40 years old | It left Childhood on Monkey Island: “I’ve enjoyed games with good music since I was a child,” says Ari Pulkkinen, one of Finland’s best-known game composers.

“Huukki through the melody is largely my trading market, ”says the composer Ari Pulkkinen.

On Huuk, he means a hook based on melody. Countless pairs of ears around the world have listened to Pulkkinen’s drones, some of them unknowingly.

Pulkkinen is one of Finland’s best-known composers of game music. His music has been heard in several successful games by Finnish gaming companies, such as Rovion Angry Birds, Frozenbyten Trineseries as well as Housemarque Nex Machina.

If you ask him what good game music is like, the answer will come immediately:

“Good game music has recognizable themes and melodies. Without starting to irritate. ”

Pulkkinen know what you’re talking about. He has worked in the game music industry since the early 2000s.

But you can really say that the whole industry even existed at that time, Pulkkinen ponders.

“It wasn’t a profession when I started. Game coders had already made games, but a full-time music and sound designer in the gaming industry wasn’t really realism. It was quite a lot to find things for yourself. ”

Almost everything had to be learned by yourself. Pulkkinen began his career as a composer in the 1990s with tracker software on his home computer.

“It was still a demo scene hobby. Musa was coded in and not played, as I do today. ”

In 1999 published Starfight VI contained Pulkkinen’s first own compositions. In 2003, the game company Frozenbyte hired him to handle the music side of his productions. The salary was low, but there was no need to think twice about the offer.

“I’ve loved games with good music since I was a kid. These classics Monkey Islandit and others that are always played at game music concerts. And for example In Fallout Original was a great postapocalyptic sound design. It also sparked interest in sound design. ”

Today, gaming companies invest significantly more in music and sound design, Pulkkinen says.

“It’s understood how Musa creates a brand and how it jeses in marketing games. And in game productions, Musa and sound are not the most expensive end. ”

“And yes, those players will notice when Musa and the sounds are done well!”

Nowadays Pulkkinen runs his own AriTunes company. The company is mainly focused on game music, but also does, for example, advertising projects and sound design for various applications. “I personally focus on composing and producing.”

A couple of years ago it was close that Pulkkinen had given up composing. The hard pace of work led to exhaustion, and composing no longer brought joy. It was a tough place, he admits.

“At first I couldn’t do any work at all and I thought I’d leave composing with a favor and keep going while getting interested. I took a break for more than a year and was just a producer. ”

The ascent from the pit took place gradually. Now composing brings joy again. Along with game music, Pulkki would be interested in making both film compositions and more radio-friendly pop music.

“I would like to work with different artists more. Not with terrible pressure, but if you could find good guys to gloom with. A Finnish beat, good rap beats, a more modern pop ensemble… Music with drones and positivity. ”

In the same breath, Pulkkinen emphasizes that there must still be sense in doing it: one must not drive oneself into the barrel, no matter how interesting the projects may be.

It’s important that life is also filled with things outside of work, he says. The rhythm of everyday life is built on the terms of one’s own children.

“When it’s time to be with the kids, that’s when I focus on it.”

Pulkkinen says he is currently building a new studio in the basement of a terraced house in Tapiola, Espoo. It is intended to act as a kind of milestone. For the game composer, it is good to vary the landscape.

“I have had a studio space in a little different places. It is good to be in the studio where it is pleasant to work at that very moment. In the past, I have worked in Kamppi, Housemarque and the cottage, for example. ”

He has spent more than half of his Korona time at a cottage in Puumala, on the shores of Lake Saimaa. It is an important place. During the summer, you can even push the boat into the waters and go on a picnic on the nearby island.

“And when it’s windier and wetter, it’s nice to be inside doing business.”

Plus there is also the possibility of a sauna when you have fun. A peaceful environment helps you focus on the essentials.

“For the most part, I make classical music, so I don’t miss the fuss around.”

One reason for the retreat to the peace of nature is the desire to get rid of the “polarized mood” that boils, especially in the soma. Pulkkinen recommends the same to others.

“I grew up with computers, for whom the internet was a club of smart people and the hope of all mankind”

“Today, I’m trying to stay out of there as much as possible!”