Difference between revisions of "Mark Cooksey"
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{{Infobox Composer | {{Infobox Composer | ||
− | | Name = Mark Thomas William Cooksey | + | | Name = Mark Thomas William Cooksey |
− | | Picture = Mcooksey1.jpg | + | | Picture = Mcooksey1.jpg |
− | | Born = | + | | Born = 1966-01-18 |
− | | BirthPlace = Unknown | + | | BirthPlace = Unknown |
− | | Nationality = British | + | | Nationality = British |
− | | Flag = UK | + | | Flag = UK |
− | | Aliases = Tony Deaf, M.T.W. Cooksey, M Cooksey, Mark | + | | Aliases = Tony Deaf, M.T.W. Cooksey, M Cooksey, Mark, Dr K |
− | | Website = sites.google.com/site/mtwmusicsite/ | + | | Website = sites.google.com/site/mtwmusicsite/ |
}} | }} | ||
− | '''''Mark Cooksey''''' is a British composer who has been working on video game music ever since the | + | '''''Mark Cooksey''''' is a British composer who has been working on video game music ever since the 1980s and is one of the better known game musicians. |
− | + | Cooksey played the piano as a small child and used computers at school around 1982. In 1984, he bought himself an [[Oric Atmos]] with 32k and left school with A-Levels in Chemistry, Physics (his favorite subject) and General Studies. He then unsuccessfully looked for a job in electronics. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | In February 1985, [[Elite]] were looking for programmers at the local job centre. Finding it close enough, Cooksey applied as a trainee games programmer and landed an interview with the boss, Brian Wilcox, the next day. At the end, Cooksey was tasked with programming a music driver in assembly for his Oric and arranging [[Airwolf Main Theme]] on it. Over the weekend, he did it using a very simple assembler he had programmed in BASIC. On this basis, he got employed "more or less on the spot", tasked with arranging the same song on someone else's [[Commodore 64]] music driver, and next, and unexpectedly, with composing music for almost all of Elite's games. | |
− | |||
− | + | Elite made Cooksey a freelancer from 1986 to 1989 and laid him off in 1990 for financial reasons. While working at Elite, he moved on to their division [[MotiveTime]], which paid their employees bonuses for based on Elite's profits. However, the bonuses gradually got lower and eventually disappeared. He later worked for [[NMS Software]], which was a bunch of former Elite staff members. Cooksey also worked for [[Arc Developments]] and created the sound engines there. | |
− | |||
− | === | + | Cooksey's best known soundtracks are [[Bomb Jack (C64)]], [[Paperboy (C64)]], and [[Ghosts 'n Goblins (C64)]], which have had tons of remixes by C64 music fans alike. Cooksey continues to compose game soundtracks to this day and he even plays in a band. Cooksey says that writing music for video games inspired him to compose and play music. |
− | + | ||
+ | As of 2001, he still has an Oric Atmos and a Commodore 64 and donated his [[Amstrad CPC]] and his Sanyo 286 PC to a cancer charity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Music Development== | ||
+ | ===Commodore 64=== | ||
+ | For 1985, Cooksey was given someone else's driver. Elite also had a license to ''Novaload'', a tape loading system which had its own music format but forced Cooksey to enter notes in BASIC. | ||
+ | |||
+ | By April 1986 and autumn 1988, he created two drivers of his own. On two games, he used a bass drum sample and a snare drum sample by [[Christoph Bergmann]] and a hihat sample from a 1987 demo song, either from ''Music by Cavi 2'' by Geert Vandevenne or more likely from ''Nemesis'' by [[Marco Swagerman]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Game Boy=== | ||
+ | Cooksey composed his music on [[Notator]] for the Atari ST and wrote a tool that converted the MIDI files to his [[Mark Cooksey (GB Driver)|sound driver]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Game Gear/Sega Master System=== | ||
+ | Cooksey wrote the music in [[Logic]] and [[Notator]] for the [[Atari ST]]. He would then convert his MIDI files to the GameGear and Master System using his own conversion tool and sound engine. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Genesis=== | ||
+ | Cooksey composed MIDI files which were converted to his 68000 sound driver. Cooksey said he had a very difficult time programming instruments on it. During the development of Paperboy, Cooksey had Sega send him instruments. | ||
===NES=== | ===NES=== | ||
− | All of | + | All of Cooksey's NES music was composed in [[Notator]] for the Atari ST. He then converted the MIDI files in Notator to the NES. Cooksey also programmed [[Mark Cooksey (NES Driver)|his own sound driver]] for the NES. According to Cooksey, he was primarily trying to get "flutey" sounds out of the NES. His music was played back from a [[:File:Spidersoft Box 1.JPG|memory box from Spidersoft]]. |
− | The game Joe & Mac uses digitized drum samples, which | + | The game Joe & Mac uses digitized drum samples, which Cooksey says may have been supplied by [[Richard Frankish]]. |
