Steve Burke (composer)

Steve Burke is a British video game composer, sound designer and voice actor. He is mostly known for his work at the British video game developer Rare.

Steven Burke
GenresOrchestral music
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, sound designer
Years active1995–present
LabelsSumthing Else Works, Materia Collective
WebsiteSteveBurkeMusic.com

Background and career

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Burke was involved with music from early age. At home his family had a piano, which Burke played nearly every day. He also was playing the clarinet at Manx Youth Orchestra. Aged 20, Burke moved to London and studied at music branch of King's College London. Then, he graduated from Royal College of Music with a master's degree. At college, Burke often went to film recording sessions where he met such the masters of orchestra such as John Williams and Michael Kamen.[citation needed]

After college he was composing for films about a year before he was recruited by video game giant Rare in early 2001. He firstly provided additional music for Star Fox Adventures, but his first major and most successful work at the studio was the soundtrack for 2005 game Kameo: Elements of Power. The soundtrack was scored with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.[1] The game's music was well received and was nominated for several awards. He also scored Viva Piñata (with Grant Kirkhope), Jetpac Refuelled, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise (with David Wise) and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (again with Kirkhope). Aside from soundtracks, Burke also made sound effects for Perfect Dark Zero, Conker: Live and Reloaded and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. He also had done additional voice acting for all games above.[citation needed]

In August 2009, Burke left Rare.[2] In November 2010, Burke created all sound and music for Xbox Live Avatars. The work was done as a part of his former relationship with Rare, who were bought out by Microsoft in 2002.[3][4] Most recently Burke co-composed music for ex-Rare developers Playtonic Games in Yooka-Laylee, along with David Wise and Grant Kirkhope.

Works

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Title Year Notes
EverQuest: The Scars of Velious 2000 Additional game designers
EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin 2001 Game designers
Starfox Adventures 2002 Performed various instruments.
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way Special thanks
Kameo: Elements of Power 2005
Conker: Live & Reloaded Sound design.
Perfect Dark Zero Field recording
Viva Pinata 2006 Sound design and additional music, with Grant Kirkhope.
Jetpac Refuelled 2007
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts 2008 Sound design ("Clanging And Banging").
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise Sound design and additional music, with Kirkhope.
Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise Viva Pinata Team
Fusion Genesis 2011
Fusion: Sentient
Fable Heroes 2012 Additional music, with Robin Beanland.
Rare Replay 2015 Special thanks
Goldilocks and Little Bear
How We Soar 2016
Yooka-Laylee 2017 With Kirkhope and David Wise.
Raging Justice 2018
Voice acting
Title Role(s)
Conker: Live and Reloaded Additional voices
Perfect Dark Zero
Kameo: Elements of Power
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts Mumbo Jumbo, Lord of Games, Bottles
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise Sarsgorilla

References

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  1. ^ "Kameo: Elements of Power (Video Game 2005) - IMDb". IMDb.com. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Rare LTD. On Twitter: "Farewell drinks with Mr. Burke last night. His parting gift: An elderly hamster called Mr. Sniffles who died four days later. Thanks Steve!"". Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Game Music :: Interview with Steve Burke (September 2010)". Squareenixmusic.com. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Burke's blog". Myspace.com. Retrieved 11 August 2020.