Snowfire crafts experimental ambient soundscapes that spark unsettling, vivid visions in your mind. Subtle layers of distortion and the faint crackle of intentional artifacts give his music a haunting depth, an unmistakable signature across all of his work. Over his eight years on Audiotool, he has built a catalog that feels like a forgotten archive of strange transmissions, perfect for filmmakers and game creators working in surreal science fiction or psychological horror. He’s a genuinely distinctive artist whose work is well worth exploring.

Interview

About: Snowfire

Hello, I'm a 22 year old Juggalo from upstate South Carolina, living both close to a lot of things and nothing at the same time. I had the privilege of being able to attend Dreamhack 2023 hosted in Atlanta and got to meet a lot of really cool people I've looked up to since starting on Audiotool in the process. I play bass guitar and enjoy messing with different pedals and synths, as well as any other odd device I can get my hands on such as SOMASynth's Ether. I'm also in the process of obtaining a Media Arts Production degree, so I have experience professionally shooting video, taking photos, and editing photos, videos, and audio. Whoop Whoop!

Describe the style of music you produce

I enjoy leaning more into a darker ambient sound. It's a lot of fun playing with dissonance and creating atmospheres that affect the listener in different ways, especially if it has to do with noise. Using distorted drums and beats to compliment dissonant pads and drones is what I find to be most appealing producing wise. As far as Genre goes, I have a hard time deciding on what to categorize the majority of what I make, which is why I leave most of it as "Other".

What is your musical background and when did you start making music?

I grew up in a household with my father, my greatest inspiration for anything creative, being guitar player who was also interested in electronic music. He had old versions of Ableton and Reason that he would often mess around and create with, which kickstarted my interest in messing with DAWs. When I was little, I would experiment with Propellerhead's program Reason which gave me experience with concepts such as changing settings on synthesizers and drum machines, using wiring simulation to create interesting device combinations, as well as the concept of using a timeline to organize song structure.

Through Middle and High School, I was a part of the school's Chorus, taking part of classes going into honors classes through school till my Junior year, when I transferred to online school. Along the way, I learned a lot about both reading and writing sheet music as well as singing.

When I was around the age of thirteen/fourteen, I stumbled upon Audiotool while I was at school. I was probably bored in a class with nothing to do at the time and was looking for a way to create what I wanted to musically, having been used to using the website Noteflight for chorus class but wanting something more out of creating music online.

How long have you been using Audiotool, and how did you discover it?

My first track was released October 21st, 2017 so I started using Audiotool sometime before then, creating my account maybe a month or two before hand if I'm not mistaken. I discovered Audiotool via boredom in a highschool class in my freshmen year in looking for a better means of creating the music and sounds I wanted to create.

What is your favorite Audiotool device and why?

My go-to device is usually the Pulverisateur, mostly because it's the device I'm most familiar with setup wise. It's design mimicking popular physical synthesizers makes using the device significantly more satisfying for me, as I'm able to usually obtain the kind of sound I want from it without having to experiment as much (though I do spend a lot of time doing just that to achieve the sounds I find to be more appealing).

What is your favourite trick in AT/What technique do you always use?

I wouldn't really call it a "trick" or "technique", though the process of using a Stereo Enhancer and automating it in sporadic wild ways makes for an interesting effect on whatever sound you have, especially when paired with soft distortion or bit-crushing. (It also glitches the audio engine out if done correctly)

Have you ever had a writer's block? If so, how did you deal with it and what do you recommend to your colleagues

I have writer's block all the time, leaving me in periods of time where I don't mess with my instruments or the programs I use as often as I'd like to. That's partially why my releasing of tracks has slowed over the years, though another huge part of that has to do with problems in my personal life. To combat that, I'll take some kind of sound (whether it be chords directly from a synth or a random audio sample I create or find) and distort and contort it till it inspires me to create something around it, usually leading to weird audio textures and ambience. I also find making strange drum beats in odd time signatures to be inspiring.

What has helped you the most on Audiotool to improve and widen your musical horizon?

The biggest thing that's helped me improve is persistence, time, and the Audiotool community. If it weren't for other people on this site that inspire me and have given me tips, I probably wouldn't have fallen in love with certain kinds of sounds nor would I have had the musical interests I have today. I'm talking specifically about artists such as naswalt , Wightfall , Kibbey , no vyce (Kryptic) , shelly boo , and Sandburgen with plenty of more people I could list.

What do you like most about Audiotool? Is there anything you would like to suggest?

What I like most about Audiotool is the community aspect. If Audiotool was only the app portion of the website, I feel like the majority of people using it wouldn't have been as interested in it if they couldn't have the feedback and experience of seeing what others are able to create with the program by being able to listen to it directly and then peer into their thoughts of the creator in the comments and the draft with the snapshot to the side below. It's a very magical thing to be able to connect with everyone and anyone like this, and I wouldn't change any of it.

