Difference between revisions of "George Sanger"

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'''''George Alistair Sanger''''', AKA '''''The Fat Man''''' is a highly successful video game music composer and audio consultant. His work ranges all the way back to 1983 and continues on to this very day. He has composed music for over 200 games. Often seen sporting a cowboy hat, this Texan has an entire sound team (Team Fat) to help him with his work in the video game market. Aside from his work composing music, George also does consulting work for audio and has written a book about multimedia music called "The Fat Man Game Audio: Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness".
+
'''''George Alistair Sanger''''', AKA '''''The Fat Man''''' is a highly successful video game music composer and audio consultant. His work ranges all the way back to 1983 and continues on to this very day. He has composed music for over 200 games. Often seen sporting a cowboy hat, this Texan has an entire sound team (Team Fat) to help him with his work in the video game market. Aside from his work composing music, George also does consulting work for audio and has written a book about multimedia music called "The Fat Man Game Audio: Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness". Some of his best known works include '''The 7th Guest''', '''The 11th Hour''', and '''Wing Commander'''. Sanger has also composed music for several platforms.
  
−
Sanger started out by being roommates with [[David Warhol]] in college. David was a programmer and George wanted to do music for one of his games, so he asked David if he could compose the music to his games and David said yes. George composed his first video game soundtrack for David's game, "Thin Ice" for the Intellivision. Later, David Warhol founded [[Realtime Associates]], which George Sanger worked for, as well as a great deal of other composers.
+
Sanger started his career in video game music when his brother Rick was roommates with [[David Warhol]]. Warhol was programming the Intellivision game '''Thin Ice'''. Sanger, already fascinated with video games at the time begged Warhol to let him write music for the game, and Warhol accepted his pleas. Later, David Warhol founded [[Realtime Associates]], which George Sanger worked for, as well as a great deal of other composers.
 +
 
 +
One significant contribution Sanger made to the video game industry was the standard OPL3 patches for the FM synthesis chips used throughout the DOS era, which he did with [[Kevin Phelan|K. Weston Phelan]].
  
 
==Music Development==
 
==Music Development==
Line 18: Line 20:
 
George used [[Performer]] for all of his MS-DOS and Macintosh music. He wrote the MIDI files to be played back on a [[Roland MT-32]].
 
George used [[Performer]] for all of his MS-DOS and Macintosh music. He wrote the MIDI files to be played back on a [[Roland MT-32]].
  
−
While George is not a sound programmer, he designed instruments for the AdLib sound card which were used in many games.
+
While George is not a sound programmer, he designed instruments for the AdLib sound card which were used in many games along with Team FAT member [[Kevin Phelan]].
 +
 
 +
===GB===
 +
For his work with [[Realtime Associates]], he would do the music in an identical fashion to his NES music; he would write MIDI files in Performer for the Macintosh. Said MIDI files were given to [[David Warhol]], which he would arrange in Cakewalk for DOS, then converted into his [[David Warhol (GB Driver)|sound driver]].
 +
 
 +
For the game [[Track Meet (GB)]], Sanger gave his MIDI files to [[Rebecca Heineman]] who arranged his music for the Game Boy in the handheld's modified Z80 [[assembly]].
 +
 
 +
===INTV===
 +
Sanger used a 4-track tape recorder to record his composition for [[Thin Ice (INTV)]]. He then transcribed his composition to sheet music on manuscript paper, which was then handed over to [[David Warhol]], who programmed Sanger's compositions into the game in [[assembly]]. Though Sanger wrote the main theme, Warhol stated in an interview that he composed the rest of the songs in the game.
  
 
===NES===
 
===NES===
−
For his Home Alone NES music, he used a sequencer Bethesda set up for him in their studios and the software was probably on an Atari ST. Sanger got the job since their [[Julain Lefay|previous composer quit]]. That composer used [[Sonix]] on the Amiga, so that may be what George used. His music was converted to [[Randy Linden]]'s sound driver.
+
George used [[Performer]] for the Macintosh, and [[David Warhol]] would arrange his [[MIDI]] files in [[Cakewalk]] which were then converted into 6502 [[assembly]] code using a driver that Warhol wrote. His MIDI files were meant to be played back on a [[Roland MT-32]].
  
