Steve Ouimette is renowned for his versatility and excellence as a composer/producer and multi-instrumentalist. Bringing an infectious energy, personable style and passion to every project he works on regardless of size, scope or timeframe, Steve’s composing and performance credits include video games, film, television and advertising
From 2007 to 2010 Steve was involved in every release of the wildly successful Guitar Hero series, contributing exacting covers and extraordinary reworks of classics (The Devil Went Down To Georgia, We Three Kings, Dueling Banjos, National Anthems) as well main title and outros, underscore and sound design. During this time he earned a reputation for creating intense tracks considered to be some of the most popular and challenging songs to complete in the game, leading to millions of downloads of his DLC songs and creating an international fan base. To date he has played, engineered and produced nearly 100 tracks for Guitar Hero and Konami music games. Steve has also lent his chameleon-like guitar skills to other A-list composers Inon Zur, Tom Salta and Richard Jacques on projects ranging from Dragon Age: Origins – Leliana’s Song, Red Steel 2, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2 and James Bond 007: Blood Stone to name a few.
While his reputation has been cemented as a rock and high energy composer/writer, Steve is a classically trained composer with a pension for creating infectious and memorable themes ranging from horror to action to epic hybrid scores. Having worked for years on the technical side of the audio/game industry Steve is intimately familiar with audio technologies and can comfortably communicate with developers on implementation and integration of music and sound into each project.
Steve is emerging as a composer and songwriter for television and film with credits ranging from Showtime’s Californication to sports programming from NFL, MLB and NHL to multiple shows on HGTV, Food Network and DIY TV. In 2010 he was welcomed into the X-Ray Dog film trailer family with tracks released on The Scent Of Evil and Pet Shop . An avid writer for music libraries, in the past year Steve has composed original music for APM Music, Universal, Bruton and Sonoton. In late 2009 Steve also teamed up with virtual instrument company Sample Logic to create Cinematic Guitars. Released September 2010, Cinematic Guitars is an extensive collection of atmospheres, instrumentals, and percussive sounds unlike any ever heard before and tailored specifically for the video game and film composer.
As a direct response to his popularity with guitar fans worldwide Steve released “Epic”, a solo CD and companion DVD on Sumthing Else Music Works in the Fall of 2010. Critically heralded as a dynamic and diverse album featuring an eclectic mix of guitar-laden virtuosity and wide reaching styles, “Epic” shines new light on guitar instrumental music by fusing cinematic drama and intensity.
Steve is a regular contributor for Premier Guitar Magazine where he writes a monthly column, “Hey, You Can’t Do That!”, as well as gear reviews and feature articles. He lives with his wife, 4 cats and his ferret (and studio tech) Pinkus, in Scottsdale, AZ.
Released November 8, Ubisoft’s Raving Rabbids: Alive And Kicking for Kinect features 5 songs composed, performed and produced by Steve. Recorded in multiple studios including the legendary Ocean Way Studio B featuring drums by Kenny Aronoff, the tracks are included in one of the mini-games within the game and utilizing Kinect’s gesture recognition. Rock out with Ubisoft!
Released October 7, Just Dance 3 includes several re-records by Steve including the Earth, Wind and Fire classic, “Boogie Wonderland” and Miriam Makeba’s “Pata Pata”. While a departure from the Guitar Hero re-records, Steve is expanding his offering and bringing the same true-to-the-original quality to dance hits for the ultra-popular Ubisoft franchise.
Steve recently composed the jingle for the Phoenix, AZ-based Panda Home Solutions. Airing on television, radio and internet, the 1-800-PANDA 4 U jingle features vocalist Kandace Ferrel and can be heard and seen right now.
From his latest CD, EPIC, Steve has teamed up with Sumthing Else Music Works and the Guitar Hero social network on Facebook and Twitter to release a free, Tweet For A Track of “Lou’s Revenge”. The follow up to Steve’s rendition of the Guitar Hero 3 re-record of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”, “Lou’s Revenge” offers up a sinister and incendiary metal monster of a track with guest vocalist Chris Powers, the original singer on TDWDTG for GH3. Free to anyone offering a Tweet in response to help spread the news of guitar shreddiness to all!
