Martin Galway facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Martin Galway
|
|
|---|---|
Martin on vacation in Greece, 1985
|
|
| Born |
Martin Galway
3 January 1966 Belfast, Northern Ireland
|
| Occupation | Composer |
Martin Galway (born January 3, 1966, in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a well-known composer of video game music. He is famous for his "chiptune" music, which sounds like it comes from old computer chips. This music was popular on classic computers like the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum. He created music for popular games such as Rambo: First Blood Part II, Comic Bakery, and Wizball. He also made the music for the loading screen of the C64 version of Arkanoid.
Martin Galway's Music Career
Martin Galway was one of the first musicians to use "sampled sounds" in music for the Commodore 64. Sampled sounds are like recordings of real sounds or instruments that are then used in a song. He used this new technique for the theme music of the game Arkanoid.
In 1990, Martin became the Audio Director at Origin Systems, a company that made many popular computer games. Later, he worked at Digital Anvil starting in 1996.
His most recent job was as Audio Director for Cloud Imperium Games. There, he worked on the PC game Star Citizen. This game was created by Chris Roberts, who also made the Wing Commander series. Martin Galway has since left this position.
Video Game Soundtracks
Martin Galway has composed music for many video games throughout his career. Here are some of the games he worked on:
- Atomic Protector (1983)
- Cookie (1983, an unreleased version for the BBC Micro)
- Daley Thompson's Decathlon (1984, includes a chiptune version of "Rydeen" by Yellow Magic Orchestra)
- Swag (1984)
- Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985, includes a remix of "Les Chants Magnétiques part IV" by Jean-Michel Jarre)
- Hyper Sports (1985)
- Kong Strikes Back! (1985, this was the first C64 song to use a special musical technique called "arpeggio," which became very common in C64 music)
- The Neverending Story (1985)
- Ocean Loader 1 & 2 (1985, these two songs played while games were loading. Other "Ocean Loaders" were made by different composers)
- Roland's Ratrace (1985)
- Mikie (1986, like the arcade game, this includes music based on The Beatles songs "Twist and Shout" and "A Hard Day's Night")
- Ping Pong (1986, for ZX Spectrum and C64)
- Comic Bakery (1986)
- Stryker's Run (1986, includes a chiptune version of "Rydeen" by Yellow Magic Orchestra)
- Terra Cresta (1986)
- Green Beret (1986)
- Helikopter Jagd (1986)
- Highlander (1986)
- Hunchback II (1986)
- Match Day (1986)
- Miami Vice (1986)
- Parallax (1986)
- Rambo: First Blood Part II (1986)
- Short Circuit (1986, contains a cover of "Who's Johnny" by El DeBarge)
- Arkanoid (1987)
- Athena (1987)
- Game Over (1987)
- Rastan (1987)
- Slap Fight (1987)
- Yie Ar Kung-Fu II (1987)
- Combat School (1987)
- Crazee Rider (1987)
- Wizball (1987)
- MicroProse Soccer (1988)
- Times of Lore (1988)
- Insects in Space (1989)
- Wing Commander 2: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (1991)
- Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)
- Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992)
- Strike Commander (1993)
- Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom (1995)
- The Kilrathi Saga (1996)
- Starlancer (2000)
