Just a bit more info for the sound origins, the chainsaw sound is pulled from the original doom games. The lawn mower is also ran through a synth and compressor so they can pitch it to sound effects. If I remember right the chainsaw is the heavy snyth sound on the higher pitch with the mower taking the lower pitches/ base line.
@Dr.Spatula that was the initial brief from id- no guitars. He worked it into Doom 2016 (hell, you see him playing along in the videos for RIP & Tear and BFG Division) after the initial resistance
"I have no idea how you concentrate playing a game with that in your ears"... That, my good sir, is EXACTLY what make us pushing forward through the entire game. I can't even fathom the idea of this game being separated of its unique soundtrack, Mick Gordon is genius. "RIP AND TEAR until it's done"
Yeah the game is pretty hard but this soundtrack keeps you pushing, even helps you to concentrate, focused anger is scientifically proven to boost performance and this soundtrack is basically anger in audio form
Dude, when I’m struggling at the gym, I turn on any song from this soundtrack and suddenly it feels like I can throw the weights through the roof. Such a powerful composition.
I listened to it every time went running last year. End of year wrapup on spotify was like "you listened to a lot of stuff from DOOM huh?" Absolutely makes me feel like I can punch through a brick wall.
Agree 100 percent when im working out and starting to feel a little worn out I put on either Doom 2016's or Eternals soundtrack and my energy level sky rockets.
Watching you explain the music note by note while simultaneously getting the involuntary stank face we all get was a genuine pleasure. Thanks for the video!
from now on, when people request music from me, im going to ask them what face they want the music to make them make, and if they make the stank face, well of course im giving them this song
One more thought on DOOM: Most survival horror games pose the scenario that you are trapped in a room with a dozen monsters. In DOOM, the monsters are trapped in a room… with you.
"Against all the evils that Hell can conjure, All the wickedness that mankind can produce, We will send unto them... Only you. Rip and tear, until it is done." The Doom series is about the secret post-game boss deciding to let off some steam.
Mick Gordon is a genius. If you play the music in a visualizer it will draw pentagrams, goat heads, and 666's to go with the doom theme. Dude thought of everything.
He was at a game developers conference I attended some years back, and I was really surprised by his energy in person. The way he passionately and quickly speaks about his work, the effortless flow of ideas and depth when he's talking to other professionals...I think you might be right: He is a genius.
Actually, I think he included the satanic imagery as a joke, thinking "surely no one will find this and it won't blow up and become a big controversy"... and then exactly that happened, and a bunch of Christians started calling it satanic indoctrination propaganda. I find the way the story turned out way funnier, honestly.
@Stickarms99 he knew what he was doing and said so through multiple inverviews....the whole christians pushing congress into investigating music thing was in the 70s, 80s, and 90s when christians and politicians thought rock, rap, and metal were all satanic and they started putting warning labels and age restrictions on music, thanks to the at time first Lady Nancy reagan....you were close though, only a couple decades off...
The music actually follows your playing, getting softer and louder in sync with what you're doing. Bits and pieces are spliced together and repeated. It's honestly a work of art. It works amazingly well in the context of the game, in that it basically mirrors your heartbeat. When it's hitting hard, you're in the middle of ripping demons apart. When it slows down, it's when you've cleared an area.
Love that the higher tones get more pronounced as you are low on health, too. Makes my anxiety raise, and makes me feel the pressure of low HP even more.
If you have never played it, I suggest trying out Killer Instinct 2013. It's a fighting game (one of the best imo) that has incredible music. Every character has their own stage and theme music. The music changes tone and tempo based on what's going on in the match and every track even keeps timing with every character's "ultra combo" finisher. Also helps that they were made by the same guy who did the Doom soundtrack. Well most of them.. Some of the later added characters were done by somebody else. Here are a few examples. These are the sound track release versions. The full versions that include all variations are much longer. "Spinal" They used instruments made from real human bone. - th-cam.com/video/mpqct1zMqTE/w-d-xo.html "Tusk" - th-cam.com/video/dNxn-P43Qeg/w-d-xo.html "Jago" Mick Gordon went to a monastery in Asia somewhere to learn how to throat sing just to make this track - th-cam.com/video/loSj5Iy1OOs/w-d-xo.html "Fulgore" probably the most "doom like" track in the game - th-cam.com/video/WjXou-PI8dI/w-d-xo.html
It is very clever. The way they did it was playing several hundred individual second-long music bits, all made to run into each other so it sounds coherent even as it shifts around based on player action. I don't know anything about writing music, but it's got to be a higher difficulty level. And a crime they only paid him for the specific individual seconds of work. Create an interactive multidimensional soundscape, be paid in one dimension. . .
I’m super impressed that, as someone who isn’t involved in the scene, you did such a good job summarizing the history, public perception, and even memes about this incredible musical project. Well done.
The chant at the end is "RIP AND TEAR! RIP AND TEAR!"... It's one of the repeating motifs in the game, after the Doom Slayer is given the job to kill all the hordes of Hell: "Rip and tear, until it is done."
Technically KAR EN TUK but it translates the same. Gordon's use of a choir made up of heavy metal vocalists was beyond incredible. EDIT: Oh it is Rip and Tear in this one, I was thinking of Gladiator.
i think the wildest thing about this soundtrack is that we wrote it in 2 weeks under insane pressure. pretty disgusting how he was treated by the game's producer, i encourage anyone to check out Mick's public address that you'll easily find on the doom subreddit. Mick is an absolute treasure, unbelievable work.
@@Mugthraka cause they absolutely fucked him, gave him basically no time, constantly scrapped what he was working on, didn't even pay him for a year the whole situation is so fucked honestly, it's a shock that he managed to get ANYTHING completed with the BS they pulled
@@Mugthraka You need to look into it again, as he's a great example of why many people skipped on joining the gaming industry from horror stories like his.
Funny you'd mention how game music can be adapted to suit the gameplay - this is in fact a fantastic example of that. The arrangement you hear was entirely put together for the soundtrack; in game it's made up of little snippets that queue up and adapt to how you're playing. When there's a quiet moment, it will play the quiet section. When monsters are coming on screen, it will play the heavier parts. And when you are on a demon-killing murderous rampage, it plays the main theme. It doesn't just act as looping background music for a level, it acts essentially as a score to what you're doing in the game.
That's what I was about to say. Listening to the full score barely reflects how it is used in game. It serves as a quiet ambiance when you're exploring around, and injects a huge dose of adrenaline into the chaos of battles. It's a marvelous piece of engineering tailored to support what happens on the screen.
I think another good example which actually predates much of Mick's work is the pursuit themes from Need for Speed: Most wanted (2005). It even has the cooldown phase music and the escaped parts of the song change based on how fast you're driving.
@@typeoddnamehere2362 Just look at Payday 2 for a similar style of music. Which can be traced back to the idea of mixing themes based on player actions which goes back to Rare and Banjoo.
"How you concentrate?" As someone here mentioned before, it's monsters trapped in a room with you. This music actually helps a lot, because you can unleash your anger in shots, etc. You know, this music helps to get "in there", in some kind of flow Great video, thank you for that!
IT helps even more that the game it self ramps up the music as you do crazy shit. Glory kills, headshots whatever it gets me so amped more than any other shooter.
Exactly, it's almost like it causes a time dilation effect (duh, because adrenaline). The way the game plays, it might actually be *harder* without music like this.
@@jaredjabouri7935 I've headphones on (obvs) but play in the living room/lounge, wife says she should have filmed me as I am 'worrying'.. it certainly gets my heart going tho, which can't be bad!
I've never once played a Doom game, but I was instantly taken aback by Mick's music. He knows how to make music that let's you know you're the main boss, not the enemies.
As someone that has played Doom games since the 90's... I think this is the most accurate way to describe the music. Hell (no pun intended), even Doom II from back in the 90's has bangers here and there. Mick just revved it up to a maximum.
Watching such a skilled composer be confused, baffled, impressed, and excited all at the same time is so beautiful to me. Much respect to Mick Gordon. Bravo!
Fun Fact: When they brought Mick onboard to make the soundtrack, they told him they wanted a metal Album but he wasn't allowed to use any kind of guitars to make it. Mick's response was " ok then, what is more metal than a guitar? A CHAINSAW!!!!!" Then just pitched it up and down to the notes he wanted
The game is incredibly fast, furious & violent in the best way. Without the music I'm not sure I could keep up with the pace of the game. At 63 I need all the help I can get with a game like DOOM 😄The soundtrack is like a big shot of adrenaline!
@@julien2231 Haven't stopped since Asteroids at the arcade at 19. It does keep your reflexes sharp (or sharper as the case may be) Yep, PC gamer for life
@@jaquestraw1 I am a smidge younger but i have been gaming since i was a tot. On slight side note my mum heading into her 80s had an array of animal crossing gear and blew out at least one disc. haha. No excuse not to game
RIP AND TEAR is what's chanted at the end of the song 😂😂 looks like you had a good time with the song. Glad you enjoyed, pretty interesting perspective on the music. Great video 😎👍
I just found your channel and I must say, it's really refreshing to see someone reacting to music who actually has an understanding of music and can talk about it in an educated and technical manner. Too many of these reactions is just a person smiling while listening for 5 minutes and it ends. It's so cool to hear something a little more...educational.
Yeahhh, probably doesn't help that the mix is squished to hell so they pump really intensely against the drums - that definitely adds to the samples-on-a-grid vibe
@@MusicByDamienA yeah, the notes being played are more commonly associated with a bass guitar, but the tonal quality doesn't really happen with the thick strings of a bass. Though there is definitely a bass track in there, it's just hard to notice because it's playing probably exactly the same notes.
Very astute of you with the analysis of the structure. Doom Eternal has a fully dynamic soundtrack. Basically, instead of composing complete pieces for levels, Mick Gordon composes several segments for various situations the player can find themselves in. For example, when the player chainsaws a demon in half, the game will find an appropriate segment of music and transition into it, then transition to another with the goal of syncing the players actions on screen to the music. It's quite the striking effect during gameplay, but it does have the drawback that you can't really develop a unitary piece with carefully designed flow and journey as each segment has to be able to easily flow into any other to prevent it from being jarring in gameplay. The soundtrack version is an arrangement of these segments into the closest approximation of what a proper piece might be using them, but in order to get the full intended effect you really have to play the game.
Well you couldn't work out the segments longer than they are, because the longer they go on the harder they are to cut, and the more of an evolving narrative they embody, the greater the likelihood it clashes with the actual scene development.
@@HoboGamingyou get low on health and surrounded it speeds up, you go in close it's more aggressive, you clear everything and are walking to the next area it will play the ""softer and calmer"" segments.
They did the same with the Manhunt OST. The music is mostly ambient sounds and instruments but when you get "in a situation" it switches over to lurid, 70s slasher movie themes and it's all done on the fly.
A video game isn’t just a video game. It’s a collaboration of several talented artists coming together to create the most beautiful masterpiece of euphoria and adrenaline inducing entertainment.
You just made me imagine someone playing Doom on the wii. Thank you for that, it made a crappy day just a bit more bearable. It gave me a mental image of someone having simultaneously the best and worst day possible by living out that Doom meme irl combined with all those moments where someone playing on the wii ACCIDENTALLY trashed their tv...
You described exactly how the game's music works - side note, the track you listened to is a "Soundtrack version" of the in-game music. For each level, the game works by taking snippets of the respective soundtrack and playing certain parts of it depending on what you are doing. The end result is this extremely fluid, seamless soundtrack that sounds like there's no beginning or end. Mick Gordon is a real genius
I had the honour of being able to gift Mick an effects pedal. Even though I've never met the guy and didn't expect anything in return, I ended up with a signed copy of the original soundtrack a few days later. One of the most underrated composers of our time, and one of (if not the only) video game composers that a very, very decent proportion of the public knows by name.
The fact that people, who are really good at music, are able to hear the key and recognize patterns is really amazing to me. It must be like seeing sheet music live in front of your eyes. Probably like Tetris pieces falling into place. I find this really fascinating.
I'm really good at music, but I couldn't hear the key. That is very difficult to learn, but a talent some people have, called absolute hearing. Ofcourse if you are very, very experienced you might make a lucky guess, he could also have cheated with having something on the screen to help him. But mostly when people quickly hear the key they have an absolute hearing. Very impressive indeed and not very common.
@@GameCyborgCh It's simple really, it's just a straight 4/4 at roughly 90 bpm, but with lots of syncopation in the guitar riffs. Melodically it seems to be a mixture between double harmonic major with Phrygian or perhaps harmonic minor flavouring here and there, with lots of chromatic runs, with the lead notes being the major 7th and minor 2nd/flat 2nd around the tonic. Harmonically it just sits around the root with occasional dips to the minor VII chord a whole tone down, until that section in the middle-eight...🤪 Yup music has lots of funny words. Taken me years to figure out even a bit, and now I've realised that after ~30 years of trying to learn it: I know jack sh*t about music. 😅
If I may add something that I believe no one mentioned; it isn't just that a level might end short or that the music can loop - for many games and for Doom for sure, the soundtrack is made from "stems" that follow a theme and leitmotif for the level, but these stems are interpolated and played depending on your actions, depending on when you shoot, how you shoot, what enemies are around etc., the soundtrack is always changing in response to your actions. This is a major part of how Mick Gordon and id fell out - the game was done and the soundtrack was done, but since the soundtrack is so reactive they weren't "songs" *per se*, which meant that for Mick to master and release the OST as an Album, which the studio wanted (and I believe Mick wanted as well) it was "taking too long", so they got someone else to master it as tracks/songs. So what came out as an album is an attempt to condense hundreds of miniature pieces into one single structure, while in the game those lulls and drops and key changes are all done in response to what the player is doing, so the "narrative" of the song as a whole is always perfectly matched to the story of how YOU went through the level/combat section/boss etc. In the end, "living" and actively "making" the soundtrack while you play is a complete different experience than listening, both are awesome of course, but Gordon's genius is felt MUCH more deeply in-game. There is here on youtube a fan made master of the tracks that "feel" more like the intent was behind the tracks.
Also, people like to mention how Mick used a lot of "non instruments" to get the sounds, like drills and whatnot. But I think it leaves a lot of important context out. When he was called to make the soundtrack for Doom 2016, Mick Gordon was explicitly told not to use guitars, at all. So he fiddled with his modular synth until he finally found the combinations that have now became famous as defining traits of "argent metal". Only afterwards he was able to convince the studio to let him play the guitar. I think if you want to understand Doom's soundtrack without playing the game, the best you can do is check something from the 2016 OST, as those were mastered by Mick Gordon himself. And in the videos you can see what he uses the guitar for, and very visual explanations of why sometimes it feels like you can't place what mode he is playing in - it is easier to understand as what is playable on the guitar and what he can bend, instead of regular modes and keys. You know the time immemorial discussion of "what key is hey joe in" ? The chords are C - D - G - A - E (sort of, depends how you tune your guitar) You can read and write it as being in the key of G, A, Em, E.... however you like, but what I'd say is that it is in the key "Guitar" - the chord progression isn't a 4 -5 -1 from a certain key, but a 3 - 2 -1 of what you can play open on all strings of the guitar. So I'd argue that how "out of tune" Mick's however many string guitar is, and what notes the guitar is able to bend without becoming too unstable are the notes that "ask" to be played. So the half steps and progression of the root notes are explained by the embodied instrument, more so than from classical music theory.
