Composer Tom Salta was gracious enough to give GDN some time so we sat down and chatted about what he’s been doing and more.

[GDN] How did you get into video game music composition? Was it a natural move over from television or was it your goal all along?

I came from a 15-year career in the music industry.  During that time, I had no desire to get into game music.  It was only a year after the original Xbox came out and I started playing games like Halo and Rainbow Six that I became inspired to transition into the games industry.  For me, it wasn’t about TV or film. I had been a gamer all my life and the idea of creating music for games really excited me.

[GDN] In Need for Speed Underground 2 what was the sound you were going for?

The audio director for NFSU2 discovered me after hearing my solo album, Atlas Plug, “2 Days or Die”.  He wanted the sound for Need for Speed Underground 2 to share some things in common with that particular style.

[GDN] Moving forward from there you’ve done two Tom Clancy titles, what kind of influences did you draw on for the music of these two titles? What’s similar/different about them?

When I started work on the original GRAW, I had to establish an entirely new sound that would soon become the “signature sound” for the series.  They both have a very big and aggressive sound but I think GRAW 2 is much darker and intense than the first GRAW. It’s interesting to point out that when we were working on GRAW 2, public opinion on the Iraq war had shifted dramatically in the negative.  People were reminded of the tragedy of war and I think this emotion is reflected in the game, as well as the music. That whole gung-ho attitude of “kicking the enemy’s butt” seemed to be toned down a lot in GRAW 2.