Music Composer
Aaron Cui
Classically trained composer with a strong passion for video game sound design and all things game audio.
Currently an undergraduate music composition student at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.
Works Created for Video Games:I love all kinds of games – Card games like Hearthstone and Shadowverse, Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight, Visual Novels, Gacha Games, and MOBAs, among others. I have a particular love for JRPGs, with some of my favourite games being Persona 5, Rune Factory 4, and the Fire Emblem series.I have experience with all steps of the game audio process. I have done sound design, composing, mixing, mastering, and using Wwise to integrate audio into games.
Masterworks of HorrorI have spent the past year serving as the audio lead for the USC Advanced Game Project, "Masterworks of Horror", a real-time card battler inspired by the literary works of authors H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, amongst other acclaimed horror authors. Masterworks of Horror was recently exhibited at GDC 2026, and will also be at the USC Games Expo. Masterworks of Horror uses Unity and Wwise.A purely SFX sound design reel and a full showcase of the game's audio in its entirety can be found below, as well as an explanation of my roles in the team.
Sound Design Reel:
Full Audio Experience:
I have filled a multitude of roles in this project, being the audio director, sole sound designer and partial technical sound designer, as well as handling all audio production and some composing.As the audio lead of this project, I focused on increasing player engagement with the game's mechanisms by having the audio actively respond to player choices, including developing live mixing systems in Wwise. I also modified and added code to scripts in unity to implement Wwise events, and identified and fixed a multitude of audio bugs that occured in Wwise and in engine.
Video Game Soundtrack Work:
Cathedral of Blood
Composed for a Bloodborne-like setting and boss battle, implemented in Wwise to capture how it would be realised in a game context (further details can be seen in the video description).The first, purely percussive part of the soundtrack is intended to be a build-up and is skipped, but can be listened to be returning to the start of the video. The second part of the soundtrack is the actual "boss track".
Scherzi on Spring Plains
A less intense battle theme with traditional Chinese folk elements, fitting for common battles with mobs or less narratively important boss characters (further details in description).
Non-OST Video Game Music
A series of musical segments designed to accompany the emotes of 红心女王, a character from 月圆之夜 inspired by the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.
PV Score: A rescore of the trailer for the animated series 诡秘之主 (Lord of the Mysteries). While not a game PV, it is reflective of how a game PV may be scored.
桃花源 (Peach Blossom Spring)My newest composition is inspired by a traditional chinese fable about a utopia called the Peach Blossom Spring. A work for four-hands piano, it is a calm, meditative, and incredibly free piece for both the audience and the performers.
言
鸟鸣山更幽
The initial inspiration for this piece came from listening to a recording of the Kaua’i ‘o‘o, a now extinct bird species. The three note first theme (B-flat, D-flat, E-flat) directly mimics the unresponded-to mating call of the last Kaua’i ‘o’o. Through the compositional process, the theme turned from just an imitation of a bird call to something more personal, hence the name of the piece, “言” (a character from my Chinese name, 崔朗言, also approximately translating to “words”). The subtitle of the piece, “鸟鸣山更幽”, is part of a Chinese poem, 入若耶溪, approximately translating to “the bird’s call makes the mountain feel more lonely”.(Extended program notes can be found on instagram)
Obsequies
(Extended composer thoughts can be found on instagram)
Moon Tide
Moon Tide was written for the 2024 Atlantic Music Festival Pre-College Composition Program to be read by the AMF Orchestra.
Biography
Hi! I'm Aaron, a composer currently studying at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. I'm a classically trained composer with a passion for all things audio-related in games, from soundtracks to sound design to Wwise.
Musical Experience:I am currently working as the audio lead of a 5-person large audio team for a 50-person large USC Advanced Games Project (name classified). In this role, I am responsible for sound design, sound effects, and Wwise. I also use my abundant experience with composition to communicate musical needs with external composers as the audio director.Internship at 巨人网络 (Giant Interactive Group Inc) (2025), a Chinese video game company. They have developed 征途 (Zhengtu Online, a historical titan of the Chinese MMORPG scene), 超自然行动组 (an online multiplayer exploration horror game with over a million concurrent users) and 月圆之夜 (Night of the Full Moon), among many others.
During this internship, I composed music, created orchestral mockups, mixed music and learned to use Wwise to integrate audio into games. Created music both for Western orchestra and traditional Chinese folk instruments.Summer program at the Atlantic Music Festival (2024), studying under Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Melinda Wagner and Zhou Long, amongst other highly acclaimed professors. An orchestra piece and a chamber piece were performed for a live audience.Summer program at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Composition Fundamentals Workshop (2023), studying under Boston University Chair of Composition Martin Amlin, with a composition for String Quartet performed by the faculty quartet.