My name is Ariel Gross (to my dismay, my actual birth certificate does not feature bold, italicized, underlined script, but I'm working on that), and I have been an inhabitant of this planet since 1979. I composed the music to and created the sound effects for my first published video game when I was 17 years old — the very same year that I traded my soul for the ability to make absurd facial expressions. I've been credited for music composition and sound design for eleven published games since then, and several more that never made it past the Eating Cheetos Phase of game development. My crowning video game achievement to date is receiving a 4.5 out of 5.0 for Sound in GamePro Magazine for the work that I did on the Game Boy Advance game titled Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku, which sold over a million store copies at launch. I was the Audio Lead on the project and I worked hand-in-hand with Impulse Tracker creator and audio programmer Jeff Lim.
I've been doing music and sound effects for video games for over ten years now. I also own my own indie record label called spoomusic.com, which serves up music in the genres of futuristic funk, emo-electronic, video game chippets, synth-classical, IDM, illbient, dark blip hop, nerd-core, M&B (Mario & Blues), and dorkwave. Many of these genres were just now made up, making them almost real genres.
I have found that interactive audio in video games is one of my favorite things in this world, ranking right up there with making awkward looking faces and clumsily tripping over my own shoelaces. I'm a video game enthusiast, and back when I was a wee one I would plug headphones into my Sega Genesis and zone out for hours, often falling asleep to the merry sounds of Sonic The Hedgehog, which probably speaks volumes about my personality. I wanted to take my skills to the next level, which is why I am attending the fine institution known as The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Arizona. My ultimate goal is working with audio at a AAA game developer. The reason I got into all of this is because I love the feeling of being fully immersed in a video game, and the audio is an integral part of that experience. Also, I like drinking caramel-colored colas like Pepsi, and one video game developer I worked for always had some in stock. It is as if I was destined to work in this industry and enjoy the many colas.
Back in the day, I used to be part of a handful of demo groups back when Future Crew were the reigning champions. I've gone by many names, maybe you've heard of me? Please say you have. Here are the big three aliases I went by back in the tracker / demo scene days: Stalker, Ari, funkymuskrat. I was in a bunch of demo / music groups, including OTM (anyone remember Textro?), FM (Five Musicians), Trax In Space (even had a couple tracks on the first Trax In Space CD, called First Contact: Kawaiis From Outer Space), and Hellven. Seriously though, has anyone heard of me? Anyone? No? Ok.
Click here to listen to the audio companion of the New York Times best selling biography on Ariel Gross. The one you just read.
(Disclaimer: Contrary to the interview that is included with this written biography, my pappy did not teach me banjo as I allege. Nor am I especially fond of crawdad fishing—I am, in fact, a vegetarian. I do, however, enjoy creating odd shows for various reasons.)
