FAQ's
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| FAQ's
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A: "Thank you." |
Q: "Why
are you called The Fat Man?  |
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For which games have you composed music and/or done sound design? We've been doing this since 1983 so the list is very long, over 250.
Here are a few of them.
What is your philosophy for music for games? On August 20, 1995, George wrote what we refer to as our "Manifatso." Here it is. Multimedia is a frontier for music. Along with the Internet, Multimedia will become important in a way that is historically significant, for tremendous numbers of opportunities for, and different and new ways of listening to, creating, and interacting with music. As the settlers come to this frontier, it is incumbent upon us pioneers to make sure that this becomes a place that is free and open for musical expression. It is Team Fat's intention that the music in this place be expressive, touching, and made for the sake of the human spirit, not repetitive, imitative, mechanical by convenience, nor needlessly enslaved by styles imposed by fashion or limited machinery. The musical precedents we set, and the tools we use and help create, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, and the things we say should all promote this vision. [note: In January, 1995, there were 71 thousand internet domains. In January, 2007, there were over 433 million. (source: Internet Systems Consortium). The Internet was still relatively new and computer games were classified as "multimedia".] What styles of music do you compose? All styles. No, really! We do what is called for in each product we work on. Sometimes it's world beat, sometimes it's race-car rock 'n' roll, sometimes it's a bouncy children's tune with catchy lyrics, sometimes it's a complicated orchestral piece, or "surf music for a communist game show." Whatever the client wants, combined with what will provide the listener with the richest artistic and emotional experience, we do. The Fat Man--Music and Sound Design for Games The Fat Man, George Alistair Sanger, has been creating music and other audio for games since Thin Ice for Intellivision in 1983, which means that, with only one known exception, he has been in that business longer than anyone else. He is internationally recognized for having contributed to the atmosphere of well over 250 games, including such sound-barrier-breaking greats as Loom, Wing Commander I and II, The 7th Guest I and II, NASCAR Racing, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, and ATF. He was recording orchestral instruments for games as early as 1992, and shoving lyrics, music videos, and digital recordings into games wherever they would fit, often volunteering to do the more advanced work for free in order to raise the quality of the player's gaming experience. He created the first General MIDI soundtrack for a game, the first direct-to-MIDI live recording of musicians, the first redbook soundtrack included with the game as a separate disk, the first music for a game that was considered a "work of art," and the first soundtrack that was considered a selling point for the game. Most of this was done alongside his friends, the three other composers of Team Fat. For several years, Team Fat's music and sound effects dominated the American PC scene. Musicians were frequently directed by their employers to imitate Sanger's work rather than that of artists in other media--a phenomenon that resurfaced recently with the sound design Sanger has done for slot machines. Sanger joined as the 21st member of the IGDA in 1994. In 1991, at the first GDC awards show ever, the audio award went to Sanger's Wing Commander. Sanger established the first audio column in Game Developer magazine in 2001. Sanger was honored with the 2007 Developers' Choice award for Community Contribution. Sanger is on the board of advisors for Game Developer Magazine, and Full Sail's Game Development Degree program. He is on the Board of Directors of the BEAM Foundation. On the edge of the Canyon of the Eagles over the Colorado River, The Fat Man hosts the annual Texas Interactive Music Conference and BBQ (Project Bar-B-Q), the computer/music industry's most prestigious and influential conference. Based on 11 successful years of influencing and galvanizing the audio and technical community at BBQ, in 2006 Sanger hosted the first Project Horseshoe, an intense think-tank aimed at solving game design's toughest problems. Sanger was deeply inspirational in the founding of Game Audio's professional organization, the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group (IASIG). He worked for many years with the IASIG to establish a compatibility spec for General MIDI. He also established Fat Labs, which tested GM hardware and software in order to create the best possible experience for listeners. For a while, you couldn't sell a GM chip to a Taiwanese manufacturer without the "Fat Seal of Approval." In 1995, he was the first music producer to be accepted into the National Recording Academy based on his work in games rather than in CD's, film, or movies. He worked toward the goal of establishing a Grammy category for games, first alone, then years later in the group led by Chance Thomas that achieved this goal. At developer conferences, Sanger hosted "Demo Marathons" to allow game producers to be exposed to the music of many musicians from all over the world in a single sitting. His writings in his Music and Computers Magazine column, "Ride the Wired Surf," were meant to promote ideals and attitudes that would lead to better music on computers. OR The Fat Man is a big-hearted alien who wears the skins of cowboy heroes whose bodies he has found in the desert. He finds it to his liking to hover over Austin in a huge radar-cloaked zeppelin, composing music for games with his legendary team of Cowboy Composers, Team Fat. His work on hit games has more than once changed the face of game music. People Magazine called him "a top candidate for the most prolific--and obscure--living American composer," yet as he consumes only ammonia and uncooked brown rice, his rates remain reasonable, and he is very well-behaved. We have been working with the same team of composers for over ten years and we just never seem to need more help than that. |
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