Jesper Kyd is one of the longest-running game composers, producing great music for over three decades. He has worked on the Assassin’s Creed series, the Borderlands series, the classic Genesis shooter Lower Terrania, Gears of War, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theoryand many others.
In the following conversation with Polygon as part of our week-long look at the crossover of games and music, Polygon FM, Kyd described his memories of the early days of game music on the Commodore 64, his influences and working process on the Assassin’s Creed games, and the importance of atmosphere when working on game music.
Polygon: Was there a game soundtrack or song that inspired you to start composing game music? Can you describe how that felt for you and why the music was so impactful?
Jesper Kyd: I fell in love with game music on the Commodore 64 in 1985. Video game music was revolutionized on the Commodore 64. The analog sound chip in the C64 allowed composers to create atmosphere and emotion, and a new style of music was born, now known as chiptune or chip music. The most popular game soundtracks of that time were The last V8, parallax, Magic Ball, Mutants, Light power, Warhawkand many more.
parallax featured a 12-minute Martin Galway masterpiece in the main title. The first time I heard that, I probably fell in love with game music. The amount of soul and creativity put into something that easily could’ve been a one-minute loop was so awakening to me. I thought, “Here’s someone giving everything they’ve got and putting a piece of their soul into this music.” That became my mantra, and I’ve been working on my own music with that philosophy ever since. Capturing the core essence of the game while adding a piece of your own soul is what I try to do when inventing new styles of music for games.
When I start a new project, I don’t know how my music will mix with other styles – like the Italian Renaissance, for example. Assassin’s Creed 2 — until I actually start working on the score and blending my musical style with the new project. In many ways, the music starts with a blank canvas and then I decide what elements I’m going to bring in and blend with my writing style. So for me, it’s also very exciting to hear how this new style of music will end up sounding. I’m a huge fan of this approach of starting with a blank slate (does it need dance music or maybe a symphonic score with live orchestra or maybe a folk music approach etc.) so every time I start a new score it adds so much excitement to see where the music will take me this time. I believe this raw emotion of excitement is one of the things that allows me to draw from a huge unlimited well of creativity to draw from for each new score. But it requires me to always be working on new projects to make it work best. I’ve taken this approach with Hitman, Assassin’s Creed, Borderland, State of decay, Darksiders 2, War Hammer: [End Times -] vermin, Dune: Spice War, Tumbbad, [Raid: Call of the Arbiter], Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, State of Decay 3and many more.
Can you describe one of your own songs and its influences? Was it inspired by game soundtracks, other music or something else?
[“Ezio’s Family” in Assassin’s Creed 2 was] inspired by the tragic death of Ezio’s father and two brothers, who were publicly hanged in the town square because his father was associated with the Assassin Brotherhood. This moment defines Ezio’s life; it is a cornerstone of his development and we are with him as this happens. I felt in that moment that I needed to understand his mindset to best represent Ezio and so ‘Ezio’s Family’ was a composition that embodied the tragic events in that life and became the centerpiece of the rest of the score. It allowed me to find a way into his world and the rest of the score was built around it.
What were the main instruments used to record the soundtrack of the Assassin’s Creed series? What criteria did you use to select these instruments?
The most important instruments [have changed] for each of the five Assassin’s Creed scores I wrote. For AC1The [cities] of Akko and Damascus each had their own instrument sets and Jerusalem was a melting pot of both. Akko featured a live choir with religious chants, guitar and violin-like string instruments as well as piano, harp, flutes, fiddle and some orchestral instruments. Damascus delved deep into the ethnic instruments of the Middle East such as ney flute, buzuq, oud, duduk and percussion such as tabla, doumbek, frame drums etc. This also related to the three keywords the team gave me: mysticism, war and tragedy (of the Third Crusade). These elements were also carefully woven together [sic] into the score. Also, the Animus and its effect on the music needed to be established, and I thought of it as a filter that all the music goes through, filtering and distorting the instruments and soloist performances. Also, the scenes where Altair is chased across rooftops and the screen tears up as the Animus was pushed to its limits, and this is where the music style changed to science fiction music, incorporating beats and synths with an orchestra mixed in.
For Assassin’s Creed 2I worked with Renaissance-inspired instruments, opera and vocal artists, as well as a live orchestra, choir and synthesizers, with an emphasis on a more youthful and playful sound following the heyday of Ezio and his adventures.
AC Brotherhood was a more masculine and aggressive sound and was written around the concept of Ezio as a master assassin, while stylistically sharing many of the same instrument inspirations as Assassin’s Creed 2The game felt very much like a spiritual sequel Assassin’s Creed 2. The Borgia family played a big part in the story and they were represented by an ultra bass choir recorded in a church. We also recorded a lot of drums here and one of my favorite recordings [was] We waved the Renaissance flags in sync to create a cool, windy beat with a great church atmosphere. This music plays when you climb a huge castle and also move around secretly inside it. It turned out really cool.
For Assassin’s Creed Revelationsmy music was strongly inspired by Greek music, which was the dominant musical style in Constantinople at the time. This led me on a journey where I played with bouzouki, hammer instruments such as zithers, dulcimers and the huge cimbalom, as well as Greek percussion, slide bass, guitarviol, [and] ethereal and ancient-inspired vocal performances.
The first four Assassin’s Creed games used a similar recipe for the Animus and its influence on the music. Live performances are tweaked and altered, and the music generally includes light electronic instruments and elements to give the score a “sci-fi touch”.
For Assassin’s Creed ValhallaI have acquired a lot of old instruments, some of them over 100 years old. Viking instruments like the tagelharpa, the tagelharpa cello, the rebec, the lyre, all kinds of horns and also some violins, cellos and clarinets that were played in unusual ways. And then male folk singing and strong, powerful female singing.
The idea this time was based on the concept of being outside in vast areas with mountains, hills, rivers and so on. I decided to challenge the more city-based approach of my previous Assassin’s Creed scores and create a style of music inspired by the Norse gods. The Vikings were heavily inspired by their belief system and I decided to make this the core of the score. So when you explore the world as a Viking, the score fills you with a sense of wonder and mystery. We also recorded a lot of instruments literally outside to add extra sounds to the recordings. In addition, the Animus influence was reinvented and I decided to play the live instruments myself and base the entire score on those live performances. So no electronic elements or synths to symbolize the Animus. After the live performances were recorded, I had my foundation and then started to heavily filter and tweak them. Then we recorded with drummers to get authentic drums and percussion. This modern approach became the Animus influence and this approach of playing most of the instruments myself was a first for me.
Is there anything else we should know about your approach to composing video game music?
Emotion and atmosphere are the key ingredients I work with, as are harmony and melody. For me, both are equally important. For example, in the Empire theme for Warhammer 40,000: Darktideit’s important to get the glorious feel of the theme right, of course, but bringing in the underlying atmosphere of anarchy, pride, the hive city, the religiously untouchable empire… all of that goes a long way in transforming a classical-sounding choral performance into a grim, far-future sci-fi world ruled by the Emperor of Mankind.
All of the music choices in this track are from a distant future where there is perpetual war. You might not notice these elements at first, but it’s all about creating a certain mood for the theme to live in. And it might take a few listens to realise the reasons behind the instrument choices etc. and that goes back to what I mentioned about creating music without oversimplification and designing it for repeated listening.
