Mick Gordon

Mick Gordon in 2017.

Michael John "Mick" Gordon (born 9 July 1985) is an Australian composer and sound designer, composing music primarily for video games. He has been active in the industry since 2002. He is most notable in the Doom universe for composing the soundtracks for Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. Other video games Gordon has composed for include LawBreakers, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, Prey, and the first and second seasons of the 2013 fighting game Killer Instinct.

Contents

CareerEdit

Gordon first began work as a sound designer with Pandemic Studios, where he contributed additional sound design for Destroy All Humans! 2. His involvement with Bethesda began with 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.

In 2016, Gordon composed the score and soundtrack for the science fiction first-person shooter, Doom, a sequel to the 1993 game developed by id Software. His score for Doom won a number of awards including a DICE Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition, SXSW Gaming Award for Excellence in Musical Score, The Game Awards' Best Music/Sound Design, and was nominated for a BAFTA Games Award for Best Music.[1]

In 2020, Gordon 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.[2][3] In November 2022, Gordon addressed this dispute in a lengthy statement on Medium.[4][5]

On June 23, 2020, British rock band Bring Me the Horizon announced they'd be working with Gordon on their upcoming release.[6] 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 June 25 alongside an accompanying music video.[7] The collaboration then expanded into the commercial release, Post Human: Survival Horror, released on 30 October 2020.

Musical style and inspirationEdit

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."[1]

Gordon's work "considers the role of music as a translation of the world in which it exists rather than a simple accompaniment."[1]

DiscographyEdit

SourcesEdit

External linksEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Gordon, Mick. "About." mick-gordon.com. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  2. Makuch, Eddie (20 April 2020). "Doom Eternal Composer Distances Himself From The Newly Released Soundtrack." GameSpot. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  3. Stratton, Marty (4 May 2020). "DOOM Eternal OST Open Letter." Reddit. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  4. Valentine, Rebekah (9 November 2022). "Doom Eternal Composer Alleges Unpaid Wages and Abuse in Lengthy Soundtrack Controversy Response." IGN. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  5. Gordon, Mick (9 November 2022). "My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal." Medium. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  6. Bring Me The Horizon (23 June 2020). "10BMTHS2-mick gordon-.mp4." YouTube. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  7. Trendell, Andrew. "Bring Me The Horizon tell us about their new ‘survival horror song’ ‘Parasite Eve’ and ambitious ‘Post Human’ project." NME. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
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