Kyle Dixon

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Kyle Dixon is an American composer and electronic musician who has worked with Michael Stein for years. They began in the electronic scene of Austin, Texas, and in 2009, together with Adam Jones and Mark Donica, formed the synthesizer band Survive. Survive's music is associated with analogue synthesizers, playing live with equipment and the sounds of horror and science fiction films. Under the name Short Hour, Dixon and Stein also make music for film, television and installations.

Music and breakthrough

Their big breakthrough came with the Netflix series Stranger Things. The creators, the Duffer Brothers, discovered Survive's music and used a track in an early pitch trailer. Dixon and Stein were then commissioned to write the score. Only the two of them took it on, because the production could not accommodate the whole band. Their main title theme won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2017, and the first two volumes of the soundtrack were nominated for a Grammy. The score was released on several albums, from Stranger Things 2 to Stranger Things 4. They also wrote music for the virtual reality series Spheres, the film Native Son and Meow Wolf's installation Convergence Station in Denver.

Influence

The sound refers to the synthesizer music of 1980s film and television, with pulsing arpeggios and menacing sounds, and grew along with the scale of the series. Dixon and Stein show that a modern television score made with analogue instruments can have a distinctive, recognisable sound of its own.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2017Stranger Things 2
• 2018Stranger Things: Halloween Sounds from the Upside Down
• 2019Stranger Things 3 – Original Score from the Netflix Original Series
• 2022Stranger Things 4 – Original Score from the Netflix Series

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 5^NL Reader
• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 8^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Synthwave-revival GenreKyle Dixon and Michael Stein of the band S U R V I V E made the title music for the series Stranger Things (2016).
• Prestige TV and streaming GenreKyle Dixon and Michael Stein made Stranger Things (2016) with analogue synthesizers in the spirit of the 1980s.

See also

• Synthwave-revival
• Prestige TV and streaming