Atlas Plug

Recording under the artist name “Atlas Plug,” Tom Salta creates a high-energy mix of electronica, orchestral, breakbeat and rock grooves that have graced many television shows, commercials and film promos including the Volvo S40 ‘Video Game’ commercial, “Making of Spider-Man 2” on HBO, “Making of Anaconda 2” on Cinemax, NBC's “Third Watch,” UPN’s “America’s Top Model,” CBS’ “Joan Of Arcadia,” and MTV's “Making the Video” and “Tough Enough.” His Atlas Plug music has also been licensed for numerous video game soundtracks such as The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (Namco), Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft), ESPN Major League Baseball 2K6 (Take 2), Street Racing Syndicate (Namco) and RalliSport Challenge 2 (Microsoft Game Studios).
Tom Salta writes and produces emotionally charged electronic and orchestral music for film, television and video games. Combining his expertise in programming and mixing hit records with the highest production values, Salta creates powerful melodies and hooks with a hybrid of lush orchestral strings, hard-driving percussion and edgy electronic music. As comfortable with live orchestras and choirs as he is with synthesizers, computers, and the latest software, Salta’s epic orchestral score for the top selling Xbox 360 video game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) was nominated for “Best Video Game Score” at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). Furthermore, his contemporary and traditional Japanese musical score for Red Steel, Ubisoft’s exclusive first-person action title for the Nintendo Wii console, won IGN’s 2006 Award for “Best Original Score.”
Salta’s anthemic military-themed orchestral score for the award-winning Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) was the first time a Ghost Recon game featured in-game music. Recorded with the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra at the prestigious Bastyr Chapel in Seattle, he also fused electronic sounds into the score to capture the hi-tech aesthetic of the game. In addition to Salta’s MTV VMA nomination, GRAW was nominated for “Best Audio” at the 2006 BAFTA Video Game Awards and is a finalist for “Best Interactive Score” and “Audio of the Year” at the 5th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards.
Renowned for his versatility and prolific writing styles, Salta’s kaleidoscopic musical score for his next project, Red Steel, immersed gamers in modern-day Japan. To ensure the authenticity of the game’s soundtrack, Salta arranged and recorded traditional live Japanese instrumentation including Koto, Shamisen, Shakuhachi and Taiko. The score also features performances from conservatory-trained Japanese opera singers and distinguished violinist Lili Haydn. In order to reflect the diverse and Western-influenced soundtrack of fashionable Tokyo, Salta further embellished the soundtrack with a wide spectrum of music styles – such as orchestral, electronic, rock, hip hop, dance, easy listening, jazz, lounge, and Japanese pop – that truly embrace the game’s cinematic story and vibrant locations.
For Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW2), the latest installment in the smash-hit squad-based action franchise, Salta wrote a more aggressive and expressive original score to enhance the game’s intensive action and memorable, dramatic scenes, with only a few select motif references taken from the first game. To acquire the best performance of these tense and emotionally complex compositions for GRAW2, Salta recorded with the Hollywood Studio Symphony and the Page LA Studio Chorus on the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, a premier orchestra recording venue for Hollywood’s major motion pictures. Developed by Ubisoft Paris and Red Storm Studios, GRAW2 will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP and PC.
Other projects featuring Salta’s engaging and in-demand music include the Position Music Orchestral Series (Volume 1) created especially for motion picture advertising. Music from this collection was featured in the movie trailer for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (Warner Bros.), “Last Mimzy” (New Line Cinema) movie trailer, TV trailer, and featurettes, “Arthur and the Invisibles” (Weinstein Co.) TV trailers, and “The Da Vinci Code” (Sony) making of featurette and promotions. Prior to these composing ventures, Salta toured with and worked on releases by a diverse array of artists such as Peter Gabriel, Junior Vasquez, Everything But The Girl, Primer 55, Deep Forest, Mary J. Blige and Sinead O’Connor.
Tom Salta’s other video game scoring credits include original music and remixes for Full Auto 2: Battlelines (Sega), the main theme (co-writer) for Ghost Recon 2 (Red Storm/Ubisoft), the original scores for Cold Fear (Darkworks/UbiSoft), Still Life (Microids), and Sprung (UbiSoft); original tracks for Get On Da Mic (A2M/Eidos), and the cinematics Need For Speed Underground 2 (Electronic Arts).
Tom Salta is currently scoring several new video games as well as writing the follow-up to his highly acclaimed debut solo album 2 Days or Die. Tracks from his forthcoming album have already been licensed for several video games. For more information visit www.tomsalta.com.