Coming back for a second season, the culinary makeover show is once again heavily featuring music from Steve’s Endgame 1 and 2 music from APM. Catch the new season beginning July 6.
The contest is on! Enter for free to win a Godin Redline HB guitar, 1 of 30 signed “EPIC” CD/DVD’s, or 1 of 7 D’Addario/Planet Waves prizes. 
Season One of the tough-love restaurant makeover show, Restaurant Impossible, starring master chef Robert Irvine is featuring Steve’s tracks from APM’s Endgame library. Airing on most every episode of the first season.
Back in March, Steve and longtime Guitar Hero mix collaborator Ryan Greene worked together with Alice Cooper to re-record his classic 80′s track “Poison”. Bringing in drummer Ryan Hoyle (Collective Soul, Paul Rogers) the track was recorded and mixed in Scottsdale, AZ. “After completing nearly 100 re-records for Guitar Hero and Rock Revolution it was refreshing to work with the original vocalist from the song. The fact that the vocalist was rock legend Alice Cooper made it all the more amazing.” said Steve after wrapping up the session. Mr. Cooper added ““It was great working with Steve Ouimette and Ryan Greene on the re-record of “Poison”. They did a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of the original and we even had time left over to talk about our mutual love of “Dexter”
“Poison” was released in a Guitar Hero LC pack on November 9. Also included in that pack is “Elected”, another classic Alice Cooper track recorded by the legendary Bob Ezrin.
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Dreams do come true…
October 12 sees the release of Epic, Steve’s new full-length CD/DVD. Digital release on 10/12, in stores on 10/26. Epic breaks the tradition of guitar instrumental records by fusing cinematic composition and rock production elements seamlessly with intense and varied guitar performances ranging from western to blues to shred.
The Hero Feed has featured an exclusive preview of the album.
For the final Neversoft installment in their long line of Guitar Hero releases, Steve was once again invited in to compose the main title, themes, underscore and character cutscenes. Composing more music than ever before within the game Steve concluded his 7th game of the Neversoft-era Guitar Hero with a bang. Potent themes, high-powered riffs and creativity beyond any contribution he’s had with the game, Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock is a true triumph.
September 15, 2010.
Sample Logic’s award-winning team presents a powerful collection of morphed guitar instruments harnessed in a remarkably adaptable “core effects sequencer” engine powered by the Native Instruments Kontakt Player. Derived entirely from true electric and acoustic guitar recordings by guitar guru Steve Ouimette (known for his work on the Guitar Hero franchise) this library is not a traditional guitar sample library, rather, it is an extensive collection of atmospheres, instrumentals, and percussives unlike any ever heard before. Taking it one step further, Cinematic Guitars gives users the power to create and manipulate custom instruments using the first ever “core effects sequencer” designed by Sample Logic and built into the Kontakt engine.
This library is all encompassing, exploring infinite timbres and emotions through its unprecedented collection of over 1000 instruments and multis, starting with bizarre, dark, euphoric, spiritual, electronic sounds and going far beyond.
To celebrate the kick off of the big soccer match, the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, Steve Ouimette returns to the Guitar Hero stage with a collection of rock-inspired national anthems recorded exclusively for the Guitar Hero music library. Beginning June 8, gamers can download the exclusive National Anthem Track Pack for free on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. The track pack includes “God Save the Queen (GH Version),” “Il Canto degli Italiani (GH Version),” “La Marseillaise (GH version),” “Lied der Deutschen (GH version),” and “The Star-Spangled Banner (GH version).”
“The awesome background music matches the visuals extremely well – it’s been a long time since I’ve fallen in love with a game’s soundtrack, and Red Steel 2′s atmospheric melodies are incredibly good.” – Craig Harris, IGN.com
Steve was honored to work with veteran video game composer Tom Salta on the much-anticipated Red Steel 2. Tom called on Steve’s tonal and stylistic diversity to capture the grit, dirt and spirit of the old west-meets-east inspired soundtrack. Red Steel 2 was released today for Wii and is already garnering rave reviews. For more information visit the Official Red Steel 2 Website
As reported on Examiner.com, coming up on December 22 Activision will be releasing a free DLC of Steve’s inspired take on “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” for Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero. A simultaneous release of the single will be available on iTunes, Rhapsody, EMusic and AmazonMP3.com.
