Jesper Kyd On Composing Electronic Music For Video Games

The latest Soundworks Collection video features game music composer Jesper Kyd.

Kyd first started writing music for visual media in the European ‘demoscene’. At 19 he became part owner of a video game company which later evolved into IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series and Freedom Fighters.

Kyd’s immersive soundtracks feature a mix of styles, ranging from the orchestral/electronic hybrid scores for the HITMAN series and anthemic choral score for Freedom Fighters to the post-apocalyptic / sci-fi themes of the Borderlands series. And his iconic themes continue to be heard in the Assassin’s Creed video game series.

7 thoughts on “Jesper Kyd On Composing Electronic Music For Video Games

  1. Back in the early ‘90s I saw JK with 2 or 3 other guys performing a scene demo soundtrack (Hardwired?) on one of those huge demo parties somewhere in Scandinavia… He stood there playing a synth, and so did the others.. it was completely played live. They were all focused on playing it right. At some point there was a climax, and JK pushed out with his fist in the air, to stimulate the audience (but they were all gazing at the synth setup, some were nodding to the music). This image stuck in my head, it was just impressive to see synths and players at work. It was something different than an Amiga Soundtracker module.

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