DEAD AHEAD MUSIC
Hello, survivors! Perhaps many of you already know, but the music for Dead Ahead Zombie Warfare is composed by one person - Evgeniy 'Julyday' Balaev.
You might be interested in learning about what inspires him to create music for our fav game, so we're sharing his humble story with you.
---
I've been working at Mobirate since 2016 and Dead Ahead was one of the first games I had the pleasure of working on. The art director asked for a soundtrack reminiscent of "28 days later" film's atmosphere.
During that time I listened a lot of John Murphy's works which is why I really poured my heart into it. In general I'd say that my personality seems like a perfect fit for making zombie apocalypse music. When I was a kid I even had a nickname "Zombie"🧟♂️
I can't say I stick to a specific style when working on soundtracks, I intuitively search for suitable tones, often turning to the guitar and piano to complement the Dead Ahead vibe. Mainly, I draw inspiration from music. When I love a certain song I'll dive deep into it to figure out the meaning and learn how to play it on a guitar. When it comes to staying motivated getting positive feedback from players inspires me greatly.
The first year on the job was a challenge since I was responsible for working on sound assets. With a musical background and sound engineering education, I struggled with creating sounds without having experienced mentors who could've helped me. Even today, when facing new tasks involving providing sounds for a new event, I sometimes get what they'd call an "imposter syndrome".
John Murphy's works had a significant impact on me. I loved the music in "Sunshine".
As for musical preferences, I appreciate various styles, from doom metal to pop.
Some time ago I even decided to categorize all my favorite bands, assigning scores to highlight the main genres and find what resonates with me the most. The winners among the styles turned out to be Ambient, Drone, Indie, Post-Rock and Christian rock.
My favorite bands include Hammock, The National, and Depeche Mode.
Lately, I've been frequently playing a couple of tracks on my midi keyboard: Hammock – "I Could Hear the Water at the Edge of All Things" and "Love in the Void." On a guitar, my favorite tune is Explosions in the Sky - "Your Hand in Mine."
When I was a kid I had an old PC without games but with QBasic installed. So while other boys were playing outside I was learning programming and made some games for myself.
---
If you enjoy the music in the game, you can find more tracks from the Dead Ahead games on our sound designer's Youtube channel. New music is added there regularly: @julydayday3730
❤️🎵