For Band Hero (released November 3, 2009) Steve stepped outside of the traditional Guitar Hero shred-guitar pyrotechnics and created an 80′s-meets-modern synth pop style music to be infused into the game. From the intro and outro music to the animated cutscenes you can hear a different side of Steve’s style that seamlessly integrates with the bands in game play. For more information check out the Band Hero Website.
You can hear Steve’s guitar work on the new Marines commercial (composer: Tom Salta). “America’s Few” debuted during the Florida vs. Tennessee game on CBS, September 19, 2009. Watch the commercial here
Steve has returned to the Guitar Hero series working with Neversoft on the next installment to be released on Sept 1. This time around he wrote, performed and recorded the opening music as well and music for the animated cutscenes/menus throughout the game. Steve also created new instrument samples for the Music Studio which has been significantly updated for GH5. Check it out now.
Steve’s remake of the classic Deliverance track “Dueling Banjos” is scheduled for release on August 20 for Guitar Hero DLC. Shortly thereafter it will be available on all of the major online media sites for purchase including iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon. Also announced is a full transcription of DB including the bass part in Guitar World Magazine’s November 2009 issue which hits the stores on August 28. The magazine’s CD-ROM includes a video of Steve explaining the instruments he used as well as preparations necessary to play the parts correctly. The video ends with Steve performing the song in it’s entirety.
Steve has once again returned to the Guitar Hero series, this time contributing to the highly anticipated Guitar Hero Metallica. For Metallica Steve scored the original music for the cutscenes and menus in the game, creating a ‘Tallica Jr., a band based on Metallica from the early years.
Guitar Hero developer Neversoft commissioned Steve to create something different for World Tour. Rather than the re-records of GH3 and Aerosmith, Neversoft asked for Steve to compose the title sequence for the game as well as new music for between-the-action cutscenes and menus. For the title sequence Steve brought back a familiar character from GH3 and wrote “Lou’s Revenge”, a follow up to the remake of the Charlie Daniels classic, The Devil Went Down To Georgia.
Scheduled for release this fall, Steve was responsible for producing the entire set of songs on Rock Revolution. A total of 40 songs, Steve produced as well as played guitar and bass on all tracks. Mixed by Ryan Greene at Crush Recording, this is Steve’s single largest undertaking to date for re-records.
A 20-year user of D’Addario Strings, Steve has just signed on as an artist endorser with the 100 year established company.
“Steve is a classic example of an artist who has navigated the music business and created a niche for himself,” says Hugh Gilmartin, DAddario Artist Relations Manager. “He has parlayed his playing and production chops into a career that allows him to be creative, and at the same time, make a living, making music. He embodies the spirit of D’Addario’s roster of working artists and professionals.”
Steve recently produced two songs for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game (out June 29). “Personality Crisis” by the New York Dolls and “Hard To Handle” by the Black Crowes. Both were recorded at Crush Recording and Steve Ouimette Studios and feature Steve on guitars, Rich Evans (Personality Crisis) and Brody Dolyniuk (Hard To Handle) on vocals, Gary Sanchez on drums and Dave Henzerling on bass. Mixed by Ryan Greene and engineered by Steve and Ryan. Stay tuned for more details and announcements on Steve and his affiliation with the GH series.
Steve will be speaking this Thursday at the 2008 VIGS Conference in the Audio Production panel. Fellow panelists include:
Dan Irish, CEO, Threewave Software, Inc (Moderator)
Paul Ruskay, Composer, Homeworld 1-2, TUROK, Studio X Labs
Jon Mitchell, Scarface Audio Programming, Radical Entertainment
Marty O’Donnell, Halo I-III, Bungie/Microsoft
Mark Griskey, Freelance Composer, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Gordon Durity, Studio Audio Director, Electronic Arts Canada
For more information please visit www.vancouvergamesummit.com
Beginning on June 15, Steve will be writing a monthly column for Premier Guitar Magazine. His series entitled “You Can’t Do That” will offer unique ways of approaching the guitar and getting new sounds and inspiration. Visist www.premierguitar.com for more information.
