The Master Mixer Behind Guitar Hero

The next time you or your kid nail a song playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band, think of Thom Cadley.

He is one of the industry's main re-mixers of songs for the hugely popular video game series. The sound engineer has delivered over 500 greatest hits that have been licensed to game companies, each song tailored to insure players of a sound close to the one they know and love.

Cadley's business, Thom Cadley Music, Inc., is based out of a converted barn right in downtown Katonah. Surrounded by high-tech mixing boards and an oversized monitor, this experienced sound man churns out mixes—not just for music video games, but also for live concert DVDs, studio releases, films and commercials.

"I am something like an electronic conductor," Cadley says. "When a song gets recorded, there are lots of parts—vocals and many different instruments like drums, snare, horns, bass guitar. For the games, I deliver to programmers all the separate elements that can be stopped and started by the player, and that will ultimately sound very close to the original record."

After many years as Sony's chief mixing engineer, Cadley set off on his own in 2007, setting up shop in his hometown where he and his wife are raising their three kids. State-of-the-art sound system technology has made it possible for him to run a full-service operation, creating gigabyte after gigabyte of crafted music without really needing to meet face to face with an artist or producer.

And working out of a sunlit studio in the middle of a very friendly community is a great bonus, Cadley says.

The business was clearly positioned in the right place and at the right time. Activision's Guitar Hero (and MTV Games' Rock Band) has become a cultural phenomenon, with GH alone earning over 2 billion dollars in overall retail sales.

The game is played by using colored fret buttons on a controller (the guitar) that match scrolling notes on the screen. Later versions include vocals and drums that mimic the real guitar playing, rock band experience.

Cadley feels that Guitar Hero has been a great inspiration for kids to get excited about playing an instrument. "Lots of kids become interested in learning to play a real guitar or drums as a result of playing the game," he said.  "And what is exciting is that the companies are working on a future version where a real guitar will control the game."

Helping kids to get excited about playing music is just one career highlight for Cadley.

One of the most gratifying projects for him came right after September 11th, 2001. In response to the attacks, the music industry quickly put together an all-star benefit concert that honored both the victims of the tragedy as well as the incredible efforts of everyone involved in the rescue and recovery.

The five-hour broadcast became a touching and memorable moment in music history and raised millions of dollars. Cadley was one of the chief sound engineers for the live broadcast as well as for the album and DVD of the event.

And for this veteran sound engineer, working behind the scenes for those heroes was a true honor.