17

PlayStation Studios // 17 years // still no corner office

Ted Kocher is a 3× Grammy-nominated, 4× BAFTA-winning Lead Music Designer — a trusted cinematic music craftsman with nearly two decades shaping the story and music of PlayStation’s most iconic franchises, actively building the frontier of what interactive audio becomes next.

Scroll
50+ Shipped Titles
Grammy Nominations
BAFTA Wins
17+ Years at PlayStation

// Legacy

The sound of PlayStation
was never accidental.

As Lead Music Designer at PlayStation Studios, Ted is the trusted cinematic ear on some of the most culturally resonant games ever made — shaping how music breathes inside gameplay, building composer relationships, and directing sessions with story and music as the constant compass.

He composed the PlayStation Studios sonic logo — eight seconds heard by hundreds of millions of players worldwide. He led the music editorial on four Call of Duty franchises including Warzone, shaped Ghost of Tsushima’s (and Ghost of Yōtei’s) reactive Japanese instrumentation, and was the steady hand behind Journey’s transcendent score — a game that changed what people believed music in games could do.

Across 17 years and four console generations, Ted became one of the most experienced interactive music practitioners alive.

Now he builds the thing
after the thing.

The future of game music isn’t static scores embedded in cutscenes. It’s living systems — music that responds, adapts, co-authors with the player. Ted has spent the last several years at the frontier of that shift, building tools and frameworks that bridge AI, game engines, and the composer’s intent.

Through Back Pocket Music and what his accountant generously calls “an active research practice,” he consults with studios navigating the AI transition and teaches adaptive audio at Northwestern Michigan College and Southern Utah University.

// Adaptive Audio · AI · Game Engines
Active Research & Development
Building next-generation tools at the intersection of AI, audio middleware, and interactive music systems — bridging two decades of hands-on implementation with the emerging capabilities of machine intelligence.
// Education · Consulting
Teaching & Industry Work
Teaching adaptive audio at Northwestern Michigan College and Southern Utah University, and consulting with studios navigating the AI transition.
// Lab Tools

All the weird audio tools live at Back Pocket Music.

The strange ones. The useful ones. The ones built at 2 AM.

Visit the Lab →

// Selected Additional Credits

the ones that fit on a single page

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Call of Duty: Vanguard Call of Duty: WWII Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Death Stranding Death Stranding 2 PlayStation Concert (Live Event) PlayStation Originals MLB: The Show Concord Anthem Twisted Metal God of War Series Ratchet & Clank Series …and many more
// Recording Artist
POUROVER

Ted records and releases music as POUROVER — esoteric electronic ambient, built on synth-heavy arrangements and the conviction that raw vulnerability beats coolness every time. Recent releases include Bracing For The Fall and what we could build instead (feat. BAILEY). Also records as AIDAxPOUROVER.

Bracing For The Fall · 2025 what we could build instead · 2026
KBD Trio →

Also plays vintage keyboards, trumpet, and Omnisphere in KBD Trio, where the brief is “just hit things and see what happens.”

// System Interrupt

click to interrupt again