Why He Walked Away From Writing Music for Hundreds of Millions of People — Seth Tsui

Seth Tsui has written music heard by hundreds of millions of people — League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics at Riot Games, fifteen films across Vietnam and China, and sample libraries like Jade Ethnic Orchestra and Arabian Ethnic Orchestra. Earlier this year he left, because the job on offer was management and the job he wanted was writing music. We cover the whole arc: the trombone kid who walked away from the orchestral audition track, the all-nighter that got him hired at Remote Control Productions, why he's building his own sampler at Nomad Sounds, how piracy reshaped what libraries he could afford to make, and the jazz improvisation game about birds of paradise he's making entirely alone.🔗 SETH TSUI LINKSWebsite: https://www.sethtsui.com/Nomad Sounds: https://nomadsounds.com/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sethtsuiMarkus Junnikkala is a Composer from Finland.https://www.markusjunnikkala.com/Support this podcast by becoming a member:https://markusjunnikkala.com/membership/Want me to answer your question?Ask it on social media:https://www.instagram.com/markusjunnikkala/https://www.facebook.com/markusjunnikkala/https://x.com/markusjunnikkalhttps://www.reddit.com/user/markusjunnikkala/https://www.linkedin.com/in/markusjunnikkala/Subscribing, sharing, and liking helps the podcast.TIMESTAMPS:(00:00:00) Bangkok heat, hospital bracelets and mystery symptoms(00:04:15) The lounge-chair studio and the composer's ergonomics problem(00:14:37) Best known for League of Legends, best known for Jade(00:16:07) Nomad Sounds, Kontakt's limits, and the Key Engine sampler(00:19:31) Piracy, subscriptions, and pirated on day one(00:26:07) Selling software in China, and making customers feel heard(00:29:43) What happens to Kontakt now that NI has been acquired(00:33:01) Owning samples vs owning a 100-year-old trombone(00:38:42) Cincinnati, trombone, and an indie rock album with ten genres(00:43:51) LA, the Logic technician ad, and the all-nighter that got him hired(00:48:07) Remote Control Productions: no sleep, endless conforming, knowing when to quit(00:51:16) Stress, introversion, and which relationships actually work(00:55:40) Breachway, space games, and meeting Elon Musk at a game jam(01:01:12) Birdland: birds of paradise, jazz, and an improvisational rhythm game(01:11:50) Big band jazz for birds, and a three-year solo build(01:15:42) Two career tracks at Remote Control, and waiting for the magic wand(01:20:21) Joining Riot, the manager track, and the $120 air conditioner button(01:25:07) Shared vision, egos, and whether a project needs one boss(01:27:52) Five composers, one band: making Remix Rumble(01:31:18) Leadership is sacrifice: "You don't count, you're the leader"(01:37:44) Selfishness, love, and why it has to be demonstrated(01:43:54) Two kids, imperfect parenting, and how to introduce music(01:49:42) Piano at three, nine years in a boy choir, and where a style comes from(01:54:43) Pressing one key isn't music: the F1 car problem(01:57:00) How much should a sample library hold your hand?(02:04:46) How Jade Evolutions was actually built(02:07:31) Buying down to a single instrument, and why there's no demo(02:13:18) Hong Kong, Norway, and emigrating from America for a better life(02:19:36) Parents who knew nothing about music — the greatest gift(02:24:12) Why game scores become part of people's souls(02:26:06) Nintendo 64, and the teacher who deleted his game(02:31:02) Why film scores inspire him more than game scores(02:33:20) Markus's one album, and why Seth resisted becoming a composer(02:37:25) Jamming as a superpower, and the worst career advice he ever got(02:41:03) The hardest creative decision: leaving Riot(02:44:34) Does creativity fade with age?(02:48:36) The plan to win Riot a Tony: a musical about Jhin(02:52:18) Advancing the art, and writing an arrhythmia into a trauma song(02:56:44) Hardware synths, modular, and boutique pedal regret(02:59:46) Sci-fi, Childhood's End, UFOs and Area 52(03:04:15) What is an artist?(03:05:36) A message to every lock screen on Earth(03:08:19) The guest he wants next, and the ideas still stuck in his head(03:13:45) Advice for young composers in the age of AI