About
My name is Jacob, but please call me Jake. I release music as virt.
I have made music and sound effects for video games ranging from Game Boy Color to Xbox 360, and for any film studios that will have me. At age 26, I achieved my lifelong dream of writing music for official Contra and TMNT games; my NEW dream is to buy a house for my wife Kristi, with a yard for Nugget the adorable puggle.
Many game audio professionals drift gradually away from hobbyist communities, but I’ve remained active in the demo scene, chiptune, and fan remix communities where I got my start. I try to give back by encouraging younger artists to be awesome.
I aim to promote the sound of game console hardware as a unique and challenging medium, separate from the context of irony and retro fetishism in which it is usually presented to the public.
Feel free to email me anytime to say hi; I promise I’ll read it. I may or may not respond right away, and I apologize in advance if it takes a while. I tend to ignore everything but the task at hand for 16 hour stretches. This makes me inhumanly productive, but also annoyingly hard to reach. Don’t be afraid to pester me if I don’t respond. Some day, I’ll have a secretary to justify the hours of cheesy on-hold music I churn out.
“Big Lion” is the name of my home studio. It is derived from The Discovery Channel’s “Into the Lion’s Den“, a show Kristi and I watched one night. The majority of the show involved the host approaching and retreating from the lions, while singing two phrases over and over : “BIIIIIIIIIIIG LION!!” and “BACKING AWAAAAY!!“. This served to announce his presence and intentions, so the lions would not get startled and tear his face off.
Needless to say, these phrases have become commonplace in the Kaufman household. Nugget is amused by the mere suggestion that we could ever successfully sneak up on him. He would like to see us try.