Jerry Martin produced and composed music for some of the best selling simulation games of all time. He's returned to the simulation genre more than 15 years later, with over 90 minutes of music for our upcoming tycoon game, SimCasino!
Check out a preview of the soundtrack below! The song featured is "Royal Flush".
Hey, Jerry! Where have you been all these years?
Since I left EA/Maxis I’ve been working freelance. I did some sound design for Namco for a couple of years then I worked as a full time employee for Kabam for a couple more years. I helped my wife produce her awesome music. (She’s a super talented singer/songwriter/performer from Cote d’Ivoire.) I moved out of my long-time house in the SF Bay Area and move up to the foothills of the Sierras close to Yosemite National Park. I’m in the process of building my studio there. (Can’t wait until it’s done)
I have a website for my music called BoomBamBoom.com Through that site, I’m sending out freebie downloads and updates on my more current work.
How would you describe the new music, and what inspired you? Would you say you have needed to modernize anything about it after 15 years?
I would describe the new music for SimCasino as three types. Type one is the “straight ahead” jazz quintet sound. (4 songs) Type two is the laid-back solo horn and synth pad sound (2 songs). The rest of the music (9 songs) is what I would call groove oriented “future jazz” and "retro-funk" with sprinklings of modern EDM synthesizer sounds.
I wouldn’t say anything needed to be “modernized” as such. I’m really happy with how it all turned out. It’s just what I was hoping for.
You are most associated with simulation games, but are there any other genres of games you would love to work on? And what makes this genre so appealing to you?
During my time at Kabam I did a lot of fantasy-adventure-battle type music, which is very common in games. I had fun doing it but it wasn’t as fun or unique as the music for SimCasino. I really like the stretched-out linear type music that I’ve done for the simulation games. I guess this goes back to my graduate school days where I studied with Terry Riley who was the founder of minimalism in modern music. I’ve always loved that style and try to incorporate it whenever it seems appropriate.
You were able to collaborate with Marc Russo and John R. Barr from your earlier works, what was it like bringing them back?
It’s always so much fun working with great musicians like Marc Russo and John R. Burr. They both really did a great job in SimCasino. I worked with a really great drummer this time too. He’s a local from my new home town of Mariposa CA. He did a great job on three of the “straight-ahead” jazz tunes. I like working with great musicians because they make me sound good even if I’m not doing anything!!!
How important is music for a game? What advice would you give to game developers reading this?
I have a biased opinion but I think music is very important in games. (Unless you want the player to turn it off). If done correctly, I think the music can enhance the game experience greatly. As far as Indie developers, I would say it’s important to pick a really good composer to work with. Music production costs are much less than they used to be so a good composer can do a great job if he has the ability and the time. Again this is my biased opinion but spend more on music and it will help the overall game.
With SimCasino, it was created with a combination of seeing the gameplay and also talking over the concept with the developers who, by the way, were great to work with!!
Soundtrack Credits
Music Composed and Produced by: Jerry Martin
Played by:
Jerry Martin, Keyboards, Guitar, Bass
Marc Russo, Sax
Eddie Ramirez, Trumpet
Erik Jekabson, Trumpet
John R. Burr, Piano
Jon Kidd, Drums
Dan Feiszli, Bass (on Full House)