Doom Eternal composer and guitarist Mick Gordon talks about alleged by id Software. Gordon added his thoughts on id Software’s executive producer Marty Stratton for lying about the substandard distribution of the official soundtrack and blaming him for its badly mixed tracks.

Working on the soundtrack to Doom Eternal, regarding Mick Gordon, was a nightmare from start to finish; both when working on the game itself, including an 11-month stretch without pay; and later, when id Software unexpectedly announced that it would include an OST album with the Doom Collector’s Edition without informing Gordon of any plans for such a project. Mick Gordon stated in his new job that he had to work 18 to 20-hour days to fulfill OST before id Software’s deadline.

They published Doom Eternal OST in March 2020, and fans of the game discovered that something was wrong with the mix. It all started when Marty Stratton, executive producer at id Software, posted about the issue on Reddit that same year. Mick Gordon refused to speak further other than to say that he put “heart and soul” into the game’s soundtrack.

Doom Eternal Composer Mick Gordon’s statement to the threats at work:

“Hearing the album for the first time, my heart sank. Alongside my direct contributions were an additional 47 tracks made by poorly editing together bits and pieces taken from my in-game score. They exhibited the same thoughtless disregard for basic music fundamentals that plagued the preliminary edits id Software showed me a week earlier. But in some cases, they’d actually been made worse.

The majority had been made by stitching together multiple audio files without even a crossfade to cover the edit point, resulting in hard cuts, volume spikes and digital clipping. Many of these splice points were made free-hand, off-grid, leading to awkward transitions and abrupt tempo changes.”

He also added all Bethesda-published games have the same problem:

“Coming off the back of five other Bethesda-published titles, this felt like familiar territory: most projects begin with an idealistic timetable conjured up with a crystal ball that fails to predict the unforeseeable difficulties associated with cutting-edge game development.

Typically, it’s not a problem: the team adapts to the changing circumstances by adjusting the schedule and getting on with the job.”

He also explains the plans of id Software:

“Finalising Doom Eternal’s intricate music was practically impossible this early in development. Levels were unfinalized or non-existent, meaning the music’s context wasn’t clear. Guesswork was my only option, and I could see a future filled with rejections and demands for rewrites impossible to accommodate thanks to a schedule that was already packed tight.

“No time for iteration. The pace pressured the audio team to approve music, deduct minutes from the budget, and pay-out milestones before having the ability to test it thoroughly. Zero wiggle room. Any slip meant milestones would bleed into one another, requiring crunch to catch up.”

Mick Gordon answers to threats:

“Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, incidences of online abuse escalated at an alarming rate as Marty’s Reddit post led to frustration over my alleged professional failure, and toxic gamers grew openly aggressive. They shared my personal details via message boards, including Reddit, which meant that abusers could now reach me in more ways than ever.

“They email-bombed my inboxes, crashing the server and clogging my messaging services, crippling my ability to communicate. They harassed my other clients with attempts to get me fired from their projects. They called my phone numbers around the clock, screaming messages full of abuse.”

How many Doom Eternal game soundtracks are there?

Doom Eternal includes 59 soundtracks of remixed music from the game produced and orchestrated by Mick Gordon and Chad Mossholder of id Software, with a total run duration of 4 hours, 13 minutes, and 40 seconds.

Read Mick Gordon‘s full statement below!

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