Tom Salta “Plugs” Cinematic Tracks Into Need For Speed Underground 2

by Louis Bedigian

“It proves that music can get you completely pumped up without resorting to negativity and profanity.”
 

 Photo by Enid Alvarez

If you’ve turned on the radio in the past 15 years, chances are you’ve heard a number of obnoxious, vulgar songs written by artists who want to make a “point.”  More often than not that point is pointless.  Music can convey so much without going to that place.  It doesn’t need the F-word to show anger.  It doesn’t have to be crude to show disappointment.  In truth it doesn’t even need words – just the right sound.

Music artist Tom Salta (also known as “Atlas Plug”) is dedicated to creating a great, compelling sound that gets your blood pumping without any unnecessary material.  You read about his debut album, 2 Days Or Die, in our previous interview.  His credits include Ghost Recon 2 (theme) and RalliSport Challenge 2 (theme and in-game music), as well as NBC’s Third Watch, UPN’s Top Model, and MTV’s Making the Video.  His work was also featured in HBO’s featurette for Spider-Man 2.  Most recently Tom lent his talents to the in-game cinematics for Need For Speed Underground 2. 

With so many credits to his name and many more on the way, we thought it was time to corner Tom Salta for another in-depth interview.  Our Question Cannon is locked and loaded.  Let’s see if our target can take a hit…

As everyone knows, the game industry is very competitive. It's not enough to be a great composer – you have to be great at marketing yourself to game developers, publishers, and even the players. Your music has appeared in several high-profile this year, including RalliSport Challenge 2 and Need For Speed Underground 2. How do you do it? What do you feel has been the key to your success and awareness with gamers and within the industry?

Tom Salta: Well those are some pretty loaded questions. :)  There are many factors involved in allowing me to be where I am today. It was definitely not an overnight process.  I came to the game industry with over fifteen years of experience in the music industry collaborating with a diverse array of artists including Peter Gabriel, Junior Vasquez, Mary J. Blige and Sinead O’Connor. So I already had plenty of experience programming, producing and mixing on major label projects.

Recording and releasing my own solo album of game music under the moniker “Atlas Plug” turned out to be the best thing I could have done to get noticed in the game industry. When I started getting placements in games, commercials, television and film projects, it became a kind of audio resume that quickly caught the attention of many important people in the game industry.

I’m truly fortunate that the technique of combining orchestral and electronic music together is becoming so popular in games and film. This combination of musical influences have contributed to being a signature ingredient in my sound.  So it’s just amazing to see that most every game that I’ve been asked to compose music for over the last six months has requested my style as an element in the game.

I should also mention that I’m an avid gamer myself which gives me a great sense of what works best in games.

Millions of gamers experienced Tom’s music last Christmas thanks to Need For Speed Underground 2

Speaking of success, how has your solo album, 2 Days Or Die, been doing?

TS: It’s been doing great. Since it’s on a very independent label, namely my own (Persist Records), I didn’t concern myself with investing tens of thousand of dollars in physical distribution and marketing, so in a sense, it’s still in a grass-roots discovery stage.  Thanks in large part to all the recent game press, TV, commercial, and film project placements, lots of people have discovered Atlas Plug and I’ve been getting steady sales through the www.atlasplug.com website worldwide.  It’s also available on iTunes, so lots of people have discovered it there as well.

What were your goals for 2 Days Or Die? What message or feeling were you trying to convey to the listener?

TS: There were several goals I wanted to accomplish on this solo album.  Firstly, I wanted to further develop my individual “sound” and do something that’s never been done before in the multimedia world.  I also wanted it to be powerful, positive, engaging and very “visual.” On top of that, I wanted it to be the kind of music that would be perfect for licensing in games, film, TV and commercials…and lastly it had to be something people would enjoy, regardless of whether they are into electronic music or not.  It really came together and it’s simply a very driving, energetic record. It proves that music can get you completely pumped up without resorting to negativity and profanity.

Was there something specific that inspired the songs on the album?

TS: There were various things. Some of the songs were inspired by video games.  For example, “Infiltrate This” was my idea for the theme to a game like Splinter Cell. But with most of the songs, I just had fun with no preconceptions of what I was going to do. This was purely a creative exploration for me. I made sure, however, that there was a variety and flow to the styles of music on the album to keep it fresh and interesting.

Is there always something specific that inspires you? Is there ever a time when you start writing a song and you're not even sure why?

TS: Many of the tracks on this record began with me just casually playing some synth riffs and going from there.  In fact, it’s always the times that I’m not “trying” to do anything that the best stuff comes through.  That’s really one of my secrets for true inspiration; as soon as I stop having fun and start “trying” too hard, the spontaneity is gone.

Tom’s music gave us a reason not to forget Street Racing Syndicate.

Growing up, is this where you thought you'd be in the future? Is this where you wanted to be?

