View source for Tim Larkin (composer)

{{Short description|American composer and video game developer}}
{{for|the American self defense expert|Tim Larkin (self-defense)}}
{{BLP sources|date=January 2012}}

'''Tim Larkin''' is a composer and sound designer for [[Valve Corporation|Valve]], and previously the audio director for [[Cyan Worlds|Cyan]], best known for the [[Myst]] series of [[video game]]s. At Cyan, he worked as a sound designer for ''[[Riven]]'', and as a composer for ''[[realMyst]]'', ''[[Uru: Ages Beyond Myst]]'' and ''[[Myst V: End of Ages]]''.<ref name="Marks2008">{{cite book|last=Marks|first=Aaron|title=The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, Game Developers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWBO0izdpF8C&pg=PA14|accessdate=23 April 2012|date=2008-10-28|publisher=Focal Press|isbn=9780240810744|pages=14–}}</ref>

He has 23 years experience in the game audio industry. He started in the game industry working as a composer/sound designer for [[Broderbund]]. He created sound design for ''Riven'' while working there and was later hired at Cyan to work on ''realMyst'' and ''Uru''. Tim still performs session work regularly as a [[trumpet]] player as well as doing freelance sound design and composition outside Cyan. He created music and sound design for titles such as ''[[Middle-earth]]'', ''[[The Incredibles (video game)|The Incredibles]]'', ''[[Pariah (video game)|Pariah]]'', ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', and ''[[Prince of Persia]]''. He won the [[Academy Award]] for sound design at the [[75th Academy Awards]] for his work on the [[Sony Imageworks]] animated short film, ''[[The ChubbChubbs!]]''.{{cn|date=November 2024}} In the 2000s, Larkin was hired by [[Valve Corporation|Valve]] and worked on a number of their games, including ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', ''[[Portal (video game)|Portal]]'', ''[[Portal 2]]'', ''[[Counter-Strike: Global Offensive]]'', ''[[Dota 2]]'', and ''[[Artifact (video game)|Artifact]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Larson |first1=Randall |title=ARTIFACT – Music for Digital Card Gaming |url=https://musiquefantastique.com/further-examinations/artifact-music-for-digital-card-gaming/ |website=musiquefantastique.com |date=30 November 2018 |accessdate=December 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207045827/https://musiquefantastique.com/further-examinations/artifact-music-for-digital-card-gaming/ |archive-date=December 7, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Tim's experience in the music industry includes live performances as a trumpet player with artists [[Natalie Cole]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[James Brown]], [[Mel Tormé]], [[Sheila E]] and [[Huey Lewis]]. He recorded on record albums for [[Ice-T]] and as a solo artist for Avenue Jazz. He worked on HBO's ''[[The Rat Pack (film)|The Rat Pack]]'', ''[[White Mile]]'' and ''[[Floundering]]''. He has done the trumpet work for the documentaries [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]]'s ''Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal'', ''[[Pearl Harbor]]'' and ''[[The White House]]'', and ''[[American Experience]]'' documentaries on [[Galileo]] and the [[Wright Brothers]].

== URU ==

''Uru''{{'}}s music was composed by Tim Larkin, who had started his career at game publisher [[Broderbund]], and lobbied hard to be included on ''Riven''{{'}}s development team.<ref name="justadventure-interview">{{cite web|author=Miller, Jennifer |url=http://www.justadventure.com/Interviews/UruTimLarkin/UruTimLarkin.shtm |title=Interview with Tim Larkin |publisher=Just Adventure |accessdate=October 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514080015/http://justadventure.com/Interviews/UruTimLarkin/UruTimLarkin.shtm |archive-date=May 14, 2008 }}</ref> Larkin worked on creating different sound effects for ''Riven'' and was chosen to score ''Uru'' after composer and ''Myst'' co-creator [[Robyn Miller]] left Cyan in early 1998.<ref name="myst is riven">{{cite web|author=Lillington, Karen|date=March 2, 1998|url=http://archive.salon.com/21st/feature/1998/03/02feature.html|title='Myst' Partnership is Riven|work=[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]]|accessdate=April 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307111501/http://archive.salon.com/21st/feature/1998/03/02feature.html <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=March 7, 2008}}</ref> The music for the game was collected as a soundtrack, ''Uru Music'', that was released in 2003.
Larkin chose the instrumentation for each track based on the various digital environments in the game. When the player is in the game's representation of New Mexico, for example, Larkin used a [[resonator guitar]] and flutes, creating what he called something "indigenous to a southwest type of feel that's very contemporary". In other areas Larkin described the game's music as being "less typical than you would find in most games" because of the exotic landscape the developers had created.<ref name="uru album"/> To create contemporary and exotic types of music in the game, Larkin employed a combination of real and synthesized instruments. Sometimes Larkin replaced synthesized performances with those of real musicians, as in the track "Gallery Theme", where a synthesized vocal part was eventually discarded in favor of [[soprano]] Tasha Koontz.<ref name="uru album">{{cite AV media notes| title       = Uru Music materials| title-link   = Uru: Ages Beyond Myst#Audio| others    = Tim Larkin| year        = 2003| publisher   = Ubisoft}}</ref> To create an exotic feel, Larkin used a group of [[Maasai people|Maasai]] tribesmen's chanting, who were recorded during their visit to [[Spokane, Washington]], where [[Cyan Worlds]] was located at that time.<ref name="justadventure-interview"/>

The ''Uru'' soundtrack received two Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) nominations in 2004—one for "Best Original Vocal Song (Choral)" for the "Gallery Theme" (which won), and another for "Best Original Soundtrack."<ref>{{cite web|author=Milano, Dominic|date=March 4, 2004|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2083/postcard_from_the_gdc_2004_the_.php|title=Postcard from the GDC 2004: The G.A.N.G. Awards|publisher=[[Gamasutra]]|access-date=March 10, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220234108/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2083/postcard_from_the_gdc_2004_the_.php|archive-date=December 20, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> Beyond its use in Uru, "Gallery Theme" was later used in the theatrical trailer for Steven Spielberg's film, ''[[Munich (2005 film)|Munich]]''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Larkin, Tim|date=December 5, 2005|url=http://www.timlarkin.net/news.htm|title=News: Spielberg's Munich trailer gets Tim's underscore|publisher=Tim Larkin.net|accessdate=October 28, 2008|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225010604/http://www.timlarkin.net/news.htm|archive-date=December 25, 2008}}</ref> The ''Uru'' soundtrack comes on an [[enhanced CD]], containing a (nearly) four-minute music video called "Uru: The Makers" and an audio-only interview with Rand Miller and Tim Larkin.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://cyan.com Cyan Worlds official website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101215145416/https://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/larkin/index.html Apple article about Tim Larkin]
* {{MobyGames developer}}
* {{Discogs artist}}
* {{Musicbrainz artist}}
* {{LastFM music|id=Tim+Larkin}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{AllMusic}}
* {{SoundCloud}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, Tim}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:American video game composers]]
[[Category:21st-century American composers]]
[[Category:Cyan Worlds people]]