. He has completed two internships: His first was with the prestigious Radiostar Studios (now Loud Palace), a recording studio run by famed producer Sylvia Massy where he observed recording sessions and helped coordinate the first annual 4 and 20 Blackbird Music Festival. His second internship was through Siskiyou Media Council, where he worked with staff of a local community TV station. During his time there he assisted in producing, recording, and editing various programs and provided support and council on audio setup. Kevin has also composed or created sound effects for student projects, including short videos, animations, and other video games. He has also done some freelance recording and mixing (both studio and live) for both music and location sound applications.
In his last year at Chico State, Kevin had the opportunity to work with Chico State Game Studios where he became part of a team of audio students working on the release, "Communists Vs Zombies". Kevin was MVP his first semester and became Audio Lead during the next semester. During the last semester of work, Kevin (and his team) worked on three games simultaneously, coordinating with game directors and delegating work as needed.
More info on the recording program at California State University: Chico can be found here.