Gareth Coker

Look what I got in the mail 👀 I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to contribute to this game’s soundtrack by the one and only @garethcoker and it’s so freakin cool to hold the vinyl in my hands! If you love video game music, grab this one for your collection asappp 🔥

TAS Part 2 is the strongest music in ARK and I don't think it's particularly close. It is of course building off TAS Part 1, which builds off music from the game. It's all linked, but TAS Part 2 is the best expression of it all due to all the combined years of ARK music knowledge (and my improvement as a composer) that went into it. Of course, this is just my opinion, which is the least important! However, I can't wait for people to hear it.

@garethcoker @domzalski37 @BlockBeam101 Can't wait to listen to it. I'm sure you cooked with the whole TAS Part 2 soundtrack as usual

Guys I can't lie... This is probably my new fav theme in ALL of ARK. The Red And The Purple 5: The slow build, the back and forth and the tension. Building beautifully to the doom of the Genesis ship. I've said it a billion but you are the goat @garethcoker This is TOP TIER!

@domzalski37 @BlockBeam101 Animated Series Part 2 Rockwell music clears. Just saying

@BlockBeam101 @garethcoker Probably imo the best rendition of Rockwells theme The vocal chorus that plays Rockwells theme and the epic impending doom and the birth of Rockwell prime.

On 13th December I raced and completed the Men's Open at Hyrox in Anaheim. Three days earlier, my mother’s long battle with cancer since 2011 finally came to an end. In her final days she insisted that “no matter what” I complete the race. She knew how much work I’d put in and never wanted me to put my life on hold. Honouring her wishes was never in question. She took the greatest joy in seeing the people she loved achieve their goals, and she was always the first to offer support in both the highs and the lows. The most selfless mother a son could ask for. I’ll share a fuller tribute to her when the time feels right. I raced with a wristband of a Welsh flag and name of her country (Cymru - "Wales") - her country of origin of which she was incredibly proud. For now, I’m belatedly updating my race performance, as she would have insisted - especially for those who generously donated to my chosen charities. I’m incredibly grateful. Thankyou so much because together we raised $2,813 for Taimaka, the Helen Keller Foundation, Evidence Action, and New Insights. Your support genuinely carried me through some dark moments during the race. As for the event itself: I didn’t hit my target of beating the average, but I finished and learned a lot. I made a mistake on the SkiErg damper setting and gassed out my upper body early, putting me in survival mode. My legs were fine, but I didn’t have the muscular endurance on the day to perform the final wall balls to a good standard. I’m far from the first this has happened to, and won’t be the last. Strong enough to do all the events on a singular basis, heart-rate fine, shoulder muscles just tapped out at the end. Doing things back-to-back is incredibly hard. The experience was both humbling and inspiring - humbling because I still have so far to go, inspiring because so many athletes, many older than me, achieved incredible times. Anyone who finishes this event has done extremely well. Thanks to the team at Pasadena Elite Fitness; Dan, Jean, Camille and Helen for preparing me for this. I won't rest until I achieve the goal I set out to do. It's what my mother would have wanted. I'll be back next year. And however you celebrate, please have a Happy Christmas and holiday season.

This is the best video game music of 2025, as chosen by the composers behind it. A wonderful annual traditon continued by @MatOmbler vgc.news/features/this-…

@HighRoadSoIdier I've been dealing with a severe personal / family issue for the past month (basically while writing Lost Colony) but I expect into have the OST up next week sometime. I usually try to get them out the same day but it just wasn't possible this time.

@garethcoker Is there a timeline on when soundtracks get released on streaming platforms after the game/DLC releases? I’ve been anxiously awaiting the Ark: Lost Colony soundtrack but no luck on the Apple Store yet…

People really have no idea how common this is not just in the film space, but also in the game space. At least Zimmer credits his team, as another commenter has noted. There are far too many who don't. Ghostwriting is very common and if both sides agree to it then fair enough, but there are major power dynamics at play that several 'big-name' composers - in film, and in games - use to make it largely unfair on the person doing the ghostwriting itself and they remain trapped, becuase they need the gig to get paid/survive (usually for absolutely terrible money), but they'll rarely be able to advance their career because it won't be properly credited. There are composers who do it right, and sadly there are a lot who do it wrong. And in response to the quote tweet. The game industry hasn't really been around long enough to have composers that have *truly* lasted as long as Zimmer (or John Williams) has, and composed in multiple styles, have major cultural impact and on large-scale successful titles both commercially and critically acclaimed. There are only a handful of composers in games who could even claim this. There are lots of composers who have had individual hits, but sticking around over decades - and delivering quality - is extremely hard to do. And we should never make the assumption that just because a composer has delivered one hit - means that their subsequent work will be up to standard (and I wish composers were held to a higher standard across the industry and not over-merited based on past work). But truthfully, I'm not sure the original statement matters. Do we really need a Hans Zimmer of the game industry? I'd prefer just to have quality soundtracks that are well implemented year after year, regardless of their source.

