You may not be overly familiar with the name John Kurlander, but we promise you that your ears have experienced his work. Kurlander was a music remixer and sound engineer who worked on many movies and video games, including the famous Lord of the Rings trilogy, World of Warcraft, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He also netted numerous awards over his lengthy career, including three Grammys.
Sadly, John Kurlander recently passed away and is being mourned by the industry. SWTOR composer Jesse Harlin praised his friend, saying, “John was an absolutely world class recording and mix engineer. I had the pleasure of working with him on a number of projects, including The Old Republic. John worked on so many film and game scores. His game scores include franchises like World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, Overwatch, Diablo, Soul Caliber, Star Wars, The Elder Scrolls, and Assassin’s Creed. His film scores include classics like the LOTR trilogy, Se7en, Philadelphia and 100s more.”
And here’s a fascinating bit of trivia about Kurlander that Harlin shared: “As if shaping the sound of all of those classics wasn’t enough to laud the man’s career, John’s also famously responsible for the world’s first hidden song at the end of an album when, as the assistant engineer at Abbey Road, he choose to stick a discarded piece of tape onto the end of a reel.”
Do yourself a favor and check out Kurlander’s IMDb page and introduce yourself to a legend.
