Spencer Nilsen (born April 9, 1961)[1] is an American singer/songwriter, video game music composer, film composer and producer, graphic designer, and educator. He is best known for his soundtracks to the Sega CD versions of Batman Returns, Ecco the Dolphin, , Jurassic Park, The Adventures of Batman & Robin and The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin as well as the North American version of Sonic CD. His latest work is Here and Gone an album of 10 original songs produced and engineered by Spyder James. Nilsen sang and played all the instruments on the record, with the exception of acoustic and electric guitars performed by Daniel Reiter.
Nilsen has also worked on a number of film and television scores and released a new-age album titled Architects of Change in 1989.
He is the former president of Ex'pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, California,[2] and co-chairman of the board of Music in Schools Today. He was also the owner and co-founder of Illumina Studios,[3] a full-service media design and production company. Spencer currently teaches and mentors students at Sonoma Academy college prep high school in Santa Rosa, CA.
| Title | Year | System(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chakan | 1992 | Sega Genesis | Special thanks | |
| Ecco the Dolphin | with Brian Coburn and András Magyari. Wrote new soundtrack for Sega CD version. | |||
| Greatest Heavyweights | 1993 | Special thanks | ||
| Batman Returns | Sega CD | |||
| Sonic CD | American version, with David Young and Mark Crew | |||
| Jurassic Park | with Barry Blum, Coburn, David Javelosa and Tom Miley | |||
| The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin | with Young and Eric Martin | |||
| Joe Montana's NFL Football | with Coburn | |||
| 1994 | ||||
| The Adventures of Batman & Robin | 1995 | Animation score. | ||
| Wild Woody | Music engineering, mixing and mastering | |||
| Cyber Speedway | Sega Saturn | Producer; special thanks | ||
| World Series Baseball | Special thanks | |||
| Ghen War | Producer | |||
| 1996 | Executive music producer | |||
| Mr. Bones | Played organ | |||
| 2000 | Dreamcast, PS2 | Music producer | ||
| Super Smash Bros. Brawl | 2008 | Wii | Original game supervisor | |
| Sonic Forces | 2017 | Xbox One, PS4, Switch, PC | Writer of "Metal Sonic Fight" |
| Year | Album Titles | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Architects of Change | |
| 1990 | Checkfield - A View From the Edge | Assistant engineer |
| 1992 | Party - Music That Cooks | With various others |
| 1994 | Absolutely Rose Street | Short film |
| Sonic the Hedgehog Boom | With various others | |
| 1995 | Party 2 - Music That Cooks | |
| Sega Music Group - 1995 Sampler | ||
| 1996 | Sega PowerCuts 1 | |
| Ecco: Songs of Time | ||
| 2003 | No Return | |
| 2009 | Moonlight Sonata | Music and title designer |
| 2012 | 99% | Short film |
| 2019 | DNA | |
| 2022 | Here and Gone |