He's a great composer but he's difficult to work with by his own admission having a habit of not communicating with studios and lying, that lack of professionalism is what caused the problems ultimately. Not that they didn't do him dirty but he's not exactly squeaky clean in the bethesda situation.
@@SahRuvaak What are you talking about "own admission of not communicating with studios and lying"? Go read his full post about the situation and you'll find that he bent over backwards trying to communicate with Bethesda and he got the runaround from them
@@citizenducktv9169 For example with KI he would make a track that they wouldn't have accepted and run them out of time to get it through, sure they're good tracks and they put up with it as such but it's still not a great idea. It's a he said she said and Mick Gordon has shown his colors in that regard before.
If what he says is true in his version of the story, no way does he have ANY blame beyond working without a signed contract. They announced "soundtrack by Mick Gordon" before they told him. He got backed into it. If I'm taking the word of Bethesda over someone else, the pod people have gotten me.
@@zburnham I'm pretty sure they both screwed eachother I don't know why you would take a megacorporation or an established liar's word as gospel. And as per usual the consumer got fucked in the end.
I love how listening to this you see his lip curl and teeth clench like he's almost about to snarl. THAT is the goal of this music. Nothing more is needed.
Considering the game this is from is a fast paced first person shooter where you sole goal is to literally rip and tear demons apart with everything you can find, including your own two hands, you'd be amazed how much a song like this gets you in the zone in the midst of the chaos.
So that "aggressive bass" you were referring to is actually a 9 string guitar. You are right about the electronic and industrial aspects though. Mick used what he dubbed the "doom instrument", which is a very specific signal chain coming from a synth, which dynamically adds to whats put through it based on input. Mick did an entire conference over the ost to doom 2016, at GDC, that goes into more depth on the specifics of the production techniques he used. Also, if you do any further songs from doom eternal, i would highly recommend looking for "koma's mix", since the official soundtrack was bungled by ID, the devs, and was generally a very low quality release. Koma was a youtuber who did very high quality mixes of the original stems, some of which mick gordon helped him on.
Was it a 9 string? I thought it was an 8. Either way, it's well down into registers normally associated with bass, and doing the classic metal bass trick of following the guitar an octave lower doesn't really work cause that drops you off the bottom of the audible range.
@@reaganharder1480 It's a downtuned 8 string, which is standard for the Doom 2016/Eternal soundtracks. Usually in E standard (not regular E standard, it's an octave lower, which as standard tuning for an 8 string is F# makes it the 8 string version of D standard tuning)) but The Only Thing They Fear Is You is tuned to D, which is almost a 9 string pitch. However there are a couple songs that either use a different tuning or use a 9 string (I believe Super Gore Nest is in F standard, while the Nekreval theme is at 9 string pitches, though I'm not sure if Mick Gordon used a 9 string specifically. From Doom 2016, BFG Division is in 8 string E standard, but a decent number of the other songs (including I believe At Doom's Gate) use a 9 string.
@@mf_ratIt's repeated a lot because it's true. "The only thing they fear is you" does have a heavily modified sample of a lawnmower going through Mick Gordon's extensive signal mix. One of the tracks from 2016 had the same, but with a chainsaw. It's not the only thing, nor is it the defining trait of either track, but it's there.
@@DemonstormlordYeah but people exaggerate it to hell (pun not intended). He was told not to use guitars initially, so he did experiment with different synth types and samples of lawnmowers and chainsaws, but they eventually added the guitars back in once the basis of the tracks were formed.
I never thought I could enjoy music like this, which can only be described as...violence. But after playing through Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, I gained a whole new appreciation for Mick Gordon's music.
You are absolutely awesome. Very few review channels truly push very far beyond their own horizons, but you react to absolutely anything. And you do so with intelligent commentary and make your viewers feel welcome. You, sir, are an absolute gem.
'Ludwig the Accursed & holy blade' (Phase 1 and 2 of the boss fight) from the Bloodborne soundtrack is probably the best example I know of for a cohesive mesh between Classical and Game composing. Doesn't hurt that it's also an amazing track.
"The Only Thing They Fear is You" is the notable example of music which fits absolutely perfectly to its game. Other examples being "Hell March" for the Command'n'Conquer series and "Dragonborn" for Skyrim. "Hell March" (seek first or second edition, not the goofy third one) was composed by a living legend of game music Frank Klepacky, in the March he literally played the clang of tank tracks with music. "Dragonborn" unlike most other game songs was orchestral from the beginning, you might like it.
It fills me with sheer child-like joy when I watch someone have a great reaction to something so hard and so amazing. Just their "oh damn" expressions gets me every time.
As someone who has played an ungodly amount of DOOM, the music fuels you as you just rip and tear through enemies. I had to many times get up and go for a walk. Glad to see you enjoyed it.
10:56 The music fuels my gameplay, it drives me, gives me the life and energy I need to push through and, as the chant says at the end, "RIP AND TEAR!"
If you take it to the gym, you might just *become* a beast like the protagonist of the game. I did my reps at the church of iron last night and dropped by my dojo to say hi on the way back home. The 250lb 3 stripe black belt mma fighter just looked at me and laughed. I said I'd see the guys on Sunday for open mat. Good thing I'm actually a super gentle sparring partner. Hehehe
If I'm not mistaken, I'm not sure if it was specifically for DOOM 2016 or Eternal or both, but they specifically asked Mick to avoid obvious guitars, because they wanted "heavy metal" but it needed to sound more unique (and alien). Mick's answer to that was to use basically everything _but_ a guitar to sample, then used them as the "guitar" riffs. Chainsaws, lawnmowers, etc :D I think they did give him the go-ahead to use guitars later on, so maybe that was only for 2016? But super impressive and creative work from Mick, the whole OSTs are incredible. edit, found it: "the soundtrack for Gordon’s first DOOM title was unique for a few reasons: firstly, id and Bethesda’s original brief for the soundtrack forbid the use of guitars. They wanted an entirely synth based soundtrack to set this new DOOM apart from its predecessors. Then, slowly but surely, Gordon convinced the team to let some guitars onto the soundtrack. And then more guitars. And then we arrived at masterworks like “The BFG Division”."
E1M1/At Doom’s Gate should absolutely be next, it’s commonly thought of as THE Doom theme. Make sure to check out the original version, even though the 2016 version of it is sick as well. Might even be cool to see your reaction to just how different they are.
Time for “One Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy 7. I’d recommend the version from the Advent Children movie. Perfect blend of classical, prog rock, and metal. Absolute classic
i genuinely love watching the reactions to all the ppl that studied music in different ways breakdown/dissect the doom songs. Not one video iv watched is someone coming in disappointed, just headbobs and genuine interest. Stay awesome! :D
You've just earned a subscription from me! I LOVE seeing (and hearing, in this case) reactions from people who understand the important and key concepts of what is being discussed; it's a genuine pleasure to see you describe the musical theories that are being implemented in this piece!
Its an extremely intense game that demands total focus. A sensory overload in all the right ways. The music fits right in when you're in the right mindset to smash your way through hordes of demons
This. I found (find!) it helps me to establish a rhythm for the mayhem. I'm old now with the reflexes of a three-toed sloth, and usually a preference for slower-paced 'stealth' games; I simply couldn't do a fast-paced fps without Mick Gordon's assistance.
