Ari Pulkkinen (born 15 January 1982) is a Finnish

video game composer Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and

sound designer In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

. His ''

Angry Birds ''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castle ...

'' theme is perhaps his most famous work.

Biography

Pulkkinen was born in Helsinki. At the age of 6 he started studying piano and composed his first song at the age of 12. He was interested in the

computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ap ...

demoscene The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...

and started making music with tracker software under the name "ArtZ". He won many music competitions and made his first big public album to accompany a freeware game named "Starfight VI: Gatekeepers" in 1999. Ari has never studied music composition academically. In 2003 he was hired as in-house audio director to game development company

Frozenbyte Frozenbyte Inc. is a Finnish video game developer founded in 2001 and based in Helsinki. it had approximately 130 employees. Frozenbyte's first commercial game was ''Shadowgrounds'' for Microsoft Windows. Both ''Shadowgrounds'' and its follow-u ...

Inc. Where he made the original soundtracks and

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

for

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

Shadowgrounds ''Shadowgrounds'' is a top-down shooter for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, developed by Frozenbyte. The game takes place on a space colony on Ganymede which is being attacked by aliens. It was released for Windows on November 11, 2005, ...

, Shadowgrounds: Survivor and Trine. In his spare time Ari earned diplomas in ''Professional Audio Design and Producing'' and ''Further Education for Producers and Leads of the Finnish Game Industry'' with Adulta, and ''Music Technology'' with

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It als ...

. After quitting Frozenbyte in 2008 (though he continues to have a professional relationship with them), Ari started his own sound production company AriTunes. Since then he has made original soundtrack and sound design for over twenty projects, including video games such as

Dead Nation ''Dead Nation'' is a top-down shoot 'em up video game for the PlayStation 3 developed by video game developer Housemarque. It was released on November 30, 2010 in North America, and December 1 in the PAL region, on PlayStation Network. ''Dead Nat ...

Trine 2 ''Trine 2'' is a side-scrolling, puzzle-platform game developed by Frozenbyte. It is the sequel to '' Trine'' and was released on Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in December 2011, and later for Linux in March 2012. ''Trine 2' ...

, Outland and

Super Stardust HD ''Super Stardust HD'' is a downloadable shoot 'em up video game that was released for the PlayStation 3 by Sony Interactive Entertainment, developed by the Finnish company Housemarque. In Asian regions, it is known as ''Star Strike HD''. In 2015, ...

. Ari releases his music through his own label AriTunes. On 2 September 2011 in Video Game Heroes Concert, Angry Birds Theme was played by

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

. This is the first time Ari's music was played by a full live orchestra. On 4 October 2011, Ari won the ''Best Finnish Game Developer in 2011 Award'' due to his contribution in the Finnish game industry.

Works

* ''Starfight VI: Gatekeepers'' (2000) * ''

'' (2005) * ''

'' (2007) * '' Shadowgrounds: Survivor'' (2007) * '' Trine'' (2009) * ''

'' (2009) * ''

Angry Birds Seasons ''Angry Birds Seasons'' (formerly ''Angry Birds Halloween'') is the second puzzle video game in the ''Angry Birds'' series, developed by Rovio Entertainment. Based on ''Angry Birds'', ''Angry Birds Seasons'' was released for devices using Apple's ...

'' (2010) * ''

'' (2010) * '' Outland (video game)'' (2011) * '' Bike Baron'' (2011) * ''

'' (2011) * ''

Super Stardust Delta ''Super Stardust Delta'' is a twin-stick multidirectional shooter video game for the PlayStation Vita handheld console. It is part of the ''Stardust'' series of games developed by the Finnish company Housemarque. Gameplay Using the PlayStation Vi ...

'' (2012) * '' Trine 2: Goblin Menace'' (2012) * ''

Angry Birds Trilogy ''Angry Birds Trilogy'' is a video game co-developed by Rovio Entertainment, Exient Entertainment, Housemarque, and Fun Labs and published by Activision. The game contains the first three games of the popular mobile game series, ''Angry Birds'' ...

'' (2012) * ''

Resogun ''Resogun'' is a voxel-based side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by Finnish developer Housemarque and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The PlayStation 4 game was ...

'' (2013) * '' Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power'' (2015) * ''

Just Dance 2016 ''Just Dance 2016'' is a 2015 dance video game developed and published by Ubisoft. Unveiled on June 15, 2015, during its E3 press conference as the seventh main installment of the series, it was released in October 2015 for PlayStation 3, Play ...

'' (2015) * '' Alienation'' (2016) * '' Nex Machina'' (2017) * ''

Nine Parchments ''Nine Parchments'' is a twin stick action role-playing game developed and published by Frozenbyte. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2017. The game's story revolves around students of ...

'' (2017) * '' Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince'' (2019)

Noteworthy competition entries

* ''

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

'' 2009 Music Compo – Rtzon King – Sovietski Electro (2nd place) * ''Assembly'' 2004 Fast Music Compo – Summer Rain (1st place) * ''Assembly'' 2003 Fast Music Compo – Back To the Roots (1st place) * ''Assembly'' 2002 Fast Music Compo – Karjalan Haamu (2nd place) * ''Assembly'' 2001 Fast Music Compo – Comrades (1st place)

External links

* *
Soundworks Interview about the audio & music of Angry Birds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulkkinen, Ari 1982 births Demosceners Finnish composers Finnish male composers Living people Video game composers Sound designers