List of Film & TV Composers in VGM

I've had an interest in this for awhile--composers who work primarily in film or TV that moonlight in VGM. I've compiled a little list based on my own memory that's far from complete, and I'm looking for help in fleshing it out. So, if you know of any film or TV composer that's done VGM work, please let me know and I'll add it to the list! Feel free to make your opinions about film/TV composers in VGM known too.

Note 1
When I say music, I mean "original music." I'm not interested in music by film or TV composers that was simply dropped into a game or adapted by somebody else (hence no listing of all the Star Wars games that use John Williams' themes).

Note 2
I'm thinking of spinning composers who work primarily in anime into a seperate list, since there are so very many, so hold onto those for now.

Film Composers and Television Composers in Video Game Music

Angelo Badalamenti
Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy (co-wrote)

Lorne Balfe
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (co-wrote)

Richard Band
Casper
Clay Fighter 63 1/3 (co-composer)
Conquest of the New World
Descent to Undermountain (co-composer)
Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus
Planescape: Torment (co-composer)
Star Trek Judgment Rites (co-wrote)
Star Trek Pinball
Stonekeep (cinematics)
Waterwold (cinematics)

Chuck Barth
RAMA

Giorgio Bertuccelli
Dr. Brain: Action Reaction (co-wrote)

David Bergeaud
Disruptor
Running Wild
Resistance: Fall of Man
Ratchet: Deadlocked
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
Ratchet & Clank

Ed Bogas
Gran Turismo 4
Bo Jackson's Hit and Run! Baseball and Football
Super Tetris

Simon Boswell
Burn:Cycle (co-wrote)

Bruce Broughton
Heart of Darkness

Justin Caine Burnett
Metal Gear Solid 2 (cutscenes) (additional music)
Metal Gear Solid 3 (cutscenes) (additional music)

Sean Callery
24: The Game
James Bond: Everything Or Nothing

John Carpenter:
Sentinel Returns

Alf Clausen
The Simpsons: Cartoon Studio (co-wrote)

Bill Conti
The Godfather: The Game (co-wrote)

Stewart Copeland
Spyro the Dragon
Spyro 2
Spyro 3
Spyro 4

Elia Cmiral
The Last Express

Don Davis
The Matrix Online

John Debney
Lair

James Dooley
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Combined Assault
SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs
Dead to Rights II

Gred Edmonson
Uncharted: Drake's Revenge

Danny Elfman
Fable (main theme)

Harold Faltermeyer
Jack Orlando
Two Worlds

Christopher Franke
Babylon 5: Into the Fire (cancelled)

Yuko Fukushima
Arc The Lad: The Twilight of The Spirit (co-wrote)

Joel Goldsmith
Call of Duty 3
Tom Clancy SSN
Corpse Killer (additional music)

William Goldstein
King's Quest IV

Harry Gregson-Williams
Metal Gear Solid 4 (cutscenes) (in production)
Metal Gear Solid 2 (cutscenes)
Metal Gear Solid 3 (cutscenes)

Rupert Gregson-Williams
Battlefield 2 (console)

Jan Hammer
Police Quest 3

Paul Haslinger
Far Cry Instincts
Far Cry Predator
Rainbow Six Vegas

Takayuki Hattori
I.Q Intelligent Qube
Arc The Lad: The Twilight of The Spirit (co-wrote)

Joe Hisaishi
Tengai Makyo II Manji Maru

Michael Hoenig
Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate II

Taku Iwasaki
Cho Aniki
Uncharted Waters Online
Muv-Luv Alternative (co-wrote)

Steve Jablonsky
Command and Conquer 3 (co-wrote)

Laura Karpman
EverQuest II

Kenji Kawai
Sansara Naga 2
Sangokushi Online
Nobunaga no Yabou Online

[u]Michael Legrand[/b]
Torin's Passage

Christopher Lennertz
James Bond 007: From Russia with Love
Medal of Honor: European Assault
187 Ride or Die
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

Trevor Morris
Need for Speed: Carbon
Command and Conquer 3 (co-wrote)

Mark Mothersbaugh
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot 2
Crash Bandicoot 3
Crash Team Racing
Interstate '82
Jak & Daxter
Jak II
Jak III
The Sims 2

Gregor Narholz
Battlefield 2142
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

Joey Newman
Lineage: The Blood Pledge

Michael Nyman
Enemy Zero

Michiru Oshima
Legend of Legaia
ICO

Kow Otani
Shadow of the Colossus

John Ottman
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Barrington Pheloung
In Cold Blood
Broken Sword
Broken Sword II