After a while I find that there's not even any concentration, you stop thinking, you play, you run, you jump, you shoot, you smash everything, you don't stop, it becomes instinctive, as if you were entering a state of flow. And when the fight's over, it's all downhill again, you release the adrenaline you've built up over 5 minutes of fighting, but you didn't realise it. That's why Doom is so good.
I played Doom 2016 (as well as Doom II back in the day), and this music is almost required to rip and tear. The violence and speed mesh exceptionally well with the game play.
Really had to smile when you said "I don't hear guitars" at 7:16. Maybe if you have some time on your hands and want to dive deeper into how the DOOM soundtrack specifically was created, Mick Gordon did a really fun presentation on this at GDC (Game Developers Conference) back in 2017: th-cam.com/video/U4FNBMZsqrY/w-d-xo.html It's an hour long but really interesting, and the topic of guitars comes up as well 😁
@@Morfalath ...Except that's not actually true. It was true for, like, two tracks in 2016 and Mick himself was like "yeah they let me use guitars after that"
I appreciate that you let the music continue to play while commentating over it. Many other reaction videos constantly start/stop so the person can speak which drives me nuts!
It is an extended ranged guitar (8 string) but with layers of synth on top. Modern metal has started to really love how full this makes a guitar sound. It has become pretty common in large part due to the Doom OSTs influence.
Your comment about "how do you even concentrate" while playing a game with music like this playing is spot on for me. I don't know about others, but there are some times in games where I'm so caught off guard by the music, or so distracted by how incredible it is that I perform worse in the game. This has happened to me more than once during boss fights in Final Fantasy XIV. Sometimes I need to pause games just to enjoy the music because I'm so distracted by it. A good problem to have!
Final fantasy is different than Doom. Both gameplay and music-wise. In ff you wanna listen to boss mechanics, call-outs, abilities sound effects. Doom Eternal is more like a rhytm game, the more aggressive you are playing the dynamic sound mixing will adjust the music to the action, sound ques are not as important, but the music helps the adrenaline flow.
The soundtrack made these modern Doom games. It was such a monumental tool for engrossing you in the experience. In the game these tracks actually change and progress based on how well you are doing. Its epic.
So TH-cam suggested this video to me, and I didn't know what to expect. But I am so happy I watched this. It warmed my heart to see how much you got into this song. Great commentary as well. And to answer your question as to how someone plays to this music - the music makes you play better.
I love, Sir, how you let the music do the talking without pausing it and letting it teach you how it came to be. Not to mention it is awesome seeing a classically trained conductor getting so into such a head-banger like this!
I think you would really appreciate the talk Mick did for the GDC, where he talks how's the process of making the music for the game, the different challenges it took and how even a chainsaw was used as an instrument for the OST
I'm so happy you actually reacted to this! I hope you liked the theme, despite this not being your usual type of music. Fun fact, some of the sounds in the DOOM soundtrack are sampled from a real chainsaw. To the question "how do you concentrate with this in your ears?" the answer is "we don't concentrate, we just blast through"😂 Though you're right, gaming themes are meant to build the atmosphere of either a location, a character, or a boss battle. The aim of the composer, is to create something that can accompany the player through what the game is intended to portray and has to make it credible enough, so that the player is also driven by what the music expresses, especially with tracks like this, which are meant to hype you up. What I love about gaming music is that it can tell stories effectively with or without lyrics. It's like a modern opera or a concerto, if I may say so.
The sound you described as a "heavy base" in the beginning is actually an 8 string guitar, the composer Mick Gordon just tuned that thing super low and threw on a bunch of effects and distortion. Absolutely brutal tone.
This is the first video of Doug's i have seen. What is really cool is his knowledge of music is so great he can anticipate changes in the music and in some cases what comes next. What an ear!
Cuántos hispanohablantes vienen a escuchar al doctor Helvering por su absoluta claridad y precisión al hablar? Es el uno de los angloparlantes más claros que he escuchado en YT 😊
Part of the reason these songs all sound a little off in the OST version is in game they are mixed dynamically with different stuff layered in depending on the action going on at the time , so it also has a very ridged tempo so it can be in sync
I actually saw the documentary on that. It's freaking genius that the game actually looks at the situation and literally stitches the different parts of the song together seamlessly to create a seemingly non repeating flow that keeps you in the moment with no hard cuts in tempo or intensity.
Hello Doug! This is my first video watched and I loved it! If you are looking for another game with amazing music, then you need to listen to the Halo soundtrack. It is my personal favorite! There are a bunch of games, some with a different feel. The older ones were composed by a Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori. A completely different sound than Doom, but you might be more used to the sound of Halo. Other games with great music: Mass Effect trilogy Assassin's Creed 2 BioShock Infinite Destiny Skyrim The Witcher 3 Far Cry 5 (in my opinion)
On the topic of how music is composed for games VS traditional media, there's another video game composer by the name of Gustaf Grefberg who played with an interesting concept to video game scoring. Gustaf has composed a number of games, but he played with a concept in the video game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, and later on a much more well known title called "The Darkness" where every song in the game had two versions. He would compose a slow, softer, and suspenseful version of the song, and then he'd make another track that was extremely high energy and intense. The reason he did this was because the game's soundtrack could be faded in or out to one version or the other depending on the player's actions. If the player was sneaking around or recovering from a fire fight, the slow music would play, but as soon as the player entered combat, the intense version of the song would play.
