Industry Spotlight: Michael Salvatori

Hey, Michael Salvatori, so people are better acquainted with you, could you first tell us about your musical background and influences?

I’m pretty much self-taught. I grew up listening to everything from The Beatles to Black Sabbath to Leonard Bernstein to Bartok. And that’s just the B’s. I’ve always had a good ear and could hear all the different parts in whatever piece I was listening to. I started writing songs at a very young age, moved into jingles in my 20’s and 30’s, then video game music for the last 20 years.

What key skills should people develop before attempting to get into the business of video game composing?

First learn as much as possible about how to create a piece of music that tells a story and stands on it’s own merit, even if it’s only 30 seconds long. Then be flexible in adapting your ideas to an ever-changing landscape of game states, intensity levels, etc. Then be prepared to try something different if it isn’t working.

With the film aspect merging into video games so heavily, where do you see interactive music in the near future?

Good music is good music, regardless of the medium. This might sound simplistic, but if you write music that connects with people, it will find a place to land, regardless of the way it’s packaged.

Although it seems to be in decline now for a lack of major content, Destiny is still one of my favorite games. So could you describe that feeling you had when being selected to work on such a big project?

On the contrary, I think we’re just a few steps away from the starting line on what Destiny is, can be and will be in the future. We’ve got some amazing things coming, so don’t ever make the mistake of counting us out! As far as being selected to work on such a big project, Destiny was my ninth Bungie game, so I’ve been down this road before. I’m always grateful and optimistic when starting a new project, and while working on Destiny has been a lot of hard work, it’s also been a lot of fun.

With Halo and Destiny being such successes, are you slated for anything new?

I continue to be committed to making Destiny and it’s future iterations the games by which all others are judged. But of course you never know what the future holds!