Mel Wesson

Mel Wesson
Birth name	Mel Wesson
Born	12 February 1952 (1952-02-12) (age 59)
Origin	London, England
Genres	Ambient music design, Film score, Video game score
Occupations	Ambient Music Designer, Composer
Instruments	Synthesizer
Associated acts	Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams, James Newton Howard, James Dooley, Remote Control Productions
Website	MelWesson.com

Mel Wesson (born 12 February 1958) is a British film, TV and video game composer and ambient music designer. He is one of the most influential 'musical sound designers' in Hollywood, yet his sound is often hard to describe or even identify. He is probably best known for his tight collaboration and work with Hans Zimmer and has contributed with both ambient music design and music to some of last decades biggest Hollywood blockbusters. He has also made numerous production music CD's for Extreme Music which loosely feature some of the atmospheric textures in his world of ambient music design.

On the Inception premiere in Hollywood, Mel and Hans designed an out-door sound installation using the atmosphere and soundscapes from the movie itself, exclusively for the audience. In Mel's own words: "Hans wanted the audience to remain within the Inception dreamscape as they left the LA Inception Premiere. In order to achieve this I put together a 40 minute soundscape designed to surround the audience as they followed the mirrored walkway from the Gaumans Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to the nearby aftershow reception. The soundscape comprised of ambience from the movie, together with a few well chosen FX from Inception sound designer Richard King."

Early life and career

Mel Wesson was born and raised in London, despite numerous efforts to persuade him to follow a more conventional musical path he gravitated towards the synthesizer as his instrument of choice.

After leaving art college the formative stages of Mel's career saw him touring and recording with a number of New Wave bands. Mel also began working out of Hans Zimmers' Lillie Yard Studio where he began to explore the studio and experiment with sound and picture as well working with such artists as the punk icons Siouxsie and The Banshees, Brit Pop producer Mike Hedges and techno guru Youth. He received a multi platinum award for his contributions to The Verve's 'Urban Hymns' album and the anthemic single 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'. It was this album Hans Zimmer was listening to in the New Year of 2000 when he spotted Mel's credit and invited him to work on the score for Mission Impossible 2.

Since that time Mel has created his own niche within the movie score genre as 'Ambient Music Designer'. This area of atmospheric sound has weaved its way through many of Hans' scores including Ridley Scott's 'Hannibal' and 'Black Hawk Down'. Christopher Nolan's 'Batman Begins' , 'The Dark Knight' and most recently 'Inception'. Sometimes ambient, sometimes disturbing, often unclassifiable, Mel's music is always created with a passion and an artistic commitment.

Outside of his feature film work Mel continues to write prolifically, he composes for commercial, television and video games and his production music can be heard throughout the world on various BBC, ITV, Discovery and MTV productions, CNN News broadcasts, Sky Comedy, Crime, Drama, Family, News, Sports and beyond...

Ambient Music Design / Additional Music

Feature films

2011 The Art of Flight Green Lantern 2010 The Tourist Inception Season of the Witch 2009 Angels and Demons 2008 Frost/Nixon The Dark Knight The Happening 2007 Michael Clayton Transformers Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 2006 Blood Diamond The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning Lady in the Water Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest The Da Vinci Code Freedomland 2005 King Kong The Island

2005 Batman Begins The Interpreter 2004 Thunderbirds King Arthur Man on Fire 2003 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Rundown Matchstick Men Bad Boys II Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Phone booth Tears of the Sun 2002 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron 2001 Black Hawk Down Hannibal 2000 Mission Impossible II

Video games

2009

• inFAMOUS

2007

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Other projects

• Inception Live Premiere Performance
• Inception: The App
• Inception: The Soundscape
• The Dark Knight: 2-CD Special Edition
• SOS Short Films: Electroland
• Shrek 4-D Universal Studios Theme Park Ride
• Various TV-series, theatrical teaser trailers, production music CD's, music albums, music videos and commercials

Inception Live Premiere Performance

On the 'Inception Live Premiere Performance' Hans Zimmer invited Mel on synthesizers, Johnny Marr on guitar and a small-piece orchestra to perform the Inception film score exclusively for the Hollywood Premiere audience.

Awards

Received a multi-platinum award for his contributions to The Verve's 'Urban Hymns' album and the anthemic single 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'

See also

Ambient music design

External links

• Official Website
• IMDb
• 'The Dark Knight' Interview

Persondata
Name	Wesson, Mel
Alternative names
Short description	Ambient Music Designer
Date of birth	12 February 1958
Place of birth	London, England
Date of death
Place of death