Doom: Behind the Music

This might have already shared in some of the comments or forum threads in the DOOM thread but for those who missed it, here is part one of Mick Gordon talking about the process of making the music for DOOM, which is far ahead one of my favorite game soundtracks of the year.

I really love the fact that he uses the notes taken from older games and made them faster and heavier that matches perfectly to the frenetic pace and constant barrage of demons in the game.

UPDATE:

such immaculate sound design. seriously sets the tone for every encounter. i feel like when the game and the music are at one, it really transcends itself and becomes something else. some serious production going on in this game.

@gaspower: It's super sad Doom came out the same year as Persona 5 and Hyper Light Drifter or it would be a shoe in for soundtrack of the year.

@jesushammer: P5 ain't out yet. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if that's not out until March 2016.

That said, this will be in the top three either way. Likely the top.

Am I crazy or is the music dynamic to when you shoot guns?

I can already tell it stops when you do glory kills and then ramps up after

Man, Dooms' music has been seared into my brain at this point. I love it!

The music is great. Please put more of it into SnapMap though. The music selection in SnapMap isn't great.

"So I took the riff from E1M1 and made it deeper" This guy FUCKS.

I wish Reznor was involved, but the soundtrack actually seems perfect anyway.

Fun fact: this is the same guy that did Wolfenstein's OST. Really love his use of electronic elements and overall sense of pace.

Mick Gordon' work on Killer Instinct is some of my favorite videogame-ass videogame music ever, so it's no surprise to me that Doom's soundtrack is rippin'. He seems to really nail a line between "hilariously cheesy" and "genuinely badass" that works perfectly for both games.

@frostyryan: I think so? He did a lot of stuff like that in KI, so I definitely wouldn't be surprised.

I think similar to how it's done with KI with the dynamic music timing with certain hits or when characters do their Ultra combo finishers. In regards to glory kills, I think the music gets muted in certain parts for a moment (like when you go to the character menu in the middle of a fight)

The music is so perfect for the game.

It has been a long time since I've listened to that kind of music but it almost has me wanting to dig back into my old music collection.

I still don't even have this game yet I have been listening to BFG Division and Rip and Tear at least once a day.

His reverence for the original music comes through so clearly. His comments about combining technology and metal, especially, really show that he wanted to take what made the music so good when it first released and modernize it for today's audience, just like the rest of the game has done.

As kind of an aside, some of the ambient tracks really give me a Nine Inch Nails circa Pretty Hate Machine kind of vibe. Everything about his work on the soundtrack speaks to me.

Is this officially available anywhere yet?

I love my instrumental metal, and this would fill an industrial-tinged niche in my collection.

I love the hell out of this soundtrack. The music during the fights gets the blood pumping. Most of the music sounds like Fear Factory remixes, which is fine by me.

@csl316: I haven't seen it anywhere yet. IIRC, The New Order OST came out a couple of weeks after the game released so hopefully we don't need to wait too long for this one!

@madman356647: Atlus USA already said to not expect it to take 6 months to get out here. We'll find out soon enough, but I already love the five or so tracks out for P5 so I'd personally already put it in the running. Doom's soundtrack will definitely be top 5 unless something comes out of nowhere. I'm just happy its so good

Awesome, thanks for posting that duder.
The music goes perfect with the game.
Makes me want to dust off my guitar that I haven't touched in forever.

Persona 5 will no doubt be incredible. However, I played through Hyper Light Drifter and really enjoyed it, but I don't remember a damn thing about the soundtrack. Nothing really stands out that I can think of.

@gaspower: Thanks for the share dude. I had no idea Mick Gordon worked on this soundtrack. I loved his work on the new Killer Instinct.

@doctordonkey: It's not a super bombastic soundtrack so I can see why not much specifically really pops out. I personally think all the boss themes are fantastic and really pack that punch of "oh shit this boss isn't messing around". The area themes set the tone of each area super well and are really nice to listen to while exploring because they are more laid back.

There are so many moments in the soundtrack (production wise) that made me say "Ok, now you're just doing your best Trent Reznor impression."

He pulls it off very, very well.

@mbdoeden: Yeah, I haven't played it yet (downloading right now), seen a fair amount of second-hand footage. From what I've seen thus far, it seems much more reminiscent of the industrial tone of Quake (sloshed together with the ambient tracks of Doom 64) than classic Doom.

I could be talking out my ass though as far as which style actually predominates, but I shall soon find out!

Loved the game, I seem to be the only person I know who absolutely can't stand the music in it.

