Mick Gordon is an Australian composer and sound designer from Mackay, Australia, born in 1985. He works in djent, electronic, industrial metal and metal, and is also identified as a video game composer and sound designer.

Work and style

Gordon’s music focuses on the relationship between sound, image and context, treating music as part of the world it accompanies rather than as simple background. He uses a wide range of modern sound design methods alongside traditional composition, with an approach that crosses genre boundaries. His work is also associated with dark ambient, cyber metal and spoken word.

Video game scores

He scores video games and is known for work on DOOM, the return of id Software’s first-person shooter series. For that score, he explores ideas of energy in sound production and uses the physical qualities of analogue equipment to shape digital sound. He also composes the award-winning interactive score for Microsoft’s reboot of Killer Instinct, which involves performers from around the world, including a viking choir in Sweden and representatives of the Nez Perce tribe in Idaho.

Gordon also scores Wolfenstein: The New Order, where he combines modern sound design with 1960s-style record production. He turns field recordings into playable instruments, uses distortion as a central musical device, and draws on vintage instruments, microphones and recording equipment to evoke protest and freedom songs from the 1960s while representing the game’s conflict and characters.

Collaborative approach

His work on Killer Instinct involves a large group of contributors, including vocalists, lyricists, translators and other performers. Across his projects, collaboration is a key part of his process and supports his aim of creating a unified work that connects music with visual media.

Representation

Gordon is represented by the Gorfaine Schwartz agency.