1E Avenue Music Agency

Sascha Dikiciyan

Listen

COMPOSER/PRODUCER

 German-born soundtrack artist and musical architect Sascha Dikiciyan, a.k.a. Sonic Mayhem, is an award-winning Los Angeles-based producer of electronic synth music and organic sound design whose progressive blend of cutting-edge electronics and cinematic scores have driven blockbuster video game franchises such as Deus Ex, Mass Effect, Tron and Quake. 

A Berlin-native, Sascha’s innovative electronic sounds reflect his European upbringing and years spent in the underground scenes in both Berlin and LA. Sascha Dikiciyan’s ‘future synth’ musical voice was shaped by synth masters including Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter, Vangelis and Trent Reznor. 

Sascha moved from Berlin to Los Angeles in 1993, where he studied at Hollywood's famous Musicians Institute as well as UCLA's prestigious School of Music. In 1997, Sascha's unique electronic/industrial sounds caught the attention of pioneering game developer id Software, who approached him to compose music for the award-winning Quake II. Sascha's musical identity as "Sonic Mayhem" was born and has since become one of the leading, progressive voices in music for games. 

After producing multiple hybrid soundtracks for the world’s leading game studios (id, BioWare EA, Sony, 2K, Ubisoft) as well as numerous recording artist collaborations, including award-winning remixes for BT and Celldweller, Sascha released his highly anticipated debut solo artist album Doomsday in 2015. Described by the music press as “epic” and “Illuminating”, Doomsday combines atmospheric cyber synth anthems and illusionary synthtopia soundscapes that traverse multiple genres, propelling the listener on an emotive soundtrack experience. The album was mixed by Sonny DiPerri (NIN, M83) and features collaborations with retro-synth duo Power Glove (“Futureland”) and Malukah (“Bleed Forever”). 

The album soon caught the ear of Deus Ex’s music supervisor Steve Szczepkowski at Eidos Montreal. Combined with his original scores for Tron: Legacy and the Mass Effect series, his synergy with the studio led to Sascha joining the music team for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and ultimately playing a lead creative role in evolving and expanding the Deus Ex sound to new sonic territory. 

Immersed in the musical feeling of Deus Ex Sascha brought a new set of influences to the franchise, infusing his unique ‘future synth’ electronic voice with harder, edgier modern sounds and live percussion performances (recorded at East West Sounds), even blending and complementing the atmospheric Deus Ex sound with neo-industrial elements. Embraced by the fans and studio, Dikiciyan was also commissioned to custom score the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided trailers: “Mechanical Apartheid”, “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 101” and “Adam Jensen 2.0.” 

A double album of the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided extended original soundtrack is released through Grammy award-winning producer Nile Rodgers’ (Daft Punk) music label Sumthing Else. Co-produced by Sascha and Deus Ex executive audio director Steve Szczepkowski, the albums were mixed by Sonny DiPerri and mastered by Dave Cooley (Elysian) who also previously worked on Sonic Mayhem’s Doomsday. 

Hot on the heels of the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided soundtrack release, Sascha was invited to perform keys and modular synths for a rip-roaring live performance of Doom and Quake during The Game Awards 2016, joining Doom composer Mick Gordon and Periphery's Matt Halpern. Most recently Sascha scored the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided DLC “A Criminal Past” and its accompanying trailer. He is currently writing several concept albums including the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut.