When Collaborating on Video Games, Brazilian-born Composer/Musician is Inspired by Acoustic Guitar Theme of “The Last of Us”

Use. Real. Instruments.

It’s ironic that a musician/composer, who started his musical journey by learning acoustic guitar at age 8 in Brazil, now finds himself in Hollywood composing music for VR and video games. However, composer/producer/musician Eduardo Resende still relies on his early experience playing guitar, piano and drums around Rio to now compose for the gaming industry.

In fact, while many might naturally think of computers and synthesizers when it comes to composing for this genre, Resende has learned the value of also using real instruments, suggesting, “Check out the action-adventure game, The Last of Us—it’s sold over 20 million copies, and has an adapted TV series. But its basic soundtrack revolves around an acoustic guitar that is totally atmospheric. Personally, I’ve learned that if you can play an instrument, then go ahead and use it to compose for your video game project. So, in addition to synthesizers, you can also record live instruments.”

Indeed, while Resende has also worked alongside award-winning film composers and enjoys the thrill of meeting movie/TV deadlines, he loves the very different and exciting challenges in composing for video games—like collaborating with Danny McIntyre, an award-winning music composer, who worked on the popular VR shooter game, Farpoint. Resende himself was the composer for an upcoming virtual reality game called Star Realms VR.

Previously, Resende has composed music and tracks for TV Networks like CBS and Discovery. Additionally, the producers of the HGTV show, called Barbie Dream House Challenge, used some of his pop-dance tracks. However, Resende, who continues to love playing guitar on projects, has added acoustic and electric guitar to projects with BMI-awarded singer “Alice Macedo,” and Tik-tok star “Manny Moura," while also playing guitar for renowned Brazilian singer Rebeca.

That aside, he says of the thrill of composing for video games: “Video games are always fun projects to work on. The thing about video games that is so different from film and TV is that this field is led by a young forward-thinking generation, so, there’s a lot of space for new techniques. When you write music for games, even though I’ll use real instruments where I can, you also have to be very tech-savvy. You have to understand how the music will be implemented in the game. Interactive media is a totally different beast.”

All You Need is Love.

Moreover, this is coming from a man who was initially inspired by the “Love” compilation album by the Beatles, and then seeing Paul McCartney performing live. Consequently, he developed an all-encompassing love for various genres of music. That love extends to composers he admires, like Grammy and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer who most recently scored for Dune: Part One: “The way that Zimmer tells the story through his music is what I try to emulate whenever I feel trapped.”

However, Resende is pretty happy with his TV successes so far, including: working on Discovery TV shows such as Murder in the Heartland, Sister Wives, Death by Fame, and Halloween Wars; and, also scoring for sports programs like NFL on CBS, which created an unexpected “aha” moment for Resende when he randomly overhead his music playing on the TV show while walking past a sports bar in Santa Monica. Consequently, he enthuses, “My career got a positive upsurge after realizing thousands of NFL fans across the country were also hearing my music. That’s a moment that I’ll carry forever.”

Composer/producer/musician Eduardo Resende chats with us about the joy of composing for TV, movies and video games today.

—Can you explain this all-encompassing love you have for all genres of music (electronic, pop, trap, rock, and classical)?

—I come from a family with no professional musicians. However, they all played instruments as a hobby. My dad used to play the violin and my mom used to play the piano. When I was a young kid, my parents would always have some CD playing in the background. Then when I heard a Beatles compilation album called LOVE, it was a game-changer. To this day I remember being taken by Ringo’s drum solo from ‘The End.’ From that discovery moment on, I knew that I wanted to play music, and thankfully, when I was eight years old, my parents gave me an acoustic guitar and a chance to take some classes. It was love at first sight. Additionally, seeing Paul McCartney live in concert in Rio when I was 12, further changed my life—it was a WOW moment. I knew that music is what I wanted to dedicate my life to.

—How have you expressed that love with your different musical hats on?

—When I was playing in bands around Rio, if there was a band in need of a bass player, I was there. If it was a piano player, I was there. I just wanted to spend all my time playing music. To this day, I love playing guitar, and so I’ve been playing guitar on a number of other people's projects. Then, just last year, I was writing some Halloween music at the same time that I was composing action/suspense music, totally different things. Today, there’s a need for every type of music—so, give me a musical challenge, and I’ll take it on. You know, an artist’s music in this film or TV show, or that game or record will live on forever.

—How do you stand out and be noticed in such a competitive world?

—Being part of the Hollywood entertainment engine can be very demanding, but it’s what I’ve dreamed of. While I imagine earning awards for my work, I think that the most important aspect of being a musician is to bring something to the table that only you can provide. The cliche of “having your own voice” can be overstated, but it's the truth. There are hundreds of composers and producers in this city, but the ones that stand out will always be the ones that break the rules and come out with something innovative. Like using ambient acoustic guitar for The Last of Us.

—Can you explain how Interactive media is a totally different beast?

—In a movie or TV show, your music will always be playing the same way, forever. However, in games, you don’t know how long the player will take to go from A to B. It has to be adaptive for various situations, so I’m very fascinated by it. Also, being based in Los Angeles, I’m always around the community of game developers that graduate from USC, which has one of the best game programs in the world. Illum, Frenemy Colosseum, and Chrono Cut are just a few of the games that I wrote fun music for with USC developers.

—Which project has been the most out-and-out fun, and what did you bring to it?

—I was recently the composer for an upcoming Virtual Reality game called Star Realms VR. It’s a multiplayer sandbox-building game and social platform that allows you to build and decorate floating islands with friends. It will really connect people from all over the world in this virtual place. Writing music for a virtual reality game is fascinating and extremely challenging. For example, when wearing a headset, the player will turn his face around in many directions and the music has to respond to that in some way.

To view/listen to his reel, drop in on Eduardo Resende’s Music website and on his LinkedIn and IMDb pages.