Graeme Revell
Call of Duty 2

Craig Safan
Leisure Suit Larry 5 (co-wrote)

Ryuichi Sakamoto
L.O.L. Lack of Love
Seiken Densetsu 4 (main theme)
Tengai Makyo Ziria

Lalo Schifrin
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (main theme)

Garry Schyman
Destroy All Humans!
Destroy All Humans! 2

Howard Shore
Soul of the Ultimate Nation

Michael Skloff
Dr. Brain: Action Reaction (co-wrote)

Mark Snow
Syphon Filter - The Omega Strain
Syphon Filter - Dark Mirror
Urban Assault

Christopher Stone
Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair

Christopher Tyng
Futurama: The Game
The Simpsons Road Rage

Michael Wandmacher
I Was an Atomic Mutant
Madagascar
Over the Hedge
Shattered Reality
Ultrawheels: Street Jam

Kousuke Yamashita
Nobunaga no Yabou
Xenosaga II (co-wrote)

Geoff Zanelli
Champions of Norrath (additional)
Shrek the Third

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by datschge

Uhm... at the very least (I'm sure there are way more) Koichi Sugiyama, Motoi Sakuraba, Yoko Shimomura, Nobuo Uematsu all did some work for film and/or TV as well. Also Michael Giacchino actually once started as a VGM composer (earliest work I know is Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow by Eurogames in 1996, but there may be earlier ones), and so did Yoko Kanno (much of Koei's output in late 1980's/early 1990's).

Good points. I wasn't aware that Kanno and Giacchino had started in VGM and moved to films, so I've removed them from the list. As far as Uematsu, Shimomura, Sakuraba, and Sugiyama are concerned, they're primarily VGM composers who've done a film/TV score or two and therefore not within the scope of ths list.

Originally Posted by Teioh

It will be difficult to define the difference between VGM and Film/TV/Anime composer in some cases.

As far as I'm concerned, the definition is flexible. If you know of any gray areas, post them anyway!

Originally Posted by Teioh

As for anime composers who also worked on games, that's almost an impossible task.

This is true; you'll notice that the list has a Western bias for just that reason, though I'm not opposed to Eastern composers being on it; witness Sakamoto above.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Thank God for IMDB to check all of these

I've added all the suggestions except Hirasawa Susumu and Inon Zur. I can't find enough information on Susumu, and Zur hasn't scored any film or TV projects since 2000--he's pretty much a full-time game composer now.

Also added Ennio Morricone (Red Dead Revolver) and Don Davis (The Matrix Online). I thought about adding Frederic Talgorn, but can't find any confirmation that he was involved with producing original music for Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Rimo

From what I know, the music in Red Dead Revolver isn't original. It was borrowed from various western movie scores.

I've found contradictory information. the RDR manual does credit a number of individual cues from movies, but also gives Morricone a "music by" credit, as does IMDB. Some sources say he composed original tunes, some put him in a "music supervisor" role, and others have it all tracked in. I'm not familiar enough with his body of work to know for sure. I'll do some more research on it.

Originally Posted by Taisai

Shiro Hamaguchi
Many orchestration on SE games

Not interested in orchestrators unless they composed rather than arranged the music.

Quote:

Hayato Matsuo
Ogre series
DQ & FF Itadaki Steet Special
FINAL FANTASY XII

Definitely mainly a VGM composer this one.

I'm seriously considering spinning the anime composers off into their own thread. My experience is generally with Western composers, and the list looks like it could be deluged with anime composers. Would anyone be interested in maintaining such a thread?

How ya doing, buddy?

List's been updated. Ennio Morricone was removed; upon further research, it seems that, despite his "music by" credit, his material was almost certainly non-original; it's not listed on the composer's official website.

Added Bill Conti, Stewart Copeland, Yuko Fukushima, Rupert Gregson-Williams, Steve Jablonsky, Mark Mothersbaugh, Joel McNeely, Joey Newman, Graeme Revell, and Kousuke Yamashita

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Tappy

Joe Hisaishi ~ Tengai Makyo II Manji Maru Original Soundtrack

(btw...good to see you're still here, orion )

Nice to see you're still about too, Tappy! I've added Hisaishi to the list.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by nesquik

Trevor Jones: marvel nemesis

Looked this one up; according to the game's credits, it's a non-original piece.

I considered Bill Brown for the first list I put up; however, he got his start writing VGM and has only recently moved into film and TV music. Lennertz and Dooley, though, have only done a few games apiece and started in TV, so I'll add them.

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Originally Posted by Drakken

I finally discovered who composed the music for one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time, Dr. Brain Action Reaction (I kid you not).

