Jesper Kyd Documentary - Bound to Sound | Gameumentary

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During our recent trip to California, we took an extra day to go visit Jesper Kyd at his studio to get the footage we needed for our upcoming documentary on Darksiders.
We ended up filming a full doc on him. This is the story of Jesper Kyd's journey to becoming a renowned video game composer.
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[@BLISS_24x7]

If the hitman contracts music would have given to a film score.. That score would have won oscar for Best original score

[@hadinazzal3561]

MAD Lab Yes !

[@rooost9856]

So would silent assassin

[@ps895]

And blood money

[@tedthecommenter5364]

Contracts is my favourite soundtrack of all time. Winter Night...

[@fuckoff9182]

@@tedthecommenter5364 ayy

[@Knightkrawla34]

Adventures of Batman and Robin will forever be my favorite soundtrack from Jesper Kyd

[@kanolemaster]

The best

[@Andragorans]

Same here, man!

[@DodderingOldMan]

Possibly the most impressive soundtrack on the Mega Drive/Genesis. Jesper Kyd is up there with Yuzo Koshiro in terms of the sophisication and intensity he can get out of the Mega Drive's sound capabilities.

[@ByronWWW]

That's what brought me here, playing that game hooked up to a decent hifi, I just left it on the title screen for 20mins listening, absolutely amazed at what the mega drive could sound like.

[@pryda_mau5]

The best composer in the world

[@AbrarSikandar]

woah , dude i am great fan of jesper kyd . i made vegas music from hitman blood money my phone ringtone

[@Hitman47451512]

Specially hitman 2 soundtracks!!! ❤

[@morettisezap]

I miss your soundtrack on AC

[@joshuaortmeyer291]

Emanuele Moretti And I miss him too in Hitman :(

[@ShitOwl]

@@joshuaortmeyer291 damn straight my fav hitman was blood money also my fav hitman ost

[@yaswantha.1468]

@GN Online Gaming yeah mane lol

[@kollinlorenzo3287]

@GN Online Gaming the only good news ive got in 2020

[@dustin_echoes]

Ubisoft needs to bring back Jesper Kyd to Assassin's Creed! I don't understand why they just stopped hiring him after the Ezio trilogy. The music after that was sometimes good, but it never clicked with me like Jesper's music did.

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

As much as I love the Black Flag score I agree.

[@wale9d]

Exactly my thoughts.

[@Aegis_Mind]

Odyssey may have the best music since the ‘Jesper days’ tbh. Love what they did in Odyssey

[@phlegios]

IMO, everything after 1, 2, and Brotherhood sucks balls. Revelations had like a couple of compositions that were average at best (including the weeping lady theme song of the game), AC3 had that popular main theme (Lorne Balfe - Main Theme) and nothing else, well, there was this another one that you hear at the start of the game when you're on the ship, on your way to Boston (playing as Haytham -- some sort of sea shanty); same with AC: Black Flag - just the Theme Song, nothing else grabs your attention, well, maybe except for a couple of combat state compositions, but that's pretty much it. And the rest of AC games don't even have strong theme songs, everything is just meh at best. Maybe that's me being picky (choosy?), but, IMO, a good soundtrack is when your game has at least -- at least ~25% to 50% of memorable tracks and the rest is just ambient, sort of low-key music that is there but you don't pay attention to it. And nowadays, it seems most games, if not all, have 90% ambient, 5% (which is usually 1-3 good tracks), and another 5% is just some crap that audio director decided to include for god knows what reason.

[@Aegis_Mind]

Daniel Maxton you listen to odyssey at all?

[@wysiwyg2006]

his AC scores will to me always be some of the best scores made for a game. they are phenomenal.

[@8Paul7]

Jesper really needs to come back to Hitman, lack of his music was the biggest flaw of Hitman 2016. Also, Jesper is fucking brilliant. Darksiders 2 and Hitman OSTs are my favourites by him.

[@douchebagel93]

Ya, Hitman 2016 is a great return to form for the Hitman series. The only thing really missing is Jesper Kyd's scores. :(

[@pneuma9983]

Darksiders 2 soundtrack is soooo good

[@Grandmastergav86]

Did fantastic work on AC1 & 2 too. My personal favourite is his Hitman 2 (2002) soundtrack.