Check out the February 2008 issue of Guitar Player Magazine. Steve talks with GP about his work on Guitar Hero 3 and shares information about the recording process as well as the research and authenticity of re-recording classic and current rock songs. Read it online
Activision has commissioned Steve to record an original version of the Christmas classic “We Three Kings” for an upcoming free download for Guitar Hero 3. The song will be released in December in time for the holidays. More information on the song will be revealed in the upcoming days.
Steve recently sat down with Jerry Lyons, the Online Resources Manager and Editor-in-Chief of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) about his involment with Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock. Read the interview at http://www.audiogang.org/storyviewer.do?id=public&story=3901
Because of the overwhelming amount of questions I’ve received about my remake of TDWDTG, I’ve taken the top questions and answered them here for those who want to know.
While it’s true the song was originally written for a fiddle, and is a country song, that wouldn’t translate well to a guitar-based game. The original is a classic and a song that just about everyone has heard at one time or another. It was a natural choice to give it a heavier treatment considering the game and stylistically what would work for a guitar, so that was the direction chosen.
I played the main guitar and bass for the song, plus all of the “Lou” parts on the right channel as well as the unaccompanied solo toward the end. There were two other amazing players on the track playing the “Johnny” parts. Ed Degenaro took the first solo and Geoff Tyson took the second one. However, there are two final phrases at the end of the second solo that are Ed as well. I made the decision to have these two guys on the recording not only because they are great players, but because it would give a nice contrast in style.
This track, as with all of the tracks I did for Guitar Hero 3, was recorded at Crush Recording (http://www.crushrecording.com/) in Scottsdale, AZ. The always amazing Ryan Greene, my partner in this and many other projects was at the board was responsible for the mix and engineering. Obviously, Ed and Geoff played and recorded their parts then sent them to me to be brought into the song. I edited the tracks at my studio and brought them all in for the final mix.
For my parts I used a Les Paul R8 and an 80′s Kramer Barretta. The amp was a Diezel VH4 on channel 3 into a Bogner 4×12 cab with an X-pattern of Celestion V30′s and 75′s.
The singer is Chris Powers, from the local AZ band Razer http://www.myspace.com/razer .The drummer was Bruce Weitz from another Arizona band named Vayden http://www.myspace.com/vaydenband. Both Chris and Bruce were great to work with and are true professionals. Thank you guys!
I didn’t see any reason to change the lyrics. Sure, they talk about a fiddle, Georgia, etc, but that’s the way the song sings to me. I have heard other versions where the lyrics are changed to be more contemporary or to mention different places, etc, but they don’t sound right to me.
Lol! Well, I guess it depends on who you ask. There are a lot of people that like the way it turned out, and it was purposely created to be a difficult song for Guitar Hero 3, so there’s that. In a way, much like remakes of other classic songs, it brings the song to a completely different audience and lets them hear a great song. I’ve actually heard a lot of people say it made them go back and listen to the original…which of course, they loved.
I’ve been played guitar now for 25 years.
It feels great. Nuff said!
I did 7 other tracks for the game. They are; Rock You Like A Hurricane, School’s Out, Barracuda, Talk Dirty To Me, Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and Mississippi Queen.
In our ongoing search for vocalists that can sing in the style of the great rock singers, Steve Ouimette Studios is now accepting demos from singers from anywhere in the world. If you feel you have the ability to sound like a particular vocalist please send us a note or a link to an MP3. You can reach Steve at steve@steveouimette.com
We look forward to hearing you!
Just announced yesterday, Interscope is releasing the official Guitar Hero 3 soundtrack on October 23. Steve’s metal version of “Devil Went Down To Georgia” will appear on the soundtrack, shared with songs from Slash, Smashing Pumpkins, Queens Of The Stone Age and Velevet Revolver.