==Gameography== | ==Gameography== | ||
− | {| class="wikitable" | + | Official Gameography: https://sites.google.com/site/mtwmusicsite/7-games-i-ve-worked-on |
+ | {| class="wikitable" | ||
! Released | ! Released | ||
! Title | ! Title | ||
! Sample | ! Sample | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | 1985- | + | | 1985-0?-?? |
| [[911 Tiger Shark (C64)]] | | [[911 Tiger Shark (C64)]] | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | 1985- | + | | 1985-0?-?? |
| [[Airwolf (C64)]] | | [[Airwolf (C64)]] | ||
| | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1985-0?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Frank Bruno's Boxing (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1986-04-?? | ||
+ | | [[Bomb Jack (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1986-06-?? | ||
+ | | [[Ghosts 'n Goblins (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1986-12-?? | ||
+ | | [[Space Harrier (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1986-1?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Paperboy (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1986-1?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Scooby Doo (C64)]] | ||
+ | | Sound Effects?/Sound Effect Driver. | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1986-??-?? | | 1986-??-?? | ||
Line 53: | Line 90: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1986-??-?? | | 1986-??-?? | ||
− | | [[Bomb Jack (C64)]] | + | | [[Bomb Jack II (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1986-??-?? | | 1986-??-?? | ||
− | | [[ | + | | [[Commando 86 (C64)]] |
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1987-07-?? | ||
+ | | [[Cataball (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1987-07-?? | ||
+ | | [[Great Gurianos (C64)]] | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | | + | | 1987-0?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Pirates in Hyperspace (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | | + | | 1987-0?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Scare Bear (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | | + | | 1987-0?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Starforce Nova (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | 1987- | + | | 1987-1?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Jackal (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | 1987- | + | | 1987-1?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Ramparts (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1987-??-?? | | 1987-??-?? | ||
− | | [[ | + | | [[Battle Ships (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 88: | Line 133: | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | | + | | 1988-09-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Battle Island (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | | + | | 1988-0?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Hoppin' Mad (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | | + | | 1988-0?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Ikari Warriors (C64)]] |
− | | | + | | Loading Music. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | 1988- | + | | 1988-0?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Salamander (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | 1988- | + | | 1988-1?-?? |
| [[A Question of Sport (C64)]] | | [[A Question of Sport (C64)]] | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1988-??-?? | | 1988-??-?? | ||
− | | [[ | + | | [[A Question of Sport (AMI)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 122: | Line 167: | ||
| 1988-??-?? | | 1988-??-?? | ||
| [[Ghosts 'N Goblins (AMI)]] | | [[Ghosts 'N Goblins (AMI)]] | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 144: | Line 185: | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | | + | | 1989-0?-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[First Strike (C64)]] |
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1989-0?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Forgotten Worlds (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1989-0?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Mike Read's Computer Pop Quiz (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1989-0?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Storm Warrior (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1989-0?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Wanderer (C64)]] | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 171: | Line 228: | ||
| [[Paperboy (AMI)]] | | [[Paperboy (AMI)]] | ||
| | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1989-??-?? | ||
+ | | [[Space Academy (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 198?-??-?? | ||
+ | | [[Spitfire (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1990-06-?? | ||
+ | | [[Felix (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1990-0?-?? | ||
+ | | [[Crack Down (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1990-??-?? | | 1990-??-?? | ||
