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Hitman 2 Composer aims at pleasing gamers’ ears; hits the bull’s eye

by Louis Bedigian

 

Jesper Kyd has composed music for some of the hottest games, including Hitman 2, Brute Force and MDK2.  We chat with Jesper to learn more about his exciting career and his amazing accomplishments.

 

 

 

Video games are my passion, but another I found

Is one comprised of nothing

Nothing but sound

 

Many songs have pushed devotion

While others have caused extreme emotion

 

Music is full of memories

Unique worlds and fantasies

 

Music is enjoyable again and again

Whether you are a lizard, or a hitman

 

Music can also enhance the gameplay

Like the wonderful sound of MDK!

 

I never thought I’d cry at music, but I confess, I did!

Now here is an interview with Hitman 2 composer, Jesper Kyd

 

 

What type of music did the developers want Hitman 2 to have?


Jesper Kyd: They were looking for a big, heroic & bombastic symphony score. When Eidos heard the score they decided to release 15000 promotional soundtrack CDs in Europe and the US. Only the orchestral music was included on this CD. After H2 was released a label called LynneMusic released the official soundtrack, which includes bonus tracks that never made it into the game as well as tracks from Hitman Codename 47. Links for buying this CD can be found at my web site - www.jesperkyd.com


Was it tough achieving that particular sound?
 

JK: Working out the different influences from around the world and making these influences work with heroic and bombastic elements was a challenge. For example, Japanese music is typically not heroic. Also, writing the music for the Sicily levels was tough, since I didn’t want to include any typical Godfather-like elements. I work on making my scores sound different. To me, that keeps everything fresh and original.


Who were the vocalists who performed the main title theme for Hitman 2, and what was it like working with them?
 

JK: We used the Hungarian Radio Choir for the choir performances. This choir is simply fantastic and very easy to work with.

Did you have involvement with the creation of Hitman 2's sound effects? (If yes, please provide some details)
 

JK: No, I am a music composer only.

Are there any rituals you perform or any specific things that you do before or during composing a song?
 

JK: Not really. There are specific ways of writing I use, to make sure I keep the music sounding different. If you need to write music fast and efficient, there are things you can do to make the writing process go faster. Filling up your brain with enough inspiration and ideas to write a complete score, will make writing a soundtrack go faster and more smoothly. I try to avoid struggling too much with the scores, and if I can find some new experiment to try out for every track I write, I will have maximum fun writing it, since I constantly learn something new.
 

One of Brute Force's most impressive aspects was its soundtrack. What was that experience like, working on a game that was being billed as the next Halo?
 

JK: It was a great experience. I don’t pay to much attention to hype though, since I don’t want to end up putting unwanted pressure on myself.


For Minority Report, were you given the chance to sample any of John Williams' music from the film, or were all of the songs composed from the ground up?
 

JK: No, there is no John Williams music in the game. I was asked to come up with original music. The music style is very different from John Williams, since it’s dance and ambient music.


You've composed music for two of Shiny's hottest titles, MDK 2 and Messiah. Would you like to work with Shiny again someday?
 

JK: I would love to, if they need a custom-written score. The Matrix uses lots of licensed music and many of the orchestral themes from the films appear in the game score. I am interested in pushing game music to the limits, and in order to do so, I feel we need to create our own custom-made music for games. Game music budgets can’t compete with the music budgets of major Hollywood films, and I don’t like when people say it sounds almost as good as a film score. I believe game scores can be just as good as film scores, if we stop imitating film music and do our own original music.

Has it been weird at all to go from writing music for game systems with very weak sound (like the Commodore 64) to technologically advanced PCs and game consoles?
 

JK: Not weird, no. I have been writing CD based music since I was 14. When I did C64 music, I was also writing CD music with synths. So I have been writing CD based music from the beginning. I have always wanted to end up using CD based music for games, and I knew one day this kind of music would end up being used in game systems. PC games and the Sega CD started using CD music years ago. I have always felt that working on my CD music was the most important. Back in the beginning of consoles, every time a new game machine came out, you had to learn all these new memory fitting tricks (how to make the music fit in memory using way to many samples or simply making files that are to big fit into the limited memory). Many of the programming tricks (and music software) you would learn on C64, Amiga or Genesis would then go to waste when switching to a new console. But CD based music will stay the same and the technical skills you learn here will stay with you.


What would you say is the most difficult song you've ever had to compose?
 

JK: The most difficult song...well, most of them are actually difficult. I don't stop tweaking my music until I am happy with it, and it takes a lot of problem solving to get to that point :) Writing music fast under heavy deadlines are tough, when being very critical. So I guess the hardest would have to be tracks where a deadline is looming. MDK2 was tough to write, because of the deadline. Also, my latest film score (Night All Day) was quite a challenge, since there was so much music to write. The director had taken all his favourite music and used it in the film as temp music. I suddenly had to compete with everything from Metallica & Chemical Brothers music to classical, lounge, beach, suspense, action, techno and comedy style music. And all this music was done by some of the best bands in their field. This score ended up around 60-70 tracks and the finished score is about 2 hours.


Are you at liberty to share any details with us about your next projects, McFarlane's Evil Prophecy and Freedom Fighters?

 

JK: The Freedom Fighters score is performed by the Hungarian Radio Choir. The choir sings lyrics written in Russian Latin and these performances are mixed with electronics, beats & synths. The score is both heroic and dark. The invading army has its own themes and the freedom fighters also have their own music. The score includes more than one hour of music.


McFarlane’s Evil Prophecy is a symphonic action score. Each of the 6 different worlds has it’s own set of action tracks. I mixed the orchestral tracks with all kinds of rhythmic elements. From tribal to Middle-Eastern. From minor dance beats to heavy techno beats. The orchestral music goes from dark and scary to heroic with choir elements. Everything is quite fast and the score includes about 29 tracks.

 

Thank you for your time.


Jesper Kyd's Official Website:
www.jesperkyd.com

Hitman 2 US TV Commercial - Music by Jesper Kyd (as seen on The Comedy Channel, G4TV, MTV, TNN, The Sci Fi Channel, USA Network and VH1) - http://downloads.gamezone.com/demos/d9884.htm

Buy Hitman 2 Official Soundtrack -
http://www.gamemusic.com/dept/101/cat.asp?dept=101&cat=10261&uid=5035200205023321
 

Official Hitman 2 Trailer (Music by Jesper Kyd) -
http://downloads.gamezone.com/demos/d7289.htm
 

Official Brute Force Trailer (Music by Jesper Kyd) -
 http://downloads.gamezone.com/demos/d9885.htm