Kenneth Young (Scottish composer)

Young was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and had a strong musical upbringing, learning the violin from the age of six, but chose not to pursue performance as a career^[3] and instead went on to study an undergraduate degree in Music Technology at the University of Edinburgh. That course introduced him to working creatively with sound and he went on to gain an MA in Sound Design at Bournemouth University^[4] for which he received a distinction.^[2]

Young began his professional career in 2004 working as a junior sound designer in the centralised audio department of Sony London Studio.^[4] He worked on a broad range of different gaming experiences and hardware platforms, from action-adventure games such as The Getaway: Black Monday and Heavenly Sword to more family-friendly and innovative titles such as EyeToy: Kinetic.^[2][5] He has described this period as "an apprenticeship" and a "baptism by fire"^[6] which stood him in good stead for his future game audio work.^[4]

Young left Sony in 2007 and joined startup video game developer Media Molecule to establish their audio department and "make LittleBigPlanet sound awesome".^[4]

LittleBigPlanet's audio aesthetic: minimal, playful yet endlessly customizable building blocks of sound and music that support, underpin and emphasize the playfulness inherent in the game's unique art direction, character design and game design structure. Rather than seamlessly flowing together, the varied pieces of music work together much like the patchwork evident in the game's visual assets, nowhere is this aesthetic more evident than in the many user created online levels. Again, a difficult game to imagine working without the many unique aspects to its audio direction.

The audio experience in LittleBigPlanet was very well received, garnering an exceptional eight GANG award nominations in 2009, more than any other game that year,^[8] and four academy nominations.^[9][10] Young and fellow composer Mat Clark won the GANG awards for Best Original Instrumental (for "The Gardens") and Best Interactive Score.^[11]

For LittleBigPlanet 2, Young built upon the eclecticism of the original's soundtrack by working with six other composers,^[12] the results of which achieved a nomination in 2012 for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.^[13]

Tearaway's folk-infused soundtrack received a 2014 British Academy Video Games Award nomination for Original Music^[14] and is notable for its hand-made aesthetic, being written and performed entirely by Young and co-composer Brian D'Oliveira.^[15] Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton considered it one of the best video game soundtracks of 2013, writing "It's jarring to hear out-of-tune instruments in a video game; we've become so accustomed to pitch-perfect digital performances that any hint of humanity is startling. I'd like to be startled like this more often".^[16]

On 27 February 2015, Young announced that he was leaving Media Molecule to pursue a freelance career.^[17]