Marc Ray

Composer for Film And Games

About

“Where words fail, music speaks.” – Hans Christian Andersen

That’s how I see my work as a composer. I don’t just write music – I search for the sound that unlocks the heart of a scene. Sometimes it’s a fragile chord, sometimes it’s a bold theme, sometimes it’s an unexpected rhythm that makes everything click.I’m drawn to projects that care about craft and storytelling – indie games, films, and collaborations where people pour their soul into the details. My own creative worldbuilding and fantasy writing are just extensions of the same thing: finding the story inside the sound.I value openness and good communication. Working with me means not just getting music, but having a collaborator who listens, adapts, and wants your vision to shine.
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Contact

+43 6603092631
[email protected]

I humbly present you: a peek into my soundworks...Just use the buttons to navigate.

Guardian of the ForestWhat started as a university exercise in the fantasy genre quickly grew into one of my favorite projects. I wrote a short script, imagined the scene, and scored it with a complete orchestral score – full notation, motivic writing, and orchestration techniques I explored during my Bachelor studies.The result is a soundtrack that begins in a mystical, magical calm and rises into a heroic, exciting climax. I presented it as part of my mid-degree exam, but it resonated with me so strongly that I decided to feature it here in my portfolio.For me, Guardian of the Forest is where study and imagination meet – a practice piece that became a story worth sharing.

TetherGeist - Indie Game Music Contest
Contest Entry for the sweet indie game "TetherGeist".
Indie Game Music Contest - April 2025The soundtrack is built in a modular way: it consists of multiple layers and sections that can be flexibly faded in and out depending on the gameplay situation and level progression. All building blocks of a level function independently but layer harmonically and rhythmically without getting in each other’s way. I aimed to create a beautiful and engaging stereo image that stays interesting and doesn’t become annoying too quickly.
All in all, I wanted to compose a soundtrack that blends naturally into the game, feels fresh and engaging, yet still brings depth, atmosphere, and structure. Despite being purely electronic, the music is meant to convey a warm, magical, and unique character.

Indie games feel special to me. They carry an honesty and artistic freedom that bigger productions often lose. Each one feels handcrafted, with its own soul and voice. This playlist is a collection of demos inspired by that same spirit – music that dreams alongside the games I admire.

A sailor’s log of music made and moments lived.

This is my personal logbook. I believe in the beauty of open process, of showing the sea as it truly is: vast, imperfect, and alive. If these entries reach someone on a similar voyage, then the log has served its purpose.

Log Entry #001 - A First Step: Notes from LA

Hello There!At my university we had an event called Music in the Woods: a group of musicians gathering in rural Austria, exchanging experience, making connections, learning from guest speakers, and having fun. Afterward we could submit projects we had worked on during the event. I didn’t submit - something I regretted later, because the winners got the chance to go to L.A. and meet well-known film and game composers.A friend of mine won. It’s a small university so we all know each other to some degree. One hard part: a fellow student couldn’t get a visa because she’s from Iran. That was incredibly frustrating for her and for all of us.My good friend Lukas Rösch came back from L.A. and told me about the trip and the people he met. He wanted to return, because the meetups had been so tightly scheduled he barely saw the city. Fast-forward a few weeks and there we were: two Austrian students in Los Angeles.It was the first time I set foot in the USA, so the culture shock was real - and the experience was amazing. Everything felt bigger. We Ubered everywhere and spent more than we planned. Some things were tough for us: parts of the city felt neglected, food portions were heavy, homelessness was visible, and overall quality of life felt different compared to Vienna -except in the very wealthy areas. The first days were discouraging. Most of the contacts from Lukas’s first trip didn’t reply. My backpack -passport and wallet inside - was stolen. Lukas got sick and sunburned. Some professors had offered to connect us with universities or established composers, but sadly they were tied up.We didn’t give up. We got proactive - reaching out on every channel we could find, downloading dating apps to meet people from the industry, walking 15–20k steps a day, and visiting as many relevant places as possible. In the end we met a lot of kind people in and around the industry, including Lukas Geppert, who worked with Lorne Balfe at the time. He gave us generous insights into his work and his time at USC. What struck me most was hearing it from someone so close to us in age and background - it suddenly felt less like a distant dream and more like a path we might actually walk.The very next day we found ourselves on the USC campus heading to a football game. It was stunning - the size, the buildings, the energy. We had only seen this in movies, and suddenly it was real. Lukas Geppert told us that his year at USC was the best experience of his life - and that it accelerated his career. That hit both of us hard. The application is tough, the visa is tough, and the cost is… astronomical. We heard numbers around $100,000 for one year in USC’s master’s program (costs of living included).So now we’re torn. We want to study there and push into film/game composing, but we’d need funding, luck in admissions, and we’d be away from family and friends, living in a different culture with unforgiving work rhythms. It’s tough. Maybe that’s the price of growth. But is it really worth it? I don't know.My next steps: finish my last year and get the bachelor’s degree. Then look at other options - UK, Germany, France, Scandinavia - maybe there are closer, more affordable paths. The U.S. student experience still looks incredible, though.There’s also a freer path: building an online presence - YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram - maybe digital products or courses. I’m also working on a fantasy book and other projects. I’m learning continuously and want to document the journey, probably connecting it all through this website.For now, this is my status quo. Thanks for reading my first entry. One of the biggest lessons I have learned through all of this is that getting out there and learning how to communicate well is both the hardest and the most important part.Keep Composing,Marc- 7th September 2025 -

Here I will write about all my other projects like my Author-Hobby, some Online Courses I am working on and other stuff. It's all still WIP and more or less my hobby-corner.