Feature: 'Audio Gallery: Anna Karney'

In today's Gamasutra audio gallery, we check out the work of composer & producer Anna Karney, who is based in San Francisco, CA, and has worked on titles including Monkey Island IV and Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided for LucasArts, plus a plethora of Sim-related titles for Maxis and EA, including Streets of Sim City for PC, Sim City 3000, and The Sims House Party. Karney comments on her 'Cherry Cha Cha' song for The Sims Bustin' Out: "I was asked to write an authentic Latin song for a party scenario. My inspiration came from both Perez Prado and Yma Sumac for that delicate cross between an authentic Latin sound, with a bit of American cheese thrown in (single slices)... After creating the song via MIDI, I re-recorded all the percussion parts utilizing the great talents of Karl Perazzo, long time member of The Santana Band. Then I overdubbed all the other live instruments, and finally it was time to add the lyrics. Again I was asked to create a Simlish language, this time sounding Latin-like. I asked Karl to sing the Latin Simlish parts since he has a good accent, and then I sang all the background vocals. Another vocal treatment was asking other musicians on the track to do Perez Prado style background vocs. These were just the element that really made the piece sound authentic." You can learn more about Karney and listen to some of her more recent and earlier work for multiple game titles in this latest Gamasutra audio gallery. [NOTE: if you are an video game audio or graphics professional interested in submitting an audio/art gallery for possible feature inclusion on Gamasutra, please submit assets via the gallery application page.]