Jesper Kyd

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Jesper Kyd Jakobson (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx Script error: No such module "IPA".; born 3 February 1972) is a Danish composer and sound designer who has worked on various video game, television, and film projects. He has composed soundtracks for the Hitman series, Assassin's Creed series, Borderlands series, Darksiders II and State of Decay, among many others. His scores use orchestra, choir, acoustic manipulations and electronic soundscapes.[1]

Biography

Early years

Kyd started playing the piano at an early age. Later, he took several years of training in classical guitar, note reading, choir singing and classical composition for piano. However, he is mostly self-taught.[2][3] Kyd started using computers for composing on a Commodore 64 at age 14,[4] and later an Amiga.[5] He and Mikael Balle became members of the demogroup Silents DK, and later started collaborating with a group of coders known as Crionics.[6] They eventually made the Amiga demoscene production Hardwired.[7] Kyd also created and scored the first wild demo, Global Trash 2, together with Mikael Balle.

Kyd then left the demoscene and started to work as a game musician. He and others created the computer game developer Zyrinx and a game called Sub-Terrania for the Sega Genesis. The team then relocated to Boston. Kyd composed music for two additional Zyrinx titles, Red Zone and Scorcher and the music for two externally developed games, Amok and The Adventures of Batman and Robin for the Sega Genesis. Zyrinx dissolved when their game publisher Scavenger went bankrupt.

Freelance

Many former Zyrinx members returned to Denmark to start IO Interactive, but Kyd moved to New York City and set up his own sound studio in Manhattan called "Nano studios".[8] He then worked as a freelance video game musician.

The soundtrack to Hitman: Codename 47 was based on urban soundscapes and ethnic instrumentation. He then recorded the soundtrack of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin with 110 musicians of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and Hungarian Radio Choir.[9] He recorded the score for the action/adventure Freedom Fighters with the Hungarian Radio choir. It was described by Film Score Monthly Magazine as "Vangelis on steroids". He used modern electronica and symphonic and choral music in Hitman: Contracts. Kyd followed up with Hitman: Blood Money, also performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and Hungarian Radio Choir.

Kyd then provided a cinematic middle eastern-based score for Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed. He then wrote music for several games in the Assassin's Creed and Borderlands franchise. Kyd also wrote the soundtrack for the action/adventure Darksiders II, notable for being his first entirely non-digital score.[10]

Kyd composed the soundtrack of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, which released in 2022. Kyd sought to create a score that would fit a retro-futuristic setting, and avoided using orchestral elements and guitars, which were typically found in other Warhammer games. The score was inspired by "cyberpunk culture and sci-fi manga," with the main instruments including drum machines and modular synths.[11]

Influences

Jesper Kyd's influences include composers such as Ottorino Respighi, Igor Stravinsky, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, and bands such as Röyksopp, the Knife, Pink Floyd, and Underworld.[12][13][14][15][16]

Works

Video games

Video games
Year Title Notes
1990 U.S.S. John Young[17]
1993 Pro Moves Soccer
Sub-Terrania
1994 Red Zone
1995 The Adventures of Batman & Robin Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version
1996 Amok
Scorcher
1999 Time Tremors
Alien Nations
2000 MDK2 with Albert Olson and Raymond Watts
Messiah
Soldier
Hitman: Codename 47[18]
2001 The Nations: Alien Nations 2
LightWeight Ninja with Eric Heberling, Speier Music Productions and REMedia
Shattered Galaxy
2002 Minority Report: The Video Game
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
2003 Brute Force with James Hannigan
Freedom Fighters[19]
Wirtschaftsgiganten - Die Ultimative Collection
Prisms of Light 2
2004 McFarlane's Evil Prophecy
Hitman: Contracts
Robotech: Invasion
Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 2[20]
2005 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory with Amon Tobin
Dance Dance Revolution STR!KE
2006 Hitman: Blood Money
Close Quarters Conflict
2007 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Assassin's Creed[21]
Unreal Tournament 3 with Rom Di Prisco
2008 The Club main theme
The Chronicles of Spellborn
2009 Borderlands with Cris Velasco, Sascha Dikiciyan, and Raison Varner
Assassin's Creed II[21]
2010 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood[22]
2011 Forza Motorsport 4
Assassin's Creed: Revelations with Lorne Balfe
2012 Soulcalibur V with several others
Darksiders II
Transformers: Prime - The Game with several others
Borderlands 2 with Cris Velasco, Sascha Dikiciyan, and Raison Varner
2013 State of Decay with Dreissk
Soldiers Inc.
Sparta: War of Empires
2014 Pirates: Tides of Fortune
Stormfall: Age of War
Heroes & Generals
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! with Des Shore and Justin Mullins
2015 Moonrise with Jeff Broadbent
Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide
2016 Robinson: The Journey[23]
2017 MU Legend
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
2018 Warhammer: Vermintide 2[24]
State of Decay 2 with Dreissk
2019 Borderlands 3 with Michael McCann, Finishing Move Inc., Raison Varner
2020 Assassin's Creed Valhalla with Sarah Schachner and Einar Selvik
2022 Dune: Spice Wars with Quentin Malapel
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
2024 State of Decay 3 In progress
N/A Wonder Woman[25] Cancelled

Films

Year Title
2000 Night All Day
2006 Sweet Insanity
Death of a Saleswoman
2007 La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928, new score)
2008 Staunton Hill
2010 A Perfect Soldier
2015 Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe
2018 Tumbbad
2025 Crazxy

Short films

Year Title
2000 Organizm
2001 The Lion Tamer
Going with Neill
2002 Day Pass
Paper Plane Man
Pure
2003 Cycle
2006 Impulse
Virus
2010 The Auctioneers
2011 Somnolence
Assassin's Creed: Embers
2023 RAID: Call of the Arbiter[26]

TV series

Year Title
2009 The Resistance
2012-13 Métal Hurlant Chronicles

Awards

Year Title Notes
2005 BAFTA Award for Best Original Music[27] For Hitman: Contracts
2005 G.A.N.G. Award for Best Cinematic/Cut-Scene Audio[28]
2009 G.A.N.G. Award for Music of the Year
Hollywood Music in Media Award[29]
2018 Nile Rodgers Global Creators Award[30]

Nominations

Year Title
2004 G.A.N.G Award for "Best Original Vocal Song – Choral"
Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards nomination for Best Use of Soundtrack
2006 MTV's Video Music Awards in the Best Video Game Score category[31]

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

External links

Template:Sister project

Script error: No such module "Navbox". Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Jesper_Kyd&oldid=1667062"