About Dustin Painter
Hey there! My name is Dustin Painter. Thanks for stopping by to check out my work.
Over the last fifteen years I’ve worn many hats in the audio world including, but not limited to: composer, sound designer, producer, audio engineer, educator, and multi-instrumentalist. Thanks to the variety of opportunities I’ve had, I like to say I work with “all things sound.”
I began my professional studies at Western Carolina University, double majoring in Music Education and Commercial/Electronic Music. While at Western, I worked with several student film makers as location sound engineer and composer. A combination of these roles, as well as learning and producing music in our on campus recording studio, meant I was hooked on everything sound and music! In addition to focusing on audio and sound, I also focused on becoming a better educator. Between 2006 and 2011, I worked with several high school bands as an instructor for brass sections, full bands, and as an audio electronics supervisor. While student teaching at Smoky Mountain High School, working with the 7th and 8th grade bands, I completed my Teacher Work Sample entitled “Advanced Scale Modes for the Middle School Band.” A year later, I completed my final project for my Commercial and Electronic Music studies: recording and composing the score to Carey McKelvey’s “The Dreaming Tree.”
After my studies at WCU, I had the great fortune to attend the University of Southern California’s Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program in Los Angeles, CA from 2011 to 2012. While at USC, I studied with composers such as Bruce Broughton, Garry Schyman, Jack Smalley, and Christopher Young. I also had the opportunity to meet many other composers and learn about their workflow and thought processes including James Newton Howard, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Thomas Newman (could I look more excited to meet him in that picture below?).
While studying, I also worked with several student film makers and game makers creating original music and sound effects for films and games such as "Nevermind", "The High Five Apprentice", and "Paulie". After graduating from USC, I was able to continue my studies by assisting some amazing composers including Christopher Young, John Piscitello, Darren Fung, Mike Kramer, Blake Neely, and Megan Cavallari.
As a composer and sound designer, I’ve had the opportunity to write and create music of all genres as a team member on over 50 projects. From the Indie Rock score of Jason Nash is Married, the EDM and Dubstep soundtrack of Shove Pro on iOS, the Industrial Horror music of Mr. Lockjaw, and the World/Celtic and Orchestral Film Score sound of Scotch - A Golden Dream, I’m always up for the challenge of learning the sound and language of new musical genres while blending my own musical voice in. My music and audio work can be heard through clients and platforms such as Comedy Central, Steam, the Apple App Store, SyFy, United Launch Alliance, CBS, and Hulu.
Currently, I am pursuing my MFA in Recording Arts and Technologies at Middle Tennessee State University with a graduation date of May 2021. While in the Nashville area, I’ve had the opportunity to work in some amazing facilities, including The Tracking Room. I’ve also worked with several artists in the roles of producer, tracking engineer, mix engineer, guitarist, and synthesist. Artists I’ve worked with include Chris Lippincott, Josh Mack, Matthew Thomas Hope, Sydney Shae, Maggie Alridge, Blake Pettigrove, Mary Moore, Lauren McClinton, and Anna Eisch.
When I’m not working behind a console, or obsessing over the right combination of microphone placement, microphone preamp, and outboard gear for the perfect recording chain, you’ll find me teaching undergraduate courses as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in MIDI/Synthesis and tutoring for MTSU's Recording Studios A (featuring an API Vision console) and B (featuring an SSL Duality console). I've also had the honor of winning both an ADAM Audio Student Ambassadorship, representing Middle Tennessee State University, and the 2020 API Saul Walker Memorial Scholarship for my recording and audio production work.
Currently, in addition to my teaching and tutoring duties for Middle Tennessee State University, I am finishing my Final MFA Project entitled: "Binaural Audio with End User Control: A binaural, virtual reality nature walk for Oculus Quest 2 with user controllable equalization." The project is a culmination of my previous experiences and studies at MTSU, and the application is called "Seasons Forest VR". I am developing the application in Unity, recording and composing the music, creating spatialized mixes of the music in the application, and implementing sounds I have produced and recorded (including ambisonic nature ambiences). The application also features a specialized equalizer I've designed, programmed as a Unity Native Audio Plugin by Andrew Bainton of Aptitude Audio, which allows users to shape the timbre of the experience without ruining or degrading spatialization. The first version of the application will be available in April 2021 on SideQuestVR.
Once I graduate, I am looking to begin my academic career teaching in the collegiate fields of audio production and music technology while continuing to work and grow professionally in all aspects of audio, sound, and visual media.
Thank you for stopping by and checking out my portfolio. Please contact me at dustin@dustinpainter.com, 919-631-6427, or through the Contact Me page here.