Line 193: | Line 266: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1990-??-?? | | 1990-??-?? | ||
− | | [[ | + | | [[Tournament Golf (AMI)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1990-??-?? | | 1990-??-?? | ||
− | | [[ | + | | [[World Championship Soccer (AMI)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | | + | | 1991-03-?? |
− | | [[ | + | | [[Gremlins 2: The New Batch (C64)]] |
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 215: | Line 288: | ||
| [[Dragon's Lair: The Legend (GB)]] (ドラゴンズレア) | | [[Dragon's Lair: The Legend (GB)]] (ドラゴンズレア) | ||
| | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1992-12-?? | ||
+ | | [[Lethal Weapon (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1992-12-?? | ||
+ | | [[WWF European Rampage Tour (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1992-1?-?? | ||
+ | | Nick Faldo's Championship Golf (C64)<!--No music--> | ||
+ | | Sound Effects. | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1992-??-?? | | 1992-??-?? | ||
Line 226: | Line 311: | ||
| 1992-??-?? | | 1992-??-?? | ||
| [[Arch Rivals: The Arcade Game (GG)]] | | [[Arch Rivals: The Arcade Game (GG)]] | ||
− | | {{Song-Box| | + | | {{Song-Box|01 - Arch Rivals - GG - Title Screen.ogg}} |
|- | |- | ||
| 1992-??-?? | | 1992-??-?? | ||
Line 310: | Line 395: | ||
| 1993-11-?? | | 1993-11-?? | ||
| [[Jimmy Connors Tennis (NES)]] | | [[Jimmy Connors Tennis (NES)]] | ||
− | | {{Song-Box| | + | | {{Song-Box|01 - Jimmy Connors Tennis - NES - Title.ogg}} |
|- | |- | ||
| 1993-12-?? | | 1993-12-?? | ||
Line 322: | Line 407: | ||
| 1994-??-?? | | 1994-??-?? | ||
| [[Aladdin (NES)]] | | [[Aladdin (NES)]] | ||
− | | {{Song-Box| | + | | {{Song-Box|01 - Aladdin - NES - Title Screen.ogg}} |
|- | |- | ||
| 1994-??-?? | | 1994-??-?? | ||
Line 330: | Line 415: | ||
| 1994-??-?? | | 1994-??-?? | ||
| [[Math Blaster: Episode 1 (SNES)]] | | [[Math Blaster: Episode 1 (SNES)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1994-02-?? | ||
+ | | [[Dennis the Menace (GB)]] (Dennis) | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 399: | Line 488: | ||
| [[Mass Destruction (SAT)]] | | [[Mass Destruction (SAT)]] | ||
| | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1998-12-?? | ||
+ | | [[Las Vegas Cool Hand (GBC)]] | ||
+ | | Sound Driver | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1998-12-?? | | 1998-12-?? | ||
| [[Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle (GBC)]] | | [[Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle (GBC)]] | ||
| | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | 1998-??-?? | ||
+ | | [[Cool Hand (GB)]] | ||
+ | | Sound Driver | ||
|- | |- | ||
| 1999-10-?? | | 1999-10-?? | ||
Line 594: | Line 691: | ||
| Unreleased | | Unreleased | ||
| [[The Adventures of Dr. Franken (NES)]] | | [[The Adventures of Dr. Franken (NES)]] | ||
− | | {{Song-Box| | + | | {{Song-Box|01 - Adventures of Dr. Franken - NES - Title.ogg}} |
|- | |- | ||
| Unreleased? | | Unreleased? | ||
| Blackjack-Poker (GB) | | Blackjack-Poker (GB) | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | Unreleased | ||
+ | | [[Charlie Chaplin (C64)]] | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | Unreleased | ||
+ | | [[Dragon's Lair (GEN)]] | ||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
Line 639: | Line 744: | ||
==Picture Gallery== | ==Picture Gallery== | ||
<gallery> | <gallery> | ||
− | Mcooksey1.jpg| | + | Mcooksey1.jpg|Remix64 interview. |
− | Mcooksey2.jpg| | + | Mcooksey2.jpg|Taken by the webmasters of composers.c64.org in 2001. |
Mcooksey3.jpg|Unknown source. | Mcooksey3.jpg|Unknown source. | ||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
==Links== | ==Links== | ||
− | * [https://sites.google.com/site/mtwmusicsite/ | + | * [https://sites.google.com/site/mtwmusicsite/ sites.google.com/site/mtwmusicsite/] - Official. |
+ | * [https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,52182/ mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,52182/] - MobyGames. | ||
* [https://www.facebook.com/mark.cooksey.14 facebook.com/mark.cooksey.14] - Facebook. | * [https://www.facebook.com/mark.cooksey.14 facebook.com/mark.cooksey.14] - Facebook. | ||
− | * [ | + | * [https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=8168084 linkedin.com/profile/view?id=8168084] - LinkedIn. |
− | * [ | + | * [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKMaua8gW_DgIJ33LaXrebQ youtube.com/channel/UCKMaua8gW_DgIJ33LaXrebQ] - YouTube. |
+ | * [https://www.remix64.com/interviews/interview-mark-cooksey.html remix64.com/interviews/interview-mark-cooksey.html] - Interview from May 17, 2001. | ||
+ | * [http://amp.dascene.net/detail.php?view=4597&detail=interview amp.dascene.net/detail.php?view=4597&detail=interview] - Interview from 2001. | ||
Revision as of 00:13, 28 December 2019
Mark Thomas William Cooksey | ||||||||||
|
Mark Cooksey is a British composer who has been working on video game music ever since the 1980s and is one of the better known game musicians.
