Kevin Riepl is a musician who worked at Epic Games.
Bio[]
Riepl was born in Cliffwood Beach, New Jersey. His interest in music started at the age of six, when he began to play piano and guitar under the instruction of his uncle. In the fourth grade he began studies on the trumpet and piano and that continued throughout his high school years in which he was a member of a variety of bands and orchestras. After high school, he began private independent studies in composition and orchestration at the Village East Conservatory of Music. Following the years at the conservatory and few scoring projects, he attended Mannes College of Music in New York City for further education in composition and orchestration.[1]
Riepl began his career working as an assistant and co-writing partner for Kevin Manthei in the early 2000s, and Steve Garofalo some time later.[2] He kept sending his demos to Epic Games, and when the time came to work on Unreal Tournament 2003, Cliff Bleszinski, who was looking for a different musical sound for the Unreal franchise, played his demo reel. This led him to work on Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict. In February 2005, Riepl became attached to the Gears of War franchise. Initially, he was asked to write the main themes for the game, but after submitting the pieces he had written, Epic liked what he created and signed him on to create the entire score. In March 2007, Riepl recorded the score for the massively multiplayer first-person shooter computer game Huxley, developed by Webzen Games.[1]
In October 2010, Riepl suffered a sudden heart failure and was hospitalized. He had a pump installed in his heart until a donor heart could replace it, and underwent the heart transplant in July 2011. Shortly afterwards, a rare tumor was found on his adrenal gland, which was affecting his blood pressure. He has since made a good recovery.[1]
In addition to his work on the video game industry, Riepl has composed for films and television series, including scores for horror films such as Silent Night, Contracted and the Cabin Fever films (Patient Zero and the 2016 film remake).[1]
Works[]
Trivia[]
- He quotes among his influences the big time film composers that influence some what all composers, not just in style but their achievements: John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard amongst many others. He also cites the film composers of the '40s and '50s: Miklos Rozsa, Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, etc. Then there is the classical composers he listens to: Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Shumann, Holst, Saint-Saens, Prokofiev, and so on. Outside of the classics, he also cites The Crystal Method, Prodigy, Rob Zombie, and his all-time favorite group Dead Can Dance.[2]
External links and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Kevin Riepl". Alchetron. Retrieved Aug 5, 2024.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Callaham, John (Sep 30, 2002). "UT 2003 Music Interview". HomeLAN Fed. Archived from the original on Feb 19, 2005. Retrieved Aug 5, 2024.
- Kevin Riepl @ Squarespace