In Conversation with Composer Tom Salta
ASCAP winning and MTV VMA nominated composer Tom Salta is one of the most versatile and prolific music artists/producers working in film, television, advertising and video games. Renowned for crafting emotionally engaging soundtracks for multimedia, Salta has received widespread industry acclaim for his world-class produced hybrid scores featured in film, television and video games such as Machine Games’ WOLFENSTEIN : Youngblood & Cyberpilot, Microsoft’s iconic HALO series (G.A.N.G. Best Original Soundtrack Award), Ubisoft’s PRINCE OF PERSIA: The Forgotten Sands and RED STEEL (IGN Award for Best Original Score), Tom Clancy’s GHOST RECON and H.A.W.X series, as well as the epic theme music for the record-breaking online multiplayer game PLAYERUNKNOWN’s BATTLEGROUNDS, which has sold in excess of 50 million units with over 400 million players. Salta’s long-time collaborations with 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios include the re-imagined soundtracks to HALO: Combat Evolved Anniversary and HALO 2: Anniversary, as well as composing the original scores for HALO: Spartan Assault and HALO: Spartan Strike (the first HALO video game to be released on Apple devices). Additionally, Salta returned to the beloved sci-fi franchise to score the animated series, HALO: The Fall of Reach, adapted from the best-selling novel and produced by the award-winning animation studio Sequence. His third solo outing in the iconic HALO universe, Salta also composed, arranged and produced the first original pop song in the franchise’s history, “Take This Life”, featured exclusively on HALO: The Fall of Reach soundtrack. Prior to his composing career, Salta toured with and worked on releases by a diverse array of popular recording artists. After several years of touring, Salta became increasingly immersed in studio work, producing, remixing and songwriting. Recording under the artist name “Atlas Plug,” Salta released the critically acclaimed electronic / orchestral music album “2 Days or Die” which quickly caught the attention of leading music supervisors. His album introduced a new hybrid sound to the visual entertainment industry at large, garnering high-profile placements on numerous television shows, international commercials and movie trailers, simultaneously launching his music career in video games, which he continues to embrace as a cutting-edge and powerful musical voice in modern scoring.