Jonathan Dunn

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Jonathan Dunn
Jonathan Dunn.jpg
Gender Male
Born 1968-10-08
Birth Place Preston, Lancashire, England
Nationality English   England.svg
Aliases J. Dunn
Jon
Jon Dunn
Choroid
Semi Precious

Jonathan Dunn is an English former musician and programmer who was the main sound designer at Ocean Software.

As a kid, he, like many of his peers, was interested in computers. He originally owned a Dragon 32, but sold it after a year to buy a computer with superior games, ultimately a Commodore 64. He then learned programming, first in BASIC, then in 6502 assembler. His mother owned a restaurant with a piano and had a live jazz night a week. During closing times, Jonathan Dunn composed on the piano. He also owned a synthesizer and took music lessons for a few years.

Seeing fit to combine his skill sets, he started dabbling in music and sound design using two brandnew ways: Electrosound 64, and studying performance music and technology at college. In summer 1986, he entered the ZZAP! 64 music competition under the pseudonym "Choroid" and shared second place. As he uploaded his music demos and phone number to Compunet, he started receiving phone calls from hackers all over the continent.

In 1987, Dunn entered the game industry with artist Hugh Binns. The two had met through Compunet and produced the game Subterranea (C64) in which Dunn was responsible for the music and sound effects.

Just then, Dunn's college course finished. Not sure where to turn, he took a summer job at an Argos warehouse. While considering university, he sent his music demos directly to some companies. Most of them responded with interest, and Ocean Software called him in for an interview, as Ocean was looking for someone to replace Martin Galway who had just recently departed the company. While Dunn was only hoping for a freelance job, Ocean offered him a full-time in-house position instead. Still in 1987, he accepted the offer and resigned from Argos the next day.

At Ocean, Dunn not only composed music for their games, but also wrote sound drivers for every platform the company worked on including Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System, and SNES.

Dunn stayed with Ocean after Infogrames acquired the company in 1998 and then left in 2000. He also worked at Electronic Arts after that before finally retiring from his video game music career. Dunn explained the reason for leaving the game industry was due to the changing technology and how he liked programming drivers and music for the older platforms, which was virtually nonexistent in the current industry. He later worked in the casino gaming industry for some time.

Since August 2021, Dunn works at Triternion as the Development Director.

Dunn liked to compose music on the Commodore 64 because he made the Ocean Software drivers and it is the computer he began making music on. In the '90s, Dunn liked creating his music on the SNES. The soundtrack that Dunn composed that he likes best is Total Recall (C64). He is known for his outstanding work in Platoon (C64), Rambo III (C64), Jurassic Park (NES) and RoboCop (CPC).

Audio Development

Amiga

The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants (AMI) uses the Acoustic Bass (A. Bass) sample from a Korg M1. The other instruments sound like they were waveforms made from the Commodore 64. Dunn used OctaMED like the other composers at Ocean as well as other drivers.

Commodore 64

Dunn arranged audio by entering numbers and labels into an audio driver:

  1. On his first two games (of which Subterranea was delayed), the music driver is Ariston, and the sound effect driver is likely Dunn's own. It is unknown how Ariston was available to Dunn and other users.
  2. On his next four games, the music driver is Martin Galway's. The sound effect driver is the same as earlier.
  3. For the rest, the music driver was created by Paul Hughes and constantly updated by Dunn. Hughes said he was surprised how Dunn was able to get the sounds out of Hughes' driver.

Dunn has cited Rob Hubbard as a real inspiration. After Hubbard became "just a legend", Dunn's favorite became Tim Follin.

Game Boy

Dunn originally coded his driver, but later used Software Creations' sound driver by Paul Tonge.

Dunn's best known Game Boy soundtrack is RoboCop, in particular, the title theme. He wrote the theme on the piano in his mother's restaurant. He is glad that the song still lives on, over 30 years after its release.

NES

Dunn wrote his own audio driver in 6502 assembly for the NES and named it Music Driver V1.0. He had this to say about his NES music composition:

"It was compiled from data statements in assembly. That way I could use labels to make it easier to come back to."

While a great deal of the NES games he composed did not have credits, his name can be found in the driver portion of the ROM data, however, this isn't a guarantee that he composed the music, as other Ocean employees used the driver as well. The text reads:

MUSIC DRIVER V1.0 (C)JONATHAN DUNN & OCEAN SOFTWARE

SNES

Dunn initially used his own version of Nintendo's Kankichi-kun sound driver. Later on, Dunn wrote his own music driver and a converter, composed the majority using MIDI, converted it to data statements, and tweaked those.

Game Boy Advance

For Tiny Toon Adventures: Wacky Stackers and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dunn used MusyX sound tool by Factor 5.

For his later scores, Dunn used Engine Software's sound driver by Jan-Lieuwe Koopmans.

For All-Star Baseball 2004, Dunn used Software Creations' sound driver by Neil Millstone.

Gameography

Released Title Sample Notes
1987-11-?? Match Day II (C64) Except Ocean Loader 3.
1988-01-?? Basket Master (C64) Except Ocean Loader 3.
1988-01-?? Platoon (C64)
1988-0?-?? Platoon (ZXS) Arranged by David Whittaker.
1988-02-?? Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh (C64) Except Ocean Loader 2.
1988-0?-?? Platoon (CPC) Arranged by David Whittaker.
1988-03-?? Subterranea (C64)
Unreleased Quondam (C64)
1988-04-?? Target Renegade (C64)
Ocean Loader 4.
1988-0?-?? Platoon (DOS) Arranged by Jason Brooke
1988-0?-?? Platoon (AST) Arranged by David Whittaker.
1988-09-?? Platoon (AMI) Arranged by David Whittaker.
1988-12-?? Platoon (NES) Music arranged by Naoki Kodaka.
1988-??-?? Ajax (C64)
1988-??-?? Ajax (ZXS)
1988-??-?? Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge (AMI)
1988-??-?? Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge (AST)
1988-??-?? Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge (ZXS)
1988-??-?? RoboCop (C64)
1988-??-?? RoboCop (ZXS)
1988-??-?? Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja (C64)
1988-??-?? Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja (CPC)
1988-??-?? Operation Wolf (C64)
1988-??-?? Operation Wolf (CPC)
1988-??-?? Operation Wolf (ZXS)
1988-??-?? Rambo III (C64)
1988-??-?? Rambo III (CPC)
1988-??-?? Rambo III (MSX)
1988-??-?? Rambo III (ZXS)
1988-??-?? Target: Renegade (ZXS)
1988-??-?? The Vindicator! (C64)
1988-??-?? The Vindicator! (ZXS)
1988-??-?? WEC Le Mans 24 (C64)
1988-??-?? WEC Le Mans 24 (CPC)
1988-??-?? WEC Le Mans 24 (ZXS)
1989-01-?? Ajax (CPC)
1989-??-?? Chase H.Q. (C64) Composer?
1989-??-?? Chase H.Q. (CPC)
1989-??-?? Chase H.Q. (ZXS)
1989-??-?? Batman (AMI)
1989-??-?? Batman (AST)
1989-??-?? The New Zealand Story (AMI)
1989-??-?? The New Zealand Story (AST)
1989-??-?? The New Zealand Story (C64)
1989-??-?? The New Zealand Story (ZXS)
1989-??-?? Operation Thunderbolt (AMI)
1989-??-?? Rambo III (AMI)
1989-??-?? Rambo III (AST)
1989-??-?? Red Heat (AMI)
1989-??-?? Red Heat (AST)
1989-??-?? Red Heat (C64)
1989-??-?? Red Heat (CPC)
1989-??-?? Renegade III: The Final Chapter (C64)
1989-??-?? Renegade III: The Final Chapter (CPC)
1989-??-?? Renegade III: The Final Chapter (MSX)
1989-??-?? Renegade III: The Final Chapter (ZXS)
1989-??-?? RoboCop (CPC)
1989-??-?? RoboCop (MSX)
1989-??-?? The Untouchables (AMI)
1989-??-?? The Untouchables (C64)
1989-??-?? The Untouchables (CPC)
1989-??-?? The Untouchables (ZXS)
1989-??-?? Voyager (AMI)
1990-10-?? Caveman Games (NES) Music Driver
1990-12-?? RoboCop (GB) (ロボコップ)
1990-??-?? Battle Command (AMI)
1990-??-?? Burnin' Rubber (CPC)
1990-??-?? Clive Barker's Nightbreed: The Action Game (AMI)
1990-??-?? Lost Patrol (AMI)
1990-??-?? Lost Patrol (AST)
1990-??-?? Operation Thunderbolt (C64)
1990-??-?? Operation Thunderbolt (AST)
1990-??-?? Puzznic (AST)
1990-??-?? Puzznic (CPC)
1990-??-?? Puzznic (ZXS)
1990-??-?? RoboCop 2 (AST)
1990-??-?? Wild Wheels (AMI)
1991-01-?? The Untouchables (NES) Music Driver
1991-04-02 RoboCop 2 (NES) (ロボコップ2)
1991-10-?? Darkman (NES)
1991-11-?? RoboCop 2 (GB) (ロボコップ2)
1991-12-?? Hudson Hawk (GB) (ハドソン・ホーク) Music Driver