Oh, welcome to Video Game Music! Honestly, it goes *extremely* hard for no reason. I love the breakdown between concert and game but gaming is actually a whole adventure! It's very hard to capture most modern video game soundtracks in a, well, track because they are largely dynamicly integrated nowadays. What I mean is the music is actually built in isolated parts and there is an array of coding that goes into determining what plays when/where/why which prevents it from being a track that just...ends or repeats? (Doom Eternal actually does this very well.) Some game music is extremely complex, some of it less so, but since about 2010 the score has been a hugely involved piece of the game that reacts to your actions. I'd love to share insights if you like, but this is already gonna be a super long comment. (There are many games on the Wii that employ this sort of music, particularly the Zeldas.) If you are still taking suggestions: 1. Undertale. You can't possibly go wrong with the Undertale soundtrack. Literally no choice is bad. Undertale is an indie game produced entirely by one guy, every song is a banger of overlaid themes/leitmotifs in largely 8-bit style. I don't think they're fully dynamic but, I mean, understandable, no one person has that kind of time and energy. If anyone did, though, it would be Toby Fox. The whole soundtrack for Undertale was composed in a 24-tone system and the timescale jumps frequently between 4/4 to 5/4 to 6/8. Breaking it down is mind bending. "Megalovania" - th-cam.com/video/c5daGZ96QGU/w-d-xo.html is *easily* the most famous of them, but they are all very distinctive. "Hopes and Dreams" found here is a great blend of the 8bit and more orchestral sounds: th-cam.com/video/tz82xbLvK_k/w-d-xo.html "Asgore" is a good example of how the In Game Experience is very superior to just listening to a score track: th-cam.com/video/MXJPgl39exM/w-d-xo.html (A Pacificst run, because the music does shift if you are not a Pacifist.) Versus the same track on the OST: th-cam.com/video/hMa4hZQbrms/w-d-xo.html (This is an excellent example of how the parts of the score can loop and are timed to match in game events.) 2. Portal. Perhaps the best techno soundtrack ever made was for Portal 2, a game where you are trapped in a defunct R&D facility being put through athletics courses by an AI who hates you (passive aggressively and regular aggressively). All the songs are very different, but not one of them is less than an absolute banger. This is "The Courtesy Call" the very first track of Portal 2's OST: th-cam.com/video/DuC6fqK1swQ/w-d-xo.html The most popular song is from Portal 1, that plays over the end credits. The AI who hates you sings a very lovely little ditty ( th-cam.com/video/Y6ljFaKRTrI/w-d-xo.html - 15 years old, wonderful) . She does the end credits in the sequel as well ( th-cam.com/video/dVVZaZ8yO6o/w-d-xo.html ). 3. Pokemon Sword and Shield, The Gym Battle Theme - th-cam.com/video/quYjN57Tycg/w-d-xo.html - Stay with me here, but this is a piece of art. This battle theme was a dynamic series of overlapping parts that change depending on how you're doing in the fight. Extremely hype to terrifying as your health drops, to the crowds cheering as they watch. If you want variety of game music that falls in a more classical/orchestral vein: 4. Shadow of the Colossus (2005) is one of the best scores I've heard in either games or movies. It is a game that has maybe a page a dialogue in total, and is about you, a tiny guy with a sword, who has to track down and slay these giants the size of skyscrapers. It is told almost entirely through the orchestral score which is not exactly dynamically integrated, but it was the PS2 so.... The opening ( th-cam.com/video/Pdi1DSqBZ6Q/w-d-xo.html ) is haunting as you proceed into...??? Somewhere? The land of the dead? Who knows?? The skyvoice that speaks to you in a great temple is underscored with this: th-cam.com/video/JHJXy7-ksXA/w-d-xo.html When you track the colossus: th-cam.com/video/N6oqdI-OdtI/w-d-xo.html And the fights all have different music but they're each fantastic: th-cam.com/video/36M-NwEFSOc/w-d-xo.html 5: Dragon Age - Particularly Inquisition, as the music was arranged to change constantly based on what you're doing. The whole soundtrack is...difficult to encapsulate because of how it works in game, but it is beautiful. People much more dedicated than I have gone through the files to find and label all the parts of the songs and track their flags, but the OST is a decent representation: th-cam.com/video/2syU3e2MOXM/w-d-xo.html Lost Elf - The culmination of a 60 hour game's worth of overlapping leitmotifs. It is preceded by these two songs (depending what you're doing) and extensive, grueling combat as you race to catch up: th-cam.com/video/4njUC0go2Ew/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/2oI7V2FYnbA/w-d-xo.html
From what I understand Mick used an 8 string guitar in Drop E and a drum set, the rest was all electronic manipulations using sounds from chainsaws and lawnmowersand other heavy sounds. Its just insane how good he is.
The unique thing about the music for the recent Doom games is how it dynamically changes depending on your actions in the game. You really get a whole new experience when you are playing the game and listening to the music change. I believe Mick Gordon specifically wrote and arranged the soundtrack in such a way that it could be chopped up into bits that fade into each other as you move in and out of combat.
I just want to appreciate you did not pause the video for 1 second to say nonsense about how much you know about whatever. This is gold man, keep it up! 🤘🏻
The Lyrics- Rip & Tear. A cool thing about the way the soundtrack flows with the player based on how they are doing, so heavy an intense when slaying, then haunting/hunting lower parts of the song when moving onto the next slaughter house lol. It's something i wish studios would pick up on more often for future titles.
The music is what helps drive the gameplay. That's the beauty of it! Without it the game, while still fun, wouldn't drive the player to keep taking down enemies constantly. This music is basically focus fuel for this type of game.
This definitely has the metal sound for a video game. If you want to really go pure metal instrumental than Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence is what you want to hear.
I love watching these for the subconscious tics of the expert shows while actively listening. I'm a pop-punk/electro-punk drummer, so I'll start tapping without knowing it; seeing a professional composer actually conduct a song they've never heard before based solely on their knowledge of music is amazingly fun. Music is a language, so it doesn't matter what dialect we prefer to speak in, we can all feel the emotions in music. Great content to stumble upon on a Friday night, and I'll definitely be seeking out some original compositions tonight!
There's a lot of other requests for his fantastic Doom work but I would put forward some of his prior work on Killer Instinct as more interesting music to break down. It really highlights his ability to work across genres, styles and even cultures. Sabrewulf's Lycanthropy with its haunting string section that sounds like demented cellos. Aganos's Polemos, the phrygian mix of heavy guitar tones against a sitar with Greek chanting. Jago's Tiger Warrior, where Mick learned throat singing for a theme about a Tibetan monk. Thunder's Hinnamatoom, a flute heavy mix that was made in conjunction with the Nez Perce tribe. Spinal's Warlord, where Mick acquired a kangling (a flute like instrument made out of a human tibia) to complete the swashbuckling nightmare. All these songs have their own unique version of the main theme's motif hidden within them.
Just wanted to provide a little extra details because the music for this game and its predecessor are just so fascinating and still innovative. There are a couple videos on how Mick Gordon constructed the meat of his soundscape for these tracks which explain more in detail, but to summarise very briefly, you actually are hearing guitars and of course synthesizers. He has a pretty gnarly signal processing chain which utilises a lot of compression, distortion, as well as (as some other comments have mentioned) some plugins which mix the timbre of different sounds. For example a lawn mower mixed with a 9 string guitar and then thrown through the effects chain. My explanation really cannot do it justice, but its so cool. As far as the game side, there is another side to it as well. In line with the music, the game itself is rather aggressive and fast paced and its all about this kind of primal dance. They actually created a system where the arrangement changes/progresses dynamically based on how intense the combat is. Honestly it works very well.
If you're looking to see more of Mick Gordon's range, I highly recommend the Killer Instinct 2013 soundtrack. A good variety of genres and vibes to fit each of the different characters. Mick Gordon handled Seasons 1+2 before leaving to compose Doom 2016, after which Atlus Plug and Celldweller composed Season 3 and beyond.
Im so glad this man is getting to experience all the joys that the music world beyond the mainstream has to offer. If you are looking for more videogame music, i really do have to recommend Skyrim's soundtrack. Dragonborn, Secunda, Streets of Whiterun, Around the Fire or my absolute favourite Sovngarde, i could move a mountain to that composition
The reason why you can’t tell what instruments are being used is because this madman literally uses lawnmowers and chainsaws to make music.
Just a bit more info for the sound origins, the chainsaw sound is pulled from the original doom games. The lawn mower is also ran through a synth and compressor so they can pitch it to sound effects. If I remember right the chainsaw is the heavy snyth sound on the higher pitch with the mower taking the lower pitches/ base line.
There's also Mongolian throat singing somewhere in the soundtrack, apparently.
The overtone singing is because the guy from Tenneger Cavalry was in the "Metal Choir". And I mean, what are you gonna do? Not use him?
That was 2016. In eternal he was allowed to use a guitar and he chose to only use the lowest of his 8 strings
@Dr.Spatula that was the initial brief from id- no guitars. He worked it into Doom 2016 (hell, you see him playing along in the videos for RIP & Tear and BFG Division) after the initial resistance
"I have no idea how you concentrate playing a game with that in your ears"...
That, my good sir, is EXACTLY what make us pushing forward through the entire game. I can't even fathom the idea of this game being separated of its unique soundtrack, Mick Gordon is genius.
"RIP AND TEAR until it's done"
Yeah the game is pretty hard but this soundtrack keeps you pushing, even helps you to concentrate, focused anger is scientifically proven to boost performance and this soundtrack is basically anger in audio form
@@ghostass422and im HERE for it
Exactly u said it game would not be the same without this masterpiece
TRUTH
the gameplay is perfectly timed to the tempo of the music
Dude, when I’m struggling at the gym, I turn on any song from this soundtrack and suddenly it feels like I can throw the weights through the roof. Such a powerful composition.
