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Jack Wall (composer)
Video game music composer

Jack Wall (composer)

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Intro
Video game music composer
Work field
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Phoenixville
Jack Wall (composer)
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Jack Wall (born 1964 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) is an American video game music composer. He has worked on video game music for over 20 games including the Myst franchise, Splinter Cell, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Call of Duty. Wall earned a degree in civil engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and, after a brief stint working in civil engineering, transitioned into music production. He worked with musicians such as John Cale, David Byrne, and Patti Smith, and, after performing increasingly complex production and sound engineering tasks, moved into music composition in 1995.
Wall immediately began working in the video game industry, composing the soundtrack to Vigilance. Primarily composing in an orchestral style, by 2001 he composed the soundtrack to Myst III: Exile, which was the title he says put him on the map as a video game composer. In 2002, Wall became one of around 20 co-founders of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) as well as senior director. In 2005, Wall, along with G.A.N.G. founder and fellow composer Tommy Tallarico, produced the Video Games Live concert series, having served as the conductor for the international concert tour. His latest released soundtrack is that of 2012 Black Ops 2. His soundtracks for Myst III: Exile, Myst IV: Revelation, Rise of the Kasai, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Mass Effect 2 were nominated for and won multiple awards.

Early life

Jack Wall, born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, earned a degree in civil engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and began a career "planning out sub-divisions and shopping malls". At the same time he was in a rock band, as he was also interested in music. After recording a demo tape with the band, he was inspired to change career paths and quit his job to work in the music industry. He initially worked as a bartender and later started working in recording studios in Philadelphia and later Boston and New York City, where he worked for Skyline Studios. In 1991 Wall left Skyline, and until 1994 worked as an independent music producer and sound engineer in New York City, working with musicians such as John Cale, David Byrne, and Patti Smith, as well as local bands. Over those three years, Wall consistently worked with Cale, eventually handling arrangement and orchestration of Cale's compositions as well as producing and working as a sound engineer. While working with Cale on the soundtrack to a movie, House of America, he watched as Cale composed thirty minutes of music in almost real time, and was inspired to begin composing music.

Career

October 24, 2008 Video Games Live performance with Wall as the conductor

By late 1995, Jack Wall was living in Los Angeles and was married to singer Cindy Shapiro, who he had met in 1994. She knew Ron Martinez, who was starting a video game company, PostLinear Entertainment, and he asked Wall to work for it as a composer. He composed the soundtracks for several games for PostLinear; the first released was Vigilance in 1997. His daughter Gracie was also born early in 1997. After leaving the company, he composed the soundtrack to 2001's Myst III: Exile, which was his first orchestral score and the work that he said put him on the map as a video game composer. It was also interesting to him, as it was a sequel to the first video game he had ever played, Myst. Myst III was nominated for the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition" award, which it lost to the Tropico soundtrack.

In 2002, Wall became one of around 20 co-founders of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) as well as senior director. The group works to promote the appreciation of video game music, as well as serve as a professional resource for video game music composers and musicians. It was developed and headed by Tommy Tallarico. As of 2010, Wall serves as vice chairman, after stepping down from heading the board of directors in 2007. He continued to compose soundtracks for games such as The Mark of Kri and Unreal II: The Awakening. His work on Myst IV: Revelation in 2004 earned him his first three awards, those of "Best Live Performance Recording", "Best Original Vocal Song: Choral", and "Music of the Year" from the G.A.N.G. awards.

Wall, along with Tommy Tallarico, has produced the Video Games Live concert series, which began on July 6, 2005. The two had been planning the concert series, which presents orchestrated versions of music from dozens of games, for three years. The concerts consist of segments of video game music performed by a live orchestra with video footage and synchronized lighting and effects, as well as several interactive segments with the audience, conducted by Wall. Video Games Live was intended to take the idea of a symphonic video game music concert, which was popular in Japan, and combine it with a rock concert to make it appealing to western fans. The series is international and ongoing, with more than 70 shows planned for 2009. Although Wall composed the soundtracks to three games released in 2005 including the award-winning score to Jade Empire, his works released since then have been 2007's Mass Effect and 2010's Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect's score earned Wall several awards and nominations, as did Mass Effect 2.

