George 'The Fat Man' Sanger | Retro Tea Break

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George "The Fatman" Sanger is a musician who has worked on such games as 7th Guest, Wing Commander, Ultima Savage Empire and more. Making video game music since 1983 he gives us an insight into the very early days of making video games and how music contributed to their development.

[wich]

OMG The Fat Man! Never clicked faster. Absolutely love the 7th guest soundtrack! Thank you George for this talk.

[Dorelaxen]

George was at a local convention I was a part of back in 2003. I had a table set up to run tournaments for the convention owner, and George was a guest. He was so cool. Pulled out an acoustic guitar and parked at the front of the con and just played for us. Came by my table several times just to see what we were up to. Thanks for the great music, Mr. Fat Man!

[RetroGamesBoy]

Apart from this episode being very interesting i also spent most of the time smiling. George was an excellent guest.

[nickwallette]

I am fan-girling so hard over this one. I had no idea how many of the game soundtracks I LOVED as a kid were from this guy.

I knew him for the OPL3 patches that made Hocus Pocus so amazing. That has always been my reference for FM music quality. Only now do I see the MT-32 inspiration behind it - clear in retrospect, but I had never heard one when that game cemented itself in my memory.

Wing Commander blew my mind when I finally got a sound card. And Loom... will always have a special place in my heart. That game was absolutely beautiful, and is what turned me on to Tchaikovsky. It was years before I found out the themes were from Swan Lake, but that soundtrack hooked me from the first play.

Just recently picked up 7th Guest after reading about how influential it was. I had only vague memories of seeing it in stores, catalogs, and CD-ROM bundles back in the day. Can't wait to see what I missed - with proper Sound Canvas and 12 semitone pitch bends, I assure you!

Now to find out he had a hand in the Miles Sound System?? What corner of DOS game audio doesn't have this guy to thank for at least part of it? What a legend.

:-D

[Colin_Ames]

Extremely interesting and entertaining. Thanks to George and Neil for another excellent interview.

[DubiousEngineering]

Absolutely epic chat!! Loved listening to this on the drive home... what a cool musician and great explanations of how it’s all put together!! Thanks to both of you for keeping us entertained and enlightened!! :-)

[bit]

Great interview! It’s inspiring hearing how much he cares about the scores he worked on and video game music as a whole.

[klaushergesheimer]

I absolutely love the 7th Guest Soundtrack. Back then I just bought a used copy of the game to have the second disc with the soundtrack (including vocals) on it, never played the game since it came out though. In my opinion an absolute masterpiece.

[gregdunlap]

I seem to remember a secret room in 7th Guest that had pictures of the Fat Man! Great interview.

[ricardobornman]

When the MT32 came out they cost an arm, leg, spleen, kidney and liver. 😥 It was only many years later that I could enjoy the full richness of what the games could offer. Awesome interview. Thank you.

[fuzzyargy]

Great work, what a wonderful insight to a very young industry that i grew up with. Thank you so much!

[kefkafloyd]

George's tracks he wrote for the NES Maniac Mansion was a real classic soundtrack. One of my absolute favorite tracks was "Better Ed than Dead, " the Edison family's theme. So rocking and I'd love to hear George shred it on a real guitar.

[c]

What a lovely guy! In an age where people are loud and arrogant about their achievements, it was refreshing to see how self-effacing George is. He has done a lot to be proud of, and I'm glad he's still as passionate about his work. Top chap.

[einokeskitalo]

George Sanger gives such a great interview. Always love what he has to say. Good interviewing too! Nice touch bringing out the Loom box :-)

[AppliedCryogenics]

Such a nice and humble guy! Masterful scores for the 7th guest and so many other games, yet he gives credit where credit is due, and he doesn't claim to have invented, e.g. dithering and color cycling, unlike some previous guests.

[kappabravomusic]

Great interview, thanks for recording this and sharing!

[VideoBlag]

Mr. Sanger is underrated. He's a visionary in the game music industry.
This guy must be in the game's history books and documentaries!
The 7th Guest is a masterpiece and it's music is among other songs in my playlist. And I have the 7th/11th CD!!
Just a fun fact.... I'm a 7th Guest fan, and by early 90's Internet content wasn't so big. So, a co-worker came out wit this VHS tape with a Making of from the 7th Guest Special Edition, and was the first time I saw the guy (and his suit) behind the scary and spooky music from the game.
Way to go, Mr. Sanger!!
a brazilian fan.

[beautifulmama]

He also did sound effects for the mmorpg game dransik now known as ashenempires

[theguardian]

When I was a kid a friend lent me T7G. One of the first things I did was to copy the music disc to tape so I could listen to it (along with other game music) whenever I wanted. Once I had access to the internet the midis for The 7th Guest were always part of my music library.
I also got Ultima Underworld with my CD-ROM drive and while I never finished it I would just love to run the game just to listen to the music

[damsonn]

I really enjoyed the music score George and his team did for US Navy Fighters. It really nailed the mood for a naval themed flight sim - it was just perfect. It was also semi-dynamic, maybe not on the level as IMUSE system from Lucas Arts but good enough to get your adrenaline start pumping when engaging enemy fighters.