Jack Wall | |
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Background information | |
Born | 1963 (age 60–61) Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Genres | Video game music |
Occupation(s) | Composer, symphonist, conductor |
Years active | 1995–present |
Jack Wall 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's first video game composition was 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 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. [1]
Jack Wall, born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, [2] earned a degree in civil engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia and began a career "planning out sub-divisions and shopping malls". [3] [4] 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. [4]
By late 1995, Wall was living in Los Angeles and was married to singer Cindy Shapiro, who he had met in 1994. [4] [5] She knew Ron Martinez, who was starting a video game company, PostLinear Entertainment, and he asked Wall to work for it as a composer. [4] [6] He composed the soundtracks for several games for PostLinear; the first released was Vigilance in 1997. [4] His daughter Gracie was also born early in 1997. [7] 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 . [4] 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. [8]
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. [9] [10] 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. [10] As of 2010, Wall serves as vice chairman, after stepping down from heading the board of directors in 2007. [9] [11] 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. [12]
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. [13] 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. [14] 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. [15] The series is international and ongoing, with more than 70 shows planned for 2009. [16] Wall composed the soundtracks to three games released in 2005 including the award-winning score to Jade Empire , and some of 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, [17] [18] as did Mass Effect 2. [19] [20]
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". [21] For Jade Empire, he focused on using Chinese instruments and Taiko drums. [22] 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. [23] He also believes that a good video game music composer needs to have a lot of technical sound production skill to be successful. [21] 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. [15] 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. [24] He also wrote the book Legendary Bim Bang, the man who invented music. A picture book for ages 1 to 7 [25]
Year | Title | Production company(s) | Distributor(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Hard Target 2 | Universal 1440 Entertainment Living Films | Universal Pictures Home Entertainment | — |
2017–2019 | Shadowhunters | Constantin Film | Disney–ABC Domestic Television (United States) Netflix (International) | Composed with Trevor Morris |
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition [8] | Myst III: Exile | Nominated |
2004 | GameSpot Best of 2004 Awards | Best Original Music [29] | Myst IV: Revelation | Nominated |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Interactive Score [12] | Myst IV: Revelation | Nominated | |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Vocal Song: Pop [12] | Myst IV: Revelation ("Welcome") | Nominated | |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Live Performance Recording [12] | Myst IV: Revelation | Won | |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Vocal Song: Choral [12] | Myst IV: Revelation ("Main Theme") | Won | |
Game Audio Network Guild | Music of the Year [12] | Myst IV: Revelation | Won | |
2005 | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition [30] | Rise of the Kasai | Nominated |
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition [30] | Jade Empire | Nominated | |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Live Performance Recording [31] | Jade Empire | Nominated | |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Instrumental Song [31] | Jade Empire ("Main Theme") | Nominated | |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Soundtrack Album [31] | Jade Empire | Won | |
2007 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Instrumental Song [17] | Mass Effect ("The Citadel") | Nominated |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Soundtrack Album [17] | Mass Effect | Nominated | |
IGN Best of 2007 Awards | Best Original Score [18] | Mass Effect | Won | |
GameSpot Best of 2007 Awards | Best Original Music [32] | Mass Effect | Won | |
2010 | British Academy of Film & Television Arts | Best Original Music [19] | Mass Effect 2 | Nominated |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Soundtrack Album [20] | Mass Effect 2 | Nominated |
Tommy Tallarico is an American video game music composer, sound designer, and television producer. Since the 1990s, he has helmed audio production for numerous video games through his self-titled company. He co-hosted the television series Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run from 1997 until 2006. In 2002, he created Video Games Live (VGL), a global video game music orchestra.
Myst IV: Revelation is a 2004 adventure video game, the fourth installment in the Myst series, developed and published by Ubisoft. Like Myst III: Exile, Revelation combines pre-rendered graphics with digital video, but also features real-time 3D effects for added realism. The plot of Revelation follows up on plot details from the original Myst. The player is summoned by Atrus, a man who creates links to other worlds known as Ages by writing special linking books. Almost twenty years earlier, Atrus' two sons nearly destroyed all of his books and were imprisoned; Atrus now wishes to see if his sons' imprisonment has reformed them. The player travels to each brother's prison, in an attempt to recover Atrus' daughter Yeesha from the brothers' plot.
Myst is a franchise centered on a series of adventure video games. The first game in the series, Myst, was released in 1993 by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller and their video game company Cyan, Inc. The first sequel to Myst, Riven, was released in 1997 and was followed by three more direct sequels: Myst III: Exile in 2001, Myst IV: Revelation in 2004, and Myst V: End of Ages in 2005. A spinoff featuring a multiplayer component, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, was released in 2003 and followed by two expansion packs.
Myst V: End of Ages is a 2005 adventure video game, the fifth installment in the Myst series. The game was developed by Cyan Worlds, published by Ubisoft, and released for Macintosh and Windows PC platforms in September 2005. As in previous games in the series, End of Ages's gameplay consists of navigating worlds known as "Ages" via the use of special books and items which act as portals.
Richard Adrian Jacques is an English composer of film, television and video game music. He is best known for his scores for games such as Sonic R, Headhunter, Jet Set Radio Future, Mass Effect, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, LittleBigPlanet 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Jacques has collaborated with numerous premier TV and movie theatre campaigns for some of the world's largest media agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann Erickson, and global brands such as Audi, Bacardi, Mercedes-Benz and Stella Artois. His music for television includes top brand shows for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
Video Games Live (VGL) is a concert series created by Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. 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. Incorporated in 2002, Video Games Live has performed over 500 shows internationally.
Tim Larkin is a composer and sound designer for Valve, and previously the audio director for Cyan, best known for the Myst series of video games. At Cyan, he worked as a sound designer for Riven, and as a composer for realMyst, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst and Myst V: End of Ages.
Inon Zur is an Israeli-born composer of soundtracks for film, television, and video games. He has composed soundtracks for over 80 video games, which include Dragon Age, EverQuest, Fallout, Prince of Persia, Star Trek, the Syberia series, and Starfield. He has received multiple nominations, including three BAFTAs, and has won several awards, including an Emmy. Various music awards for his soundtracks on Men of Valor (2004), Crysis (2007), Dragon Age: Origins (2009), The Elder Scrolls: Blades (2019), Syberia: The World Before (2023) and Starfield (2024).
Chance Thomas is an American composer, author, and entrepreneur. As a composer, he creates original music for animation, video games, movies, television, and virtual reality. His music has received critical acclaim and commercial success, including an Oscar, an Emmy, and billions of dollars in sales worldwide.
Mass Effect 2 is an action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Microsoft Game Studios and Electronic Arts for Windows and Xbox 360 in 2010 and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3 in 2011. It is the second installment in the Mass Effect series and a sequel to the original Mass Effect. The game takes place within the Milky Way galaxy during the 22nd century, where humanity is threatened by an insectoid alien race known as the Collectors. The player assumes the role of Commander Shepard, an elite human soldier who must assemble and gain the loyalty of a diverse team to stop the Collectors in a suicide mission. Using a completed saved game of its predecessor, the player can impact the game's story in numerous ways.
Winnie Waldron is an American music producer for video games, a producer for radio, a radio script editor / adapter, a manuscript editor and a radio host.
Garry Schyman is an American film, television, and video game music composer. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in music composition in 1978, and began work in the television industry, writing music for such television series as Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team. By 1986, he was composing for movies such as Judgement and Hit List. At the request of a friend in 1993, he composed the music for the video game Voyeur, but after creating the music for two more games he left the industry, citing the low budgets and poor quality of video game music at the time. He continued to compose for film and television, only to return to video games for 2005's Destroy All Humans!. Finding that in his absence the quality and perceived importance of video game music had risen substantially, he has since composed for several games, writing the scores to BioShock and Dante's Inferno among others. He still composes for film however, his latest being Brush with Danger directed by young Indonesian director Livi Zheng. He has won numerous awards for his video game scores, including several "soundtrack of the year" awards. During his career, he has worked on over 25 television shows, 10 films, and 13 video games.
Neal Acree is an American composer of film, television, and video game music. He has scored 30 feature films, contributed music to the popular Blizzard Entertainment video game franchises StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Overwatch, as well as the Chinese MMO Revelation Online. His television work includes the series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Witchblade and the first season of Sanctuary.
Austin Wintory is an American composer for film and video games. He is known for scoring the video games Flow and Journey, the latter of which made history as the only video game soundtrack to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Kenneth Young, also known as Kenneth C. M. Young or Kenny Young, is a Scottish freelance audio director, composer, sound designer and writer. He is best known for his award-winning work on the audio experiences in Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway video game franchises, and the music of Team Asobi's Astro Bot games.
Darren Korb is an American songwriter, composer, and voice actor. Korb is best known for writing the music featured in Bastion, Transistor, Pyre,Hades and Hades II, all of which were developed by indie developer Supergiant Games. Korb also voice-acted in the latter two games, providing the voice for protagonist Zagreus in Hades.
Gordy Haab is an American film, video game and television composer based in Los Angeles, California. His work has been featured in works associated with franchises including Star Wars Battlefront II, for which he won Video Game Score of the Year from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Haab is also known for his work on Microsoft's Halo Wars 2, for which he was nominated for a 2017 HMMA award. His score for Electronic Arts' Star Wars: Battlefront, won three awards at the 2016 GDC G.A.N.G. Awards: Music of the Year, Best Interactive Score, and Best Instrumental Score. Haab was also nominated for a BAFTA Games Awards for his work on Star Wars: Battlefront.
Wilbert Roget II is an American composer known for his work on video game music, particularly Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), Call of Duty: WWII (2017), Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, (2014) and Helldivers 2 (2024). His scores have won multiple awards and nominations from the Game Audio Network Guild and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
The Game Audio Network Guild Awards is an award show that celebrates excellence in video game audio. The awards, which started in 2004, are arranged by the Game Audio Network Guild and held annually during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The first four shows were held at the Fairmont San Jose, before moving to the Moscone Center from the fifth; due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 18th, 19th, and 20th ceremonies were held virtually.
Jeff Broadbent is an American multimedia composer, musician, and music producer. He has won several Hollywood Music in Media Awards and a G.A.N.G. Award for composing music for video games including, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, PlanetSide 2, and Arena of Valor, among others. He composes music for film and television as well, such as Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Lazarus Effect, and others.