George "Fat Man" Sanger
Composer / Author
California, USA
Biography:
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.
Convention Guest Appearances
- MAGWest 2023 - July 14-16, 2023 in San Jose, CA, USA
- ConnectiCon 2007 - July 13-15, 2007 in Hartford, CT, USA