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Alexander Brandon

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Alexander Brandon
Alexander Brandon in Georgetown, Texas in 2011
Alexander Brandon in Georgetown, Texas in 2011
Background information
Birth nameAlexander Brandon
Also known asSiren, Chromatic Dragon, Sandman
Born (1974-09-29) September 29, 1974 (age 50)
GenresElectronica, synthpop, pop rock
Occupation(s)Composer, musician, voice actor, voice director, sound designer, audio director
Instrument(s)Keyboards, PC, guitar
Years active1987–present
LabelsMateria Collective, Funky Rustic Records

Alexander Brandon (also known as Siren in the demoscene and tracker community) is an American 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.[1] 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.[2] He worked in several MOD music groups over his composing years in the late 1990s, 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.[1] 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.

Past nicknames

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During his tracker career, Alex has used several nicknames:[3]

  • 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.

Influences

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Alexander Brandon's influences include Peter Gabriel, Dream Theater, Frost*, Andrew Sega, Steve Vai, and Ozric Tentacles, among others.[4]

Personal life

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Brandon lives in Georgetown, Texas with his family.[5]

Works

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Video games

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Year Title Role(s) Notes
1995 Tyrian Composer, level designer, writing, story, dialogue With Andres Molnar
Extreme Pinball Sound effects
1998 Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Composer With Sean Hiller and Bryan Rudge
Unreal With Michiel van den Bos, Dan Gardopée and Andrew Sega
1999 Unreal Tournament
Tyrian 2000 Project leader, writing, dialogue, story, composer
Dark Vengeance Composer With Andrew Schlesinger, Mark Styles
Vigilante 8 Nintendo 64 version, with Dan Gardopée
2000 Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense
Deus Ex With Michiel van den Bos and Dan Gardopée
2003 Unreal II: The Awakening With Jack Wall, Clint Bajakian, Jeremy Soule and Crispin Hands[6]
Battlestar Galactica
Deus Ex: Invisible War Audio Director, sound effects, music
Activision Anthology Composer
2004 Thief: Deadly Shadows Cinematic post sound effects, special thanks
2005 NARC Audio manager
Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows Audio Director, music, sound effects With Inon Zur, Rednote Audio and Alistair Cooper
2006 Rampage: Total Destruction Audio engineer
MLB Slugfest 2006 Dialogue recording
Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run Audio director
Happy Feet
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
The Ant Bully
2007 TouchMaster
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am Special thanks
2008 Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Audio director
2010 Bejeweled 3 Composer With Peter Hajba and Allister Brimble
Alpha Protocol Additional Sound Effects & Foley
2011 Bejeweled: Classic Audio
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Composer With Michael McCann and Yohann Boudreault
2012 Dust: An Elysian Tail With HyperDuck SoundWorks
2013 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Sound effects
Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded
Aliens: Colonial Marines Additional sound design
2014 Wasteland 2 Sound design
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Contract audio
2016 Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives Audio
2017 Torment: Tides of Numenera Audio director, sound design and implementation
Aven Colony Composer
2018 Cloney: A Tapped Out Adventure
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep Sound Design/Audio Consultant
2020 Wasteland 3 Audio Director, voice acting, additional music
Unreleased Dead Matter
Cancelled Jazz Jackrabbit 3 Composer

Other work

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Year Title Notes
1999 AtmosphereS: Cultures With Dan Gardopée
AtmosphereS: Moods
AtmosphereS: Pulses
audiophonik - music for the scene generation With various others
2000 AtmosphereS: Dreams With George "The Fat Man" Sanger
AtmosphereS: Rhythms
2008 Era's End With Bryan Rudge
2010 Earthscape
2011 Violet Eclectic
Songs for the Cure '11: Esuna With various others
Impostor Nostalgia
2013 Nukem: Duke 3D Remixes
Deus Ex: Sonic Augmentation
Spectrum of Mana
2014 The Glory Days Remixed
Just Fun
Just Fun Miami
The Ad Lib Collection
2016 Sound Waves: A Tribute to Ecco the Dolphin With various others.
Chronicles of Time: A Chrono Trigger Arrangement Project
2018 Just Fun Custom
2019 The Belmont Adventure With various others
2020 Conspiravision: Deus Ex Remixed With Michiel van den Bos

Voice acting

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Title Role(s)
Deus Ex: Invisible War Generic Citizen, Tracer Tong
Thief: Deadly Shadows Keepers
Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows The Emperor
L. A. Rush Additional voices
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Dairou
Stranglehold Kwong Fang
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Ancano, Amaund Motierre
DC Universe Online Black Lightning, Black Adam, General Zod, Major Force and Cyborg
SOL: Exodus The Commander
Vacation Simulator Additional voices
Pagan Online Dabog
Wasteland 3 Additional voices

Books

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  • Brandon, Alexander (2004). Audio for Games: Planning, Process, and Production. New Riders. ISBN 978-0-7357-1413-7.

References

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  1. ^ a b Bezeau, François (November 1, 2007). "Alexander Brandon Interview: Going Solo". Game Music Online. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  2. ^ PixelK1tty (May 16, 2012). "Epic Composer Interview: Alexander Brandon". Epic Games Community. Epic Games. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Interview with Alex Brandon". Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved January 10, 2009. My nickname was actually first Chromatic Dragon.. then Siren, then Sandman, then back to Siren.
  4. ^ Alexander Brandon at Fandalism
  5. ^ MAGFest - Alexander Brandon Archived April 20, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  6. ^ "VGM Rush – Unreal II". Archived from the original on September 30, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2009.
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Interviews

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