Jeff van Dyck

Biography

Internationally respected composer, Jeff van Dyck was born and raised in Vancouver Canada. He was mentored by a childhood spent in studios with his father Ralph Dyck, also a composer and technology specialist. "My Dad worked in R & D for Roland and was pivotal in designing the modern sequencer as we know it today. I got to hang around when he worked with artists such as Toto and Michael Jackson. I didn't know who those people were at the time, but I was constantly surrounded by music and the cre...

Internationally respected composer, Jeff van Dyck was born and raised in Vancouver Canada. He was mentored by a childhood spent in studios with his father Ralph Dyck, also a composer and technology specialist. "My Dad worked in R & D for Roland and was pivotal in designing the modern sequencer as we know it today. I got to hang around when he worked with artists such as Toto and Michael Jackson. I didn't know who those people were at the time, but I was constantly surrounded by music and the creation process. It was inevitable that creating music would become my life too."

Since then, Jeff has made it his life's work to evolve as a composer and technology specialist. In 1992, at the age of 23, Jeff began to make his mark as a composer/sound designer at Electronic Arts, working on classic computer game franchises including FIFA Soccer, NHL Hockey and the dynamic Need for Speed series.

After 5 years of sports games, Jeff was ready to take on more cinematic styles of composing. He relocated to Australia and contracted to companies around the world creating orchestral, electronic and ethnic/historical soundtracks.

During this time, one of the most successful independent game developers in the world, The Creative Assembly, were looking for a composer for their new Total War franchise and Jeff was the answer. In 2001 he was rewarded for their first collaboration with a BAFTA (British Academy Award) for the Japanese themed soundtrack to The Creative Assembly's Shogun: Total War - Warlord Edition.

The globally recognised BAFTA Interactive Awards reward the achievements in innovation and creativity in the new media industries.

Jeff was once again nominated in 2005 for his original music soundtrack for the computer game Rome: Total War.

The top-selling game, garnered a string of awards which culminated in a cover feature in December's issue of Time Magazine, two BAFTA nominations and three Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) nominations.

The Creative Assembly has an operation based in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, where Jeff is the Audio Director. In opening an Australian studio of this calibre, The Creative Assembly has recognised the technical talents and skills of Australian artists, audio engineers and programmers.

Jeff's music has proven so popular that The Creative Assembly have released soundtrack CDs of the Total War games. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.