Jesper Kyd

Jesper Jakobson Kyd (born 1972) is a Danish-born video game and film score composer who was acclaimed for composing music for the Hitman series.

Biography

Early life

Jesper Jakobson Kyd was born in Hørsholm, Denmark on 3 February 1972. By age 14, during the early days of video games, Kyd, together with his friends began composing and experimenting with 8-bit music. They made demos for the European market, demonstrating what the Commodore 64 and Amiga could do. Essentially creating small music videos on them.

In 1992, Kyd co-founded the video game developer Zyrinx which was later bought by publisher Scavenger, Inc. Zyrinx developed Sub-Terrania, Red Zone, and Scorcher before dissolving when Scavenger went bankrupt in 1998.

Assassin's Creed

In 2007, Kyd won a competition ran by Ubisoft for composers. He was then given the opportunity to compose the soundtrack for Assassin's Creed. Kyd sent Ubisoft a demo and the Assassin's Creed creative team chose it as the best out of the other entries. Kyd described the process for creating the soundtrack as hard, as it was the first game they did everything from scratch. Kyd took inspiration from the 21st century aspect and how the Animus works. 3 hours of soundtrack was initially made, differing in all locations and depending on what Altaïr, the protagonist, was doing. The 3 hours of score was eventually cut down to only 40 minutes. Kyd was able to instill his immersive style and cinematic scoring techniques into the game's interior meditation and stealth modes, while also capturing the action, combat and escape sequences with measured tone that crescendos into a fast-paced fervor. Assassin's Creed was then released on 14 November 2007.

After the success of the first game, selling over 8 million copies by 2009, the Assassin's Creed franchise began. Ubisoft quickly starting developing a sequel, Assassin's Creed II and brought Kyd back to compose the soundtrack. Assassin's Creed II, now set in Renaissance-era Italy with a different protagonist, Ezio, needed a different sound for the score. Kyd was also given much more creative freedom as they had learned from the creation of the first and experimented more with the music. Ubisoft did not want authentic Renaissance-era as they thought it would bore the players, instead instructing Kyd to modernize it slightly.

Jesper's deviation from the first game's soundtrack was to reflect the change in character, story and setting for the sequel. The score's new direction was that of adventure and drama, crafted with a melodic, acoustic and progressive musical palette. Assassin's Creed II was then released on 17 November 2009.

In 2010, Kyd returned again to compose the soundtrack for the third game in the series, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. This was confirmed by producer Vincent Pontbriand in an interview with UGDB.com. The score for Brotherhood called for a more dark theme to reflect the antagonistic House of Borgia and their aspirations. Kyd lent more into actual Renaissance music for the score also, drawing more inspiration from the era. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was then released on 16 November 2010.

In 2011, Kyd composed the sountrack for Assassin's Creed: Revelations, which he shared credit with composer Lorne Balfe. During this arrangement, Kyd composed the background music for the single-player portion of the game, while Balfe handled the main theme, the single-player cutscenes, and the music for the game's multiplayer.

Kyd did not return for Assassin's Creed III, released on 30 October 2012, for which the sole composer was Lorne Balfe. Kyd cited the reason being, was that Assassin's Creed III was going in another direction, and having being happy with the four titles he'd composed left the next one completely in Balfe's capable hands.

In 2019, on the 10th anniversary of the release of Assassin's Creed II, Kyd released 17 previously unreleased tracks via his SoundCloud. Many are alternate variants of the existing tracks from the soundtrack.

In May 2020, Jesper Kyd was announced to be returning as composer for the soundtrack for Assassin's Creed Valhalla alongside Sarah Schachner, who previously composed the soundtracks for Assassin's Creed: Origins, and a new composer, Einar Selvik, who had previously composed for the television series Vikings.

Assassin's Creed works

Assassin's Creed (2007) City of Jerusalem Flight Through Jerusalem Spirit of Damascus Trouble In Jerusalem Acre Underworld Access the Animus Dunes of Death Masyaf In Danger Meditation Begins Meditation of the Assassin The Bureau Assassin's Creed II (2009) Earth (Heart) Venice Rooftops Ezio's Family Florence Tarantella Home In Florence Approaching Target 1 Approaching Target 2 Venice Fight Florence Escape Tour Of Venice Flight Over Venice Back In Venice Dream Of Venice Home Of The Brotherhood Leonardo's Inventions Part 1 Venice Combat Low Venice Escape Darkness Falls In Florence Sanctuary The Madam Approaching The Target 3 Flight Over Venice 2 Ezio In Florence Venice Industry Stealth Venice Combat Notorious Night Mission In Venice Chariot Chase The Plague Wetlands Combat Wetlands Escape Leonardo's Inventions Part 2 Hideout The Animus 2.0 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010) Master Assassin City of Rome Cesare Borgia Flags of Rome The Brotherhood Escapes Brotherhood of Assassins The Pantheon Villa Under Attack Echoes of the Roman Ruins Borgia Tower Borgia Occupation Roman Underworld Countdown Borgia - The Rulers of Rome Ezio Confronts Lucrezia Battle in Spain Fight of the Assassins Desmond Miles VR Room Apple Chamber Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011) Animus Island The Wounded Eagle The Noose Tightens Welcome to Kostantiniyye The Crossroads of the World No Mistakes The Traitor Ambush Byzantium Nova Roma Templar Occupation On the Attack Yerebatan Cistern Fight or Flight Galata Tower Die By the Blade Forum of Ox Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (2020) Main Theme Out of the North Shadow-Walker Leofirth’s Honor Kingdom of East Anglia Plains of East Anglia Reflections in East Anglia The Bounteous Earth Valhalla Nights Bifrost Silent Ambush Fulke's Destiny Leaving Valhalla Kingdom of Wessex Nightfall in Wessex Clouds Over Northumbria The Frozen North Nott Animus Anomaly Son of Fjord Absence of Light Loki’s Return Holmgang The Well of Wyrd Absence of Light The End of The World East Anglia on Horseback Visions on a Mountain Peak Unearthing Unharmed Go Forth The Hidden Truth Encounter in the Woodlands Jotunheim Cordelia's Vengeance The Wanderer Spirit of the Raven Closing In on the Kill Raids and Pillage Rued vs Oswald Sons of the Great North The Helm of Awe Return to Norway The Norse Giants Beserker Arcane Memories Goodwin's Honor Sunstones Peak of the Mountains Alpha Animals Dagr The Present Ezio's Family - Ascending to Valhalla

External links

• Official Jesper Kyd forum
• Official website
• Jesper Kyd at RAWG
• Jesper Kyd at Mobygames