I listened to it every time went running last year. End of year wrapup on spotify was like "you listened to a lot of stuff from DOOM huh?" Absolutely makes me feel like I can punch through a brick wall.
Meathook makes me feel like that
Agree 100 percent when im working out and starting to feel a little worn out I put on either Doom 2016's or Eternals soundtrack and my energy level sky rockets.
Doom is my dependable, go-to gym music!
As someone once said: "DOOM soundtrack makes me feel like I could 1v1 the Sun and win"
It's honestly adorable watching a classically trained musician trying to figure out a scaled chainsaw/lawnmower.
Watching you explain the music note by note while simultaneously getting the involuntary stank face we all get was a genuine pleasure. Thanks for the video!
nobody can listen to this track and not get involuntary stank face
hahaha involuntary stank face is a phenomena that should be studied
from now on, when people request music from me, im going to ask them what face they want the music to make them make, and if they make the stank face, well of course im giving them this song
@@metal_crowIt's true. It's just that fkkin raunchy.
I always appreciate a genuine stank face.
One more thought on DOOM:
Most survival horror games pose the scenario that you are trapped in a room with a dozen monsters.
In DOOM, the monsters are trapped in a room… with you.
"Against all the evils that Hell can conjure, All the wickedness that mankind can produce, We will send unto them... Only you. Rip and tear, until it is done." The Doom series is about the secret post-game boss deciding to let off some steam.
DOOM music is all boss fight music. It's just that you're the boss and the music follows you around.
That's quite an original thought. Almost like the title of the song is basically saying that.
"none of you seem to understand... I'm not locked in here with you...
*You're locked in here with me!"*
In Doom, YOU are the final boss.
Mick Gordon is a genius. If you play the music in a visualizer it will draw pentagrams, goat heads, and 666's to go with the doom theme. Dude thought of everything.
He was at a game developers conference I attended some years back, and I was really surprised by his energy in person. The way he passionately and quickly speaks about his work, the effortless flow of ideas and depth when he's talking to other professionals...I think you might be right: He is a genius.
@@VynxeVaingloryif you want to get mad, look at how Id and Bethesda tried to screw him over with Eternals soundtrack. Really painted him as a villain.
@@TSE_WOODY Businesses are gonna business. Shareholders are directly responsible for a large portion of the evil festering in today's world.
Actually, I think he included the satanic imagery as a joke, thinking "surely no one will find this and it won't blow up and become a big controversy"... and then exactly that happened, and a bunch of Christians started calling it satanic indoctrination propaganda.
I find the way the story turned out way funnier, honestly.
@Stickarms99 he knew what he was doing and said so through multiple inverviews....the whole christians pushing congress into investigating music thing was in the 70s, 80s, and 90s when christians and politicians thought rock, rap, and metal were all satanic and they started putting warning labels and age restrictions on music, thanks to the at time first Lady Nancy reagan....you were close though, only a couple decades off...
This is my “mow the lawn” song.
Rip and tear… until it is done.
Glad you’re continuing video game music.
(Those are the lyrics)
Rip and tear
Rip and tear (repeated)
I like what you did there
Heh, isn't this the song where he used a sampled lawnmower for the lead "synth" instrument?
@@BrandonBlumethe guitar riff in "At Dooms Gate" is blended with a chainsaw
@@peterdiven2021 Yeah, that one was the chainsaw. But this one was a lawnmower.
The music actually follows your playing, getting softer and louder in sync with what you're doing. Bits and pieces are spliced together and repeated. It's honestly a work of art. It works amazingly well in the context of the game, in that it basically mirrors your heartbeat. When it's hitting hard, you're in the middle of ripping demons apart. When it slows down, it's when you've cleared an area.
Love that the higher tones get more pronounced as you are low on health, too. Makes my anxiety raise, and makes me feel the pressure of low HP even more.
Slayer: enters room
Demons: why do i hear boss music?
If you have never played it, I suggest trying out Killer Instinct 2013. It's a fighting game (one of the best imo) that has incredible music. Every character has their own stage and theme music. The music changes tone and tempo based on what's going on in the match and every track even keeps timing with every character's "ultra combo" finisher.
Also helps that they were made by the same guy who did the Doom soundtrack. Well most of them.. Some of the later added characters were done by somebody else.
Here are a few examples. These are the sound track release versions. The full versions that include all variations are much longer.
"Spinal" They used instruments made from real human bone. - th-cam.com/video/mpqct1zMqTE/w-d-xo.html
"Tusk" - th-cam.com/video/dNxn-P43Qeg/w-d-xo.html
"Jago" Mick Gordon went to a monastery in Asia somewhere to learn how to throat sing just to make this track - th-cam.com/video/loSj5Iy1OOs/w-d-xo.html
"Fulgore" probably the most "doom like" track in the game - th-cam.com/video/WjXou-PI8dI/w-d-xo.html
It is very clever. The way they did it was playing several hundred individual second-long music bits, all made to run into each other so it sounds coherent even as it shifts around based on player action. I don't know anything about writing music, but it's got to be a higher difficulty level. And a crime they only paid him for the specific individual seconds of work. Create an interactive multidimensional soundscape, be paid in one dimension. . .
@TehAmelie his influence will be felt for years to come though.
just look at those that have taken inspiration from him like Devil may cry 5
I’m super impressed that, as someone who isn’t involved in the scene, you did such a good job summarizing the history, public perception, and even memes about this incredible musical project. Well done.
Many thanks your kind comment, happy that you enjoyed!
Doug finally got to his "Drop it so I can make a stank face and bang my head" phase in his metal journey
I'm so proud and happy for him. Next up, kublai khan
Waiting for “classical composer reacts to the most gut punching China breakdowns”
Funny how there are some things out there that a face of disgust means that it's amazing.
@@FoxSullivan my wife says she can tell when I really like a song because i'll make a face like i just smelled shit
The chant at the end is "RIP AND TEAR! RIP AND TEAR!"...
It's one of the repeating motifs in the game, after the Doom Slayer is given the job to kill all the hordes of Hell: "Rip and tear, until it is done."
Funny thing, As finnish person it also sounds like "Hyökkäykseen!" which would translate as "Charge!" or "To attack!" :D
Technically KAR EN TUK but it translates the same.
Gordon's use of a choir made up of heavy metal vocalists was beyond incredible.
EDIT: Oh it is Rip and Tear in this one, I was thinking of Gladiator.
Yeah, I think the thing there is that it's the Sentinels copying his battle cry, so that's why it sounds weird? Idk, I'm not quite that nerdy
Kar en Tuk and Rip and Tear are the same chants in two languages. Different Doom Eternal songs have different versions of this chant.
I always thought they were saying “let me in” lol
You know you have done an amazing work when a classical music headbangs to your music 😂
i think the wildest thing about this soundtrack is that we wrote it in 2 weeks under insane pressure. pretty disgusting how he was treated by the game's producer, i encourage anyone to check out Mick's public address that you'll easily find on the doom subreddit. Mick is an absolute treasure, unbelievable work.
wasn't the issue with the Production cause he did go over the deadline and din't deliver a complet job by the end?...
@@Mugthraka cause they absolutely fucked him, gave him basically no time, constantly scrapped what he was working on, didn't even pay him for a year
the whole situation is so fucked honestly, it's a shock that he managed to get ANYTHING completed with the BS they pulled
@@Mugthraka
You need to look into it again, as he's a great example of why many people skipped on joining the gaming industry from horror stories like his.
Cool, so torrent the game?
