Nathan McCree
Nathan McCree (born 27 January 1969) is an English music composer and sound effects editor for multimedia projects including computer games, television, live events, and radio. He worked with Core Design between 1996 and 1998, for the first three Tomb Raider games, among others. He worked also with high-profile names such as the Spice Girls and Orange.[1] In 2008 he became full-time Audio Director for Vatra Games where he worked until 2010.[2] After this he became Audio Director at City Interactive in Warsaw where he worked on Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 and Alien Rage. McCree then went freelance and set up his own studio in Brno, Czech Republic.[3]
Nathan McCree | |
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Nathan McCree in 2014 | |
Background information | |
Born | England | 27 January 1969
Genres | Orchestral, electronic, electro-acoustic |
Occupation(s) | Music composer |
Instruments | Keyboard, piano |
Years active | 1993–present |
Labels | Eidos Interactive |
He has been praised among critics and has received several informal awards.
Early life
Nathan was born in England and is the third child of Patrik McCree and Beverly Allison. As a child, he spent time singing in a choir from the age of 6 where he learned about harmonies and progressions from choral music.[2]
Career
He started writing music when he was 11, on a Korg Delta synthesizer bought by his father, he used his 4 track reel-to-reel tape recorder to multi-track. He studied Computer Science at Kingston University and got his first job with Core Design as a programmer.[2]
His job there was to code a music sequencer for the Sega Mega Drive, he wrote some music on it to demonstrate how it worked. The boss liked the music and he asked him to write the music for Asterix and the Power of the Gods.[2]
Tomb Raider
Nathan is most well known for creating the original music for Tomb Raider. While creating the Tomb Raider music, he had an idea in mind to create music that sounded like English classical music. He notes that his influences might have come from English classical music that his father used to play when he was small. He wrote the entire score for the first Tomb Raider in four weeks without insight on the game levels to help him draw the music accordingly. On the following two games he was still getting very limited descriptions for what musical elements he needed.[2]
He spent three months working on Tomb Raider II.[2]
After Tomb Raider II he left to go freelance and he was contracted in to do the music for Tomb Raider III.[3]
He was not contracted to work on Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, being later replaced by Peter Connelly who composed Tomb Raider music for another three Tomb Raider games. He interviewed Peter to replace him at Core Design.[3]
Works
Audio director
- Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (2013)
- LEGO: Hero Factory, Brain Attack (2013)
- LEGO: Ninjago (2013)
- LEGO: Chima (2013)
- Silent Hill: Downpour (2012)
- Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot (2011)
Composer
- LEGO: Ninjago (2013)
- Chime (2010)
- Sleepover (2009)
- Blend-It (2008)
- Goosebumps Horrorland (2008)
- Industrial Ambience (Library music album) (2008)
- The Price Is Right (2006)
- Blockbusters[4][5] (2006)
- Eurosport (2006)
- FIFA 06 (2006)
- The Regiment (2005)
- Custom Play Golf (2005)
- Breed (2003)
- Battle Engine Aquila (2002)
- Laser Squad Nemesis (2002)
- Christmas in Spiceworld (1999)
- Tomb Raider III (1998)[6]
- Tomb Raider II (1997)[2]
- Joypad CD Vol. 2: Tomb Raider II (1997)
- Gender Wars (1997)
- A Tribute to Lara Croft (1997)
- Tomb Raider (1996)[7]
- Blam!-Machinehead (1996)
- Swagman (1996)
- Skeleton Krew (1995)
- Asterix and the Power of the Gods (1995)
- Soulstar (1994)
- Heimdall 2 (1994)
- BC Racers (1994)
- Bubba 'n' Stix (1994)
- Dragonstone (1994)
- Universe (1994)
- Asterix and the Great Rescue (1993)
- Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck (1993)
Sound effects
- LEGO: Ninjago (2013)
- Silent Hill: Downpour (2012)
- Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot (2011)
- Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (2010)
- Chime (2010)
- Art Academy (2009)
- Sing It 2: Family Hits (2009)
- Blend-It (2008)
- Goosebumps Horrorland (2008)
- Rock Revolution (2008)
- You're in the Movies (2008)
- The Price Is Right (2006)
- Blockbusters[4][5] (2006)
- Eurosport (2006)
- FIFA 06 (2006)
- The Movies: Stunts & Effects (2006)
- The Regiment (2005)
- Fable 1.5 (2005)
- Breed (2003)
- Battle Engine Aquila (2002)
- Laser Squad Nemesis (2002)
- Tomb Raider III (1998)
- Tomb Raider II (1997)
- Tomb Raider (1996)
- Blam! Machinehead (1996)
- Asterix and the Power of the Gods (1995)
- Skeleton Krew (1995)
- Bubba 'n' Stix (1994)
- Soul Star (1994)
- Asterix and the Great Rescue (1994)
References
- "DNA Music – Nathan McCree". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
- "Nathan McCree biography". Interview with: Nathan McCree. Platform Online. 27 November 2013. Archived from the original on 30 November 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- "Interview with Nathan McCree". 24 March 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
- "DNA Music Limited". Dna-music.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- "Nathan McCree" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- "NATHAN McCREE & MATT KEMP: Music For Computer Games". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
- Author: H4RR7H. "Nathan McCree on original Tomb Raider Soundtrack release". Retrieved 28 May 2020.
External links
- Nathan McCree at IMDb
- Composer profile at OverClocked ReMix
- Composer profile at Game OST
- Waterlollies on Newgrounds
- Industrial Ambience music album by Nathan McCree
Preceded by First |
Tomb Raider composer 1996–1998 |
Succeeded by Peter Connelly |