Alexander Brandon
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Alt. Name: | Chromatic Dragon, Siren, Sandman |
Date of Birth: | 1974 | |
Location: | Temecula, CA (USA) | |
Website: | www.alexanderbrandon.net |
Biography / Trivia
Despite being classically trained as a pianist and choral singer, Alexander Brandon's real training came by experimenting with the AdLib sound card and later becoming a member of the demoscene and tracker community, writing music for the classic MOD, S3M, and IT formats. His breakthrough into game music came when he composed and co-designed 1995's "Tyrian," which opened the doors to further work with Epic Games and related titles, including the "Unreal" and "Unreal Tournament" series. Several works were composed together with Dan Gardopée, his partner in the game audio company Straylight Productions. Brandon's biggest success came with multiple Game of the Year winner "Deus Ex" in 2000, which he co-wrote with longtime collaborator Michiel van den Bos. He remains an active composer, with frequent stints as an audio director and producer, and is currently employed by Obsidian.
Alexander is also quite involved in organizations that promote the development of game audio, such as G.A.N.G. and Project Bar-B-Q.
- Wrote a book on the game audio industry: "Audio for Games: Planning, Process, and Production" (2004).
- Influential artists include: Basil Poledouris, John McGlaughlin, composer for Strider by Capcom (original version), Michiru Yamane, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Orff, Shostakovich, Andrew Sega, Steve Vai, Orb, Michael Kamen, and many others...
"As always, make sure you can do anything. Write any style, do voice acting, direct voice acting, know your equipment and technology, become familiar with engineering, composing, sound design…I consider someone a musician if they can write or play one style, but I consider someone a true composer if they can write in more than one style."
Games (24)
Albums (6)
Year | Title | Type |
1998 | Unreal Original Soundtrack | CD |
1998 | Unreal Original Soundtrack (strategy guide version) | CD |
2001 | Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition Soundtrack | CD |
2005 | The American Album | Digital Release |
2006 | A History of Unreal Music | CD |
2006 | The American Album: Special Edition | Digital Release |
Albums - Non-VGM (6)
Year | Title | Type |
1999 | Atmospheres - Moods | CD |
1999 | Atmospheres - Pulses | CD |
1999 | Atmospheres - Cultures | CD |
2000 | Atmospheres - Rhythms | CD |
2000 | Atmospheres - Dreams | CD |
2007 | Era's End | Digital Release |
Albums - Other Credits (1)
Year | Title | Type |
2007 | Unreal Tournament III The Soundtrack | CD |
Reviews
» Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition Soundtrack (by orion_mk3)
» Deus Ex: Invisible War (by orion_mk3)
Links
Obsidian Entertainment
Interview (DeusEx-Machina)
Interview (MotherShip Servers)
Added by orion_mk3 & Rimo on Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM | Edited by Rimo on Sep 11, 2008 05:18 PM |