About

Composer, Software Engineer, and Nonprofit Founder

Cory Fail is a dark ambient and cinematic composer whose work explores emotion through sound and silence.
His music focuses on the space between memory and loss, using texture, tone, and decay to express what words cannot.
Each composition feels like a fragment of time being replayed, erased, and rediscovered.

Alongside his music, Cory works as a senior software engineering manager and is the founder of the Software for Progress Foundation, a nonprofit that helps developers create impactful Open Source software focused on education, accessibility, and digital ethics.

For Cory, art and technology are part of the same creative process. One builds structure; the other finds humanity within it.

The Language of Sound

Cory uses music as a form of reflection.
Where engineering relies on precision, his compositions embrace imperfection.
Every sound begins as something small and personal, then expands into an immersive landscape of shifting tones and memory.
He builds each piece from original samples, synths, and field recordings, shaping frequency and noise into feeling.

The Vision Behind Palimpsest

Cory’s upcoming album, Palimpsest, is an autobiographical collection that explores how loss transforms identity.

Each track represents a chapter of his life and a moment of letting go.
Rather than focus on grief itself, the album examines what remains afterward: the texture of memory, and the act of rewriting it through sound.

Art and Engineering

Cory’s years in software development continue to influence his creative process.
His approach to composition mirrors system design: layered, structured, and iterative.
Yet where code aims for order, his music allows entropy to take over, finding beauty in what breaks.

Future Direction

Cory’s long-term goal is to bring his passion for storytelling, sound, and innovation together in a leadership role that bridges music and technology.
He aspires to serve as an Audio Creative Director, Technical Sound Director or Music Research Director, leading teams that explore how sound shapes emotion, narrative, and immersion in interactive and cinematic worlds.

By combining his technical background with his sensitivity to sound design, Cory hopes to push the boundaries of how music is experienced—creating work that connects deeply with both audiences and creators.

I don’t write songs to be catchy. I write them to remember what it felt like.