Haven't gotten Doom yet, but this music is up my alley! Love this kind of stuff, non-ironically even.
I really like the trend of recent years where music is treated very seriously and incorporated into the game in a cooler and better way than just background filler.
That said, something really brilliant has to come around to kick Dark Souls 3 off the "Best OST throne" this year for me. The work of Yuka Kitamura specifically is some of the best game music I have heard, and the way it is used in the game is also great.

@frostyryan: Looking at the files, yes. The music file seems to made of longer background tracks and smaller files of short riffs and such.

Soundtrack of the year for me because it supports the mayhem so well (probably because it's dynamic).

@lunnington: Most, if not all, of the soundtrack is in SnapMap. You need to pick the theme (UAC, Hell, ect) in the big node and then idle, combat A or B in the small node.

.... wait is E1M1 more metal them being a teenager in the 90s????

For anyone interested, the entire soundtrack has already been ripped and put on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLstXdGXEYegd3XI7qfL-9B8S4106toCFo

I'm enjoying listening to the music for the first time as I play through the game, so I haven't listened to the later parts on YouTube yet.

I'm considering turning up the music in options and turning down other sounds because it's so good. Has anyone else done this? I'm afraid it'll be not so satisfying in the end

You can tone down the sounds effects a bit since the highest setting makes them super loud. I found music at 100 and effects at around 60 or 70 to be the right amount of balance.

And now another reason to be impressed by the sound design: The track titled "Cyberdemon" has sounds added to it to make "666" and inverted pentagrams appear in a spectrogram.

As a fairly confident guitar player, part 2 made me feel like I don't know a damn thing about music.

Yeah added that to the original post!

Also it shows how much fun he had when making the music for this game and experimenting with different methods and instruments.

The music in Doom reminded me a lot of the Killing Floor soundtrack. So over the top that it is hilarious and awesome at the same time.

https://tripwireinteractive.bandcamp.com/album/killing-floor-original-soundtrack

I would love to see a video of him playing the whole soundtrack.

It is beyond ridiculous that you can buy Doom trucker-hats at major retailers, but you cannot even buy a digital version of the Doom 2016 OST.

Laaaaame.

@zorak: smallest biggest mess of the year. #letthepeopleripandtear!

The Doom soundtrack has been featured on many music websites already with praise. I was already a fan of it since day one, but the spread of interest is telling of the talent behind the soundtrack.

Eh. Jeez... I like that he used some of the notes from stages of the old Doom, that was cool. I found the music to be almost generic, and somewhat repetitive. Nowhere near what I would consider favorite of the year. I tried the game on nightmare earlier, and it's a little funner, but still not seeing the 'best shooter in ten years (or ever)' in it. None of it ever gives me the 'man this is awesome' feeling, which I want. What it comes down it is that it's just not my style. Honestly, if I wanted to play a Doom game and have a great time due to its gameplay, I find Brutal Doom a bit funner. The only reason I would want to play the new Doom more is because the tech behind it I guess, and what story/voice work there is. I find it weird there's a crouch in the game. I mean, they could have just made it automatic. If they were going to go that far with it, also put in a dodge button similar to what Halo 5 had; that would have made sense to me. I know it's not trying to feel like most modern shooters, and that's totally fine, I don't have an issue with that; it still feels solid, but a dodge just would have made sense.

@the_nubster: I'm with you, though it sounds more The Fragile era to me - specific touchstones being Pilgrimage and Just Like You Imagined. But it's such its own thing, takes obvious influence from the best in the genre and stands strong in its own right. It makes me wish DOOM 3 had a soundtrack that could match its title screen music, because DOOM 2016 is probably my favorite Industrial album in years.

@thebrainninja: Oh, you're totally right! I was thinking along the lines of Sin or Ringfinger, but that entire album is a little dancier and poppier than his next couple of albums. I can definitely hear that distortion and static from The Fragile that's in so much of Doom's soundtrack, especially the winding-down and ambient tracks.

The recent swell of focus on audio in games has been so great. I'll gladly pay another 15-20 bucks for a game's soundtrack, and it's such a bummer that Doom's isn't available yet.

@ntm: I'm quite the opposite. I've been waiting for a shooter like this since... Quake 1 I guess. I turned off some of the modern HUD shit (objectives, markers, compass) and had a freaking blast playing it on Ultraviolence on PS4 even (was never fond of the controller and FPS, but this one played like a charm). They nailed it. From the music to every monster design, animation and level design!
There are some things this game could've done without, like the weapon and suit upgrades. And the rune challenges felt a bit out of place.

After beating the last boss I directly started on Nightmare. There are not a whole lot of games I wanted to keep playing after beating it (Bloodborne comes to mind)...

About the music: very interesting to see him using so many analog stuff as well. The sound design in general is pretty damn good, but the music was a big part of the feeling that you were actually playing a Doom game.

BWAW BOM BOM BWAM!