Jon Everist
BornSeattle, Washington
GenresFilm score, classical, electronic
Occupation(s)Composer, Musician
Instrument(s)percussion, synthesizer, piano
Years active2013–present
Websiteeveristsound.com

Jon Everist is an American video game composer. He is responsible for the score to BattleTech, which he received an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers “Composer’s Choice Award”[1] for “Best Video Game Score of 2018” and won honors at the 2019 Jerry Goldsmith Awards for Best Video Game Score.[2][3] His score for Shadowrun: Hong Kong received favorable reviews,[4] and its predecessor Shadowrun: Dragonfall was named one of PC Gamers “Top 100 PC Games of All Time”.[5] He is mostly known for his work with Seattle developer Harebrained Schemes[6] and for hybrid scores that utilize live orchestra and a variety of synthesizers.[7]

Biography

Everist began his musical pursuits in his middle school band, played the drums. After being exposed to groups like Radiohead, Aphex Twin, MF Doom, and Aesop Rock, Soon after Everist's interests steered toward playing and experimenting with analog synths and samplers – producing music on an Ensoniq ASR-10 sampler, recording everything into Sony Acid.

After High School, being told there was no money or stability in music, Everist pursued studies in economics at the University of Washington and sold copiers during the day and made music at night and some small tours, keeping his music and professional work life separate. After hearing Amon Tobin’s score for Chaos Theory and Disasterpeace’s score for FEZ in 2012, Everist left his job. Cashing out his retirement he enrolled at DigiPen Institute of Technology to study music and sound for video games at age of 28.[8]

While enrolled at DigiPen Institute of Technology, Everist had done music for several student games that Jenn Tran, Director and Cinematographer, who was a concept artist for Harebrained Schemes at the time. The creative relationship blossomed helping Everist secure the opportunity to score a trailer for Shadowrun: Returns with Harebrained Schemes, leading towards opening the door for Everist to work on Golem Arcana, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, and other releases from the company propelling him into the industry.[8]

In an in-depth interview with VGMOnline, Everist would talk more on his road from corporate work into composing. Talking of his early work for Shadowrun: Dragonfall and the different approach he took from the existing music that had existed for the franchise, filling in the emotional gaps that had been missing from the largely dystopian cyberpunk sound palette, as well as adding his own expertise in music production.[9]

Everist's score to 2018's BattleTech would prove a monument to his orchestral and synth fusion sound. Pitched as a "Game of Thrones in Space", Everist would use his skills as a synth musician and producer and marry it to material he wrote for the enlisted European orchestras and ensembles that would help bring to score to completion.[10]

In 2020 Everist's score accompanying V1 Interactive's Disintegration, was released. The score was recorded with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra, with Brendon Williams helping with orchestration duties. In a radio conversation with Kate Remington of NPR (WSHU), Everist would tell his inspiration for the score and Main Theme, coming from the idea of the "fragility of humankind against all odds."[11] Telling The Sound Architect's, Sam Hughes "I wanted to capture both the fragility and hopefulness of the human spirit...The solo piano motif propels the piece to a crescendo with the rest of the orchestra where our heroic theme is revealed, representing the power and ingenuity of humanity coming together for a common good. This is the theme of the resistance.”[12]

From a press release with Gamasutra, Disintegration's Audio Lead at V1 Interactive, Jack Menhorn, describes the creative process and collaboration with Everist: "When we started working with Jon, the main theme was the first piece we tackled as it would set the tone and character of the rest of Disintegration's music. There was so much to get right with this piece: the 'earworm' melody that people would remember, the struggle and eventual heroic victory of our characters, as well as the general vibe of the game we were still figuring out ourselves. Jon has nailed each of these criteria masterfully and went on to do the same with all of the music in the game.[13]

Everist would also score a commercial highlight spot[14] for Nokia's virtual reality camera, OZO.[8]

Works

Games, Composer
Year Work Developer
2023 The Lamplighters League Harebrained Schemes
2021–present Overwatch 2 (contributing composer) Blizzard Entertainment
2021 PUBG (contributing composer) Tencent
2020 The Solitaire Conspiracy Mike Bithell Games Limited
2020 Disintegration V1 Interactive, Inc.
2019 American Fugitive (contributing composer[15]) Curve Digital
2019 BattleTech: Urban Warfare Harebrained Schemes
2018 BattleTech Harebrained Schemes
2017 Planetstorm: Fallen Horizon Aykiro s.r.o.
2016 Necropolis Harebrained Schemes
2015 Shadowrun: Hong Kong Harebrained Schemes
2014 Shadowrun: Dragonfall Harebrained Schemes
2013 Golem Arcana Harebrained Schemes
Games, Audio
Year Work Developer
2019 Mortal Kombat 11 (additional sound design[15]) NetherRealm Studios
2016 Necropolis (Audio Director) Harebrained Schemes
2015 Shadowrun: Hong Kong (Sound Designer) Harebrained Schemes
Films and Television, Composer
Year Work Studio/Director
2021 And Then (short film)[16] dir. Jenn Tran
2017 Nokia OZO, Product highlight spot, composer[14] Nokia
Awards and Nominations
Award Category Result
2021 Hollywood Music in Media Awards[2] Best Light Score for Mobile Game Nominated
2020 Game Audio Network Guild[2] Best Audio for a Mobile Game Won
2019 Jerry Goldsmith Award[2] Videogame Honors
2019 ASCAP Composer's Choice Game Score of the Year Nominated[17]
2015 Video Game Music Online Score of the Year Traditional/Acoustic Nominated[18]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.ascap.com/news-events/awards/2019/composers-choice nomination
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Jerry Goldsmith Awards – FMF". filmmusicfestival.org. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  3. ↑ "Jon Everist". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  4. ↑ "Shadowrun Hong Kong Review". 11 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Wilde, Tyler (14 January 2022). "The best PC games right now". PC Gamer.
  6. ↑ Harebrained Schemes
  7. ↑ Walker, Austin. "An Exclusive Look Behind the Music of 'BattleTech'". VICE.
  8. 1 2 3 "INTERVIEW: Composer Jon Everist talks to us about BattleTech, and scoring for video games". Original Sound Version. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  9. ↑ "Jon Everist Interview: Music and Sounds of Cyberpunk". VGMO -Video Game Music Online-. 2015-10-10. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  10. ↑ "Jon Everist – we are far in the future with amazing technology | Gamemusic". gamemusic.net. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  11. ↑ Remington, Kate (9 July 2020). "Jon Everist Scores A Battle For Humanity In 'Disintegration'". www.wshu.org. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  12. ↑ Hughes, Sam (2020-09-21). "Composer, Jon Everist (Disintegration, Battletech)". The Sound Architect. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  13. ↑ "JON EVERIST SCORES NEW SCI-FI SHOOTER DISINTEGRATION – FROM VI INTERACTIVE AND PRIVATE DIVISION". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  14. 1 2 "OZO+: Next-Gen Camera Image Quality Comparison Demo (Equirectangular) – YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  15. 1 2 "Jon Everist Video Game Credits and Biography". MobyGames. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  16. ↑ "How Composer Jon Everist Created Disintegration's Powerful Score". TheGamer. 2020-07-03. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  17. ↑ "2019 ASCAP Screen Music Awards". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  18. ↑ "Annual Game Music Awards 2015 Nominations". VGMO -Video Game Music Online-. 2016-01-03. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
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