−
For his other NES music, he used [[Performer]] and [[David Warhol]] would arrange his MIDI files for the game. His MIDI files were meant to be played back on a [[Roland MT-32]]. In Tecmo NBA Basketball, he made MIDI files and [[Paul Webb]] converted them to Sculptured Software's NES sound engine.
+
For '''Home Alone''', he used [[Sonix]] for the [[Amiga]], the sequencer [[Bethesda]] had set up in their studio. His files were then converted to [[Randy Linden]]'s [[Randy Linden (NES Driver)|sound driver]].
 +
 
 +
For '''Tecmo NBA Basketball''', he presumably wrote MIDI files in Performer, which were then handed to [[Paul Webb]] to code in assembly using [[Ken Moore]]'s sound driver.
  
 
===SNES===
 
===SNES===
Line 32: Line 44:
 
==Gameography==
 
==Gameography==
 
To see a list of games George has worked on, go to: http://fatman.com/faqs.htm
 
To see a list of games George has worked on, go to: http://fatman.com/faqs.htm
 +
 +
Though he was not credited in the game, Sanger confirmed his involvement with composing all the music to The Adventures of Rad Gravity (NES). Instead [[David Warhol|Dave Worhal]] is credited. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMxnwHxHG4Q]
  
 
{| class="wikitable" |
 
{| class="wikitable" |
Line 42: Line 56:
 
| [[Thin Ice (INTV)]]
 
| [[Thin Ice (INTV)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| Main Theme; arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1990-03-??
 
| 1990-03-??
 
| [[Swords and Serpents (NES)]]
 
| [[Swords and Serpents (NES)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1990-03-10
 
| 1990-03-10
Line 57: Line 71:
 
| [[Dick Tracy (NES)]]
 
| [[Dick Tracy (NES)]]
 
| {{Song-Box|01 - Dick Tracy - NES - Title.ogg}}
 
| {{Song-Box|01 - Dick Tracy - NES - Title.ogg}}
−
|  
+
| With [[David Hayes]]. Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1990-08-??
 
| 1990-08-??
 
| [[Total Recall (NES)]]
 
| [[Total Recall (NES)]]
 
| {{Song-Box|01 - Total Recall - NES - Title.ogg}}
 
| {{Song-Box|01 - Total Recall - NES - Title.ogg}}
−
|  
+
| With [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1990-10-??
 
| 1990-10-??
 
| [[Maniac Mansion (NES)]]
 
| [[Maniac Mansion (NES)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| With [[David Govett]], [[David Hayes]], [[David Warhol]], [[Chris Grigg]], and [[David Lawrence]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1990-09-26
 
| 1990-09-26
Line 77: Line 91:
 
| [[The Adventures of Rad Gravity (NES)]]
 
| [[The Adventures of Rad Gravity (NES)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1990-??-??
 
| 1990-??-??
Line 97: Line 111:
 
| [[Track Meet (GB)]] (トラックミート めざせ！バルセロナ)
 
| [[Track Meet (GB)]] (トラックミート めざせ！バルセロナ)
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[Rebecca Heineman]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1990-??-??
 
| 1990-??-??
Line 107: Line 121:
 
| [[Fun House (NES)]]
 
| [[Fun House (NES)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1991-05-??
 
| 1991-05-??
 
| [[The Rocketeer (NES)]]
 
| [[The Rocketeer (NES)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| With [[David Hayes]]. Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1991-06-??
 
| 1991-06-??
 
| [[Skate Or Die: Tour de Thrash (GB)]]
 
| [[Skate Or Die: Tour de Thrash (GB)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1991-09-??
 
| 1991-09-??
 
