Alexander Brandon

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.

"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)

Year Title Platform Composer
1995 Tyrian PC Alexander Brandon
1998 Dark Vengeance PC Alexander Brandon, Andrew Schlesigner, Mark Styles
1998 Jazz Jackrabbit 2 PC Alexander Brandon, Robert Allen, Sean Hiler, Bryan Rudge
1998 Pretzel Pete PC Alexander Brandon, Dan Gardopée
1998 Unreal PC Alexander Brandon, Andrew Sega, Dan Gardopée, Michiel van den Bos
1999 Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files PC Alexander Brandon, Robert Allen
1999 Tyrian 2000 PC Alexander Brandon
1999 Unreal Mission Pack I: Return to Na Pali PC Alexander Brandon
1999 Unreal Tournament PC, DC, PS2 Tero Kostermaa, Dan Gardopée, Kai-Eerik Komppa, Alexander Brandon, Peter Hajba, Andrew Sega, Michiel van den Bos
1999 Vigilante 8 N64 Alexander Brandon, Jeehun Hwang, Bon Harris
1999 Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense N64 Alexander Brandon, Dan Gardopée, Christian A. Salyer, Eric Klein
2000 Deus Ex PC, PS2 Alexander Brandon, Dan Gardopée, Michiel van den Bos, Reeves Gabrels
2000 Jazz Jackrabbit 3 PC Alexander Brandon
2003 Activision Anthology GBA Alexander Brandon
2003 Battlestar Galactica PS2, XBOX Alexander Brandon, Cris Liesch, Tom Zehnder, Steve Kuray, Clint Bajakian, Cris Velasco
2003 Deus Ex: Invisible War PC, XBOX Alexander Brandon, Mark Lampert, Todd Simmons
2003 Unreal II: The Awakening PC, XBOX Jack Wall, Clint Bajakian, Jeremy Soule, Crispin Hands, Chance Thomas, Richard Schneider, Alexander Brandon
2004 Thief: Deadly Shadows PC, XBOX Eric Brosius, Mark Lampert, Todd Simmons, Alexander Brandon
2005 Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows PS2, XBOX Alexander Brandon, Inon Zur, Rednote Audio, Alistair Cooper
2006 Marvel Ultimate Alliance GBA Alexander Brandon
2006 Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run PS2, XBOX Sascha Dikiciyan, Cris Velasco, Alexander Brandon
2007 Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer PC Rik Schaffer, Jeff Dodson, Alexander Brandon
2007 TouchMaster DS Alexander Brandon, (?)
2008 Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir PC Rob King, Paul Romero, Andrew Barnabas, Paul Arnold, Kevin Chow, Gábor Valasek, Närhi, Antti Mäntysaari, Alexander Brandon

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

Interview

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