Steve has formed a partnership with Crush Recording’s Ryan Greene for all re-records on Guitar Hero 3. Ryan will be handling the mixes (to be announced at a later date) and both Steve and Ryan will share the engineering duties. Having access to Crush’s gear and Ryan’s bionic ears will no doubt have a tremendous impact on the quality of the material.
Today, Steve signed with Red Octane/Neversoft/Activision to record 8 songs for the next installment of the platinum-selling Guitar Hero series. Songs to be recorded will be announced.
Back again working with our old friends at C3 Pictures, we are getting ready to begin scoring the TV series “Unjust” in the upcoming weeks.
We were honored to work with DChoc on The Soprano’s Bada Bing! Manager (released December 12 on Cingular). The music was scored to capture the sleazy vibe of a New Jersey strip club. Each stripper has their own theme as well! Great game play and a ton of fun!
After many months of work, AP Mobile has launched (www.altpress.com). Subscriptions are $2.99 per month which includes a free ringtone and wallpaper each week. Currently available on Cingular and Sprint, more handsets and carriers will be released in the future.
Today Start Mobile introduced a new form of Ringtone called the M-60. The M-60 is a 60-second music clip that can be used as a ringtone as well as a great vehicle for bands or musician’s looking to have their music heard on the mobile platform. Our own Steve Ouimette has composed two original M-60’s which are now available to download for FREE at http://www.startmobile.net/m60 for the next 60 days. Check them out!
After six weeks, work has just been completed for the upcoming horror film “The Legend of Crown King” by C3 Pictures. The movie, in the spirit of the “Friday the 13th” series is due to be released this summer. For details on the film check out http://www.c3pictures.com/.
Just in time for Christmas, this game was great to score. Brings back childhood memories when I grew up in the snow…
See it HERE
Steve Ouimette has been contracted to produce AP Mobile, a mobile extention of Alternative Press Magazine to be launched in Q4, 2006. AP Mobile will bring subscribers the latest news, pre-release audio tracks, ringtones, wallpaper and photo galleries to their mobile phones. Watch for more news in late ‘06 for details of launch.
We had the pleasure of breaking out a very rare instrument called a Marx-o-Chime for this soundtrack. Looking Glass harkens back to a very early illustrated version of Alice in Wonderland and the vintage stringed autoharp-like instrument was the perfect match. Check it out HERE.
“When making music based games, great music backing up the product is a must and Steve Ouimette is the front runner in providing quality music. Steve added tremendous value to Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, giving us some of the best music we have seen while being very easy to work with.”
- Kai Huang, President and Co-Founder of Red Octane
Steve is a producer’s dream come true. He has all the talent you could wish for, with none of the attitude that so often comes with it. His original guitar compositions are outstanding, and he really understands how to write for media. Add to this his fast turn-around times and amazing chops, and you’ll quickly understand why he’s one of my favorite people to work with.
- Erin Collins, Executive Producer, Endgame Music Library
“When the schedule’s tight and the quality has to be extremely high, Steve Ouimette is the man for the job. The work he did on Rock Revolution was fantastic. His sound-a-like recordings are of the highest quality and is never satisfied with mediocre work. He’ll do whatever it takes to make sure the final product sounds awesome..”
- Doug Rappaport, Senior Producer, Konami Digital Entertainment, America
Steve Ouimette’s obsession with vintage guitar amplifiers really paid off when it came time to reproduce the guitar tones for the songs he produced in Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. Steve delivered some amazing spot-on recordings that really helped players immerse themselves into the game. And Steve’s willingness to incorporate our feedback and quick turnaround for revisions made for an easy working relationship. Oh yeah, and check out his performance as Lou in “The Devil Went down to Georgia”. He’s not too shabby on the guitar.
- Alan Flores, Neversoft
“Steve Ouimette is a fine composer with a great sense of what sounds work on small devices. He’s also been a pleasure to work with, a true professional.”