@@Loebane if purchasing isn't ownership, piracy isn't stealing
Funny you'd mention how game music can be adapted to suit the gameplay - this is in fact a fantastic example of that. The arrangement you hear was entirely put together for the soundtrack; in game it's made up of little snippets that queue up and adapt to how you're playing. When there's a quiet moment, it will play the quiet section. When monsters are coming on screen, it will play the heavier parts. And when you are on a demon-killing murderous rampage, it plays the main theme. It doesn't just act as looping background music for a level, it acts essentially as a score to what you're doing in the game.
Hey! It's the 8-bit prog guy!
Good music tech in games is always such a solid enhancement to the game.
That's what I was about to say. Listening to the full score barely reflects how it is used in game. It serves as a quiet ambiance when you're exploring around, and injects a huge dose of adrenaline into the chaos of battles. It's a marvelous piece of engineering tailored to support what happens on the screen.
I think another good example which actually predates much of Mick's work is the pursuit themes from Need for Speed: Most wanted (2005). It even has the cooldown phase music and the escaped parts of the song change based on how fast you're driving.
@@typeoddnamehere2362 Just look at Payday 2 for a similar style of music. Which can be traced back to the idea of mixing themes based on player actions which goes back to Rare and Banjoo.
"How you concentrate?"
As someone here mentioned before, it's monsters trapped in a room with you. This music actually helps a lot, because you can unleash your anger in shots, etc.
You know, this music helps to get "in there", in some kind of flow
Great video, thank you for that!
IT helps even more that the game it self ramps up the music as you do crazy shit. Glory kills, headshots whatever it gets me so amped more than any other shooter.
Exactly, it's almost like it causes a time dilation effect (duh, because adrenaline). The way the game plays, it might actually be *harder* without music like this.
@@gniawd Metal:Hell Singer does this but the combat is a lot less smooth compared to Eternal. Audiosurf FPS lol
I have to shut the door when I play Doom... the wife doesn't like the things I say while playing lol
@@jaredjabouri7935 I've headphones on (obvs) but play in the living room/lounge, wife says she should have filmed me as I am 'worrying'.. it certainly gets my heart going tho, which can't be bad!
I've never once played a Doom game, but I was instantly taken aback by Mick's music. He knows how to make music that let's you know you're the main boss, not the enemies.
it's really the epitome of "i'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!"
I had never played a Doom game until Doom Eternal, because of the soundtrack! I loved every second of the game
As someone that has played Doom games since the 90's... I think this is the most accurate way to describe the music. Hell (no pun intended), even Doom II from back in the 90's has bangers here and there. Mick just revved it up to a maximum.
if you can, do yourself a favor. the doom series is one of my absolute favorites, i have played every single game. (i beat doom 2 on ds lmao)
@@n0t_the_plague_doctor343 now try it on a Pregnancy test
Watching such a skilled composer be confused, baffled, impressed, and excited all at the same time is so beautiful to me. Much respect to Mick Gordon. Bravo!
Holy shit I love this guy. He drops knowledge, he's genuinely excited about the music. Immediately subscribed.
you might also like someone called "the charismatic voice".
The drop part is hilarious, every time professionals react, they get super teased on the drop part haha
Fun Fact: When they brought Mick onboard to make the soundtrack, they told him they wanted a metal Album but he wasn't allowed to use any kind of guitars to make it. Mick's response was " ok then, what is more metal than a guitar? A CHAINSAW!!!!!" Then just pitched it up and down to the notes he wanted
This is why sometimes limitations by corporate can actually be good things for creativity.
He tried to do it without guitar, realized that made no sense and got the ok to use guitar.
...This didn't happen at all. There are no chainsaws used lol.
@@fish1234567890 I literally just googled "did mick Gordon use a chainsaw to make the doom soundtrack" and it came up instantly. Try again
He used some kind of AI tool to blend 9-string guitar with the chainsaw sound sample from the original DOOM game
The game is incredibly fast, furious & violent in the best way. Without the music I'm not sure I could keep up with the pace of the game. At 63 I need all the help I can get with a game like DOOM 😄The soundtrack is like a big shot of adrenaline!
Awesome that you play doom at 63!!! Keep on gaming!
@@julien2231 Haven't stopped since Asteroids at the arcade at 19. It does keep your reflexes sharp (or sharper as the case may be) Yep, PC gamer for life
@@jaquestraw1 I am a smidge younger but i have been gaming since i was a tot. On slight side note my mum heading into her 80s had an array of animal crossing gear and blew out at least one disc. haha. No excuse not to game
@@Areyousayingidontknowmyname good for her!
Take heart. I'm literally half your age, and there is no way in hell I could do DOOM without the soundtrack either.
RIP AND TEAR is what's chanted at the end of the song 😂😂 looks like you had a good time with the song. Glad you enjoyed, pretty interesting perspective on the music. Great video 😎👍
which is the title of another track
RIP AND TEAR - or - KAR EN TUK
@@tantamounteduntil it is done o7
I just found your channel and I must say, it's really refreshing to see someone reacting to music who actually has an understanding of music and can talk about it in an educated and technical manner. Too many of these reactions is just a person smiling while listening for 5 minutes and it ends. It's so cool to hear something a little more...educational.
This was the last thing on earth I expected Doug to listen to but I'm in 😂
Same)
I mean why not? Isn't is patron requests?
You mean last thing on mars?
@@Axter6nah earth. It’s a song from eternal and that takes place on earth, or whats left of it.
@@Anonymus-ih7yb i mean there's also a level on mars...
There are guitars! They're just 8-strings, so they're super low!
Yeah there's tons of guitar. In his own mind, Mick is a guitarist pretty much before all else it seems to me.
Yup yup very modern djent guitar tone, I can see how anyone new to mick Gordon wouldn’t have a clue though lol
Yeahhh, probably doesn't help that the mix is squished to hell so they pump really intensely against the drums - that definitely adds to the samples-on-a-grid vibe
@@AlkanetEXE Yeah, it's such a shame. The track still goes hard but it's definitely mangled by that.
@@MusicByDamienA yeah, the notes being played are more commonly associated with a bass guitar, but the tonal quality doesn't really happen with the thick strings of a bass. Though there is definitely a bass track in there, it's just hard to notice because it's playing probably exactly the same notes.
Very astute of you with the analysis of the structure. Doom Eternal has a fully dynamic soundtrack. Basically, instead of composing complete pieces for levels, Mick Gordon composes several segments for various situations the player can find themselves in. For example, when the player chainsaws a demon in half, the game will find an appropriate segment of music and transition into it, then transition to another with the goal of syncing the players actions on screen to the music. It's quite the striking effect during gameplay, but it does have the drawback that you can't really develop a unitary piece with carefully designed flow and journey as each segment has to be able to easily flow into any other to prevent it from being jarring in gameplay. The soundtrack version is an arrangement of these segments into the closest approximation of what a proper piece might be using them, but in order to get the full intended effect you really have to play the game.
I was looking to see if someone mentioned this. The music in DOOM is reactive to the players actions. It matches whatever actions the player makes.
And that is why it is 4/4, so he can switch between the parts.
Well you couldn't work out the segments longer than they are, because the longer they go on the harder they are to cut, and the more of an evolving narrative they embody, the greater the likelihood it clashes with the actual scene development.
@@HoboGamingyou get low on health and surrounded it speeds up, you go in close it's more aggressive, you clear everything and are walking to the next area it will play the ""softer and calmer"" segments.
They did the same with the Manhunt OST. The music is mostly ambient sounds and instruments but when you get "in a situation" it switches over to lurid, 70s slasher movie themes and it's all done on the fly.
