George "The Fatman" Sanger

Internationally known as The Fat Man, George Alistair Sanger’s influence is hard to overestimate. Through his work, his writings, the founding of think-tanks, organizations and communities, this “legendary game audio guru’s” fingerprints are all over much of what it means today to create game audio or listen to a game.  He’s been at it since Thin Ice for Intellivision in 1983.  Games he worked on include Loom, Wing Commander I and II, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, Maniac Mansion, The 7th Guest I and II and Oddword Soulstorm.  He wrote the first general MIDI soundtrack for a game, the first direct-to-MIDI live recording of musicians, the first Redbook soundtrack included with a game as a separate disc, the first music for a game that was considered a “work of art,” and the first soundtrack that was considered a selling point for the game.  Sanger established and managed the team that made the sound system for the Augmented Reality device, Magic Leap One.  He founded and ran think-tanks that solved audio issues and created standards (Project BarBQ) and tackle game design's biggest issues (Project Horseshoe).  He wrote a book (The Fat Man on Game Audio:  Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness) that has attracted many to make a career of game audio.   He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from GANG (of which he was member #1) in 2015.

 

He continues to write songs constantly, score games, advise businesses on Product Strategy and give lectures, workshops and keynotes worldwide, while teaching and administrating at Mid-City Community Music, a non-profit Arts organization.