[@Grandmastergav86]

@@pneuma9983 Maker's theme alone is sublime.

[@szeltovivarsydroxan9944]

Good lord, he made the Darksiders 2 OST? No wonder I was so mesmerized by that music!

[@mrzeebub5284]

Jesper Kyd is amazing. I love his work, old and new.

[@MasterLinkuei]

You kicked some serious asses with Adventures of Batman and Robin, Subterranea and Red Zone!

[@thehumbleone1983]

Yeah love it 👍👍👍👍👍

[@KobatheASMRbiker]

This really made me quite happy to see Jesper Kyd explain his music and his experience! Ive been a huge fan of him ever since Hitman, and I always wanted to know more about him and such. This was such a insightful documentary :D

[@Gameumentary]

Glad you enjoyed it! Much more to come on his experience with Darksiders in our upcoming doc on the series :)

[@mrfloppy1952]

Still listening to the Hitman soundtrack to this day. I've gone hiking in the woods to this cos it's simply so otherworldly and a strange comforting feeling to walk in the woods in the rain. Can't put my finger on it but I wish there was more of it. It's almost like a rare music genre.

[@mihaajlovic]

I miss this this guy on Hitman games. Great music that I listen to nowadays remembering those old days playing older Hitman games. Trouble in Russia, Apocalypse, Contracts Main theme, Vegas..... O M G !!!

[@norseca542]

this man singlehandedly created the soul of ac and hitman, what a legend

[@eddyninjaa]

I STILL LISTEN TO '' EZIO'S FAMILLY ''

[@jacobkittipol2546]

BORDERLANDS 2!!! Yeah this guy made the game that much better

[@ariellombi9771]

Jesper Kyd the best composer in history.

[@mynameisnobody3931]

He makes me proud to be a Dane. And also. The music in Borderlands is so so incredible good.. it really touches something in me

[@fallen6060]

Yup same

[@akpablon7]

Freedom Fighters is probably his most underrated soundtrack.

[@MyPratikrocks]

Yes❤️

[@saurabhchandra7205]

which fool has underrated it? It is one of the best ever.

[@LISTEDGames]

I love you Jesper, you brought me so many memories and you made those video games so much better, gave them atmosphere, please return to hitman and assassin creed.

[@mrmrgaming]

Darksiders 2 has one of the greatest scores ever. Its mellow, transcendent, mysterious, with a good dose of epic combat/boss bits. One of the few scores I am happy to listen to on my personal setup. Really hope he is on for DS3.

[@wale9d]

Mark Reed Wish Granted!.

[@gregthesplintercell]

Yeah too bad he didn't do the music for part 3

[@Zer-dv4sk]

The Makers Theme from Darksiders 2 always bring tears to my eyes. It is so beautiful.

[@GameplayandTalk]

Fantastic documentary. Jesper Kyd has always been one of my favorite videogame composers and it was great hearing about how he got to where he is today.

[@gsanchez90]

I love the soundtracks for the Vermintide games. For me it turned an already good game into an amazing game.

[@popolokross444]

such a genius, thank you for making this documentary!

[@Gameumentary]

Thank you for watching it!

[@MijonFlominon]

Beautiful work with Darksiders 2!!!!

[@RohannvanRensburg]

ACII was the one that made him a household name? No way! Contracts and Freedom Fighters did it for me.

[@Hysteria98]

Those Hitman games are what put him on the map, to me. Absolutely fantastic soundtracks- this was such a wonderful interview for one of the best VG composers going strong still, today. Such an eye-opener to hear how virgin he was going into Hitman 2 with an orchestra, because he did it so well! Assassin's Creed II may well be his masterpiece, though. I listen to it still most days and it never gets old. His music did so much for that series and its characters.