- Thomas Dolby (www.thomasdolby.com)
“Steve is a master of his craft. We have worked together on countless projects over the years and he has proven to be that rare mix of genuine creativity along with the technical skills necessary to make it real. He has consistently delivered excellent results for me.”
- Eric Engstrom, SVP AOL Wireless Products, AOL. Co-inventor the groundbreaking DirectX game technology for Windows (www.aol.com)
“Steve is an audio maven who is also uniquely creative. His wide range of music styles and his focus on the performance details of the destination devices means that there is nary a device that Steve can’t make sing.”
- Anthony Stonefield, CEO of Emotive Communications, Inc. Internationally recognized as the pioneer of the downloadable music, ringtone and media-telephony markets (www.emotive.com)
“The musical score and ambient textures that Steve created for “The Legend of Crown King” elevated the film to a new level. Even as the producer/director, I still get chills every time I watch the movie… Knowing the talent and skill Steve has will help us push our movies into the main stream this year.”
- Russell Clay, Producer/Director/Writer (www.redc2.com)
“Not only is Steve a Phenomenal guitarist with top notch production chops, he is also an excellent collaborator with a great attitude. He is a real pleasure to work with.”
- Mark Griskey, Composer, Iron Man, Prince Caspian
“Steve’s deep knowledge and experience of everything guitar shines through in his tracks and collaborative nature. Steve is always pleasure to work with and I know the job will be done right, every time”
- Tom Salta, Composer/Producer, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X, Red Steel
“Working with Steve is such a breeze. He is not only a supremely talented guitarist and performer, but an incredible all round musician. Added to that, he is also a total perfectionist. I had the pleasure of working with Steve on a recent project, where it was vital to create not only the right performance, but also a very precise sound. I was totally blown away with the results and can’t wait to work with Steve again”
- Richard Jacques, Composer, Mass Effect, Highlander
“I have every confidence in recommending Steve for your mobile audio requirements, not only does he understand the platform in detail he is professional, efficient and a damn nice guy to work with! When Tag Games required a number of tracks re-composed from existing PC formats to mobile compatible MIDI our expectations were not only met by Steve, he actually exceeded them across the board! The quality of the end result, the size of the files, the speed of completion and the price were outstanding.” - Paul Farley, President, Tag Games (www.tag-games.com)
VIDEO GAMES
ACTIVISION – NEVERSOFT
Guitar Hero Series – GH III: Legends Of Rock, GH: Aerosmith, GH: On Tour, GH World Tour, GH: Metallica: GH5, Band Hero, GH6: Warriors Of Rock
Guitar Hero DLC – We Three Kings, Top Gun Anthem, Dueling Banjos, Hark!, National Anthems
BIZARRE CREATIONS – James Bond 007: Blood Stone
THQ – WWE Smack Down VS. RAW 2011
KONAMI – Rock Revolution, Guitar Hero 3 Arcade
UBISOFT – Raving Rabbids: Alive and Kicking, Just Dance 3, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Red Steel 2, H.A.W.X. II, 20 Mag, Rackets, Murder Party
BIOWARE – Dragon Age: Leliana’s Song
CASUAL, SOCIAL AND MOBILE
DIGITAL CHOCOLATE – Sopranos Bada Bing Manager, Goblin Toss, Trick Or Treat, Haunted House Mini Golf, Moto Racing Fever, Babysitter To Go, Flower Shop Frenzy, Cafe 5-Pack, 3D Monster Brick Breaker
BIG FISH GAMES – Looking Glass, Dive!, Katiki
MOBILE – Palm, AOL, Curitel, Skype. Over 2,500 custom ringtones, Audio UI design, system sounds licenced
TELEVISION
FILM TRAILERS
X-Ray Dog – Scent Of Evil, Pet Shop
MUSIC LIBRARIES
APM – Endgame, SONOTON – AMPED - Game Audio Vol. 2, BRUTON – Indie After Midnight, Heavy Groove Rock
SAMPLE LIBRARIES
Sample Logic – Cinematic Guitars
Need a Guitar Hero to play on your recording? email info@steveouimette.com