Alexander Brandon (also known as Siren in the

demoscene The demoscene () is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off computer programmi ...

and tracker community) is an American

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, former member of Straylight Productions, who composed

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

mostly for

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

produced by

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

, or games based on Epic technology, including '' Unreal'', ''

Unreal Tournament ''Unreal Tournament'' is a 1999 first-person shooter game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the '' Unreal'' series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Windows, and later released on the P ...

'', ''

Deus Ex ''Deus Ex'' is a series of cyberpunk role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technol ...

'', '' Tyrian'', '' Jazz Jackrabbit 2,'' and the cancelled game '' Jazz Jackrabbit 3D''. Brandon is also a voice actor, having been cast most recently for the parts of Ancano and Amaund Motierre in the Role Playing Game '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'' by

Bethesda Game Studios Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. It is best known for its action role-playing franchises, including ''The Elder Scrolls'', '' Fallout'', and '' Starfield''. B ...

. Brandon started composing music at the age of 14 when he got an

Ad Lib In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The roughly synonymous phrase ('in acc ...

music synthesizer card for Christmas. He worked in several MOD music groups over his composing years in the late 1990s, including the Kosmic Free Music Foundation. During that time, he also composed for several musicdisks such a
Return to Stage 9
Brandon has built several audio departments, starting with Ion Storm Austin in mid-2000. This was followed with an audio director position at Midway Home Entertainment in San Diego until 2007 when he started the audio department at

Obsidian Entertainment Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California and part of Xbox Game Studios. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquh ...

. In February 2009, he built the audio department at Heatwave Interactive, also providing business development and overall media management. In April 2010, Alex launched Funky Rustic, an independent audio production studio, working out of Georgetown, Texas.

Past nicknames

During his tracker career, Alex has used several nicknames: * 1995: first tracks released under the name "Chromatic Dragon" * end of 1995: name changed to "Siren" * middle of 1996, during KFMF membership: name temporarily changed to "Sandman" * end of 1996: name changed back to "Siren" Note that there were several (two or three) tracker musicians around the world, who have used the nickname "Sandman" independently of Alex.

Influences

Alexander Brandon's influences include

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band comprises John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums), James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards). Dream Theat ...

, Frost*, Andrew Sega,

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

, and

Ozric Tentacles Ozric Tentacles are an English instrumental rock band, whose music incorporates elements from a diverse range of genres, including psychedelic rock, progressive rock, space rock, jazz fusion, electronic music, dub music, world music, and ambie ...

, among others.

Personal life

Brandon lives in

Georgetown, Texas Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census, and according to 2024 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 101,344. It is no ...

with his family.MAGFest - Alexander Brandon
Retrieved 2018-04-19.

Works

Video games

Other work

Voice acting

Books

References

External links

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'' (known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021) is a website created in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa TechTarget and acted as the online sister publication to the print maga ...

Developer Bio
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

Musicography and tracks collection for 1995–1999
(Chromatic Dragon / Siren period)

(incomplete) * *
Artist profile
at

OverClocked ReMix OverClocked ReMix, also known as OC ReMix and OCR, is a non-commercial organization dedicated to preserving and paying tribute to video game music through arranging and re-interpreting the songs, both with new technology and software and by vari ...

Interviews

"Interview with Alexander Brandon"
MotherShip Server: Kemmerer, Peter (June 1999)
"Interview with Alex Brandon"
. DeusEx-Machina.com: (Jan. 2001)
"Alexander Brandon Interview: Going Solo"
Game Music Online (November 1, 2007)
"Epic Composer Interview: Alexander Brandon"

(May 16, 2012, archived)
PC classic commentary: Tyrian 2000 with Alexander Brandon
.

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...

(July 3, 2014) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brandon, Alexander American electronic musicians American male voice actors Demosceners Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Chiptune and tracker musicians American video game composers People from Georgetown, Texas 1974 births