It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and Craig Peters is in his home studio — guitars hanging like a wall of trophies, monitors flickering with orchestral scores, SoundIron libraries loaded and ready. It’s quiet here, save for the occasional swell of strings or metallic roar of a distorted riff. A decade ago, Peters was doing something very different: sleeping in the back of a drummer’s minivan outside a Walmart somewhere between tour stops.
“That tour was a success in that… we made it home,” he laughs. “Some shows were small, some were great, but we didn’t care. We were sleeping in parking lots and just being jackasses. It was fun.”
Craig’s story is not a straight line. It’s a zigzag, from aspiring deathmatch wrestler to death metal guitarist, from label-signed road warrior to in-demand sound designer and video game composer. Along the way, the constants have been obsession, adaptability, and a willingness to say yes before figuring out the how.
Early Sparks: Metallica and the Wrestling Ring
Craig didn’t grow up in a “musical family,” but his earliest memories are scored by the sound of Metallica cassettes. “Metallica was my first favorite band,” he says. “I’d go through this suitcase of tapes and just wear them out.”
At first, music wasn’t the plan. Wrestling was. And not just any wrestling, Craig was into the most brutal niche: Japanese-style deathmatches with barbed wire boards and explosions. “I think I tend to go a little too far when I get into something,” he admits. “It was either buy some wrestling VHS tapes… or get this guitar my friend was selling for 80 bucks. My mom was like, ‘I’m not buying you wrestling stuff. I’ll get you the guitar.’”
The obsession took root immediately. He’d practice six to eight hours a day, chasing mastery of Master of Puppets before moving on to entire albums.
The Band Years: Arkaik and the Cannibal Corpse Dream
High school bands led to Arkaik, a Lake Elsinore–based death metal act chasing big opportunities. Craig recalls making the executive decision to swap drummers after a label told them their songs needed “tighter” percussion. “We got the new guy, did a demo, sent it in, and they signed us. I just had it in my head: this has to happen.”
The dream tour offer came while on the road with The Black Dahlia Murder: opening for Cannibal Corpse. “They were the band that got me into death metal,” Craig says, tracing the connection back to a cameo in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective “That was a huge deal for me, this was the goal.”
But the reality of the grind set in. “It was hard to make a living. I had to start thinking about surviving,” he says. Eventually, he stepped away from full-time touring.
From Forklifts to Sample Libraries
Quitting the road didn’t mean quitting music. Craig dove into home recording, starting with a beat-up Hewlett-Packard PC and bootleg Adobe Audition. His curiosity expanded into orchestral composition and sample libraries.
When he first heard SoundIron’s choir libraries, he was stunned: “Man, that sounds like a real choir. You can make music with that? That blew my mind.” He started reviewing products on YouTube, reaching out to companies and discovering that some would send him gear in exchange for reviews.
Then came the email from SoundIron: they were looking for help with social media and sound design. Peters filled out the questionnaire, followed up directly, and soon started making product walkthrough videos on contract.
At the time, Craig was working a forklift job in L.A., hauling slabs of stone. One day, a Slack notification popped up on his phone: Would you be interested in coming on full-time?
“I hated my job. It was one of those that crush your soul,” he says. “The idea of working from home, making music-related stuff… I couldn’t believe it was real.”
Leveling Up at SoundIron
Since joining full-time in 2017, Craig Peters has become one of the company’s creative anchors, handling walkthroughs, social content, and collaborating on new libraries. The role gave him space to refine video production skills, experiment with sound design, and fully immerse himself in the tools of his trade.
“It’s like when you’re a kid learning an instrument and you have all the time in the world,” he says. “Now I could really grind, go deep on color grading, camera settings, composing, and just get better.”
Breaking into the Video Game World
One long-term goal has been scoring for video games. Peters’ entry came through composer Cris Velasco, a fellow death metal alum. Their friendship led to session guitar work, including a gypsy jazz solo for a small project, and later, guitar contributions to Borderlands 2 DLC.
“Sometimes it’s just nice to get out of the studio and play with someone in person,” Peters says. “But yeah, game music has been a dream since I was a kid listening to Последняя Фантазия soundtracks.”
Horror is another passion. “If I could score a horror video game, that’d be a blast,” he says. “It’s easy to fall into the tropes, but there’s room to shape the music in new ways.”
Philosophy: Tools Don’t Make the Artist
Craig is clear-eyed about the challenges of a crowded creative field — and about the AI panic in music. “If you’re scared of new technology, maybe you’re not working hard enough,” he says. “Sample libraries didn’t kill orchestras. They became a tool to create mock-ups and then record the real thing. The competition’s higher than ever, so what you bring that’s unique is everything.”
That uniqueness, he says, comes from mixing influences and finding your own voice. “No one needs another Hans Zimmer или John Williams. If I wanted that sound, I’d just go straight to them. Create your own favorite band. Combine everything you love into something no one’s heard before.”
Advice for Aspiring Sound Designers and Composers
“Don’t just watch videos, apply what you learn immediately,” Peters says. “It’s like mental candy if you just consume it and move on.”
He encourages beginners to start with what’s available, whether that’s GarageBand or a budget-friendly DAW, and focus on learning how things work, from instrument ranges to basic recording technique. “Don’t try to rush into making a ‘banger’ to get signed. Learn, apply, repeat.”
The Road Ahead
Today, Peters juggles his SoundIron work with personal projects, session gigs, and collaborations he can’t yet talk about. His dream is simple: keep making music that moves people. Whether it’s a brutal metal riff, an epic game score, or a choir that sounds impossibly real.
“If someone hears something I worked on and asks, ‘Where did he get those sounds?,’ that’s the best outcome.”
Like this story? Check out our article on Amanda Achen – one of the singers of Final Fantasy XIV
How to Reach Craig Peters:
- Веб-сайт: Craig Peters Official Site
- SoundIron inquiries: pr***@*******on.com
