Private lessons and mentorship with Ivan Duch — a bilingual professional composer specializing in musical worldbuilding and fantasy scoring for games, films, and TTRPGs.
Are you passionate about composing music for fantasy settings, tabletop RPGs like DnD, or video games? I'm Ivan Duch, a bilingual professional composer specializing in musical worldbuilding and fantasy scoring. I work one-on-one on the craft itself — composition, orchestration, production, and scoring for picture — and on the professional practice of writing music for clients and projects. These sessions are for composers who want to write DnD music, indie game scores, and fantasy soundtracks, and to do it to a professional standard.
Watch a "making of" video to see my process and collaboration with filmmakers on the Dinosauria project.
Sessions are one-on-one and shaped around your goals — you're not locked to one track. But most students fit somewhere in these three areas.
For people who want to write better music.
For people who write music but get stuck technically.
For people writing music for real projects and clients.
The best way to understand what I teach is to see it applied. These projects are examples of musical worldbuilding in practice — each one a different set of problems, constraints, and creative decisions.
Character themes, faction identities, and 40+ minutes of orchestral music for a dark fantasy visual novel — how every instrument choice maps to the world's internal logic.
Read the case study →A score that travels through a century of film music history, plus a cello concerto built entirely around live collaboration — two films, two completely different approaches.
Read the case study →Scoring David Armsby’s animated film series — from building a raw sonic world for a prehistoric fictional culture, to finding the minimum indispensable in a film score where silence does as much work as the music.
Read the case study →14 themes for virtues and sins — how I built a leitmotif architecture from the narrative logic of the Rise of the Runelords adventure path, composed for Michael Ghelfi Studios.
Read the case study →Scoring a Norse mythology for a gritty 5E setting — tagelharpa, frame drums, and restraint. A study in worldbuilding through instrument choice, and writing music that refuses to show off.
Read the case study →A Victorian, blood-fuelled dystopia scored with a faction leitmotif system — and one string palette pulled in two directions to give two tyrannical cities opposed sonic identities.
Read the case study →Browse all case studies and collaborative worldbuilding projects in the musical worldbuilding hub.
View all →A bilingual professional composer with years of experience in video game and fantasy music. Lessons are personalized and accessible for all levels, ensuring you get the support you need to grow.
A small library of pieces about composition, fantasy worldbuilding, scoring real projects, and the craft of writing music for DnD, video games, and imaginary worlds. A taste of how I think and teach.
How I scored Dream Realm Storytellers' Bloodpunk — a Victorian, blood-fuelled 5E dystopia — building a leitmotif system and two opposed urban sound worlds for the tyrannical cities of Kanrath and Cyherested.
Read article →How I wrote the music and ambiance for Dream Realm Storytellers' Svilland — a gritty Norse 5E setting — and what scoring a mythology, rather than a scene, taught me about restraint and authenticity.
Read article →How composers use leitmotifs and musical worldbuilding to give fantasy stories, DnD campaigns, and video games their own sonic identity.
Read article →How I composed the Dinosauria soundtracks with David Armsby — a score that travels through film history for Terrible Lizards, and a cello concerto built on live collaboration for Hunted by Moonlight.
Read article →How I wrote the soundtrack for Paizo's Rise of the Runelords in collaboration with Michael Ghelfi Studios — building 14 distinct themes from the narrative logic of a classic Pathfinder Adventure Path.
Read article →How I wrote two soundtracks for David Armsby's Sauria series — a raw, ancient sonic world for Blood for Blood, and a minimalist study in solitude and silence for Winter Weathered.
Read article →"Ivan is a patient and informative mentor who seamlessly connects music theory to practical craft in a way that makes making music approachable. He helps me understand not only why something sounds good, but how to improve it further through thoughtful feedback, references, and theory that are always tied to my goals as an aspiring musician. He's a wealth of knowledge if you want to practice and improve. I would recommend him to anyone starting out. I genuinely don't think I would have developed a strong starting point to an understanding of structured music with my own voice without his mentorship."
— Ryan · Indie game developer & musician"Ivan Duch is a masterful composer I've admired for a few years now, having provided the music for some of my favorite media. I jumped the opportunity to study under him and it has truly been such an honor. Ivan has taken my musical prowess and highlighted my strengths and challenged me in my weak areas. I embrace the challenges that have helped to mold me into a more well-rounded composer. He teaches music production, proper notation, and we've analyzed the music of the old masters of music. Listening to their sounds and understanding how to express certain feelings, while staying true to our unique voices."
— Samuel Royster · Pianist, singer & composer"Working with Ivan has greatly improved my craft as a composer. His teaching is practical and focused on developing my own voice rather than specific theoretical concepts. Through his mentorship my confidence, expression, and musicianship have reached new heights. I would strongly recommend to any beginner or serious composer looking to get to the next level!"
— Peterson Normil · Composer & sound designerFrom the community
Ivan is an undisputable master of his craft. His boundless creativity, musical brilliance, and perceptiveness continually astound me: he's able to effortlessly intuit the required atmosphere, emotion, and ambience of a story or scene and produce a soundscape that not only conveys it, but enhances and lends shape to it. His work ethic, technical knowledge, and dedication to his craft are also unparalleled, and it has been a true honor collaborating with him. His contributions have elevated my projects far beyond what they could have been, and I enthusiastically encourage other creators to run, not walk, in order to work with an artist of his caliber!
Working with Ivan Duch on my SAURIA animated series has been one of the best collaborations I've worked on. Not only is Ivan a fantastic and talented musical composer, but he is also genuinely interested in a creative back-and-forth working with you on a project. Exactly the type of person you want to work with on an artistic project that means something to you. He's a real artist whose creative drive really shows through his work. Overall; a great, hard-working professional, on top of being a very pleasant guy to chat with!
The best of the best. Just incredible work, far beyond expectations.
Ivan makes sure that he understands what you want and what you need; then, he creates music that'll cheer you up. He takes his job very seriously and produces the best possible track from your briefs. He is not only a creative artist but also super fun to communicate and work with. Hence, if you have an idea for a track, tell it to Ivan and just lie back. Be sure that he'll compose a masterpiece out of it!
Gotta give a shoutout to Ivan Duch. Dude has been a huge help with Scorchfountain's music so far and the fortress wouldn't be what it is without his masterful skills!
Not only is Ivan an amazing composer and musician, he is a pleasure to work with! We cannot recommend joining his Patreon and using his music in your games highly enough!
OMG! I love so much the result. It is EXACTLY what I was looking for, even better! Thanks so much! <3
Fantastic! Ivan was able to work with my every need, really easy to bounce ideas off and took my concerns with the product awesomely! Really excited to work with him in the future!
Ivan always produces superb work, and his understanding of music and how to approach different styles of music is something that really has to be heard to be believed. I'm always impressed with his impeccable skill!
Ivan went above and beyond to make sure we got a song that we loved for our visual novel. He was very kind and easy to communicate with. I would definitely recommend working with him.
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced musician, I'd love to help you on your journey. We'll start with a short fit call to see if we're a match.
Tell me a little about where you are and what you want to build toward. If it looks like a fit, we'll set up a short call from there.
Choose your path
Whether you need a track tonight, the whole library, ongoing releases, or a score written around your story — start with the path that fits.
Not sure which gate? Tell me about your world and I'll point you to the right one.