Robert J. Kral

Robert Joseph Kral (born 5 July 1967) is an Australian film and television composer. He is best known for composing music scores for horror, superhero, and many animated WB productions. He scored the TV series, Angel (the spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer), for most of the entire series (1999–2004, Seasons 1 through 5). In February 2005, a soundtrack album, Angel: Live Fast, Die Never, was released, with 18 out of 25 tracks composed by Kral. He also composed the scores for the TV series Miracles for ABC / Touchstone, Jake 2.0 (2003–04), Duck Dodgers (2003–05) for Warner Bros. Animation, The Inside (2005) for Fox Television, and the Lionsgate / Sci Fi series, The Lost Room (2006). His animated film scores include Superman: Doomsday (2007), Green Lantern: First Flight (2009), Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur (2011) and Superman vs. The Elite (2012). He scored the animated TV series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010–13) and DVD feature film Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014). Recent soundtrack productions include the scores for Justice League Dark (2017), Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay (2018) and Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island (2019). In 2005, Kral won an Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Television Production, for his work on Duck Dodgers.

Biography Robert Joseph Kral was born on 5 July 1967 in Medindie, South Australia. At the age of four, he started to learn the drums and then piano the following year. He was taught by Tristram Cary, United Kingdom-born film composer, for part of his degree. After university he worked for the South Australian Film Corporation and Channel Nine sound departments.

During his studies, he met American composer Lolita Ritmanis, who encouraged him to seek work in Los Angeles. In the early 1990s he provided the music for a 30-minute videocassette, Victoria: Australia's Garden State, which was used to promote that state's tourist attractions, and a total of 24 videos for Panorama Australia covering other cities and regions of Australia In 1991–92 Kral studied film scoring at the University of Southern California, he composed several small film scores,

Kral applied for work with Mike Post, a US TV music composer, but was picked up by Post's associate, Christophe Beck. Beck had scored Buffy the Vampire Slayer from its second season in 1998, and used Kral as a ghost-writer. Beck and Kral worked closely during season 1, sometimes co-composing, while Kral continued independently for seasons 2 to 5 as Beck concentrated on Buffy and other projects. In February 2005, a soundtrack album, Angel: Live Fast, Die Never, was released on Virgin Records, with 18 out of 25 tracks composed by Kral. In 2005, Kral won an Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Television Production, for his work on the cartoon series, Duck Dodgers (2003–05).

From September 1997 Kral lived in Pasadena, then Rolling Hills Estates as of 2003, he is married to Alison Houghton Kral, a theological writer, and the couple have a daughter and son. In 2012 he told Kevin Zimmerman of SESAC Magazine that when composing it is "important that in the end you sound like yourself, or it's all just the same. I'm glad I had piano lessons, because now so much of the work comes from inputting music into sequencing programs via MIDI keyboard. The technology in the last 10 years has exploded, and taking advantage of that is really the job of every composer today".

Discography Soundtrack albums Robert J. Kral Collection – Transition Music (2000) Angel: Live Fast, Die Never – Rounder Records (14 February 2005 (UK) / 17 May 2005 (US)) Superman: Doomsday – La-La Land Records (23 October 2007) The Haunting in Connecticut – Bulletproof, Verve (31 March 2009) Green Lantern: First Flight – La-La Land Records (6 October 2009) Batman: Assault on Arkham – La-La Land Records (11 August 2014) Justice League Dark – La-La Land Records (February 2017)

Filmography Film Year Title Notes 1989 Land of the Mighty Murray: Australia's Mighty River Documentary short films Land of Island Treasures: Kangaroo Island Land of Ancient Grandeur: South Australia's Flinders Rangers 1991 Swot Crayzy Short film; soundtrack music 1992 The Cleveland Wild Park Documentary short film 1993 The Tunnel Short film 1994 The Legend of Billy the Kid Documentary film 1995 South Australia: Australia's Festival State Documentary short films Adelaide: Australia's Festival City 1997 Maslin Beach Killing Mr. Griffin Additional music Hostile Intent Additional music; uncredited 1998 The Hostage Bone Daddy Additional music; uncredited Airborne Additional music 2002 The Video Picture Book of Roses Documentary film 2007 Postcards from the River Murray Documentary films Inside The Lost Room Superman: Doomsday 2008 Batman: Gotham Knight Segments: "Field Trip" and "Deadshot" 2009 The Haunting in Connecticut The Fear is Real: Reinvestigating the Haunting (in Connecticut) Documentary short film Green Lantern: First Flight 2010 Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare 2011 Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur 2012 Superman vs. The Elite Scooby-Doo! Spooky Games Short film Fatal Honeymoon Television film Big Top Scooby-Doo! Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays Short film 2013 Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow Short films Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace 2014 Batman: Assault on Arkham 2015 Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie Short film 2016 Lego Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood 2017 Justice League Dark Lego Scooby-Doo! Blowout Beach Bash 2018 Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Super-Villain High 2019 Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island 2021 Injustice Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob 2023 Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!

Television Year Title Notes 1994 Cyberkidz 2 episodes 1996–1997 Two 11 episodes; with Christophe Beck; uncredited 1999–2004 Angel With Christophe Beck 2003 Miracles Jake 2.0 2003–2005 Duck Dodgers With Douglas Romayne 2005 The Inside Also theme music composer with Andy Ross 2006 The Lost Room 2007–2008 The Dresden Files 2010–2013 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 2015 Lego Scooby-Doo! Knight Time Terror Television special