Martin has an amazing ability to add an electrifying vibe to a motion picture. When he is not busy surfing big waves around the world, the former high school music teacher works as a composer, sound designer and music producer.

You may have already heard some of his music, as he has contributed the sound to various commercial spots by big companies like VW, Adidas, Tui, New Yorker Fashion and many more. In addition, Martin is the sound designer behind our UJAM Beatmaker Hustle plug-in. Furthermore he’s one of our UJAM video tutorial hosts, as you can see here. We’re very happy to have him for this interview.

While other composers put emphasis on their own unique styles, Martin tells us, he considers his signature skill to be able to discover new genres and adapt to them quickly. This approach requires a great deal of musical versatility, which he has developed over his life as a musician.

As a child, he was introduced to the classical piano. In the ’90s – his teenage years – he was struggling to find an outlet for his creativity as in the age of Grunge virtually everyone was playing guitar in a rock band, which was tough for a classically trained kid like him. This led him to discover the sound of Liam Howlett and The Prodigy, which was in a way “Rock music with synthesizers.” He wanted to sound like that, but in the days before the Internet and tutorial videos, he had to experiment and find it out all by himself.

Composing Music in Head

The ability to read music and write it down on a sheet of paper enables Martin to compose music wherever he happens to be. He doesn’t need to have his gear all around him when inspiration strikes: “I notate the melodies that I actually have already in my ear and notate the harmonies that I already have somewhere around. So it’s easy for me to even work without any kind of controllers”.

Learn more about Martin and his work on sound design: www.martinseyer.com