From Colorado Surf Music to the Pinnacle of Gaming: The Fat Man

Talking with George A. Sanger, versatile composer of scores that grace a long string of CD-ROM titles (including many hits), you learn quickly that he genuinely loves music. And, that he doesn't take himself or his success too seriously. The public persona, characterized by flamboyant cowboy suits and down-home colloquialisms, have made The Fat Man the most recognizable figure in elevating the stature of music in computer gaming. Mentored by a high-school band leader who played Colorado surf music, George's fascination with computer music got him started composing MIDI sound tracks. After several years and a long list of credits, he now stands at the top of his field—a field that he largely invented. A yearly brainstorming session in Boerne, Texas that George hosts, Project BBQ, attracts luminaries in interactive music from around the world. George took time out from his work on CyberStrike2 to talk about composing music for CD-ROM games.

Do you work exclusively in MIDI or do you also do full audio tracks?

Absolutely—full audio. My lips hurt—I was playing trumpet and French horn all last night. It's killing me. Yeah, any blessed thing that will make noise and will sound a little less like a piece of plastic and a little bit more like a heart beating is a good thing. We at Team Fat will leap all over that like boots on a rattlesnake.

Do you worry about integrating the audio with the game when you're doing the music?

Currently, the biggest consideration in doing the music for CyberStrike is disc space. I believe that we've got the integration and the flow and the mechanics of it all worked out. Really, the biggest issue right now is that there is only room for about 15 minutes music on each of the two discs. That's got to be distributed in a way that alleviates boredom rather than accentuates it. A lot times I have to sound out the mood of the programmers and see if they're in the mood to be harassed by some musician. When they feel like they want to go out and kick ass on and when they don't.

So, you've got to adapt your approach to the music to how the programmers are going to treat the audio.

Yeah, I have to adapt how much music goes in to the level of importance or resource allocation that the programmers and developers want to put into it. Frankly, as much respect as music gets, it still is not on most people's radar. There is this sense you have to have a "just do the damn music" budget stretching out over 40 hours of movie-quality experience. Which is really the challenge of our business. We're trying to make that impossible thing happen.

Are you at the point now that game companies will regularly seek you out and you don't have to scramble for jobs?

It is still absolutely a struggle. And that's without batting an eye, still saying, "I'm the biggest name in music in this arena."

Do you have any desire to do sound tracks or background music for TV shows or movies?

I'd love to do that. And we'd do a hell of a job. However, I'm 100% focusing my marketing on games for the simple reason that it's what we do. As healthy as this business is, we'll be that healthy. We're the Kleenex of music for games. We own music for games in people's minds. I can never be the biggest name in movies, because that's already covered. So, marketing-wise, this gives us a focus and an emphasis and I'm very comfortable with it. We're squeaking by, some times are better than others, but it's what we do. It's a firm decision on my part to emphasize that. I'll tell you what. A movie gig would hit the spot every now and then.

Let's say you're addressing a roomful of game developers at a seminar in Monterey, California. What advice would you give them?

Basically, the thing to keep in mind (who-ever you're using to do music for a game) is that the more that you can allow the artist to do art, the better the results. The more you can structure the relationship so that the artist is doing art and the scientists are doing science, and there is very little overlap between the two. The biggest drawbacks in the business have been when tools were employed that made the artists jump through a lot of hoops to integrate the music into the game.

You grew up in San Diego, California and now you're living in Texas. Can you answer the age-old question: which state has the best Mexican food?

State law requires that I answer Texas. I'd get shot for anything else. Thank god it's the truth.

A trio of independently released music-only CDs showcase the full range of the talents of Team Fat—from outrageously twisted originals to Colorado surf music to the sound tracks from hit game titles. For more details about the CDs and other current enterprises, check out: www.fatman.com.

Republished by permission of Disc Makers.

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