| [[Monster Truck Rally (NES)]]
 
| [[Monster Truck Rally (NES)]]
 
| {{Song-Box|01 - Monster Truck Rally - NES - Title Screen.ogg}}
 
| {{Song-Box|01 - Monster Truck Rally - NES - Title Screen.ogg}}
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1991-11-??
 
| 1991-11-??
Line 132: Line 146:
 
| [[Dick Tracy (GB)]]
 
| [[Dick Tracy (GB)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| With [[David Hayes]]. Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1991-12-14
 
| 1991-12-14
Line 186: Line 200:
 
| 1992-??-??
 
| 1992-??-??
 
| [[The Dark Queen of Krynn (DOS)]]
 
| [[The Dark Queen of Krynn (DOS)]]
−
|  
+
| {{Song-Box|201 - The Dark Queen of Krynn - DOS - Title.ogg}}
 
| Music Producer
 
| Music Producer
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1992-??-??
 
| 1992-??-??
 
| [[The Dark Queen of Krynn (DOS)|The Dark Queen of Krynn (MAC)]]
 
| [[The Dark Queen of Krynn (DOS)|The Dark Queen of Krynn (MAC)]]
−
|  
+
| {{Song-Box|101 - The Dark Queen of Krynn - DOS - Title.ogg}}
 
| Music Producer
 
| Music Producer
 
|-
 
|-
Line 202: Line 216:
 
| [[Defenders of Dynatron City (NES)]]
 
| [[Defenders of Dynatron City (NES)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1992-09-29
 
| 1992-09-29
Line 211: Line 225:
 
| 1992-09-??
 
| 1992-09-??
 
| [[Word Zap (GB)]]
 
| [[Word Zap (GB)]]
−
|  
+
| {{Song-Box|01 - Word Zap - GB - Title Theme.ogg}}
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[David Warhol]].
 +
|-
 +
| 1992-10-??
 +
| [[Q*bert 3 (SNES)]]
 +
|
 +
| With [[Joe McDermott]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1992-11-??
 
| 1992-11-??
 
| [[Tecmo NBA Basketball (NES)]]
 
| [[Tecmo NBA Basketball (NES)]]
 
| {{Song-Box|04 - Tecmo NBA Basketball - NES - In-Game.ogg}}
 
| {{Song-Box|04 - Tecmo NBA Basketball - NES - In-Game.ogg}}
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[Paul Webb]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1992-11-??
 
| 1992-11-??
Line 227: Line 246:
 
| [[Tecmo Super NBA Basketball (SNES)]]
 
| [[Tecmo Super NBA Basketball (SNES)]]
 
| {{Song-Box|04 - Tecmo Super NBA Basketball - SNES - In-Game.ogg}}
 
| {{Song-Box|04 - Tecmo Super NBA Basketball - SNES - In-Game.ogg}}
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[Paul Webb]].
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1993-??-??
 
| 1993-??-??
Line 237: Line 256:
 
| [[The Dark Queen of Krynn (DOS)|Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (DOS)]]
 
| [[The Dark Queen of Krynn (DOS)|Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (DOS)]]
 
| {{Song-Box|101 - The Dark Queen of Krynn - DOS - Title.ogg}}
 
| {{Song-Box|101 - The Dark Queen of Krynn - DOS - Title.ogg}}
−
|  
+
| Music Producer
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1993-??-??
 
| 1993-??-??
 
| [[Tecmo Super NBA Basketball (GEN)]]
 
| [[Tecmo Super NBA Basketball (GEN)]]
 
|  
 
|  
−
|  
+
| Music arranged by [[Dean Morrell]].
 +
|-
 +
| 1993-09-??
 +
| [[Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES)]]
 +
|
 +
| Music Producer
 +
|-
 +
| 1993-??-??
 +
| [[Zombies Ate My Neighbors (GEN)]]
 +
|
 +
| Music Producer
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1994-06-01
 
| 1994-06-01
Line 259: Line 288:
 
|  
 
|  
 
|}
 
|}
 +
 +
==Aliases==
 +
George Sanger was credited in many games by his pseudonym, '''The Fat Man'''. Sanger wishes not to reveal the etymology of the name.
  