You're right, no video game composer has effectively retired a decade ago whilst continuing to slap their name on compositions made mostly by his assistants and studio employees

Internal, but I have a massive case (Corsair 1000D - was a dream to work in, its overkill, but whatever!). More airflow -> bigger fans -> less noise -> cooler parts, etc... etc... I figure the PC isn't going to move - ever - so... who cares about its size! As for the drives themselves, most of the top end motherboards now will allow for 4 NVMEs directly in the motherboard, (a few have 5), and there are finally enough PCIe lanes to accommodate all of the bandwidth and not sacrifice performance (in earlier days you'd often be sharing bandwidth with GPU, not ideal). You can take it further by getting PCIe add-in cards too with NVME but you'll still be battling potential bandwidth issues with PCIe lanes, still doable as long as you hook it all up correctly. The cabling for the SATA SSDs was the only part of the build that was a bit of a nuisance, but plenty of room to make it all work.

@garethcoker Are you running that many SSDs internally or is it attached storage? I have 2 nvme's and 4 SSDs internally, but it's getting a bit crowded.

Co-op is getting closer, and the team’s been rebuilding to make it something truly special. Read the full story to know more on what we have actually been cooking - store.steampowered.com/news/app/13719…

@GameMusicFestiv @decibel_pr @RecordingAcad

Do you agree with this #GRAMMYs @RecordingAcad nominations for best video game OST? Or maybe you would change some titles here?

@Collin_Brefka Doing full sim on Saturday for the first time. Cant wait 😅 But am able to practice most things except sled push/pull regularly. Appreciate the support!

@garethcoker Best of luck! Only advice might be to practice some of the individual exercises involved here, but I'm sure you're already on the ball in this regard!

A rare non-music related post. If you follow me on Instagram you'll know I've been posting health/fitness related updates recently. I'm entering HYROX Anaheim on December 13th, in the Men's Open division, and I'm doing it for charity. What is Hyrox? It's 8 x 1 kilometer runs with a workout station in between each run. It interested me because of the cross-section of fitness elements (running, strength, endurance) it requires. More details in the pics below. My goal is to finish below the average time for all age groups, not just over-40s (I'm 41). This is going to be about 1 hour 25 minutes. If you'd like to support me, and more importantly, the charities chosen in my endeavor (viewable through the link below, all charities are independently very highly rated), please click the link! Any amount, no matter the amount, is appreciated but please only donate if you are able to do so. I'd be just as happy with a simple message here in response. I will also donate all Bandcamp earnings (*excl. physical purchases) from today through December 11th to the event. I really appreciate any and all support you are willing to give. raceforimpact.com/gareth-coker

@ladydesiree Well I haven't accomplished it yet😂- but yes, that's the goal!

@garethcoker Wow, good for you!!! Sounds hard, what an accomplishment!

And if you made it this far, details on what it is. The below events with 1km runs between. 1000m on Ski Erg 50m Sled push - 335 lbs (152kg) 50m Sled pull - 227 lbs (103kg) 80m burpee broad jumps 1000m rowing 200m Farmers carry - 53 lbs (24 kg) each hand 100m Sandbag lunges - 45 lbs (20kg) each hand Wall balls - 14 lbs (6kg) for 100 reps. 😭

Enjoy some unglamorous captures from my ongoing training progress. (I am taking this seriously and have had some amazing help and guidance to get me in adequate condition to do this). If you want more moment-to-moment updates, feel free to follow me on IG - instagram.com/garethcoker/

@thegameawards Many of us are all (im)-patiently waiting along with @EliasToufexis for a @DeusEx sequel.

What's your dream game sequel announcement?

@ARKAscendedNews I think we'll be able to cook something pretty good for Lost Colony

Can we all agree how good ARK’s old teaser trailers were? The Genesis 2 one still gives chills, hard to believe we don’t see marketing like this anymore. #ARKSurvivalAscended #playARK

@Zirolux Thanks for the kind words! Vinyl is available here - kidkatana.com/shop/absolum-v…

First brief impression of Absolum is. It’s good. Having online matching and co-op is such an awesome feature to have. Also. Will there be a vinyl soundtrack? That Mick Gordon track is fire!🔥

@iluspook @AbsolumGame @Dotemu @Guard_Crush @supamonks Thankyou so much for the kind words! And yeah, @RachelHardy306 sung gloriously in the credits and it's nice that they were long enough that I could properly stretch my legs in putting together a nice track that recapped the game's main theme.

@garethcoker @AbsolumGame @Dotemu @Guard_Crush @supamonks It is my favorite game soundtrack of the year. Some of the tracks legitimately made my jaw drop, such as the track during the credits. Absolum is my front runner for game of the year, and the soundtrack is a huge part of that. Keep it up, and thank you for your work and passion.

Today, @AbsolumGame is out launching to excellent reviews (and thanks to those who mention the soundtrack!). Congrats to everyone at @Dotemu @Guard_Crush and @supamonks ! opencritic.com/game/19143/abs… I composed and recorded the soundtrack over the last year, and particularly enjoyed seeing the guest contributions from @Mick_Gordon , @_Yuka_Kitamura_ , @MotoisakurabaM & @RachelHardy306 come to fruition. I'm also grateful that the team at @Dotemu were able to send me out to Vienna (for a 36 hour trip...!) to record the soundtrack at Synchron Stage. There's a BTS video of that here -> youtube.com/watch?v=6aNBhv… Album available here - kidkatana.ffm.to/absolum-ost And also on Bandcamp here - garethcoker.bandcamp.com/album/absolum-… Vinyl also available through the Bandcamp link! Thanks to @kidkatanarec for all the OST support with the digital and vinyl release!