🎛️ Still in the Studio — Crafting the Sound of Meteora. Composing Diary 1

Shezan Shaikh
Jul 30
2 min read

I’m still in the thick of it. The studio’s a war zone of patch cables, coffee mugs, guitar picks, and blinking synths and I wouldn't have it any other way.

We’re deep into scoring for Meteora a space-racing game built for PS5 + VR2 and the sound is turning into something wild, heavy, and alive.

🎹 The Gear That’s Shaping the Galaxy

Every piece of this soundtrack is being sculpted by hand, real knobs, real strings, real sweat. Here’s what’s been keeping me company:

Arturia MatrixBrute: For gnarly, analog sequences that feel like warning sirens from collapsing stars. I’m pushing it into self-oscillating madness and resampling it for high-speed FX risers and countdowns.
Arturia PolyBrute: This one’s all about emotion in motion. I’m morphing pads in real-time — calm to chaos, space to storm — perfect for those moments where gameplay tension spikes.
Moog Sub37: Still undefeated for those chewy, filthy sub-bass lines. Laying the bedrock for Meteora’s low-end energy, especially during warp sequences and “final lap” moments.
ROLI Seaboard: Expressive synth leads, gliding across space with full-on MPE control. It’s how I’m sculpting melodies that feel alive and fluid.
8-String Ibanez & 7-String Solar Guitars: The guitars have been crucial — not just for riffs, but textures. I’m recording, reversing, glitching, and mangling parts into ambient elements and rhythmic stutters.
Distortion Pedals (Darkglass, Earthquaker, Boss): Running synths, guitars, and even sampled vocals through them to dirty things up. No clean space here. This galaxy bites back.

Still digging deeper in the lab. Here’s what’s been shaping the audio of Meteora so far — Polysynth pads, analog growls, expressive MPE leads. Sharing this gear gallery to give you a taste of what’s coming — and why things sound heavy, fast, and alive

🌀 Genre-Warping: Liquid DnB Meets Metal and Space Opera

I didn’t want this to be a typical “sci-fi” score.So I’ve been diving deep into a hybrid genre that’s becoming uniquely Meteora:

Liquid Drum & Bass meets cinematic metal meets deep-space ambience.

Liquid DnB rhythms for forward motion.
Heavy guitar textures for intensity.
Lush pads and granular atmospheres to paint the cosmos around you.

It’s fast, emotional, and at times overwhelming.Just like racing a starship should be.

🎧 The Grind (And the Glory)

Right now, it’s just me, the machines, and the mix.Still composing. Still tweaking. Still chasing that perfect moment where gameplay and music lock in like fate.

We’re close.Can’t wait for you to hear this universe.

More soon.

Back to the cockpit.

— Shezan