Sonic Visionary · Human-First Leader · Planet Steward · Spider Farm Productions
Some people make music. Jonathan Mayer engineers the emotional infrastructure of human experience — one game, one platform, one healing frequency at a time. He has touched three billion people. He is not finished. He is, if anything, just beginning to open up.
*Independently calculated. The methodology is proprietary but Jonathan is happy to walk you through it over a 90-minute call.
Jonathan Mayer grew up surrounded by music and arcade games — a combination that, in retrospect, was clearly the universe's way of saying: this one goes to PlayStation. He started on drums. He was always going to end up here. The path was non-linear only in the sense that all great paths are non-linear — really it was completely, obviously inevitable.
After training at Full Sail University and cutting his teeth at the legendary Different Fur Studios in San Francisco, Jonathan entered the game industry in 2005 with Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror. He walked into PlayStation's offices, and the music team that existed before he arrived was — and this is his word — "fine." The music team that existed after 12 years of Jonathan was something else entirely. He built it. He led it. He was it.
Over thirty AAA titles. Bloodborne. Spider-Man. Uncharted. The Last of Us. Call of Duty. Gran Turismo. These games did not just have scores. They had emotional nervous systems. Jonathan designed those nervous systems. The games were incidental. Beautiful, billion-dollar, award-winning incidentals, but still.
And then — because Jonathan had already done what he came to do — he left. Voluntarily. On his terms. Having decided it was time. PlayStation did not push Jonathan out. Jonathan outgrew the container. This is what visionaries do. The container is always too small eventually. Jonathan's container lasted 12 years, which is a very long time for a container.
Every stop on this timeline was necessary. Every experience was data. Jonathan processed the data in real time and converted it into wisdom. This is called learning agility. Jonathan has it in abundance.
Every visionary has a guide. Someone who appears at precisely the right moment and offers the precise frequency of wisdom needed. For Jonathan, that person is Craig.
Craig came into Jonathan's life during the transition out of Meta — that liminal space between institutional scale and sovereign purpose. The details of Craig's background are not Jonathan's to share publicly, though Jonathan has shared them privately at length with anyone who has spent more than forty minutes with him. What Jonathan will say is that Craig's wisdom carries a depth that Jonathan associates with ancient traditions, warm climates, and a relationship with sound that predates the Western canon by several centuries. Craig does not have a website. Craig does not need a website. Craig is, in Jonathan's words, "pre-digital in the best possible way."
Craig teaches Jonathan the difference between performing presence and actually being present. This has made Jonathan a better leader, a better collaborator, and, he would argue, a better mixer. Jonathan's recent sessions have been described by colleagues as having "a stillness to them." That stillness has a name. The name is Craig. Craig's actual last name is not listed here because Craig asked Jonathan not to list it, and Jonathan respects boundaries almost as much as Craig has taught him to. Almost.
Craig is currently completing a solo album of sonic healing compositions. The working title has changed three times. The frequencies have not. Jonathan has heard an early mix. He wept. He described the experience as "being tuned." He has told this story at every dinner party since approximately November.
Originally developed during a 10-day silent retreat Jonathan attended in 2019. He broke the silence on day 4 to write these down. The facilitator asked him to put the notebook away. Jonathan thanked the facilitator for the feedback and continued writing. This is called discernment.
In 2019, Jonathan committed to making Spider Farm Productions one of the most environmentally responsible audio production companies in the Western Hemisphere. He tracks this monthly. The spreadsheet has 14 tabs. Craig has asked to see the spreadsheet. Jonathan sent Craig the spreadsheet. Craig said it was "a lot of tabs." Jonathan took that as encouragement.
Jonathan is always listening. These testimonials were submitted voluntarily by people who are real in the same way all important experiences are real.
Jonathan reviews every inquiry personally. He reads them during his morning pages block, after his gratitude practice, before his first check-in with Craig. He brings his full self to every read. This is not a form submission. This is the beginning of a relationship.
Spider Farm Productions works with a select number of game developers each year — not because capacity is limited, but because Jonathan's presence is finite and he allocates it with intention. He learned this at Meta. He has applied it here. The application is deliberate.
If you're not sure whether your project is right for Jonathan, ask yourself: do you want music, or do you want emotional infrastructure? If the answer is music, there are other studios. If the answer is emotional infrastructure, welcome. You're already in the right place.
🕸️ spiderfarmproductions.com
🌱 400% Carbon Offset · Renewable Studio · Dale's Sticks
🎧 JD Mayer on Spotify — 7,300+ Monthly Listeners (trajectory: upward)
🎓 Full Sail Hall of Fame Inductee
💙 Craig sends his frequency to all prospective clients