Giorgio Bertuccelli
Michael Skloff

Well, IMDB confirms that they are indeed film/TV composers, albeit obscure ones, so they're on the list now

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Tappy

Let's not forget the amazing mister Snow!

Ah, yes. Added!

Originally Posted by Rimo

Oh yes, Mark Snow! He also did the music for another game -> Urban Assault. He is also credited for the music in the X-Files game, but I wonder if it's new materail or recycled cues?

Not sure. Anyone care to step forward with more information?

Steve Jablonsky is already on the list. I wasn't even aware that there were any 24 games; Callery's going up too. Can't find enough info on Joris de Man; he's only got two IMDB credits.

Originally Posted by Tappy

Yuki Kajiura (EDIT: I see Taisai mentioned her, but she isn't in your list yet)

That's because she's primarily an anime composer, and I've been largely leaving them off the list because they were threatening to swamp it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Drakken

Another one for you, orion. I recently ripped Bo Jackson's Hit and Run! Baseball and Football (GB) and found that Ed Bogas composed the music for it. Apparently, he's a pretty well-known TV and film composer who's worked on a lot of animated stuff (such as Peanuts and Garfield specials).

Fascinating. According to that filmography, he scored both Garfield and Fritz the Cat. There's something deeply wrong with that

I'vre added him to the list.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Manthei and Moore are both very tempting, but their resumés indicate that both started in VGM before branching out later into other arenas, and that the largest amount of their work is still for VGM.

I've begun adding links to the main list, to help people track down and listen to these OSTs and gamerips. If anyone has any stable URL's they can contribute, that would be super.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by The GreyFox

Dayum, I would have thought Manthei was at least borderline acceptable. It seems he started out doing additional music for television shows and a videogame within the same year.

But here's one which I think should be okay:

John Carpenter:
Sentinel Returns

I think it's the only videogame John worked on, and that came out in 1998 for the PC. Perhaps Rimo (who did a rip of this game) could shed more light on the music. It's all original material, as far as I'm concerned.

Cool! I had no idea. You don't by any chance know where said rip can be found, do you?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by k3nn3dy

That link is wrong. It's from Battlefield 2 (PC). RG-W actually did Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (X-Box, PS 2) and not Battlefield 2 (PC).

You don't by any chance have a link that can replace it, do you?

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Thanks to Rimo's latest rip, Eric Serra has been removed from the list along with the link to New York Race.

I see that Ramin Djawadi, best known for his collaborations with Hans Zimmer, is listed in the "sound department" for Thief II. Can anyone confirm if he did, or did not, write any music for the game?

Added a bunch of Zimmerites to the list. Trevor Morris, with credits for "Need for Speed: Carbon" and a co-composer credit on "Command and Conquer 3;" Lorne Balfe as co-composer on "Battlefield 2: Modern Combat." Also Alf Clausen, who is not a Zimmerite but was replaced by them, for "The Simpsons: Cartoon Studio."

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Fantastic new finds, especially Debney. I really hope he pulls off something spectacular!

Added Debney, Hammer, Haslinger, Hammer, May, and Zanelli to the list.

Stefan_L, as far as Brian May is concerned, there are actually two artists by that name, the famous rocker and a respected Australian film/TV composer. Are you sure that the "Rise of the Robots" score was by the rocker?

How ya doing, buddy?

Ah, good to know. May's been removed from the list.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Interesting aside: according to Wikipedia, Brian May did in fact compose a score, but it was left out at the last minute due to legal wrangling in order to make the title's launch date.

Stone Cold Chris Stone's been added to the list.

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Added Barrington Pheloung to the list, whith scores for "In Cold Blood," "Broken Sword, and "Broken Sword II."

After careful research, I've come to the conclusion that Brian May is probably more of a mainstream musician/performer than a film/tv composer. Though if anyone has a link to a rip of his rejected RotR score, or RotR2 score, I think it would be cool to hear.

I've also managed to do a mostly-complete rip of Ottman's IHNMAIMS, if anyone wants it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Liontamer

Sorry if I missed it, but what about Michael Giacchino?

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/s...loperId,47852/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0315974/

Michael Giacchino started out as a VGM composer and later moved into film (check his earliest credits). The intention was to identify people that were primarly film/TV composers that have done some video game work, rather than the othet way around.

That's the same reason that Inon Zur and Yoko Kanno aren't on the list.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The list has been updated.

Band also co-wrote "Star Trek: Judgment Rites," which I have been meaning to try and rip for awhile.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Were you able to find a credits breakdown? All I've ever seen is a list.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Wow, that's terrific news. I hope it's in the same style!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Man, I forgot all about this thread. Guess I should update it!

FELIPE NO