Aiden Stempnik, an Oakland University student majoring in interdisciplinary studies with a focus in music technology and video game studies, released a song on March 6 titled “SYSTEM-32x.”
The sound of the song resembles that of a video game soundtrack. One can easily visualize a pixelated story coming to life on the screen, accompanying the audio, though there is no such visual. It is entirely up to the listener to interpret.
One might picture a platformer game, complete with adventure and exciting boss battles. One might picture a game similar to “Undertale” or “Pokémon.” There are no wrong answers, and the music is enjoyable even without imagining what story might progress in the mind.
Stempnik first dove into the music world as a trombone player in sixth grade, switching to saxophone by the end of his seventh-grade year. It was not until his freshman year of high school that he began to look into composing.
“When COVID started in high school, I started working on doing some music composition,” Stempnik said. “Then over the years of going through high school, I was like ‘oh, I kind of want to do this as a form of employment.’ I want to go into music composition for video games.”
Part of becoming a composer or musician is exploring different genres and styles of music. Engaging with the arts and finding different aspects to include to better one’s own art. Stempnik cited artists like BoyWithUke, Bruno Mars and Michael Jackson when asked about inspiration.
“If I were to state inspiration exactly [for “SYSTEM-32x”], I would say Xenoblade,” Stempnik shared. “But truthfully, when I was making this piece last summer, it was just kind of me messing around and finding my own kind of sound.”
Stempnik describes the song as electronic rock, also crediting pop music for his writing style. Specifically, the form of pop music: verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus.
“I had a lot of fun writing the piece in general,” Stempnik said. “I showed it off once at the composer concert last semester.”
Stempnik went into detail about the naming process behind his music. When he debuted the piece at the composer concert, it had a different, demo name: “Trial Ass Beat.” He is composing another song to be released at a later date that is now titled “Ondoyance,” but was once called “Psychodel0.”
Stempnik also engages with the arts through a role-playing game he plays over calls with his friends. He composes background music to further immerse himself and his friends in the game, namely for investigative scenes.
Stempnik composes and records his music entirely digitally. “SYSTEM-32x” was mixed on a digital audio workspace called Reaper, using various small audio files, MIDI files and virtual instruments.
Stempnik credits Oakland University professors Terry Herald and Joshua Tomlinson for their help as his music technology teachers.
Stempnik’s music can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Deezer and iHeartRadio. He can also be found on Instagram @aiden_stempnik, where he posts updates on his music.
