# Maclaine Diemer

Maclaine Diemer is an American multimedia music composer. He worked on sound design and composing music for the Rock Band game series, and massively multiplayer online game (MMO) Guild Wars 2.

## Early life

Diemer started playing guitar when he was 12. He enjoyed listening to the classic rock music genre with his parents, namely the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. During his older years, Diemer enjoyed listening to Van Halen and The Beach Boys.
Diemer studied music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and graduated in 2003.

## Career

In June 2008, Diemer started working as a sound designer and composer at Harmonix Music Systems for 2 years. During this time, he worked on sound design and composing music for many of Harmonix's games. He worked on The Beatles: Rock Band, Rock Band 2, and Rock Band 3. Diemer left Harmonix in July 2010 to work at ArenaNet.
In July 2010, Diemer joined the ArenaNet team as a sound designer for the game Guild Wars 2, and later in 2012 he became the company's lead composer for the game. During his time as lead composer, he worked on soundtracks for Guild Wars 2's Living World Season 1, Living World Season 2, Guild Wars 2: Heart Of Thorns, Living World Season 3, Guild Wars 2: Path Of Fire, and Living World Season 4.
In April 2019, Diemer stepped down as lead composer at ArenaNet to pursue other projects. However, he is still writing music for Guild Wars 2.
In July 2022, Diemer joined Cyan Worlds as the composer for the adventure game Firmament.

## Musical style and influences

Diemer's influences include John Williams in the Star Wars franchise, Jerry Goldsmith in the Star Trek franchise, Howard Shore in Lord of the Rings, and Bernard Herman.
While working on Living World Season 2 for Guild Wars 2, Diemer wanted to record some of the soundtracks in a live orchestra. He collaborated with Dynamedion to record the music in Berlin, Budapest, and Seattle. The music for the announcement trailer for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns was also composed in a live orchestra.

## Legacy

The music that Diemer and Lena Raine composed for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns was played in a live orchestra by The Evergreen Philharmonic Orchestra. The Orchestra involved many students from Issaquah High School, and they played multiple soundtracks featured in Heart of Thorns.

## Ludography

* Rock Band 2 (2008)
* The Beatles: Rock Band (2009)
* Rock Band 3 (2010)
* Guild Wars 2 (2012)
* Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns (2015)
* Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire (2017)
* Crucible (2020)
* Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons (2022)
* Firmament (2023)
* Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure (2023)
* Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds (2024)

## Awards

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Contribution |
| 2009 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best use of licensed music | Rock Band 2 | Composer & Sound Design |
| 2010 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best use of licensed music | The Beatles: Rock Band | Composer & Sound Design |
| 2011 | Academy of Interactive arts & sciences | Outstanding achievement in soundtrack | Rock Band 3 | Composer & Sound Design |
| 2012 | IGN | Best PC Game | Guild Wars 2 | Sound Design |
| 2012 | IGN | Best MMO | Guild Wars 2 | Sound Design |
| 2015 | Ten Ton Hammer | Game of the year | Guild Wars 2 | Lead Composer |
| 2019 | Techradar | Best MMOs in 2019 | Guild Wars 2 | Lead Composer |