Music, sound, sonic identity · Los Angeles

Scoring stories.
Designing how brands sound.

👋 I'm Ambrose.
A composer, sound designer, and creative director in Los Angeles.

For the last 12 years I've worked with studios, brands, and directors, scoring stories and how brands sound. Somewhere along the way I shaped Duolingo's sonic identity and became the voice of Duo. Still the strangest résumé line I've ever been proud of.

I came to audio through brand design and filmmaking, and that still informs how I work. I start with everything but the sound (the design, the animation, the pacing, who it's for, what it's trying to say) and let the whole piece decide what the music and sound should be. Sometimes that means the music does the sound design's job; sometimes a single sound carries the story. That approach keeps the work cohesive, right for the moment, unmistakably its own. And more often than not, fun to make and fun to watch.

How I Work

Treatment
Most projects start with a treatment: a written creative direction for the whole piece (how it should feel, where the music and sound are headed, the references we're drawing from). Talking about music and sound can be awkward, so writing it down early gives everyone a shared vocabulary and a place to collaborate before anything is produced. It's how the work gets made well, on brief, and on time.

Range
I take projects from concept to final delivery: composition, sound design, voice direction, mix, and everything in between. One partner, one creative direction, no handoffs. Lately that's meant a kids' series theme, a product's entire sound system, and a cartoon owl's voice gibberish.

Scale
When a project needs more than one set of hands (and ears), I bring in collaborators I've worked with for years. Friends who happen to be great composers, sound designers, and engineers. I lead every project myself; they're what lets me take on projects at any scale.

Services

Original music
Sound design
Sonic identity
Sonic UI/UX
Interactive & game audio
Voiceover direction & production
Character voices
Mix, mastering & end-to-end post

Selected Clients

Ordinary Folk · Buck · Hornet · Giant Ant · Oddfellows

Duolingo · Apple · Netflix · Coca-Cola · TED · PBS Kids 

All Clients

  • 72andSunny · AKQA · Animade · Animagic · Authors · BIEN · Buck (SYD, NYC, LA) · Coat of Arms · DNA Seattle · Double Plus Productions · Dress Code NY · Duke & Duck · Flatwhite Motion · Flesh and Bones · Giant Ant · Golden Wolf · Gunner · Hobbes · Hornet · Instrument · Kneeon Studios · Lasso Studio · Meister · Nice Shit Studios · Oddfellows · Ordinary Folk · Parallel · Pep Rally · Pentagram · Pixelogic Media · Please Call Me Champ · Reece Parker Co. · Remade · Residence · Reunion · The Furrow · Titmouse · Tolleson · Trifilm · Veneer Studio · Visual Creatures · Vucko · Ways & Means · Where the Buffalo Roam · Wonderlust · Work & Co

  • Adobe · Adult Swim · Airbnb · Amazon · Apple · CashApp · Cigna · Coca-Cola · CVS · Discord · Duolingo · Fivetran · Ford · Google · Hoag Hospitals · Hopper · Hulu · IBM · Instagram · Intel · JetBlue · Kit Kat · Lagunitas · Lexus · Mastercard · Meta · Microsoft · Mixpanel · Motion Plus Design · MTV / Viacom · NerdWallet · Netflix · Postman · Procreate · Robinhood · Roblox · SAP · SendGrid · Slack · Spline · Supercell / Brawl Stars · Synchrony · T-Mobile · Tag Heuer · TED · The New York Times · The Trade Desk · The Verge · Tenstorrent · Toyota · TrueCar · TSMC · Twilio · Uber · Under Armour · Unity · Vimeo · Visa · Webflow · WeWork · Ziply Fiber

  • Brennan Center for Justice · Ecosia · Equal Justice Initiative · Museum of Science Boston · PBS/WNET · World Wildlife Fund

  • Cryptocubes · Cryptokitties · Dapper Labs · DeSo · Han.io · Minima · Nouns · Opensea · Polygon · Tezos

Have something in mind?

I'd love to hear about it → hi@ambroseyu.com