s gamesbecomeevermorecinematicand
immersive,it fallstocomposerslikeJesper
Kydtosoundtrackourexperienceswith
suitablydynamicandeffectivescores.A
selectdiscographyrevealshishandin the
Hitmanfranchise,Assassin’sCreed’s Ezio
trilogy,BorderlandsandStateOfDecay. We
askedJesperabouthislatestsoundtrackfor
Borderlands 3 , reinventingRenaissancemusic
andjusthowheapproachesscoringmassive
open-worldgames.
Whatstartedyoucomposing,andwhat
interestedyouin musicalscoresin particular?
TheCommodore 64 wasthemachinethat
firstallowedmetoputmyarrangementsand
musicalideastogether.BeforetheC64I was
mostlyfiddlingonthepianoin ourhouse.
Myunclesandauntsandgrandparentsall
hadpianos,andsowhenspendingtimewith
familyI oftencontinuedplayingonthemand
exploringideas.BythistimeI hadspentfive
yearsplayingclassicalguitar,singingin a
choirandstudyingnotereading.Aroundthe
timeoftheC64I startedstudyingcomposition
onpiano.I tookalltheseclassesafterschool.
Whatwasthefirstvideogamescoreyoudid?
TheAmigagameUSSJohnYoungforMagic
BytesandInteractivisionin 1989.Thisnaval
simulatoronlyneededonetrack,though.My
firstfull-lengthscorewasforSub-Terraniaon
theSegaMegaDrive/Genesis.
You were friends with the guys who formed IO,
and you ended up scoring Hitman.
I co-founded a game company with the IO
founders called Zyrinx and we made Sub-
Terrania and Red Zone for the Sega Mega
Drive and Scorcher for the Sega Saturn
and PC. I also wrote the score for AMOK by
Lemon, another IO founder’s company. During
the Zyrinx years we all lived together in
Copenhagen, Boston, Hollywood and finally
NewYorkCity.Eventuallytheteamwent
backtoCopenhagentostartIO Interactive
andI decidedtostayin NYandfocusonmy
composingcareer.Weremaingoodfriends
andI amstillworkingwithmostofthemand
theircompanyRetoMoto.Whataretheparticularandunique
challengesin composingforgames,as
opposedtofilmandTV?
In gamesyouoftenhavespecificdynamic
momentslastingmuchlonger.Youcanstay
in combatfortwotothreeminutes,suspense
fora fewminutes,thenexplorationforten
minutes,etc.Witha filmthosespecific
momentsI justmentionedcouldallbepartof
a 30-secondscene,sogamescanbea deep
diveintodifferentemotions.Usuallyin film
andTVthethemesarewhereyouhavethe
deepdive.It’salsoveryimportantformusicto
tellthestoryandbetheemotionofthestory;themusicfollowsyou along on a journey.
In gamesthegameplay needs to work first,
butsometimesin film the scene won’t work
untilthemusicadds the proper emotion and
depth.Ofcourse,if you score the game like
a filmandonlyscore key cinematic moments
orcutscenesthereis no difference from film
andTV.Butthenyou’re missing a whole other
layerofscoringgames to fully immerse the
playerin theexperience.Atwhatpointdidyou decide to focus on
gamemusic?
Whenlivingin NewYork I decided not to move
backhometoCopenhagen when my friends
wentbacktofoundIO Interactive. I wanted to
focuspurelyonthemusic and was fortunate
toscoreMDK2forBioWare, Messiah for Shiny/
InterplayandHitman: Codename 47 for IO
Interactive/Eidos.Those games helped put
meonthemap,I guess, since more work
cameoutofthesecollaborations.Whenyou’retaskedwith scoring a particular
game,canyoutakeus through your own
creativeprocessin deciding where to start,
throughtowhatkind of mood you need to set
andtheinstrumentation you want to use?
Sure.Whenscoringgames I think like a
gamerandreallytryto write something that
connectswiththeperson playing the game.
It’sveryimportantto find an original sound,
toconnectwithsomething unexpected and
uniquesothemusicsounds like it will only fit
thatonespecificgame. If the score sounds
likeit couldfita number of games in the
samegenre,I feelthe music is missing an
opportunitytoreachthe maximum immersive
depth,tohitonanatmosphere, a mood that
reallymakestheexperience memorable. I
wanttoconnectwith the DNA of the game,
tobecomepartofthe team. This is how I
writemyfilmscoresas well. To really connect
withthedirectorofa project can become
sucha creativelyrewarding experience; it’s
likeyoubecomein-tune with the experience
youhelpcreate.In film, close collaboration
with the director is the normal approach,
but on triple-A games it can sometimes feel
like you are a bit further away from the main
creative force, since you often work with an
audio department and not a game designer
or director. So the most important thing is to
get a good conversation going, which really
helps define where to start. After that, I take
in all the art and material that is available
and then the experimentation starts. When I
have something I’m ready to share, I send theTHE BIG INTERVIEW
Jesper’s current favourite game is Subnautica as he says he is “a sucker for open-world games and water games”
ABOVE Jesper has
worked with a
range of game
genres, from
fantasy epics to
modern day
thrillers.
RIGHT Assassin’s
Creed 2’s
soundtrack is
some of Jesper’s
best work.058 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE