First-Class Graduate of Brunel University | Sound Designer | Composer
MAX NICOL
PORTFOLIO
DOOM Trailer Sound Redesign
Sound Designer | Recording | Layering | Processing
A library of the most interesting SFX, exported to so you can hear them in isolation.
Layering used for 'Shotgun_Shot_01'
available in SFX library.
Version 4 of the Ableton project, showing the timeline of exported sfx from previous versions to free up CPU usage.
Key Points:
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Designed each sound to be beefy and impactful to fit DOOMs aesthetic.
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Layered multiple transients with mono kick drums and wide stereo explosions to create original gun shots.
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Recorded layers of vocals and processed with pitch shifting, saturation and upward compression to create Demon screams and roars.
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Produced synths with VITAL for sci-fi lasers and explosions.
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Recorded tearing cardboard and pitch shifted to create electricity sounds.
ORIGINAL TRAILER
Responsibilities:
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Designing a variety of different sounds from sci-fi lasers to Demon screams and robotic movements.
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Recording Foley for punches and roars.
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Layering many tracks to create satisfying impacts.
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Processing to transform samples and Foley and to glue sounds together which have many layers.
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Mixing to ensure an immersive and exciting experience for the listener, keeping track of volume levels and the frequency spectrum so that each sound has its own space in the mix.
Simulate - Short Film
Sound Designer | Mixing | Contract Work
Responsibilities:
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Designing glitch and sci-fi sound effects
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Recording Foley
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Syncing sound effects with animation
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Mixing sound effects with music
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Maintaining communication with film director in order to receive and iterate on feedback
Simulate is a short film directed and produced by students of Arts University Bournemouth, who contracted me to design sound effects
as well as sync and mix sound and music in Ableton Live.
What I did:
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Designed glitch SFX through creating synths in VITAL and using an LFO to modulate the pitch at a high rate. This worked as a signature sound for the antagonist character and was easy to get many variations for different moments.
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Pitched recordings extremely low to cause artifacts, giving a robotic quality to the sound.
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Created a sense of space through use of reverbs for different locations.
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Recorded Foley for footsteps, typing, cooking, and test tubes.
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Made use of layering to produce powerful sounds to mark key moments.
Simulate is being applied for film festivals and is set to be released in 2026.
Bloodflow - Remix
Remix Teaser
Original
Music Producer | Remix | Contract Work
Responsibilities:
Remixing the song Bloodflow by Rogue Awakening into Electronic Dance Music inspired by The Prodigy.
Re-arranging stem tracks with newly added instruments.
Composing a new bridge section.
Mixing and Mastering to standards of the EDM genre and to appropriate loudness levels for streaming services.
Bloodflow is an alternative metal song released by Rogue Awakening who contracted me to produce an EDM remix of their song.
What I did:
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Sampled new snare and kick sounds and pushed them forward in the mix
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Made use of VITAL to design distorted synth sounds for the bass and mid range
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Side chained the stem guitar track to the kick drum for a driving momentum
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Cut up the vocals to create a new section in the intro and after the first chorus
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Made use of short decay reverbs in the verses to create an unsettling atmosphere
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Used Telephone by Lady Gaga as a reference track
The remix is set to be released in 2026.
Clown Town - Game
Music Producer | Music Composer | Unpaid Work
Responsibilities:
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Composing themes for each of the 6 main characters, across a range of genres, based on their personality and appearance
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Researched jazz genre to compose menu and background music
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Mixed and mastered all music through Ableton Live
Clown Town is a visual novel developed by Lazy Games, who contacted me to compose and produce the game's original sound track.
The brief was to evoke the blues style of 90's children's cartoons, however due to the slow paced nature of a dating sim, the music needed to be relaxing which worked better with jazz.
This meant researching typical features of jazz which included 7th chords, swung drum beats, walking bass lines and using notes outside of the scale.
Not all character's personalities fit with jazz and so other genres were utilised such as alternative rock and pop-punk.
All tracks were mastered to appropriate loudness levels for streaming platforms.
Clown Town is set to release in 2026.
ScrapShift - Game
Music Composer | Contract Work | Tranzfuser 2024
Responsibilities:
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Composing and arranging 5 unique music tracks for different game states
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Mixing & Mastering (Ableton Live)
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Vertical & Horizontal music Implementation
(Wwise)
ScrapShift is a Hack'N'Slash, 3D platformer set in a post apocalyptic Rio de Janeiro.