 

TS: Making music for games was not remotely close to where I expected to be.  I did enjoy and appreciate “catchy” game music growing up but I was never inspired to be a part of it. It wasn’t until recently that I had an epiphany and realized that composing for games was a perfect match for my abilities.  It’s the only medium I can think of that can encompass all the various styles of music I love to create.  This year alone, I worked on a military game, two horror games, driving games, a hip hop game, and a handheld game that had Classical, Pop, Lounge, Dance and Funk music… what other medium gives a composer that much variety?

Do you have any plans for your record label (Persist Records) besides the release of your own material?

TS: At the present moment, I don’t.  Game composing is a full time thing for me right now and I look forward to doing the second Atlas Plug record soon, if I can make the time! :) Perhaps when I start expanding and getting more people involved in working with me, I can resume producing other groups/artists and working with their music as well.

Have you reached the point where you can begin working on another album?

TS: That’s what my publisher keeps asking! :)  Not yet.  Besides the fact that I’m booked with game projects into next year, I really want to take the second Atlas Plug album to a new level, perhaps even having some guest appearances, so it will take a little more time and planning, but stay tuned…:)

It seems that racing games have become your forte for the game industry. Is this something you were hoping to achieve, or did it happen by accident?

TS: Well, it may seem that way, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it my “forte.” This year I actually scored other genres more than racing games. Nevertheless, it was no accident that some of the tracks on the Atlas Plug album were great for driving games.  I knew these types of games would be the biggest market for game licenses.  Needless to say, I was thrilled when RalliSport Challenge 2 and Street Racing Syndicate licensed tracks off the record.  Later in the year Charles Deenan, Audio Director at EA Canada, heard about the material in RSC2 and asked me to score the cinematics in NFSU2. It’s funny, because driving games generally don’t use composers since most everything is licensed. NFSU2 was the exception in that it used both licensed and scored music. It’s just fortunate that I do both. :)

RalliSport Challenge 2

Need For Speed Underground sold over six million copies worldwide. Then Electronic Arts calls you in to do the music for the sequel. Did this put a lot of pressure on you?

 

TS: I’d be lying if I said no.  This was the biggest game I had ever worked on at the time. I also had to update my entire studio to surround and learn to mix in 5.1. And I also knew about Charles Deenan before I started working with him and that he had very high expectations.  I’m just so happy with how the cinematics came out, so is Charles, and that’s a good thing!

EA has been doing a lot of different things with their games – some have original scores, some have licensed music, others, like NFSU2, have both. How did this impact the way in which you tackled this particular game?

TS: I only had to deal with the cinematics so I never heard any of the in-game licensed music.  My challenge was to score these cinematics in a way that felt like they were licensed electronic songs but yet had to adapt to the scene like a score.  Any time you’re dealing with music that is strongly based on rhythm and drums tracks can sometimes present challenges when scoring to a scene.  But I’m happy to say it worked out really well.

Did EA have a game plan from the start? Did they come to you and say, "This is what we want. We know you can do it." Or was it more of an open-ended thing, where they knew your stuff and wanted you to explore and experiment?

TS: Charles Deenan and the EA Canada team knew exactly what they wanted to achieve.  They were very specific about the emotions and moods they wanted to convey.  These cinematics looked like animated comic books so that left a lot of responsibility to the music to really breathe life into them.

 

After seeing those cinematics as silent movies, it’s still amazing to me when I watch and listen to the final product.  The effect is like a movie trailer.  Hats off to the sound FX guys, Tom Brewer and Tim Gedemer, as well.

Ghost Recon 2 is a change of pace for you. How did this project differ from all the others?

TS: It’s funny you say that. I guess it seems like a change of pace given all the driving games I’ve worked on, but Ghost Recon 2 is actually closer to what I usually love to do, namely combining orchestral music with electronic music and ethnic elements.  I had a lot of fun working on this theme with Bill Brown.

Everybody run!  It’s an Atlas assault!

He’s a great composer.
 

TS: Bill is fantastic and I’ve always been a fan of his Rainbow Six music.  So needless to say I was thrilled to get a call from him to collaborate on the theme to GR2.

Do you think you and Bill will collaborate on another theme song or perhaps a full soundtrack?

TS: I would love to.  He is a talented composer and a pleasure to work with.

Who else would you like to work with? Which game genres would you like to tackle as heavily as you've tackled racing?

TS: Since I come from a music industry background, there are several music producers outside of the game industry who have always been heroes of mine.  My top three are Trevor Horn, Jimmy Jam and Mutt Lange.

As far as games go, I love a variety of things…that’s one of the main reasons why I got into the game industry since it really allows me to spread my wings creatively.  I compare it to acting; some actors play the same kind of roles over and over and some actors simply defy typecasting.  The latter is the kind of composer I aim to be.  There are far too many genres of games that I would enjoy working on to limit myself as a composer.  That being said, an epic RPG adventure would be a nice change of pace and round out the variety of games I’ve done this past year.  Some of my favorite game genres include Sci-fi, action, horror, fantasy and military. And I tend to also like things dark and eerie, with a supernatural twist. :)

Me too!

Thanks Tom for a great interview.

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