Anyone who played any Doom game knows how much of a big deal its music is. Almost every Doom has had an impeccable soundtrack that captures the gruesome rush of gameplay perfectly. This is true for the Classic Doom games and the soft-reboot in 2016.
The soundtrack for Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal was done by talented industry veteran Mick Gordon, who previously worked on Killer Instinct 1 and 2, and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus. However, there is a small chance that he won’t come back for the third game in the new Doom arc.
Here's a comparison between the original BFG Division from Doom 2016's official soundtrack (left) vs. the BFG 2020 remix on Eternal's soundtrack from today (right).
— Doominal Crossing Remastered (@DoominalCross) April 19, 2020
Notice how the wavelengths in BFG 2020 form a nearly perfectly straight bar vs. the original with more definition pic.twitter.com/TCJRdOe1Yf
A few days ago, Doom Eternal's soundtrack was released for Collector’s Edition owners. However, there was something off with it. While the music is amazing, some things about it didn’t match, and now we know what. Twitter user, @thatACDCguy released a visual comparison of the BFG Division from Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal and showed that the two tracks have gone through some heavy changes.
The compression in the new track was handled poorly. The music has been streamlined in order to feel more smooth. I don’t know much about audio and wavelength, so I highly recommend that you read the entire Twitter thread mentioned above.
I didn't mix those and wouldn't have done that. You'll be able to spot the small handful of tracks I mixed (Meathook, Command and Control, etc...)
— Mick Gordon (@Mick_Gordon) April 19, 2020
Mick Gordon himself had to come forward to explain that he didn’t mix the entire soundtrack. He only mixed a couple of tracks, namely, Meathook, Control, and Command. Others were done by someone else from either Bethesda or Id Software. This could be the reason why the OST is not as high quality as everyone expected.
Obviously, Mick isn’t happy about it. Whether Mick will return for the third Doom game is unknown. Reddit user MedicalMilk posted a thread in which the user shows the screenshot of a conversation where Gordon says “doubt we’ll work together again”. This is really disappointing news as Doom without a Mick Gordon soundtrack is just not the same game. Imagine playing The Witcher 3 without Marcin Przybyłowicz's soundtrack. It just doesn’t feel right.
So what do you think? Did you like the Mick Gordon soundtrack in Doom Eternal? Do you want him to return for the sequel? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
