Mel Wesson (born 12 February 1958) is a British

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, TV and

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composer and ambient music designer. He is a highly influential 'musical sound designer' in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

having worked on many blockbuster films, yet his sound is often hard to describe or even identify. He is probably best known for his collaboration 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 Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries. Background ...

CDs fo
Extreme Music
which loosely feature some of the atmospheric textures in his world of ambient music design. On the '' Inception'' premiere in

, Wesson and Zimmer designed an outdoor

sound installation Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...

using the atmosphere and soundscapes from the movie itself, exclusively for the audience. In Wesson'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 after-show reception. The soundscape ambience from the movie, together with a few well chosen FX from ''Inception'' sound designer Richard King."

Early life and career

Wesson was born and raised in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Despite numerous efforts to persuade him to follow a more conventional musical path he gravitated towards the

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

as his instrument of choice. After leaving art college the formative stages of Wesson's career saw him touring and recording with a number of new wave bands. Wesson 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

Siouxsie and The Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine in ...

, producer

Mike Hedges Mike Hedges (born 1953) is a British audio producer/engineer best known for his work with The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Manic Street Preachers. During his career, Hedges has worked with an eclectic roster of artists ranging from roc ...

and musician

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. He received a multi platinum award for his contributions to The Verve's '' Urban Hymns'' album and their single "

Bitter Sweet Symphony "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song by the English rock band the Verve, from their third studio album, ''Urban Hymns'' (1997). It was produced by Youth and released on 16 June 1997 by Hut Recordings and Virgin Records as the album's lead single. ...

". It was this album Zimmer was listening to in 2000 when he spotted Wesson's credit and invited him to work on the score for '' Mission: Impossible 2''. Since that time Wesson has created his own niche within the movie score genre as an ambient music designer. This area of atmospheric sound has weaved its way through many of Zimmer's' scores including

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...

's ''

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

'' and '' Black Hawk Down''. Christopher Nolan's '' Batman Begins'', '' The Dark Knight,'' and most recently '' Inception''. Outside of his feature film work, Wesson composes scores for commercials, television and video games; some of his television scores include work for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

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News broadcasts,

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Ambient Music Design / Additional Music

Feature films

Video games

2013 * ''

Titanfall ''Titanfall'' is a series of video games that mainly feature first-person shooter games. The series was created by Respawn Entertainment and debuted on Xbox and Microsoft Windows; it has expanded to other consoles and platforms. Gameplay In ''T ...

'' 2009 * ''

Infamous Infamous may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Infamous'' (2006 film), an American drama film * ''Infamous'' (2020 film), an American crime thriller film * "Infamous", an episode of ''Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinj ...

'' 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

Awards

Wesson received a multi-platinum award for his contributions to The Verve's '' Urban Hymns'' album and the anthemic single "

References

External links

Official Website
*
'The Dark Knight' Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wesson, Mel Living people 1958 births British composers Musicians from London