If you're a long-time viewer of the Harmonix Livestream, you'll recognize Dave Plante. Dave co-hosted the show to present Rock Band 3 DLC, and is our go-to guy for putting together a Rock Band band to play on-air or otherwise. He has a long history at Harmonix, is a super talented singer, and an all-around awesome guy. Dave is currently on the Rock Band 4 team, working on audio QA. Read on to learn more about Dave!
Title: Audio QA Lead
Hometown: Shelburne, Vermont
Time at Harmonix: 6.5 years
Known for his work on the following: Authoring testing for Rock Band, with special focus on Vocals authoring. QA Lead on Dance Central Spotlight. Former host/occasional guest of the Harmonix Show on Twitch.tv
Background: Attended the University of Vermont where he majored in Sociology. Was heavily involved in UVM A Cappella, was in the Top Cats group. Another fun pre-Harmonix gig was that I worked as a tour guide at The Vermont Teddy Bear factory in Shelburne (my first job!). At Harmonix, I started as a general tester, but quickly graduated to Audio QA.
Favorite Harmonix games: The Beatles: Rock Band, Dance Central Spotlight, Rock Band 3
Proudest Harmonix accomplishment: Never missed a single submission deadline in 3.5 years of working on weekly DLC within Audio QA.
Go-to karaoke jams: “Return of the Mack” by Mark Morrison or “Informer” by Snow
Tell us about your outside-of-work music experience: Currently the lead Male Vocalist of Harmonix Supergroup: The Ward Eights, one of the best wedding and events bands in Boston. The Ward Eights is a group that was born out of the Audio Department at Harmonix and includes several Harmonix alums and current Harmonix employee Chris Rando.
Also sang in the UVM Top Cats throughout college, and had a stint with the local professional group, “Overboard.”
Check out The Ward Eights in action in the video below.
Tell us about your interview at Harmonix: I spent most of my time preparing for the interview by practicing Rock Band (figured I’d have to display some chops). When I showed up, they had a different kind of “performance” in mind. Having seen my extensive singing experience on the resume they asked me to sing a song. I was so nervous and totally blanked. The only song that came to mind was a song that I had sung the Friday before at karaoke…”Saved the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams. They were all kinda speechless at the end of it (in a good way, I suppose) but it was really weird. The QA Manager at the time said it was great, but asked if I knew any rock songs.
Favorite Rock Band song of all time: “Roll With the Changes” by REO Speedwagon
What are you doing on Rock Band 4?: As Audio QA Lead I’m overseeing the quality of the note authoring across all instruments, working with a team of testers to make sure that the gem authoring feels like the right balance between “fun to play” and “accurate to the music” while also ensuring the consistency of the “feel” of Rock Band from past titles. I’ve also been heavily involved in the song selection process this time around, which has been especially fun for me.
As somebody with a massive personal catalog of DLC songs, I’m most excited that we’re going to be supporting our legacy song libraries in RB4. Also, I’m really excited about the soundtrack, which includes some artists we’ve never had in Rock Band before.