So I picked up a newspaper and got a job the very next day selling keyboards at Guitar Center. He pointed me about 45 minutes south to Orange County: When I got to Orange County, I said, "Now this is more like it!" I said to myself, "Self, there's no way I'm living here!!" The only other thing I knew in California was Disneyland, so I stopped some bum on the street and asked him where Mickey Mouse lived. Hollywood isn't exactly the way they portray it on TV it's pretty much a dump. I didn't have a place to stay, didn't know anybody, didn't have a job, and oh yeah, I didn't have any money!!! So I showed up in Hollywood, took a look around, and said, "What the h- is this!!!" Those of you who have been to Hollywood, you know what I'm talking about. The only thing I really knew out here was Hollywood, so I drove to Hollywood. when I turned 21 I left Massachusetts and drove across country to Southern Cal. When I was a kid I always wanted to move to southern California to be a musician (doesn't everybody!).Īnyway. I'm originally from Springfield, Massachusetts. Tallarico explains how he got started in the business: He has been in the industry for nine years and has won over two dozen awards. Current projects are Messiah and Pac-Man 3D. Terminator, Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, Skeleton Warriors, MDK, Treasures of the Deep, Wild 9, and Test Drive 4 and 5, to name just a few. Past products include Tomorrow Never Dies, Prince of Persia, Global Gladiators, The Terminator, Cool Spot, Aladdin, Robocop Vs. In total, Tallarico has worked on 140 games, yielding a total of $25 million in sales. ![]() He also hosts the "Electric Playground" weekly TV show. ![]() Tommy Tallarico is the president of Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc., the largest multimedia post-production audio company on the planet. It's like creating a new style of musie! Uniqueness is the key to writing great music for games, and I think the seoret is to do something that no one has done yet-and probably the most fun part of what I do.ĭo you remember any of the games he's talking about? I don't. The beats are great for flow, but the orchestra and guitars are perfect for power and melody. In the Wild 9 soundtrack, I took the beats and rhythms from techno and/or industrial music. Treasures of the Deep had tons of acoustic guitars and things. In Skeleton Warriors, it was huge 95-piece orchestral stuff. On Terminator for the Sega-CD, it was the first time anyone had heard live guitars and real rock music in a game. No one had really done that before to any extent on the Sega Genesis. For example, in Global Gladiators I used samples triggered in the music (drums, guitar hits, orchestra hits, voice, etc.) to create a song. It was the first time anyone had heard music like that in games. When asked the key to creating a successful video game soundtrack, Tallarico says what has worked for him is trying to create something different, and he provides a number of examples:Īll the soundtracks I've won awards on had one thing in common. His sketches aren't all that inspiring, but whatever. Oh yeah, and if it's country music, you'll want to turn the game off and shoot yourself in the head. If the music is haunting or scary, it may seem like you're getting chased and you're trapped if it's beautiful and epic, it will give you the sense of beauty and accomplishment. Depending on what the audio is doing is how the player is going to react to that circumstance. For example, you could have a scene where a character runs up to a huge cliff and slowly looks over it to reveal miles and miles of scenery. and audio, which can set a mood, accent a motion, and pretty much set the emotion for the scene/level. design, which is the level layout, fun factor, presentation, etc. programming, which is the way the game moves, interfaces, acts, etc. For the most part there are four parts of a game: art, which provides you with your graphics, visuals, animations, etc. I truly believe music is 25% of the gaming experience. Tallarico comments on how important music is to the overall gaming experience: ![]() Some of the more well-known games (selling in excess of 25 million copies com-bined) include Tomorrow Never Dies, Prince of Persia, The Terminator, Cool Spot, Aladdin, Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, MDK, Wild 9, and Test Drive 4 and 5. Tommy Tallarico has worked on more than 150 games during his illustrious career. Poopy here with a text transcription if the screenshots are hard for you to read.
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