Michael Land

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Michael Z. Land (* 1961 in Boston ) is an American composer and musician . He is known for his work on computer games for the LucasArts company .

biography

Michael Land was born in Boston . His parents sent him to classical piano lessons at the age of five, which he finished at the age of twelve to play bass guitar instead . He devoted himself more to improvisation and played in various bands during his high school years.

From 1979, Land studied at Harvard University , where he concentrated on electronic music , but also rediscovered his interest in classical music, especially Ludwig van Beethoven . After graduation, he attended Mills College in Oakland to continue studying electronic music. He expanded his studies to include Renaissance music and became involved in programming computers.

After graduating from Mills College in 1987, Land worked for Lexicon, a digital audio technology company. During the three years at Lexicon, he improved his programming skills and wrote operating system software for the company's MIDI remote controls.

Around 1990 the computer game market began to develop, especially for the PC . In April of that year, Land got a job at the young software company Lucasfilm Games (now LucasArts ), which belonged to Star Wars creator George Lucas . Land became the company's audio programmer and musician. His first project at Lucasfilm Games was The Secret of Monkey Island . The game's music gave the composer a chance to show his flexibility as it consisted almost entirely of Caribbean sounds - something the country hadn't composed before. The implementation of polyphonic music for the system loudspeaker of the PC was also a technical challenge. The music for Monkey Island developed together with the game into a classic and was performed live by an orchestra at the game music concert of the Games Convention in Leipzig in 2004 .

Land wasn't particularly satisfied with the Monkey Island sound engine , however. It was almost impossible to have music play not only in the intro and cutscenes, but also during the game. Land started working on the iMUSE interactive music system to solve this problem. The project was more difficult than expected, so Land asked his friend Peter McConnell for help. The two programmed the iMUSE system as an advanced MIDI sequencer . Over the years iMUSE has developed into a comprehensive control tool for in-game music, which also enabled transitions between individual pieces of music and thus an adaptation of the background music to the plot of the game. Land was head of the company's sound department, and since he was busy with iMUSE, he hired another friend, Clint Bajakian , to do some composition.

When iMUSE was completed, Land returned to his work as a composer. He composed titles for other Monkey Island parts and also for many other LucasArts games.

Music style and influences

As a teenager, Land thoroughly studied and emulated the musical styles of artists such as Yes , the Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix . To this day, he cites Hendrix's warm, soft style as a major influence on his own music and thinks that the Grateful Dead left a deep mark on him.

As an adult, he also studied classical composers, especially Beethoven . For him, his life's work is "a mountain a long way off ... No matter how far you go, it is always the same distance." He also developed a special interest in the polyphonic music of the Renaissance.

Land's work is very diverse, as is the case with many computer game composers. He starts a new project by reading the draft for the game and then agreeing on a musical style with the producers. Once the decision is made, Land will listen to various examples of this style. His soundtracks are as varied as the games that accompany them. The music of the Monkey Island series has Caribbean echoes, with happy and moving melodies on woodwind instruments and marimbas . On the other hand, his soundtrack for The Dig is dramatic, with dark, unsettling melodies and slow rhythms. Most similar to his personal style, Land himself considers the music to The Dig . Another quality that Land shares with other video game composers is his ability to compose music that is still audible when played in an endless loop.

Land's music also tends towards the ambient style . This allows him to play quite complex pieces without disrupting gameplay or spoken dialog. Most of his projects still have at least some louder, more melodic pieces, mostly as the title melody or in the credits.

Computer game compositions

Other works

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Country, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Land, Michael Z.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer and musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston