Mel Wesson

Mel Wesson
Birth name Mel Wesson
Born 12 February 1952
Origin United Kingdom London, England
Genres Ambient music design, Film score, Video game score
Occupation(s) 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 CDs 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."[1]

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 II.

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

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

Video games

2009

2007

Other projects

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

Wesson 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

References

  1. ↑ http://www.melwesson.com/otherprojects/detail.php?id=inceptionsoundscape

External links