Michael John Gordon is an Australian composer, record producer, musician, and sound designer, composing music primarily for video games.
Mick Gordon | |
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Born | (1985-07-07) July 7, 1985 (age 37) Mackay, Queensland, Australia |
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Occupation(s) |
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Years active | 2002–present |
Website | mick-gordon |
Gordon has composed for several first-person shooters, including LawBreakers, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, Prey, the 2016 reboot of Doom and its sequel Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and seasons one and two of the 2013 fighting game Killer Instinct.
Gordon began his musical career as a jazz / blues guitarist in his teens.[1] He first began to work as a sound designer with Pandemic Studios, where he contributed additional sound design for Destroy All Humans! 2. In 2013, he scored the first season of the fighting video game, Killer Instinct, a reboot of the original 1994 title. The following year, Gordon scored the second season of Killer Instinct and the action-adventure first-person shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order (developed by MachineGames). He returned to the Wolfenstein series in 2015 to compose the score for Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, a prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order.
In 2016, Gordon completed the score for the science fiction first-person shooter, Doom, a sequel of the 1993 game that was developed by id Software. His score for Doom won a number of awards including a D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition,[2] SXSW Gaming Award for Excellence in Musical Score,[3] The Game Awards Best Music/Sound Design and was nominated for a BAFTA Games Award for Best Music.[4][5]
In 2017, Gordon completed the score for the horror first-person shooter, Prey, developed by Arkane Studios. He also worked alongside Martin Stig Andersen to again return to the Wolfenstein series, scoring Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, developed by MachineGames. In 2020, he completed the score of Doom Eternal; while the music for the game was once again well-received, circumstances around the soundtrack release led to a public falling out between Gordon and id Software and a parting of ways.[6][7]
On 23 June 2020 British rock band Bring Me the Horizon announced they'd be working with Gordon on their upcoming release.[8] Vocalist Oliver Sykes discusses how he fell in love with the Doom Eternal soundtrack during quarantine. Being heavily inspired by Gordon's work, the band decided to reach out to him and offer a collaboration. The resulting work, titled "Parasite Eve", was released on 25 June alongside an accompanying music video.[9] The collaboration then expanded into the commercial release, Post Human: Survival Horror, released on 30 October 2020.
According to Mick Gordon's official website, Gordon "utilises a broad range of modern musical sound design and traditional composition techniques in order to be unconstrained by any singular genre," and that it is "inspired by the connection between the audience and the experience."[10]
Gordon's work "considers the role of music as a translation of the world in which it exists rather than a simple accompaniment."[10]
Title | Release date | Label | Format |
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A Day in Pompeii | August 21, 2012 | Self-released | Digital download |
Killer Instinct: Season One Soundtrack + Original Arcade Soundtrack | October 14, 2014 | Microsoft Corporation | CD, digital download |
Wolfenstein: The New Order (Original Game Soundtrack) | May 19, 2014 | Bethesda Softworks | CD, digital download |
Doom | September 28, 2016 | Bethesda Softworks | CD, digital download |
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus | March 16, 2018 | Bethesda Softworks | CD, digital download |
Doom | July 27, 2018 | Bethesda Softworks | Vinyl |
Year | Artist | Album | Title(s) | Notes |
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2020 | Bring Me the Horizon | Post Human: Survival Horror | "Dear Diary," | Additional production |
"Parasite Eve" | ||||
"Obey" (with Yungblud) | Percussion, synthesizer, additional production | |||
"Itch for the Cure (When Will We Be Free?)" | Additional production | |||
"Kingslayer" (featuring Babymetal) | ||||
"One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death" (featuring Amy Lee) | ||||
2021 | 3Teeth | — | "Paralyze" (featuring Ho99o9) | Production[11] |
2022 | Monuments | In Stasis | — | Co-production |
Motionless in White | Scoring the End of the World | "Scoring the End of the World" | Guest appearance[12] |
Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
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2006 | Hot Dog King | Music and sound design | [13] |
2006 | Destroy All Humans! 2 | Additional sound design | [13] |
2007 | Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots | — | [13] |
2008 | El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera | — | [13] |
2009 | Real Racing | — | — |
Need for Speed: Shift | Co-composed with Stephen Baysted and Mark Morgan | [13] | |
Marvel Super Hero Squad | — | [13] | |
2010 | Real Racing 2 | Game sound effects | — |
The Last Airbender | — | [13] | |
Need for Speed: World | — | [13] | |
Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet | — | [13] | |
2011 | Shift 2: Unleashed | Composed with:
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[13] |
Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat | — | [13] | |
Need for Speed: The Run | Additional music | [14] | |
2012 | A Day in Pompeii | Audio Director; Museums Victoria exhibit | [13] |
Battle Group | Also sound designer | — | |
2013 | Real Racing 3 | Game sound effects | — |
ShootMania Storm | — | [13] | |
Killer Instinct | Season One (2013) and Season Two (2014) | [14] | |
2014 | Wolfenstein: The New Order | Additional music by Frederik Thordendal | [14] |
2015 | Wolfenstein: The Old Blood | Additional music by Michael Tornabene and Casey Edwards | [15] |
Project CARS | Guitars with John J. Harvey | — | |
2016 | Doom | Additional music by Chris Hite, Ben F. Carney and Chad Mossholder | [16] |
2017 | Prey | Additional music composed by Ben Crossbones, Matt Piersall, and Raphaël Colantonio | [17] |
LawBreakers | Composed with Jaroslav Beck, Dieselboy, Mark The Beast, Malcolm Kirby Jr. "Faust" and “Toska-9” tracks in the official album |
[18] | |
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus | Composed with Martin Stig Andersen; additional music by Frederik Thordendal | [19] | |
2019 | Borderlands 3 | Additional Music Support Original game score by:
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[20] |
2020 | Beautiful Desolation | — | [21] |
Doom Eternal | [22] | ||
2023 | Atomic Heart | [23] | |
TBA | Routine | Audio Director | [13] |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Work | Result |
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2006 | Game Developers' Association of Australia | Best Audio | Destroy All Humans! 2 | Won |
2012 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best Audio, Other | A Day in Pompeii | Won |
2013 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best Interactive Score | Killer Instinct | Nominated |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Song, Vocal (Pop) | Killer Instinct ("Touch Me and I'll Break Your Face") | Won | |
Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Song, Vocal (Pop) | Killer Instinct ("I'm Back to Rise") | Nominated | |
2016 | The Game Awards | Best Music/Sound Design | Doom | Won |
2017 | Game Developers Choice Awards | Best Audio | Doom | Nominated |
SXSW Gaming Awards | Excellence in Musical Score | Doom | Won | |
D.I.C.E. Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition | Doom | Won | |
British Academy Games Awards | Best Music | Doom | Nominated | |
2018 | New York Game Awards | Best Music in a Game | Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Shared with Martin Stig Andersen) |
Nominated |
D.I.C.E. Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition | Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Shared with Martin Stig Andersen) |
Nominated | |
2020 | The Game Awards | Best Score and Music | Doom Eternal | Nominated |
Steam Awards | Best Soundtrack | Doom Eternal | Won |
General | |
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National libraries | |
Other |
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