[@bagaskarahadjarputra6070]

This guy comes back in AC Valhalla, what a bliss to have him again

[@JimiJOfficial]

Man, so cool to hear a lengthy interview from Jesper Kyd, thanks for this! His & Jeremy Soule's OSTs are among my favourites, been listening to them for years

[@mateuszpiwonski7947]

Couldn't wait for him to mention Darksiders 2, absolutely TOP 10 Game OSTs of all time on my list. It seems like he has the same feeling about it. Mr. Kyd- you and Mr. Soule are my personal heroes, love you. Merry Christmas by the way :)

[@BallyBoy95]

Ezio's theme always gives me goosebumps. Takes quite a talent to pull that off. Thank you to Jesper Kyd and the vocalist who pulled off those notes so seamlessly.

[@pneuma9983]

Darksider 2 is probably one of my favorite video game soundtracks of all time!

[@UltraCodex66]

Cannot praise him enough for his contribution to the Borderlands soundtracks

[@oreosplease4076]

This guy is Fantastic but he so Underrated :(

[@sensitivebeats5518]

Nah, not really. It looks so, because he didn't make AAA games for a long time now...that's why. His last AAA games were "Borderlands Pre Sequel and "Darksiders 2".

[@cizzlebot]

This man is a musical legend when it comes to video games. I have so much respect for all of his work. Always looking forward to more from Jesper! :)

[@emiliogoncalvezsouth]

I'm still listening some of your musics 25 years after you made them...in my car, thx you a lot

[@armanimani5779]

Adventures of Batman and Robin soundtrack on genesis is gaming perfection. Thank you Jesper for creating the joy in my childhood

[@djfull4442]

MDK2 score and production should be documented, protected and studied. Its amount of great musical ideas, the ways to make them fit without clashing, and technology to introduce new sounds are all source of knowledge which should not be forgotten.

[@llpropane197ll]

Freedom Fighters was a badass game thanks to Kyd's score. Great video

[@VarlamDWMA]

I have played Darksiders 2 and the interlude hit me so hard, i went to the internet to find out who made it. It was Him, again. After astonishing Hitman classic. I had goosebumps while riding a horse as Death accompanied by Guardian theme. I love your music Jesper Kyd. Its deep.

[@OdinPerez]

One of the best interviews i've ever seen. Jesper Kyd is both a genius and an idol absolutely indispensable for the medium.

[@58632hhhh]

Love this guy's music he's a genius of his craft and looking forward to the Darksiders video it's my all time favorite video game franchise.

[@pneuma9983]

Same

[@ChrisGuru74]

He was already a legend when I started making my own musics on Amiga. That was back in 1992 or 1993. He is one of the greatest talents of the world. Hardwired Demo track still gives me chills.

[@ilovebiscuits7771]

Hearing a talented composer like him talking about music, it makes me feel as if music isn't just an art and a passion but also a science and a mindset of its own. Brilliant, just brilliant!

[@Matstarx25]

Im amazed by the fact that this man is danish like me and that i have never heard of him on TV or anything. Totally underrated and underexposed composer.

[@tylerisangry2444]

waiting for tumbbad soundtracks to be released. "the birth of hastar" still echoing inside my head..just closing my eyes..and im back in the goddess womb. thankyou jesper sir for giving background score for tumbbad which takes the movie to a whole new level. Infinite love from indian cinema. thankyou so much jesper sir.

[@BY-yb3vs]

It's released now...

[@doctorwho01]

Jesper kyd composed for that movie? Really? Gotta watch it now

[@ryanbarryaudio]

This was awesome. Thank you Gameumentary!

[@scrustle]

Very cool interview. I'm a big fan of this guy's work on Darksiders. I'm kind of surprised that he said it was a very personal score for him. Even though I like it a whole lot, I kind of assumed it wouldn't be. Looking forward to the full Darksiders documentary too.

[@Gameumentary]

He goes into much more detail into that statement in the content we have saved for the Darksiders documentary. Really cool insight into how he developed the soundtrack for the game.

[@hemmelight]

Jesper is an inspiration - thanks so much for this interview! Also, hot damn - a super clean CS80. @_@

[@Mr.SmashKab]

Wow Jesper, thanks for sharing this about your life. :O I love the work you did with Zyrinx, Sub-Terrania was a huge stand out from my child hood. Later in life when I became a musician, I went back through that 16bit era of your work and I remember listening to the hard-title variation in Red Zone and being completely floored how it was a 10 min+ composition with some crazy dynamic arcs. The path I've taken in music is so different than yours but, your work with Zyrinx has inspired me so much. The feeling I get from Sub-Terrania, Red Zone, and The Adventures of Batman and Robin soundtracks are SO REAL. 20:53 I had a game moment when I killed the Dragon creature in 'Enemy Mines Level 4" and it started raining and flashing lightening in the background and that song!!! Okay, I'm done gushing. lol

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

Comments like this give me life. I love seeing people show their inspirations appreciation. I've gushed at Matt Uelmen in the past so I know the feel. :)

[@Zhixalom]

Back then in the 80s with the Commodore Amiga demoscene. When ever I encountered a Demo from Silents and with Jesper Kyd in the credits, I just knew the music would be awesome. Thanks to Jesper for some great memories and thanks to Gameumentary for putting a face and a person behind the name for me :)

[@odeplugged]

“Phantasm” is one of the BEST songs I have ever listen to . Thank you very very much for composing that masterpiece of a song. It makes me feel euphoric each time I listen to it 😆

[@DenZEL_Vertigo]

Jesper! You are awesome! One of my fav game ost is the adventures of batman and robin (genesis)... Great work! You rock!!!

[@noripat86]

Thanks for this! Fantastic interview

[@MrAbhishek123456789]

One Of the finest documentaries i have come across ! awesome team !

[@Peterx648]

My most favorite OST from him is Freedom Fighters - probably it has something to do with his speaking when says that he played FF the most during the scoring, I would say it took the effect on the atmosphere of music which actually reflect the sadness and helpless of people being occupied by SSSR. I appreciate his vision and approach to music. I wonder if Jesper will ever cooperate with IO again for creating another great music for Hitman. Jesper's music can really immerse me and wake up the atmosphere and mood to feel with those games.

[@NiimaGh]

Best interview I've ever saw !! God thank you so much Gameumentary !

One of my favorite music producer/composers

[@k0walsk]

So great to see this! Happy to hear Jesper Kyd is returning to AC. Also that synth at the end has such satisfying button clicking sounds

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

Your docs are amazing. Thank you and thank Jesper for sharing so much.

[@Gameumentary]

Thank you for watching!

[@artemsyrota3293]

This documentary is so well done that I couldn't tear off my eyes of it until the end

[@classicsalted]

MAN!!! Underrated Channel!!! Thank God I found it! Good show guys, will recommend to everyone!

[@amentothatt]

Darksiders 2. The best music ever. Salute and my respect to Jesper Kyd

[@maelonais]

Wow, guys, it's fantastic! Thank you for doing such an amazing videos! That's what makes KZbin great c:

[@ccvr6]

Now that we have a Jesper Kyd documentary......we absolutely MUST get one for Yuzo Koshiro! Crossing fingers!!

[@andrzejmisiaszek7836]

Thank you for this interview. Jesper just feels what he has to create. Hire him more :)

[@Cygnus0lor]

Thank you both.

[@anaximander66]

A thrill to watch an interview with the composer for Hitman: Contracts! I love all of Kyd's stuff but that particular album is something really special. It sounds like a nightclub in hell!

[@Daniel-pu9fi]

Blood Money is a masterpiece of a scale beyond any awards.

[@mohamad.h4300]

One of best composers period; thanks for the documentary.

[@UrosSrbija]

Hitman 2 has the best soundtack ever. Even better than GTA VC/SA

Yes, music for Hitman 2 was and is superb. But comparing it to VC\SA would be not smart. Oh, and yeah, Serbia stronk!

[@SalvationCode]

VC/SA was just radio music. Awesome radio music, but it wasn't an original soundtrack. GTA V has an amazingly underrated OST, though. Really missing Jesper in AC these days.

[@bobbyberetta4206]

UrosSrbija adventures of batman & robin on the Genesis has the best soundtrack imo

[@ived_]

Hitman is a legendary game , So if I call legendary , the most important thing is about Music in that ❤️

[@UniverseWillProvide]

Have you heard the Freedom Fighters OST? I think you would like that

[@BlackAera]

Winter Nights from Hitman Contracts is one my favorite tracks.