Cooksey played the piano as a small child and used computers at school around 1982. In 1984, he bought himself an Oric Atmos with 32k and left school with A-Levels in Chemistry, Physics (his favorite subject) and General Studies. He then unsuccessfully looked for a job in electronics.
In February 1985, Elite were looking for programmers at the local job centre. Finding it close enough, Cooksey applied as a trainee games programmer and landed an interview with the boss, Brian Wilcox, the next day. At the end, Cooksey was tasked with programming a music driver in assembly for his Oric and arranging Airwolf Main Theme on it. Over the weekend, he did it using a very simple assembler he had programmed in BASIC. On this basis, he got employed "more or less on the spot", tasked with arranging the same song on someone else's Commodore 64 music driver, and next, and unexpectedly, with composing music for almost all of Elite's games.
Elite made Cooksey a freelancer from 1986 to 1989 and laid him off in 1990 for financial reasons. While working at Elite, he moved on to their division MotiveTime, which paid their employees bonuses for based on Elite's profits. However, the bonuses gradually got lower and eventually disappeared. He later worked for NMS Software, which was a bunch of former Elite staff members. Cooksey also worked for Arc Developments and created the sound engines there.
Cooksey's best known soundtracks are Bomb Jack (C64), Paperboy (C64), and Ghosts 'n Goblins (C64), which have had tons of remixes by C64 music fans alike. Cooksey continues to compose game soundtracks to this day and he even plays in a band. Cooksey says that writing music for video games inspired him to compose and play music.
As of 2001, he still has an Oric Atmos and a Commodore 64 and donated his Amstrad CPC and his Sanyo 286 PC to a cancer charity.
Contents
Music Development
Commodore 64
For 1985, Cooksey was given someone else's driver. Elite also had a license to Novaload, a tape loading system which had its own music format but forced Cooksey to enter notes in BASIC.
By April 1986 and autumn 1988, he created two drivers of his own. On two games, he used a bass drum sample and a snare drum sample by Christoph Bergmann and a hihat sample from a 1987 demo song, either from Music by Cavi 2 by Geert Vandevenne or more likely from Nemesis by Marco Swagerman.
Game Boy
Cooksey composed his music on Notator for the Atari ST and wrote a tool that converted the MIDI files to his sound driver.
Game Gear/Sega Master System
Cooksey wrote the music in Logic and Notator for the Atari ST. He would then convert his MIDI files to the GameGear and Master System using his own conversion tool and sound engine.
Genesis
Cooksey composed MIDI files which were converted to his 68000 sound driver. Cooksey said he had a very difficult time programming instruments on it. During the development of Paperboy, Cooksey had Sega send him instruments.
NES
All of Cooksey's NES music was composed in Notator for the Atari ST. He then converted the MIDI files in Notator to the NES. Cooksey also programmed his own sound driver for the NES. According to Cooksey, he was primarily trying to get "flutey" sounds out of the NES. His music was played back from a memory box from Spidersoft.
The game Joe & Mac uses digitized drum samples, which Cooksey says may have been supplied by Richard Frankish.
Gameography
Official Gameography: https://sites.google.com/site/mtwmusicsite/7-games-i-ve-worked-on
Picture Gallery
Links
- sites.google.com/site/mtwmusicsite/ - Official.
- mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,52182/ - MobyGames.
- facebook.com/mark.cooksey.14 - Facebook.
- linkedin.com/profile/view?id=8168084 - LinkedIn.
- youtube.com/channel/UCKMaua8gW_DgIJ33LaXrebQ - YouTube.
- remix64.com/interviews/interview-mark-cooksey.html - Interview from May 17, 2001.
- amp.dascene.net/detail.php?view=4597&detail=interview - Interview from 2001.