# Spencer Nilsen

Spencer Nilsen (born April 9, 1961) 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, Ecco: The Tides of Time, 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 the now defunct Ex'pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, California, and co-chairman of the board of Music in Schools Today. He was also the owner and co-founder of Illumina Studios, 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.

## Works
### Video games

| Title | Year | System(s) | Notes |
| Chakan | 1992 | Sega Genesis | Special thanks |
| Ecco the Dolphin | 1992 | Sega Genesis | with Brian Coburn and András Magyari. Wrote new soundtrack for Sega CD version. |
| Greatest Heavyweights | 1993 | Sega Genesis | Special thanks |
| Batman Returns | 1993 | Sega CD | |
| Sonic CD | 1993 | Sega CD | American version, with David Young and Mark Crew |
| Jurassic Park | 1993 | Sega CD | with Barry Blum, Coburn, David Javelosa and Tom Miley |
| The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin | 1993 | Sega CD | with Young and Eric Martin |
| Joe Montana's NFL Football | 1993 | Sega CD | with Coburn |
| Ecco: The Tides of Time | 1994 | Sega CD | |
| The Adventures of Batman & Robin | 1995 | Sega CD | Animation score. |
| Wild Woody | 1995 | Sega CD | Music engineering, mixing and mastering |
| Cyber Speedway | 1995 | Sega Saturn | Producer; special thanks |
| World Series Baseball | 1995 | Sega Saturn | Special thanks |
| Ghen War | 1995 | Sega Saturn | Producer |
| Congo The Movie: The Lost City of Zinj | 1996 | Sega Saturn | Executive music producer |
| Mr. Bones | 1996 | Sega Saturn | Played organ |
| Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future | 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" |

### Other work

| 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 |
| 1994 | Sonic the Hedgehog Boom | With various others |
| 1995 | Party 2 - Music That Cooks | With various others |
| 1995 | Sega Music Group - 1995 Sampler | With various others |
| 1996 | Sega PowerCuts 1 | With various others |
| 1996 | Ecco: Songs of Time | |
| 2003 | No Return | |
| 2009 | Moonlight Sonata | Music and title designer |
| 2012 | 99% | Short film |
| 2019 | DNA | Short film |
| 2022 | Here and Gone |