Interview with Jesper Kyd, Composer of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

Published October 29, 2007

Jesper Kyd's stunningly original and emotional musical score for Hitman™: Blood Money earned him IGN's 2006 Best Original Score, as well as nominations from organizations as disparate as MTV, Gamespot, and the Game Audio Network Guild, among others. Jesper has also lent his musical mastery to Ubisoft's much anticipated Assassin's Creed™, due out November 13.

With the upcoming November 22 release of IO Interactive's cooperative, split-personality shooter Kane & Lynch: Dead Men™, we tracked down Jesper Kyd and asked him about composing music for the game.

How to score for this brooding duo?

Xbox.com: How did you become involved with Kane & Lynch: Dead Men? What was it about the project that intrigued you?

Jesper Kyd: I've been fortunate to work with IO Interactive on all their titles to date, and I was delighted they asked me to write the original score for their next franchise. IO is known to create great stealth and action games such as the Hitman series and Freedom Fighters, so I knew it would be an awesome game.
 
What surprised me was how cinematic Kane & Lynch was. It felt very unique for games, and the project was deeply inspired from the storytelling techniques used in films. This meant that there was a great opportunity to write a score that really connected with the emotional experience and characters within this world. For a full-on action game, that is unusual.

Since I'm a gamer myself I know the effects of good and bad music in a game, so I always aim to write music that not only endures the repetition, but also stands up on its own outside of the game.

Xbox.com: Having worked in both film and videogames, can you talk a little about the challenges unique to composing for games when compared to working on films?

Kyd: There are unique challenges involved in writing for either medium. Above all, you have to really get inside the mindset of the project, as well as understand the medium and the purpose of the music.

In films, you are writing music to a fixed picture. In other words, it never changes. The score often sits further in the background and is then brought out to heighten certain emotions, suspense, and action sequences. In games, however, you are not scoring exclusively to a fixed picture, but to gameplay. The music responds to the player's actions and should then adapt in a seamless way.

The most immersive game scores are at least as demanding to write as film scores. In games, players can listen to this music for hundreds of hours. Since I'm a gamer myself I know the effects of good and bad music in a game, so I always aim to write music that not only endures the repetition, but also stands up on its own outside of the game.

Industrial beats for industrial combat.

Xbox.com: What musical styles can gamers expect to hear throughout their Kane & Lynch experience?

Kyd: Kane & Lynch features a very hard hitting score that borders on industrial music at times. The music is full of screaming noises, distortion and acoustic processed instruments, mixed with percussion and sometimes explosive beats. Yet, it's put together and written in an intensely cinematic way to complement the storyline. This approach ensures that the score doesn't sound like a bunch of licensed rock tracks.

Xbox.com: When during the process for development do you usually get involved with a game? Does it vary, and do you have a preference on which point is best suited for a composer to begin working on a game?

Kyd: I feel it's better to get involved as early as possible. Even if there are no visuals to write for, if you are with the team from the beginning, you get to see the development cycle the game goes through and you will better understand where the game is going and how the score can enhance the experience. It also helps to have time to come up with lots of ideas so when you do start writing the score, you know exactly what to write and how to enhance the game world/experience.

Vertigo anyone?

Xbox.com: Other than the general setting and theme for the game, what elements in a game do you draw inspiration from for the musical score?

Kyd: I try to go deep and find out more about the background story and why things are the way they are. Games are very unique as a medium. Sometimes, visually and story-wise, you have so little to work with and it becomes a challenge to write an interesting score. Other times, you get very little creative direction and then you have to be able to come up with a lot of ideas. In this case, only a composer with considerable game music experience would be able to pull this off and write something of high quality that matches the game.

Xbox.com: With Kane & Lynch so focused on two very disparate personalities, have you tried to musically highlight the differences between the two main characters?

Kyd: Yes, there are different moods and themes for these characters. For example, "Kane's Family Portrait" is Kane's theme which focuses on the regrets he has about the decisions he has made and how they have affected his wife and daughter. It's an emotional dramatic piece that's currently playing at
www.jesperkyd.com. Probably not the kind of music you would typically expect to hear in a game but it's a good example of how we are using music to create drama and cinematic moods inside a desperate, violent world.

Even a psychopath looks better in a suit.

However, most characters are on the screen at the same time so it's difficult to really get a huge amount of music going for each character. The majority of music works for when both characters are on screen doing their thing.
 
Xbox.com: What has been the most rewarding or interesting part of the Kane & Lynch project for you? For example, have you experimented at all with any new sounds, instruments or techniques?
 
Kyd: Yes, there is a lot of experimentation going on when writing something so ultra-violent. The groundwork I did in the early stages of the scoring process was very interesting as I worked on finding the right amount of intensity needed for the score. The Bustout opening scene was some of the first music I wrote, and we kept going more and more aggressive until the score was borderline industrial music. Then we felt we had the color, and I could start creating the entire score.

Xbox.com: How was the recording process handled for Kane & Lynch? Do you handle things one section at a time or all at once with a live orchestra?

Kyd: Kane & Lynch is a very progressive score and there is no orchestra used. Instead, I worked with solo performers such as female vocals, guitars, bass, and chopped up and filtered these recordings to come up with something very hard hitting. This was mixed with a dramatic cinematic scoring approach.

Xbox.com: Thank you so much for your time and we look forward to hearing your work in the game.

We want to thank Jesper Kyd for taking the time out to answer our questions. Expect more Kane & Lynchcoverage as we near the game's release date.

Interview by Ryan Treit