I’m Nathan Moody. I am a composer/musician and sound designer that loves to build worlds and create mental cinema using sound in the form of albums, games, and film.
I record under my own name as well as in a variety of collaborative projects on my own Studio Obsidian record label.
“Ambient music that unsettles and provokes the listener rather than comforting them.”
-Electronic Sound Magazine
Using synthesizers, acoustic and hand-made instruments, and found sounds, I have released more than a dozen theme-driven solo albums. I am (non-exclusively) represented by Robot Repair Music Collection for sync licensing, and my music and sound design have graced remixes, video games, podcasts, Oscar®-nominated documentaries, interactive installations, experimental and corporate films, as well as terrestrial and online radio. I’ve collaborated musically with musicians, filmmakers, photographers, game audio directors, and creative directors of all stripes.
My work has been released on record labels such as DiN, ModularField, Flag Day Recordings, Tectorum Tapes, and more. I have performed at one-off events as well as event series and festivals such as Binary Society (San Jose), DigitalAnalog (Munich), Velocity (Seattle), and Piqued (San Francisco). I publish and release music through my own label, Studio Obsidian (ASCAP), and I’m a member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES).
“Nathan Moody continues to carve a path that is unique, tangled, and flowing”
-Igloo Magazine
I am also a mastering engineer, a sound designer, and an audio editor for linear and interactive media. My sound effects libraries are distributed through A Sound Effect. I have an improbably diverse creative background as an award-winning, festival-screened motion graphics artist and experimental filmmaker, interactive creative director, user experience designer, and illustrator.
“…an impressive catalogue of dark, expansive electronic music…but this is definitely ambient music, just one with considerable bite. I’m not a huge fan of the term ‘dark ambient’, but in this case it literally is.”
-Toneshift
I write about creativity, audio, music, and more on the Noise Jockey blog and for Open Source Magazine. I can be followed on Twitter, heard on Bandcamp and Soundcloud, watched on Instagram, Vimeo and YouTube, or contacted via this this website.
I am thrilled to have artist support from JH Audio, Glitchmachines, MyVolts, Sensorpoint/Jambé, Physical Synthesis, and Tendrils Cables, and I regularly beta test software and hardware for other developers and manufacturers.
“Nathan…is all about disorientation and the juxtaposition between differing elements, and (that) makes for an intriguing listen.”
-Freq.co.uk
Notable Interviews and Appearances
Beyond the Patch, Colorado Modular Synth Society (Background, influences, techniques)
Composer profile for Question Games (creators of The Blackout Club)
Source of Uncertainty interview (Buchla synthesizers, background, and audio engineering)
Mixing Modular Music, Velocity Festival (lecture/workshop)
Guest Mix, This Exquisite Pain
Podular Modcast interview with Nathan Moody (music, recording, mixing, and mastering)
Art + Music + Technology interview with Nathan Moody, by Darwin Grosse (music, creative process, and art)
Rig Rundown 06 with Nathan Moody, Ben Wilson/DivKid Modular (technical and compositional process, focusing on the Buchla modular synthesizer)
Interview with Nathan Moody, Hypnos Audio (creative process)
Rig Rundown 02 with Nathan Moody, Ben Wilson/DivKid Modular (technical process, focusing on Eurorack modular synthesizer)
Twenty Questions with Nathan Moody, The Music of Sound (background and creative process)
A Month of Field Recordists: Nathan Moody, CreativeFieldRecording.com (found sound recording)
Getting Into Sound Design panel, AES 2012 San Francisco
Outstanding Sound Blogs: Meet Nathan Moody, A Sound Effect (field recording and sound design)
Compliation Appearances
“The Anarchy of Sleep”, Music for Another Sky (2021, Mailbox)
“Prophet and Loss”, Tone Science Module 2 (2018, DiN Records)
“Gloam,” Tectorum Tapes Vol 2 (2016, Tectorum Tapes)
“The Trouble With Progress” (as Railgun), Fuck (2004, Hive Records)
“Flak” (as Railgun), Krach Test (2001, Ad Noiseam)
“Radium” (as Railgun) and “Too Far Gone” (as Bitsplitter), Synchromesh 002 (2001, Synchromesh)
“Near Future Statistic” (as Railgun), Dystopian Visions (2000, Dystopian Records)
“Thirteen” (as Railgun), Cryonica Tanz (2000, Sideline)
“Greasing the Palms of Hope” (as Railgun), Ringworm v1 (2000, Tinman)
“The Whisperer In the Darkness” (as Railgun), Challenge From Beyond (1999, Dion Fortune)