The game creator's brief was to combine musical styles such as Capoeira, Samba and Bossa Nova with alternative rock and metal to capture Brazil's distinct culture whilst providing a fast-paced, blood-pumping soundtrack.
The instrumentation consisted of combining recorded instruments, such as electric guitar, bass, acoustic drum kit, and metallic percussion, with MIDI instruments such as
group vocals, flute, and distorted synths. Brazilian phonk vocals were sampled to give character to the boss theme.
The combat theme was implemented vertically which allowed for countless variations between the different drum beats, guitar riffs, and lead melodies.
All tracks were mastered to appropriate loudness levels for streaming platforms.
Introspector
Solo Project | University (3rd Year)
Responsibilities:
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Programming (C#, Unity)
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Composing and arranging the music
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Recording instruments and sounds
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Layering SFX (Ableton Live)
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Mixing (Ableton Live)
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Audio Implementation (Wwise)
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Writing the story and dialogue
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Researching WW1 and the 1970's
Introspector is a 2D story-driven game about a world war 1 veteran who acquires hearing aids that let him hear people's emotions through music.
The emotions of characters can be changed through dialogue choices which is reflected in changes in the music. The player follows the protagonist's journey of learning to accept their past and present traumas instead of denying them.
The music direction uses electric guitar, piano and orchestral arrangements through the use of plugins such as LABS - Spitfire Audio.
Unity Audio Implementation
Solo Project | University (3rd Year)
Responsibilities:
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Composing and arranging the music
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Recording instruments and sound effects
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Mixing (Ableton Live)
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Programming and implementation of audio (C#, Unity)
I created all the sound effects and music as well as implementing audio and programming the game in Unity; an assignment for my third year of university.
I layered and pitch-shifted recordings of hitting metallic objects to create the sword clash sound effects.
The video includes features such as:
- Dynamic footstep changes based on the surface that the player traverses
- Dynamic music changes for explore and combat states
- Filtering out the outside ambience through changes to the low-pass-filter and volume, when the player goes inside the castle
The Banner Saga - Music Replacement
Solo Project | University (2nd Year)
Responsibilities:
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Syncing gameplay with music
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Composing and arranging the music
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Recording instruments
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Mixing (Ableton Live)
Dynamic music composed as an alternative to the music heard in The Banner Saga, composed by Austin Wintory, for an assignment during my second year of university.
There is music for travelling, dialogue, and combat. I recorded electric guitar, acoustic guitar, as well as using MIDI instruments from Ableton and LABS - Spitfire Audio. I made use of effects such as reverb to create a cold ambience.
I took inspiration from the The Banner Saga OST, in particular the horns, and combined that with my own influences to create music that fits the gameplay scenarios.
The music in The Banner Saga continues between loading screens which I incorporated as it made the transitions between different states of gameplay immersive and fluid.
Furi Trailer - Music Replacement
Solo Project | University (2nd Year)
Responsibilities:
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Syncing the tempo of the music to the trailer
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Composing and arranging the music
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Recording instruments
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Mixing (Ableton Live)
Linear music composed as an alternative to the music heard in the trailer for Furi, composed by Toxic Avenger, for an assignment during my second year of university.
The techno genre of Toxic Avenger's music inspired my composition which I then combined with fuzzy, mid-ranged, guitars which are influenced by Jack White's Over and Over and Over and the guitar tones of Queens of the Stone Age.
The trailer is synced to the beat of the music. I matched the tempo of the original music and synced the music to cuts in the trailer as well as the movement and actions of the characters.
Wwise Audio Implementation
Solo Project | University (3rd Year)
Responsibilities:
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Replacing all of Cube's audio with original SFX and music
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Recording instruments and sounds
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Composing and arranging the music
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Implementation through Wwise
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Mixing (Ableton Live)
All the sound effects are original sounds I created through the recording of:
- Fruit squelching and smashing
- Guitar amplifier feedback
- Dropping different objects on various surfaces
I then used the effects that Ableton provide such as phaser, flanger, reverb, and pitch shifting to create the magical sounds of spells.
Music speeds up based on the amount of health the player has left, which adds more tension the closer the player is to being defeated.
Similar to the Furi trailer, I used fuzz guitars mixed with various MIDI sounds to create intense music for the fast-paced, DOOM- like gameplay.