Your message to the community:

Create what you want to create, and don't let yourself be held back by being shy to publish something. Don't be afraid to get a little bit weird with it, and don't be afraid to put out something you don't like very much either. You never know who you might inspire with that one sound or progression or verse you didn't like. It's perfectly fine to make something that isn't for everyone, there's nothing wrong with going your own path and producing weird stuff that most people wouldn't like. Don't ever compromise your creative vision just because you think everyone else would like something else better. MCL WHOOP WHOOP :)

Social/Music Links

Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/snwfre

Edition Audiotool: Snowfire

Track #1:

Empty Promises by no vyce (Kryptic)

I'll never forget the first time I listened to the tracks from World For Us / World Of Ours, but Empty Promises really stuck with me the most out of all of them. Something about the bouncy, almost anxiety-filled beat with the chaotic lead has always been really appealing to me, though the entire track just has such an awesome progression and vibe that I find hard to put into words. All of Kryptic's work is absolutely incredible, I still find it insane that they were able to achieve such sounds at the time. Props to you and I hope you're doing awesome, hope to see more from you someday. :)

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/dughy9vxmhrrny9ldd9yayeuesaohoh/]]

Track #2:

confused by naswalt

It was nearly impossible to pick a track from naswalt 's catalog to include here, so I decided to go with a track that I think I listened to most out of all of them. When I was in high school, I listened to this track among practically all of his other work at the time constantly when I was riding the bus or in class, so it's no wonder I was inspired by the sound he used during this time period. I mimicked it a little in my own work for a little while and became infatuated with synthwave because of him. Meeting Naswalt during Dreamhack after looking up to him the entire time I have been using Audiotool was pretty surreal and insane, I hope you enjoyed the potatoes I gave you.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/eq4nc5h64his/]]

Track #3:

Fartstep by Vulkron

I knew if I was going to be mentioning Vulkron in this at all, I would definitely be including this track. Being in discord with him while this was being produced was an unforgettable experience, and to everyone taking a trip down memory lane seeing this added onto my list, you're very welcome. Still hoping for the eventual release of the mythical Fartstep 2: Electric Boogaloo. Vulk was one of the very first friends I made through Audiotool. We got pretty close playing Fortnite on Xbox together when it first came out, and we ended up hanging out at a flea market in Florida together one time, making him the first person from Audiotool I ever met in person as well. I still remember those cool knives we were looking at, one day we'll have to go by there again.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/sm4wb1p8r0fj/]]

Track #4:

Solitude by Wightfall

All of Wightfall's tracks have been influential for me in my early days of messing around on here when he was still Gray Out, so it's hard to pick one in particular when there's so many good ones. I chose this one out of all of the options because I remember it inspiring me to really open up the draft to look at how he did his sound design, the thing that especially drew my curiosity was the way he did the delay. I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever that it was possible to create an evolving sound with long feedback delay, and still think it's a really nice effect. If you haven't checked out his work before, pretty please give Wightfall attention.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/4b9qne1hdzm/]]

Track #5:

Lime by Amp7070

I still really love this track, of all of Amp7070 's tracks this is the one that's always stuck out to me most. I need to go through and listen to a lot of his newer stuff that I've missed over the past couple of years or so due to a lot of my inactivity, but when thinking about tracks that I really found to be influential to me I couldn't help but think of this one. It has a really nice smooth sound and I still have an old draft with the original vocals for it saved somewhere I should get back to. I'm really glad to see you're still publishing stuff, looking forward to giving everything a listen when I've got a chance to. :)

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/83mfygw1qs/]]

Track #6:

Untitled(prick/prod) by Snowfire

If I had to pick one track to represent my work, I would have to pick this one. Although it focuses more on a dark tone, I feel as though this track is one of the best I have published as far as the texturing and overall production goes, especially considering the limited amount of samples and the lack of any presets. I remember at the time of making this craving an outlet for a lot of deep gnawing feelings I was dealing with at the time as a result of things happening in my personal life, so I isolated myself and really sunk into the draft. I usually only like talking about what I put into my work till after I see what it makes other people feel first though, my favorite thing about creating atmospheric music is how other people relate to it.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/jl9jtg5rg/]]

Full Album

Edition Audiotool: Snowfire

• a-records

16

3 weeks ago

1		Empty Promises no vyce (Kryptic)	no vyce (Kryptic)	736
2		confused naswalt	naswalt	2787
3		Fartstep Vulkron	Vulkron	12083
4		Solitude Wightfall	Wightfall	301
5		Lime Amp7070	Amp7070	1255
6		Untitled(prick/prod) Snowfire	Snowfire	182