Musical style and influences

Although many of his works are orchestral, Jack Wall has worked in a wide variety of styles, including "heavy metal meets orchestral" and "tribal percussion". For Jade Empire, he focused on using Chinese instruments and Taiko drums. When writing a video game score, Wall prefers a collaborative approach with the game designers to creating the music, as he feels that the "tug back and forth of ideas" makes the music stronger. He notes, however, that he has to be flexible, and willing to create his own vision for the music. As part of this, he prefers to be able to see illustrations and game design documents before beginning, as they provide insight into the feel of the game so that his music can mesh in with it. He also believes that a good video game music composer needs to have a lot of technical sound production skill to be successful. Wall has said that the Myst and Mass Effect soundtracks are his favorites that he has created. Wall stated that he was primarily interested in scoring games that are "interesting", and that his main concern was creating something original. Although he has worked with live orchestras and synthetic orchestras, Wall recommends that game developers use a live one, despite the expense, as he feels they add a much more dynamic sound to the music and allow the composer more freedom than synthesizer samples. He also wrote the book Legendary Bim Bang, the man who invented music. A picture book for ages 1 to 7

Works

YearTitleDeveloper(s)Publisher(s)Notes
1998VigilancePostLinear EntertainmentSegaSoftN/A
199810SixSegaSoftSegaSoftN/A
1998Flying SaucerPostLinear EntertainmentJoWooD Productions Software AG
Software 2000
N/A
2000Animorphs: Know the SecretGigawatt StudiosGT InteractiveN/A
2000Evil Dead: Hail to the KingHeavy Iron StudiosTHQN/A
2001Ultimate RideDisney Interactive StudiosDisney Interactive StudiosN/A
2001Myst III: ExilePresto StudiosUbisoftN/A
2001Disney's Extremely Goofy SkateboardingKrome StudiosDisney Interactive StudiosN/A
2002The Mark of KriSCE San Diego StudioSony Computer EntertainmentN/A
2003Ben Hur: Blood of BravesMicroïdsMicroïdsN/A
2003Unreal II: The AwakeningLegend EntertainmentAtariN/A
2004Wrath UnleashedThe Collective, Inc.LucasArtsN/A
2004Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora TomorrowUbisoft ShanghaiUbisoftN/A
2004Myst IV: RevelationUbisoft MontrealUbisoftN/A
2005Rise of the KasaiBottlerocket EntertainmentSony Computer Entertainment AmericaN/A
2005Neopets: The Darkest FaerieIdol MindsSony Computer EntertainmentN/A
2005Jade EmpireBioWareMicrosoft Games StudiosN/A
2007Mass EffectBioWareMicrosoft Games StudiosN/A
2010Mass Effect 2BioWareElectronic ArtsN/A
2012Call of Duty: Black Ops IITreyarchActivisionMain theme composed by Trent Reznor
2013Lost Planet 3Spark UnlimitedCapcomN/A
2015Call of Duty: Black Ops IIITreyarchActivision"I Live (Electronic Version)", "Ignition" and "Safehouse" composed by Brian Tuey in soundtrack album
2016Into the StarsFugitive GamesIceberg InteractiveAdditional music composed by Jim Lordeman

Awards

YearAwardCategoryWorkResult
2001Academy of Interactive Arts & SciencesOutstanding Achievement in Original Music CompositionMyst III: ExileNominated
2004GameSpot Best of 2004 AwardsBest Original MusicMyst IV: RevelationNominated
Game Audio Network GuildBest Interactive ScoreMyst IV: RevelationNominated
Game Audio Network GuildBest Original Vocal Song: PopMyst IV: Revelation ("Welcome")Nominated
Game Audio Network GuildBest Live Performance RecordingMyst IV: RevelationWon
Game Audio Network GuildBest Original Vocal Song: ChoralMyst IV: Revelation ("Main Theme")Won
Game Audio Network GuildMusic of the YearMyst IV: RevelationWon
2005Academy of Interactive Arts & SciencesOutstanding Achievement in Original Music CompositionRise of the KasaiNominated
Academy of Interactive Arts & SciencesOutstanding Achievement in Original Music CompositionJade EmpireNominated
Game Audio Network GuildBest Live Performance RecordingJade EmpireNominated
Game Audio Network GuildBest Original Instrumental SongJade Empire ("Main Theme")Nominated
Game Audio Network GuildBest Original Soundtrack AlbumJade EmpireWon
2007Game Audio Network GuildBest Original Instrumental SongMass Effect ("The Citadel")Nominated
Game Audio Network GuildBest Original Soundtrack AlbumMass EffectNominated
IGN Best of 2007 AwardsBest Original ScoreMass EffectWon
Gamespot Best of 2007 AwardsBest Original MusicMass EffectWon
2010British Academy of Film & Television ArtsBest Original MusicMass Effect 2Nominated
Game Audio Network GuildBest Soundtrack AlbumMass Effect 2Nominated

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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