Feature: Take This Job and Love It! - Sound Designer - Tommy Tallarico
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Name: Tommy Tallarico Title: President, Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc. President/Founder, Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) [www.audiogang.org] Host, writer, co-producer, The Electric Playground & Judgment Day t.v. shows Notable Past Projects: Earthworm Jim 1 & 2, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Spider-Man, Tomorrow Never Dies, Aladdin Current Project: Unreal 2, War of the Monsters, Street Hoops, Toxic Grind, Aquaman, Fugitive Hunter, X-Files. Schooling/Degree: never went to college. Decided to move out to California and make music instead. ; ) Salary Range for your title (not necessarily what you specifically make): Sound Designers and game composers can make anywhere from $40,000 - $100,000 a year either in-house or on their own. Heads of sound departments generally make between $80,000 - $150,000. If you are an extremely successful composer or sound designer who owns their own company, the sky is the limit!! You could make hundreds of thousands... even millions of dollars if you get involved with the right projects and make the right business decisions regarding bonuses or royalties. How many people are in your department/team? If you are a manager, many people do you oversee? There are 5 people who work for me. What was the most valuable bit of knowledge or experience you brought with you to the job? If you are passionate enough about something than you should never give up! Passion drives everything! The will to succeed, the will to do better and the will to survive. Another important element is putting yourself in the right place! If you are looking to get into the video game industry you need to move to a place that has a lot of opportunities for game development. San Francisco and Los Angeles are the two biggest although Vancouver and parts of Texas are also growing pretty big. What was the first major lesson you learned once you started working in the industry? That doing a great job is not the only thing you need to deal with. Politics and business is half of the work! What academic focuses would you recommend for someone who wants to do your job someday? A study of music is always helpful but learning software tools and being an apprentice to someone who is already doing it is much more advantageous. Going to the Game Developers Conference (www.gdconf.com) and E3 (www.e3expo.com) is also very important. The Gamasutra website (www.gamasutra.com) is a great site as well. A great book is "The Complete Guide to Game Audio" by Aaron Marks (CMP publishing). The best thing to do is join the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) at www.audiogang.org It is an non-profit organization which promotes excellence in interactive audio. There are special student and apprentice memberships. One of our many goals is to help people who are interested in game audio to gain enough knowledge to go out and do it for a living. Common misconceptions about your job? All you do is play games and write music all day. Is college a necessity, a really good idea, or not required for your line of work? Not required!! What tools and software do you use on a regular basis? Sound Forge any kind of music sequencer (Cakewalk for example) Audio/Video editing software (Vegas, Digital Performer, ProTools) different platform sound drivers (PS2, X-Box, GameCube, Analog Devices/SoundMax etc.) What's your advice for breaking into your line of work? 1. Join G.A.N.G. 2. Put together a great audio demo of your best stuff and send it to every company out there. 3. Learn about the industry through G.A.N.G., Gamasutra, books, etc. 4. Go to GDC and E3 and meet people.
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