Tommy Tallarico
From Sega Retro
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| Tommy Tallarico |
|---|
| Place of birth: Springfield, Massachusetts, United States |
| Date of birth: 1968-02-18 (age 56) |
| Employment history: |
| Role(s): Composer, Musician, Guitarist |
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Tommy Tallarico is an American musician and video game music composer. Well known for soundtracks to games like Earthworm Jim and The Terminator (Mega-CD), Tallarico’s music was considered exceptionally well-composed for the era, and the positive reception of his work led to the creation of his own company, Tommy Tallarico Studios.
Contents
Early life
Tallarico was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on February 18, 1968. He spent much of his youth around music; his parents took him to see the Springfield Symphony when he was 9 years old, and he taught himself to play piano and guitar only a year later. Tallarico cites the scores for Star Wars and Rocky as inspirations, and later classical music. Tallarico was also inspired by his cousin Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith. Tallarico would attend his cousin's concerts as a child, and grew a desire to become a music performer.[1]
Ever since childhood, video games have been an important part of Tallarico’s life. He and his father often played Asteroids and Space Invaders, and the young Tallarico would take his father's tape recorder to the arcade to record their soundtracks. Later he would play guitar over the result for his neighborhood friends.[2]
Tallarico attended Cathedral High School, and later Western New England University for a year. However at 21, Tallarico went to California to try and obtain a job in the video game industry. Unfortunately, circumstances didn’t work in Tallarico’s favor and led to him being homeless and living under a pier. Tallarico was able to acquire a job as a keyboard salesman at a Guitar Center in Santa Ana, California. On his first day of work, Tallarico’s TurboGrafx-16 was noticed by an employee of a newly-founded video game company, Virgin Mastertronic, and he was subsequently offered a job as their first play tester.[3]
Career
Virgin Interactive
Tommy Tallarico Studios
Founded in 1994.
Video Games Live
Industry work
In 2002 he founded the Game Audio Network Guild, and currently serves as its president. He wrote and co-produced the television programs The Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run and hosted both shows alongside Victor Lucas.
He and Victor Lucas also act as video game correspondents for HypaSpace Weekly. Tallarico is the cousin of Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith.
Production history
Games
- The Terminator (Mega Drive; 1992) — Quality Assurance by[4]
- Corporation (Mega Drive; 1992) — Quality Assurance (as Tom Tallarico)
- Batman: Revenge of The Joker (Mega Drive; 1992) — Sound FX[5] (as T. Tallarico)
- Batman: Revenge of The Joker (Mega Drive; 1992) — Genesis Music[5] (as T. Tallarico)
- Another World (Mega Drive; 1993) — Music[6]
- Another World (Mega Drive; 1993) — Sound[6]
- The Terminator (Mega-CD; 1993) — Original Music[7]
- Disney's Aladdin (Mega Drive; 1993) — Sound, Music & FX[8]
- Caesars Palace (Mega Drive; 1994) — Music by
- Cool Spot (Mega Drive; 1993) — Music, Sound FX & Samples by[9]
- Caesars Palace (Game Gear; 1994) — Title Screen Music (uncredited)
- Jammit (Mega Drive; 1994) — Special Thanks[10]
- RoboCop Versus The Terminator (Mega Drive; 1993) — Director of Music & FX[11]
- Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II (Mega-CD; 1994) — Music[12]
- Heart of the Alien: Out of this World Parts I and II (Mega-CD; 1994) — Sound[12]
- The Jungle Book (Mega Drive; 1994) — Music and FX[13]
- The Jungle Book (Mega Drive; 1994) — Music by[13]
- Spot Goes to Hollywood (Mega Drive; 1995) — Music and Sound
- Demolition Man (Mega Drive; 1995) — Special Thanks To[14]
- Madden NFL 96 (Mega Drive; 1995) — Music and Sound[15]
- Madden NFL 96 (Mega Drive; 1995) — Sound and/or Music[16] (as Tommy Tallerico)
- Demolition Man (Mega-CD; 1995) — Special Thanks To[17]
- Earthworm Jim 2 (Saturn; 1996) — Music & Sound FX[18]
- Earthworm Jim 2 (Saturn; 1996) — Piano, keyboards, guitars, percussion, etc.[18]
- Earthworm Jim 2 (Saturn; 1996)[18]
- Powerslave (Saturn; 1996) — Lobotomy Would Like to Thank[19] (as Tommy Tellarico)
- Mortal Kombat Trilogy (Saturn; 1997) — Sound Conversion[20]
- NFL Blitz 2001 (Dreamcast; 2000) — Music and Sound FX[21]
- Evil Dead: Hail to the King (Dreamcast; 2000) — Music Composed By[22]
- Evil Dead: Hail to the King (Dreamcast; 2000) — Music Produced By[22]
- Spider-Man (Dreamcast; 2001) — Music[23]
- WWF Royal Rumble (Dreamcast; 2000) — Visual/Audio Transfer
- Sonic and the Black Knight (Wii; 2009) — Composers & Arrangers
Music
- Video Games Live: Level 2 (CD; 2010) — Album produced by[24]
- Video Games Live: Level 2 (CD; 2010) — Guitars[24]
Song credits
- Main article: Tommy Tallarico/Song credits.
Cool Spot (Mega Drive version)
- Wipeout Tune — Arrangement
- Beach Music — Music & Arrangement
- Jazzy Tune — Music & Arrangement
- Wall Tune — Music & Arrangement
- Groovie Tune — Music & Arrangement
- Play Da Blues — Music & Arrangement
- Western Tune — Music & Arrangement
- Parade Tune — Music & Arrangement
- Rave Dancetune — Music & Arrangement
- Flag Rising — Arrangement
- 7 Cool Points — Music & Arrangement
- Replenish — Music & Arrangement
- 1-Up — Music & Arrangement
- Getting Letter — Music & Arrangement
- Spot Fall Over — Music & Arrangement
- Game Over Tune — Music & Arrangement
Sonic and the Black Knight
- Molten Mine — Music, Programming
- Great Megalith — Music & Arrangement, Programming
- The Cauldron — Music, Programming
Interview
References
- ↑ https://www.tallarico.com/index.php?s=awards (Wayback Machine: 2004-09-10 13:35)
- ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/22/AR2011022205647.html (Wayback Machine: 2017-08-17 08:24)
- ↑ http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=ourteam (Wayback Machine: 2019-12-20 08:11)
- ↑ File:TTerminator md us manual.pdf, page 11
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 File:Batman Revenge of the Joker MD credits.pdf
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 File:Another World MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Terminator MCD opening credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Aladdin MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:CoolSpot MD US credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Jammit MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:RoboCop vs The Terminator MD credits.pdf
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 File:Heartofthealien mcd us manual.pdf, page 18
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 File:Jungle Book MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Demolition Man MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Madden NFL 96 MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Madden NFL 96 MD US Manual.pdf, page 17
- ↑ File:Demolition Man MCD credits.pdf
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 File:Earthwormjim2 sat us manual.pdf, page 21
- ↑ File:Powerslave Saturn credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Mktrilogy sat us manual.pdf, page 26
- ↑ File:NFLBlitz2001 DC US Manual.pdf, page 32
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 File:Evildead dc us manual.pdf, page 25
- ↑ File:SpiderMan DC US Manual.pdf, page 27
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 File:VGL2 CD US booklet.pdf, page 2