Stan LePard

Stanley James LePard (August 10, 1956 – February 11, 2021) was an American composer, orchestrator and sound designer. He is best known for his work on the Halo and Destiny game series, as well as Guild Wars 2. In addition to games, he has also composed music and designed sounds for numerous Microsoft software products, including Encarta and Windows.

Early life LePard was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He composed piano ragtimes for his assignments in music theory classes. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition at Eastern Washington University, as well as a master's degree in Music Education at University of North Texas.

Career Starting from 1980, LePard composed for TV shows and films. One of his first projects was composing the theme song for Vintage Video Jukebox, a music video show which played soundies from the 1930s to the 1950s. During the late 1980s, LePard was part of the new wave band Secret Cinema as a keyboardist and saxophone player. He was also part of industrial band Steel Porn Rhino along with Jerry Schroeder, a fellow composer and sound designer whom he continued to collaborate with on later projects.

Around 1994, LePard started a long working relationship with Microsoft, initially doing work on various multimedia software products under the Microsoft Home line, including Encarta and 3D Movie Maker. This led to him composing the music for Hover!, a game included with Windows 95, and the first game that he composed for. He also composed the shutdown sound for Windows 98, as well as the installation music for Internet Explorer Starter Kit 3.0, which gained recognition from its later inclusion in Windows XP's out-of-box experience (OOBE), known as "Windows Welcome music", "Velkommen" or simply its file name title.wma.

LePard's first game score to use a live orchestra was Crimson Skies, released in 2000. He aimed to write music inspired by 1930s film and concert music, without being derivative of particular composers or styles.

From around 2012 to 2019, he contributed to the music of various events and expansions of Guild Wars 2. His first contribution was a track for the game's first Halloween event Shadow of the Mad King 2012, based on a short piano sketch by Maclaine Diemer that he transformed into a full composition. He also provided orchestration work, which Diemer has praised for relieving his anxiety over wasting the studio's budget, making sure his compositions were not "unplayable nonsense", as well as adding extra harmonic and melodic sophistication to his compositions. He also composed and orchestrated music for its expansions Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire.

Death LePard died on February 11, 2021, aged 64, following a intracerebral hemorrhage.

Notable works

Games Year Title Role(s) Ref. 1995 Hover! Music 1997 Fighter Ace Music 2001 Project Gotham Racing Menu music with Jerry Schroeder World Series of Poker: Full House Pro Music Peggle 2 Music with Guy Whitmore 2014 Guild Wars 2: Living World Season 2 Music with Maclaine Diemer and Lena Raine Destiny Music with various others; orchestration with Mark McKenzie Marvel Contest of Champions Orchestration 2015 Destiny: The Taken King Orchestration Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Music ("View from the Canopy"); orchestration 2016 Plants vs. Zombies Heroes Sound design with various others Destiny: Rise of Iron Music with various others 2017 Destiny 2 Copying with various others Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire Music with Maclaine Diemer, Wilbert Roget II, and Brendon Williams 2018 BattleTech Orchestration Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind Music 2019 Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Production assistance Guild Wars 2: The Icebrood Saga Music with various others 2020 Microsoft Flight Simulator Music with various others 2021 Toy Soldiers HD Music 2024 Destiny 2: The Final Shape Copying with various others

Software Year Title Role(s) Ref. 1995 3D Movie Maker Music with Ted Allen, Jerry Schroeder, and Randy Budnikas Encarta 97 Music Microsoft Cinemania 97 Music Microsoft Bookshelf 1996–97 Edition Music 1997 Encarta 98 Music Microsoft Bookshelf 98 Music 1998 Windows 98 Shutdown sound Encarta 99 Music Microsoft Bookshelf 99 Music 1999 Encarta 2000 Music 2000 Encarta 2001 Music 2001 Windows XP OOBE music, reused from Internet Explorer Starter Kit 3.0 Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP Sound design Encarta 2002 Music 2002 Encarta 2003 Music Microsoft Money 2003 Music 2003 Encarta 2004 Music Microsoft Money 2004 Music 2004 Encarta 2005 Music 2005 Encarta 2006 Music 2006 Encarta 2007 Music