Alexander Brandon (also known as Siren in the demoscene and tracker community, born September 24, 1974) is a US musician, former member of Straylight Productions, who composed music mostly for games produced by Epic Games, or games based on Epic technology, including Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Tyrian, Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and the cancelled game Jazz Jackrabbit 3D. Brandon is also a voice actor, having been cast most recently for the parts of Ancano and Amaund Motierre in the Role Playing Game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Bethesda Game Studios.
Brandon started composing music at the age of 14 when he got an Ad Lib music synthesizer card for Christmas. He worked in several MOD music groups over his composing years in the late 90's, including the Kosmic Free Music Foundation. During that time he also composed for several musicdisks such as Return to Stage 9.
Brandon has built several audio departments, starting with Ion Storm Austin in mid-2000. This was followed with an audio director position at Midway Home Entertainment in San Diego until 2007 when he started the audio department at Obsidian Entertainment. In February 2009 he built the audio department at Heatwave Interactive, also providing business development and overall media management. In April 2010 Alex launched Funky Rustic, an independent audio production studio, working out of Georgetown, Texas.
Video Alexander Brandon
Past nicknames
During his tracker career, Alex has used several nicknames:
- 1995: first tracks released under the name "Chromatic Dragon"
- end of 1995: name changed to "Siren"
- middle of 1996, during KFMF membership: name temporarily changed to "Sandman"
- end of 1996: name changed back to "Siren"
Note that there were several (two or three) tracker musicians around the world, who have used the nickname "Sandman" independently of Alex.
Maps Alexander Brandon
Influences
Alexander Brandon's influences include Peter Gabriel, Dream Theater, Frost*, Andrew Sega, Steve Vai, and Ozric Tentacles, among others.
Personal life
Brandon lives in Georgetown, Texas with his family.
Discography
- AtmosphereS: Cultures (with Dan Gardopée)
- AtmosphereS: Dreams (with George "The Fat Man" Sanger)
- AtmosphereS: Moods (with Dan Gardopée)
- AtmosphereS: Pulses (with Dan Gardopée)
- AtmosphereS: Rhythms (with George Sanger)
- Era's End (with Bryan Rudge)
- Earthscape
- Violet Eclectic
- Just Fun
The AtmosphereS albums generally contain ambient music, one of Brandon's major composing styles. Era's End showcases several other styles including pop and rock.
Video game credits
- Tyrian: Composer, level designer, writer
- Tyrian 2000: Composer
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2: Music
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2 : The Secret Files Music
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2 : Holiday Hare 98 Music
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2 : The Christmas Chronicles Music
- Jazz Jackrabbit 3: Music (canceled game)
- Extreme Pinball: Sound effects
- Unreal: Music (with Michiel van den Bos and minor contributions by Dan Gardopée and Andrew Sega)
- Unreal Mission Pack: Return to Na Pali: Music (with Michiel van den Bos)
- Unreal Tournament: Music (with Dan Gardopée, Michiel van den Bos, and Andrew Sega)
- Vigilante 8: Nintendo 64 Music (with Dan Gardopée)
- Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense: Nintendo 64 Music (with Dan Gardopée)
- Dark Vengeance: Music
- Pretzel Pete: Music (with Dan Gardopée)
- NARC: Audio manager
- Deus Ex: Music (with Michiel van den Bos and minor contributions by Dan Gardopée)
- Deus Ex: Invisible War: Audio Director, sound effects, music, VO
- Thief: Deadly Shadows: VO, cinematic post sound effects
- Activision Anthology GBA: Title music
- Unreal 2: Additional music (with Clint Bajakian, Jack Wall and Crispin Hands)
- Battlestar Galactica Xbox: In-game music
- Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows: Audio Director, VO, music, sound effects
- Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run: Audio Director, VO, additional music
- Hour of Victory: Audio director, VO
- TouchMaster DS: Audio Director
- Rampage Gamecube, Wii: Audio Director
- Happy Feet: Audio Director
- The Ant Bully: Audio Director
- Marvel Ultimate Alliance GBA: Music conversion
- Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer: Audio Director, VO, music, sound effects
- Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir: Audio Director
- Alpha Protocol: Audio Direction (with Scott Lawlor), contributed music, VO, sfx
- iSamJackson: Audio Director
- Aliens: Colonial Marines: Sound design (with Gearbox Software) and music integration
- Bejeweled 3: Co-composer (with Peter Hajba)
- DC Universe Online: VO (Black Lightning, Black Adam, General Zod, Major Force, Cyborg)
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: VO (Ancano, Amaund Motierre)
- Dust: An Elysian Tail: Composer (with Chris Geehan and Dan Byrne-McCullough)
- Unreal Tournament
- Voidrunner
- Wasteland 2: Sound Design (with Levon Louis and Chris Keenan)
- Five: Guardians of David: Composer (with Chance Thomas)
- Torment: Tides of Numenera: Audio Direction, Sound Design and Implementation
- Aven Colony: Music and Sound Design
- Untitled Retro Studios Title
Books
- Brandon, Alexander (2004). Audio for Games: Planning, Process, and Production. New Riders. ISBN 978-0-7357-1413-7.
References
External links
- Developer Bio at Gamasutra
- Developer Bio at MobyGames
- Musicography and tracks collection for 1995-1999 (Chromatic Dragon / Siren period)
- Musicography for 1995-2002 (incomplete)
- Alexander Brandon discography at MusicBrainz
- Alexander Brandon on IMDb
- Artist profile at OverClocked ReMix
Interviews
- "Interview with Alexander Brandon". MotherShip Server: Kemmerer, Peter (June 31, 1999)
- "Interview with Alex Brandon". DeusEx-Machina.com: (Jan. 2001)
- "Alexander Brandon Interview: Going Solo". Game Music Online (November 1, 2007)
- "Epic Composer Interview: Alexander Brandon". Epic Games (May 16, 2012, archived)
- "PC classic commentary: Tyrian 2000 with Alexander Brandon". PC Gamer (July 3, 2014)
Source of article : Wikipedia
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