1991-12-27 Hudson Hawk (NES) (ハドソン・ホーク) Music Driver
1991-??-?? The Addams Family (ZXS)
1991-??-?? The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants (AMI) Audio Engineering
1991-??-?? The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants (AST) Audio Engineering
1991-??-?? The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants (C64) Audio Production
1991-??-?? The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants (DOS)
1991-??-?? Bart vs. the Space Mutants (ZXS) Audio
1991-??-?? Darkman (AMI)
1991-??-?? Darkman (C64)
1991-??-?? Darkman (CPC)
1991-??-?? Hook (AMI)
1991-??-?? Parasol Stars: Rainbow Islands II (NES) Music Driver
1991-??-?? Rainbow Islands: Bubble Bobble 2 (NES) Music Driver
1991-??-?? Red Heat (ZXS)
1991-??-?? RoboCop 2 (CPC)
1991-??-?? RoboCop 2 (C64)
1991-??-?? Terminator 2: Judgement Day (C64)
1991-??-?? Total Recall (C64)
1991-??-?? Total Recall (ZXS)
1992-??-?? The Addams Family (C64)
1992-??-?? The Addams Family (CPC)
1992-??-?? The Addams Family (SMS)
1992-??-?? The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (SNES)
1992-??-?? Cool World (SNES) Sound Driver?
1992-??-?? Hook (GB) (フック)
1992-??-?? Mr. Do! (GB) Sound Driver
1992-??-?? The Legend of Prince Valiant (NES) Music Driver
1992-??-?? Push-Over (AMI)
1992-01-?? The Addams Family (NES) Music Driver
1992-03-?? The Addams Family (SNES)
1992-04-?? Hook (NES) Music Driver
1992-06-17 The Addams Family (AMI)
1992-09-?? RoboCop 3 (SNES)
1992-12-?? Darkman (GB)
1992-12-?? Lemmings (NES) Music Driver
1992-12-?? Lethal Weapon (SNES)
Sound Driver?
1992-12-?? Push-Over (SNES) Sound Driver?
1993-??-?? Lemmings (GB) Music Driver
1993-??-?? RoboCop 3 (GEN)
Arranged by Matt Furniss
1993-??-?? RoboCop 3 (SMS) Arranged by Matt Furniss
1993-06-?? Cool World (NES) Music Driver
1993-06-?? Jurassic Park (NES)
1993-08-?? Jurassic Park (GB)
1993-07-?? The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (GB) Sound Driver
1993-08-?? The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (NES) Music Driver
1993-09-?? Super James Pond II (SNES) Sound Driver? (European version only)
1993-11-?? Jurassic Park (SNES) (ジュラシックパーク)
1994-??-?? RoboCop 3 (GG) Arranged by Matt Furniss
1994-??-?? Mr. Nutz (GB)
1994-??-?? The Addams Family (GEN) Arranged by Matt Furniss
1995-02-?? Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf (GB)
1995-02-?? The Flintstones (SNES)
1995-02-?? Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues (GB)
1995-12-?? Waterworld (VB)
1999-12-?? Mr. Nutz (GBC)
2000-11-14 Driver 2 (PS1) Credited as Semi Precious
2000-12-16 Dragon Tales: Dragon Wings (GBC)
2000-12-30 Aqua Aqua (PS2)
2001-07-30 Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Saves the Day (GBC) Credited as Semi Precious
2001-12-30 Tiny Toon Adventures: Wacky Stackers (GBA) Credited as Semi Precious
2002-03-01 Loons: The Fight for Fame (XBOX)
2002-03-15 E.T. and the Cosmic Garden (GBC) Credited as Semi Precious
2002-10-25 Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (GBA) Credited as Semi Precious
2002-11-15 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (GBA) Credited as Semi Precious; Arranged Ian Stocker's music.
2003-03-04 All-Star Baseball 2004 (GBA)
2003-11-30 Looney Tunes: Back in Action (GBA)
2005-08-04 Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! (NDS) Credited as Semi Precious
2005-08-12 Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! (GBA) Credited as Semi Precious
Unreleased The Shadow (SNES)

Picture Gallery

Links