Chapter id software and executive producer Doom forever Marty Stratton spoke in detail about the situation with the bad shooter soundtrack and the “conflict” with Mick Gordon.
Short version: Gordon missed the deadline several times and hardly helped the studio with the album’s release. Since the soundtrack is part of the collector’s edition, it had to be released as soon as possible, otherwise problems may arise due to incorrect products in many countries.
Additionally, due to this conflict, id Software has no plans to work with Gordon yet: the creation of the first plot addition for the game goes without a musician.
Now a much more detailed version:
According to Stratton, id Software agreed with the composer in January to prepare an album in early March, at least to reduce it. 12 issues with additional bonuses. A similar contract was last signed four years ago Condemn.
At the end of February, Gordon contacted the studio and said he and the team didn’t have enough time to complete the project. The musician apologized and asked for another four weeks, promising to provide 30 issues total duration of more than 120 minutes.
The companies agreed, giving Gordon even more time – another six weeks. The new deadline was mid-April. Stratton points out that the soundtrack was promised as part of the collection, and under the laws of many countries, people could claim a refund for incompatible goods.
In early April, the studio began to fear that the composer might miss the deadline again, and Stratton personally asked ID Software’s lead audio designer, Chad Mosholder own version of the album.
Here, too, their problems began to arise, as only Gordon had the source code and Mosholder had to work with the music used for the game itself. Hence the result that many fans have complained about: a lower volume of instruments.
Comparison of BFG 2016 and 2020 versions
When Gordon sent Stratton 9 full songs, he was not satisfied: alone a (!) of which played in the heavy metal genre, while the rest was ambient. It’s clearly not what they expected from the game’s music album.
After some discussion, Stratton decided to commission Mosholder to create a chronological soundtrack. Some of Gordon’s work was about to be included.
The final version of the game’s soundtrack ultimately only included two songs from Mick, while Moskholder took care of the rest – he did all the work in a matter of weeks. On April 19, the soundtrack was released to the owners of the Collector’s Edition.
And here, in response to criticism of the soundtrack, Mick Gordon said he wouldn’t have done it, although according to Stratton he personally advised Moskholder to work in that form.
It is much more interesting that Gordon was probably surprised by the composition of the album in 59 songs, although according to Stratton the final version was sent to him a week before the release, so it would be possible to combine versions of Moskholder and Gordon tracks.
Additionally, Gordon was reportedly concerned that Moskholder had « received » co-authorship of the soundtrack, but the studio did no such thing. Gordon is listed as the sole composer and author of the album. However, in songs mixed by Mosholder, he is considered an auxiliary musician.
This way id Software can clearly record the songs Gordon mixed and those of Moskholder. It would be misleading to attribute the authorship of songs to Gordon only when they have been put together by someone else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3H7QobPeDI
Collector’s soundtrack
While the DOOM Eternal music album is only officially available to owners of the Collector’s Edition, its release on streaming services is expected in the near future. Fans can expect positive improvements.
Source: Game Informer