 
==Picture Gallery==
 
==Picture Gallery==
Line 282: Line 314:
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
 
* [http://www.fatman.com fatman.com] - Official web site.
 
* [http://www.fatman.com fatman.com] - Official web site.
 +
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u2mXQj3VhM youtube.com/watch?v=2u2mXQj3VhM] - Interview about his career.
 +
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fljioW9Cy2g youtube.com/watch?v=fljioW9Cy2g] - Video response as to how he wrote Thin Ice (INTV).
  
  

Revision as of 11:25, 21 September 2021

George Alistair Sanger
George Sanger - 08.jpg
Born 1957-12-14
Birth Place Austin, Texas
Nationality American   USA.svg
Aliases The Fat Man, Team Fat
Website fatman.com

George Alistair Sanger, AKA The Fat Man is a highly successful video game music composer and audio consultant. His work ranges all the way back to 1983 and continues on to this very day. He has composed music for over 200 games. Often seen sporting a cowboy hat, this Texan has an entire sound team (Team Fat) to help him with his work in the video game market. Aside from his work composing music, George also does consulting work for audio and has written a book about multimedia music called "The Fat Man Game Audio: Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness". Some of his best known works include The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour, and Wing Commander. Sanger has also composed music for several platforms.

Sanger started his career in video game music when his brother Rick was roommates with David Warhol. Warhol was programming the Intellivision game Thin Ice. Sanger, already fascinated with video games at the time begged Warhol to let him write music for the game, and Warhol accepted his pleas. Later, David Warhol founded Realtime Associates, which George Sanger worked for, as well as a great deal of other composers.

One significant contribution Sanger made to the video game industry was the standard OPL3 patches for the FM synthesis chips used throughout the DOS era, which he did with K. Weston Phelan.

Music Development

DOS/MAC

George used Performer for all of his MS-DOS and Macintosh music. He wrote the MIDI files to be played back on a Roland MT-32.

While George is not a sound programmer, he designed instruments for the AdLib sound card which were used in many games along with Team FAT member Kevin Phelan.

GB

For his work with Realtime Associates, he would do the music in an identical fashion to his NES music; he would write MIDI files in Performer for the Macintosh. Said MIDI files were given to David Warhol, which he would arrange in Cakewalk for DOS, then converted into his sound driver.

For the game Track Meet (GB), Sanger gave his MIDI files to Rebecca Heineman who arranged his music for the Game Boy in the handheld's modified Z80 assembly.

INTV

Sanger used a 4-track tape recorder to record his composition for Thin Ice (INTV). He then transcribed his composition to sheet music on manuscript paper, which was then handed over to David Warhol, who programmed Sanger's compositions into the game in assembly. Though Sanger wrote the main theme, Warhol stated in an interview that he composed the rest of the songs in the game.

NES

George used Performer for the Macintosh, and David Warhol would arrange his MIDI files in Cakewalk which were then converted into 6502 assembly code using a driver that Warhol wrote. His MIDI files were meant to be played back on a Roland MT-32.

For Home Alone, he used Sonix for the Amiga, the sequencer Bethesda had set up in their studio. His files were then converted to Randy Linden's sound driver.

For Tecmo NBA Basketball, he presumably wrote MIDI files in Performer, which were then handed to Paul Webb to code in assembly using Ken Moore's sound driver.

SNES

For Tecmo Super NBA Basketball, George used Sculptured Software's sound engine known as BMUS. According to Paul Webb, George had a negative reaction to the software because the program suffered many flaws.

For the Rocketeer and his other SNES music, George composed MIDI files in Performer. The instruments were taken from a Roland MT-32.