[@nathansmith4529]

Jesper it is a true atrocity that you didnt return for the new Hitman. What the hell were they thinking replacing the soul of the franchise? Pity.

[@ApexCalibre]

No the true atrocity is not returning to AC, the music in the games nowadays are trash

[@gownerjones]

@@ApexCalibre He's back now. He made the Valhalla score and it shows.

[@ApexCalibre]

@@gownerjones Is there Ambient music in the background again?

[@suhasop4919]

@@ApexCalibre i dont think so

[@ApexCalibre]

@@suhasop4919 Shame. Ever since AC3 exploring cities never felt the same as pre AC3

[@WiresDawson]

i gotta say, i love everything i've ever heard by Jesper Kyd! in my opinion, he's one of the most talented and original composers currently around. hitman 2 silent assassin, hitman contracts, assassin's creed, and ac brotherhood all have some of my favourite soundtracks. incredible interview, thanks for uploading!

[@DiegoMartinez-cz5lq]

Glad to hear he’s back:)

[@jegorwojtowitsch1391]

One of the best game composers ever)) Thank you very much, Jesper!

[@isaacodyss4270]

Great documentary. Jesper Kyd has been an influence and a favourite since the second Hitman game. Thanks

[@Alex7Mode]

Ladies and Gentleman, you are witnessing a genius.

[@georgep4604]

Sir you are a godamn genius! Mr KYD I am not worthy

[@TheJigen]

This man creates godlike atmospheric soundtracks for Borderlands.

[@avanissh12]

Best interview. I miss this man..

[@DarioCorno]

Holy...just discovered that Jesper Kyd ^ Silents composed some of the best video game music I've heard, after writing some of the best demoscene soundtracks I've heard! Keep on with the great work, dude!

[@TheKejjo3]

I personally loved his work in Robotech Invasion, so epic..

[@CKrup]

One of the very few gods of the video game music industry

[@-Pyf-]

I still listen to his amazing work on the Hitman games, god i love those tracks!

[@DaweDelete]

Thank you for this interview, I love the music he had done in Darksiders II and Borderlands franchise. I'm only suprised this video has only 26K views...

[@stuffedmannequin]

Jesper Kyd is right up there are some of the top game composers, with Grant Kirkhope and Koji Kondo and the like. His Hitman tunes filled my teenage years with all sorts of magic.

[@TheTmntmike]

Freedom Fighters - is his best work

[@alnka1974]

Many thanks for this lovely interview guys, I sure hope he returns to making more Hitman scores, cause it has not been the same after Blood Money, I also hope to see you guys one day interview Stewart Chatwood who did the Prince of Persia trilogy soundtrack. Thanks again.

[@mrchiledonut]

Oh, okay. No wonder Darksiders 2's soundtrack sounded like Assassin's Creed to some degree. I was just thinking about this yesterday as I have gone back to Darksiders 2. The soundtrack reminds me of AC2.

[@TempestSwarm]

Aww man Jesper kyd is my favorite video game composer from europe and he did an amazing in borderlands series, Darksiders 2, Battle Chasers: Nightwar & Soul Calibur 5 with he's venice rooftops SC mix. I would love to hear music composed Jesper if namco hiers him for Soul Calibur 6. As well as Cris Velasco & Inon Zur who also worked on Soul Calibur 5.

[@c.edwards4457]

The pre sequel was amazing thanks to you

[@DaveTerrasidio]

he’s great

[@RohannvanRensburg]

Loved his explanation of the Blood Money score, that one always stood out to me.

[@bobbyr]

I respect the man for making music for all the great titles, I've never really "Listened" to his music. I'm a very melodicly oriented person and I think Kyd has been more transparent when it comes to that part of composition. That said making music that stands up to 10s to 100s of hours of listening Kyd has made a real niche for himself.

[@lwandomadasi4921]

legend composer . . . .

[@sfspmusic]

Jasper Kyd's soundtrack for Red Zone on Genesis was so amazing!

[@djillalibenchaib]

much love for this amazing composer

[@maesecarlos3073]

Espectacular! Gran maestro Jesper Kyd!!

[@lezlie1974]

He was one of my favorite musicians when I was a part of the Amiga scene. Great guy 😊