Schmidt received dual undergraduate degrees, a B.M. in Music and a BSc in computer science from Northwestern University in 1985, where he created the first dual degree program between the School of Music and the Technological Institute there.[1] Following that in 1987, he received his master's degree entitled "Computer Applications in Music" also from Northwestern University. Portions of his thesis were published in the Computer Music Journal in 1987.[2] Early in his career, he worked in Chicago writing commercial jingles.[3]
Schmidt began in the video game music and sound industry in 1987 as a composer/sound designer and programmer for Williams Electronic Games in Chicago writing music and creating sound effects for pinball machines and coin-operated video games. At Williams, he was the lead composer and sound designer for games such as Black Knight 2000,[4] Space Station, Swords of Fury, Banzai Run as well as the video game, NARC and also contributed to Fire and Big Guns.[5] In 1989, his theme from the video game, NARC, was recorded and released by the Pixies.[6]
In 1989, Schmidt left Williams to become one of the video game industry's first independent composers, sound designers and audio technologists under the company name of Schmidt Entertainment Technologies. While a consultant, he worked on over 120 console and arcade games.[7] Schmidt is also the creator of the BSMT2000 audio DSP,[8] which is used in various pinball games and video arcade machines and the QSound "Q1" 3D game sound chip used by CAPCOM.[citation needed]
In 1998 Schmidt was recruited by Microsoft to become Program Manager for DirectSound and DirectMusic. From 1999–2008, Schmidt was the program manager of the Xbox Audio and Voice Technologies division at Microsoft and was responsible for much of the audio architecture for the Xbox and Xbox 360.[9] He created the start up sound for the original Xbox console, using 'old-school' techniques to create an 8-second sound using only 25 kilobytes of memory.[10] Schmidt is also credited with bringing real-time Digital Surround to video gaming with the inclusion of Dolby Digital Live on Xbox.[11] Schmidt left Microsoft in February 2008, and formed Brian Schmidt Studios, L.L.C., an independent consulting firm. He is also the creator of GameSoundCon, a conference and seminar on composing video game music and video game sound design for the professional audio community.[12]
Schmidt was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) in 2008 for his contributions to the game audio industry.[13] He also received the 2009 G.A.N.G. recognition award at the 2010 Game Developers Conference for his work founding GameSoundCon.[14] In 2017, he was inducted into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame.[15] His work has received the Sega Seal of Quality award for "Best Sound" [16] and the Game Audio Network Guild's "Best new audio technology" awards. Game music by Schmidt is featured in the CD Box set, Legends of Game Music.[citation needed]
Schmidt is the Founder and Creative Director of EarGames, an independent video game development company specializing in audio games; videogames that rely on sound for gameplay. EarGames' initial release, Ear Monsters, was released in June 2013.[17]