Gameography

To see a list of games George has worked on, go to: http://fatman.com/faqs.htm

Though he was not credited in the game, Sanger confirmed his involvement with composing all the music to The Adventures of Rad Gravity (NES). Instead Dave Worhal is credited. [1]

Released Title Sample Notes
1986-??-?? Thin Ice (INTV) Main Theme; arranged by David Warhol.
1990-03-?? Swords and Serpents (NES) Music arranged by David Warhol.
1990-03-10 Battlechess II: Chinese Chess (DOS)
1990-08-?? Dick Tracy (NES)
With David Hayes. Music arranged by David Warhol.
1990-08-?? Total Recall (NES)
With David Warhol.
1990-10-?? Maniac Mansion (NES) With David Govett, David Hayes, David Warhol, Chris Grigg, and David Lawrence.
1990-09-26 Wing Commander (DOS)
1990-12-?? The Adventures of Rad Gravity (NES) Music arranged by David Warhol.
1990-??-?? LHX: Attack Chopper (DOS)
1990-??-?? Loom (DOS)
1990-??-?? Stormovik: Soviet Attack Fighter SU-25 (DOS)
1990-??-?? Track Meet (GB) (トラックミート めざせ！バルセロナ) Music arranged by Rebecca Heineman.
1990-??-?? Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire (DOS)
1991-01-?? Fun House (NES) Music arranged by David Warhol.
1991-05-?? The Rocketeer (NES) With David Hayes. Music arranged by David Warhol.
1991-06-?? Skate Or Die: Tour de Thrash (GB) Music arranged by David Warhol.
1991-09-?? Monster Truck Rally (NES)
Music arranged by David Warhol.
1991-11-?? RPM: Radical Psycho Machine Racing (SNES)
1991-12-?? Dick Tracy (GB) With David Hayes. Music arranged by David Warhol.
1991-12-14 Ultima: Runes of Virtue (GB) - Ultima: Lost Rune
1991-12-31 The Rocketeer (SNES) (ロケッティア)
1991-12-?? Home Alone (NES)
1991-??-?? Chuck Yeager's Air Combat (DOS)
1991-??-?? Death Knights of Krynn (DOS) Music Production
1991-??-?? DragonLance: Shadow Sorcerer (DOS)
1991-??-?? Lexi-Cross (DOS)
1991-??-?? Pools of Darkness (DOS) Music Producer
1991-??-?? Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2 - Martian Dreams (DOS)
1991-??-?? Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (DOS)
1992-??-?? The Dark Queen of Krynn (DOS)
Music Producer
1992-??-?? The Dark Queen of Krynn (MAC)
Music Producer
1992-??-?? Faceball 2000 (SNES)
1992-06-?? Defenders of Dynatron City (NES) Music arranged by David Warhol.
1992-09-29 Wings 2: Aces High (SNES) (スカイミッション)
1992-09-?? Word Zap (GB)
Music arranged by David Warhol.
1992-10-?? Q*bert 3 (SNES) With Joe McDermott.
1992-11-?? Tecmo NBA Basketball (NES)
Music arranged by Paul Webb.
1992-11-?? Wing Commander (SNES) (ウィングコマンダー)
1992-12-25 Tecmo Super NBA Basketball (SNES)
Music arranged by Paul Webb.
1993-??-?? The 7th Guest (DOS)
1993-??-?? Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (DOS)
Music Producer
1993-??-?? Tecmo Super NBA Basketball (GEN) Music arranged by Dean Morrell.
1993-09-?? Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) Music Producer
1993-??-?? Zombies Ate My Neighbors (GEN) Music Producer
1994-06-01 Hocus Pocus (DOS) Sound Programmer
1995-11-30 The 11th Hour (W16)
Unreleased Double Trouble Ramp (GB)

Aliases

George Sanger was credited in many games by his pseudonym, The Fat Man. Sanger wishes not to reveal the etymology of the name.

Picture Gallery

  • Unknown source.

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  • Staff photo from The 7th Guest (DOS).

  • Unknown source.

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Links

Retrieved from "https://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=George_Sanger&oldid=139948"