Steve Pardo(III)
- Composer
- Sound Department
- Music Department
Steve Pardo is a professional musician, composer, audio designer residing in Nashville, TN with his wife, Amy, and two kids. Steve is a co-founder of the bespoke audio team, SkewSound, and is known for his work at music video game studio Harmonix Music Systems as Lead Composer and Sound Designer.
Steve served as Audio Lead at Harmonix on games such as Rock Band VR, Dance Central (Oculus), and Super Beat Sports for Nintendo Switch, where his innovative and patented music systems designs and prototypes heavily influenced the game's core mechanics. His early audio design work is showcased in both the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises, and he has composed the original soundtrack for games such as Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment), Gigantic (Motiga), Fantasia: Music Evolved (Harmonix/Disney), Chariot (Frima), The Magic Circle (Question), and Fated (Frima), among others. Steve also writes music for original TV content on providers such as Netflix and HBO.
Outside of game development, Steve is incredibly active in the game audio community at large. He gives talks and teaches classes on game audio, composition, and music design at various institutions including MIT, the Berklee College of Music, Belmont University, NYU, Northwestern University, and Boston Post Mortem.
Steve is also an active and performing/recording saxophone player, and leads his own group, the Steve Pardo Trio. He also plays electric guitar with Opal Puckett, and was a member of Spirit Kid from 2010-2012.
Steve studied at the University of Miami, FL, where he received his Bachelor's in Studio Music and Jazz (2006), and his Master's in Studio Jazz Writing (2008).
Steve served as Audio Lead at Harmonix on games such as Rock Band VR, Dance Central (Oculus), and Super Beat Sports for Nintendo Switch, where his innovative and patented music systems designs and prototypes heavily influenced the game's core mechanics. His early audio design work is showcased in both the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises, and he has composed the original soundtrack for games such as Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment), Gigantic (Motiga), Fantasia: Music Evolved (Harmonix/Disney), Chariot (Frima), The Magic Circle (Question), and Fated (Frima), among others. Steve also writes music for original TV content on providers such as Netflix and HBO.
Outside of game development, Steve is incredibly active in the game audio community at large. He gives talks and teaches classes on game audio, composition, and music design at various institutions including MIT, the Berklee College of Music, Belmont University, NYU, Northwestern University, and Boston Post Mortem.
Steve is also an active and performing/recording saxophone player, and leads his own group, the Steve Pardo Trio. He also plays electric guitar with Opal Puckett, and was a member of Spirit Kid from 2010-2012.
Steve studied at the University of Miami, FL, where he received his Bachelor's in Studio Music and Jazz (2006), and his Master's in Studio Jazz Writing (2008).