A video game isn’t just a video game. It’s a collaboration of several talented artists coming together to create the most beautiful masterpiece of euphoria and adrenaline inducing entertainment.
Facts
well, a good video game
Word
-"how do you concentrate?"
-We don't, we rip and tear along with the music 😂
Great video man! Love it!
You just made me imagine someone playing Doom on the wii.
Thank you for that, it made a crappy day just a bit more bearable.
It gave me a mental image of someone having simultaneously the best and worst day possible by living out that Doom meme irl combined with all those moments where someone playing on the wii ACCIDENTALLY trashed their tv...
You described exactly how the game's music works - side note, the track you listened to is a "Soundtrack version" of the in-game music. For each level, the game works by taking snippets of the respective soundtrack and playing certain parts of it depending on what you are doing. The end result is this extremely fluid, seamless soundtrack that sounds like there's no beginning or end. Mick Gordon is a real genius
I had the honour of being able to gift Mick an effects pedal. Even though I've never met the guy and didn't expect anything in return, I ended up with a signed copy of the original soundtrack a few days later.
One of the most underrated composers of our time, and one of (if not the only) video game composers that a very, very decent proportion of the public knows by name.
Damn dude, THAT'S SO COOL!! 😎
The words they were chanting at the end was 'Rip and Tear'.
Instructions on how to play the game - Rip and Tear, until it is done.
The fact that people, who are really good at music, are able to hear the key and recognize patterns is really amazing to me.
It must be like seeing sheet music live in front of your eyes. Probably like Tetris pieces falling into place. I find this really fascinating.
when people start talking about keys, time signatures etc I'm just "I like your funny words, magic man"
Its almost like in sherlock holmes when time slows down around benedict cumberpatch hints are printed all over the place when he deducts...
I'm really good at music, but I couldn't hear the key. That is very difficult to learn, but a talent some people have, called absolute hearing. Ofcourse if you are very, very experienced you might make a lucky guess, he could also have cheated with having something on the screen to help him. But mostly when people quickly hear the key they have an absolute hearing. Very impressive indeed and not very common.
@@GameCyborgCh It's simple really, it's just a straight 4/4 at roughly 90 bpm, but with lots of syncopation in the guitar riffs. Melodically it seems to be a mixture between double harmonic major with Phrygian or perhaps harmonic minor flavouring here and there, with lots of chromatic runs, with the lead notes being the major 7th and minor 2nd/flat 2nd around the tonic. Harmonically it just sits around the root with occasional dips to the minor VII chord a whole tone down, until that section in the middle-eight...🤪
Yup music has lots of funny words. Taken me years to figure out even a bit, and now I've realised that after ~30 years of trying to learn it: I know jack sh*t about music. 😅
If I may add something that I believe no one mentioned; it isn't just that a level might end short or that the music can loop - for many games and for Doom for sure, the soundtrack is made from "stems" that follow a theme and leitmotif for the level, but these stems are interpolated and played depending on your actions, depending on when you shoot, how you shoot, what enemies are around etc., the soundtrack is always changing in response to your actions.
This is a major part of how Mick Gordon and id fell out - the game was done and the soundtrack was done, but since the soundtrack is so reactive they weren't "songs" *per se*, which meant that for Mick to master and release the OST as an Album, which the studio wanted (and I believe Mick wanted as well) it was "taking too long", so they got someone else to master it as tracks/songs. So what came out as an album is an attempt to condense hundreds of miniature pieces into one single structure, while in the game those lulls and drops and key changes are all done in response to what the player is doing, so the "narrative" of the song as a whole is always perfectly matched to the story of how YOU went through the level/combat section/boss etc.
In the end, "living" and actively "making" the soundtrack while you play is a complete different experience than listening, both are awesome of course, but Gordon's genius is felt MUCH more deeply in-game.
There is here on youtube a fan made master of the tracks that "feel" more like the intent was behind the tracks.
Also, people like to mention how Mick used a lot of "non instruments" to get the sounds, like drills and whatnot. But I think it leaves a lot of important context out. When he was called to make the soundtrack for Doom 2016, Mick Gordon was explicitly told not to use guitars, at all. So he fiddled with his modular synth until he finally found the combinations that have now became famous as defining traits of "argent metal". Only afterwards he was able to convince the studio to let him play the guitar.
I think if you want to understand Doom's soundtrack without playing the game, the best you can do is check something from the 2016 OST, as those were mastered by Mick Gordon himself. And in the videos you can see what he uses the guitar for, and very visual explanations of why sometimes it feels like you can't place what mode he is playing in - it is easier to understand as what is playable on the guitar and what he can bend, instead of regular modes and keys. You know the time immemorial discussion of "what key is hey joe in" ? The chords are C - D - G - A - E (sort of, depends how you tune your guitar) You can read and write it as being in the key of G, A, Em, E.... however you like, but what I'd say is that it is in the key "Guitar" - the chord progression isn't a 4 -5 -1 from a certain key, but a 3 - 2 -1 of what you can play open on all strings of the guitar.
So I'd argue that how "out of tune" Mick's however many string guitar is, and what notes the guitar is able to bend without becoming too unstable are the notes that "ask" to be played. So the half steps and progression of the root notes are explained by the embodied instrument, more so than from classical music theory.
this, I think for a classic composer seeing how the music is used dynamically with gameplay would have been an interesting take
Doug`s face at 7:56 trying to understand what just hit him LOL. Now you know what it feels like to be a metal head 🤘🤘
7:46 starts at
Mick Gordon is an amazing composer. So sad what they did to him.
He's a great composer but he's difficult to work with by his own admission having a habit of not communicating with studios and lying, that lack of professionalism is what caused the problems ultimately.
Not that they didn't do him dirty but he's not exactly squeaky clean in the bethesda situation.
@@SahRuvaak What are you talking about "own admission of not communicating with studios and lying"? Go read his full post about the situation and you'll find that he bent over backwards trying to communicate with Bethesda and he got the runaround from them
@@citizenducktv9169 For example with KI he would make a track that they wouldn't have accepted and run them out of time to get it through, sure they're good tracks and they put up with it as such but it's still not a great idea.
It's a he said she said and Mick Gordon has shown his colors in that regard before.
If what he says is true in his version of the story, no way does he have ANY blame beyond working without a signed contract. They announced "soundtrack by Mick Gordon" before they told him. He got backed into it. If I'm taking the word of Bethesda over someone else, the pod people have gotten me.
@@zburnham I'm pretty sure they both screwed eachother I don't know why you would take a megacorporation or an established liar's word as gospel.
And as per usual the consumer got fucked in the end.
I have ADHD and this is my “getting stuff done” music! I listen to the whole album on loop!
I blast both DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal’s Soundtrack in the stockroom at work. It really is the “Get Stuff Done” Playlist
Very recognizable! I have ADHD too and I love chaotic music to keep me focused, which sounds counter intuitive.
SAME DAWG
I love how listening to this you see his lip curl and teeth clench like he's almost about to snarl. THAT is the goal of this music. Nothing more is needed.
This is my PR attempt song at the gym. I smiled when you said its so "aggressive" cause it fits perfectly. Loved the video!
There is a video by Mick Gordon called "Doom: Behind the Music." Where he explains how he made the fabulous noise we just heard. ;)
Considering the game this is from is a fast paced first person shooter where you sole goal is to literally rip and tear demons apart with everything you can find, including your own two hands, you'd be amazed how much a song like this gets you in the zone in the midst of the chaos.
>:)
So that "aggressive bass" you were referring to is actually a 9 string guitar. You are right about the electronic and industrial aspects though. Mick used what he dubbed the "doom instrument", which is a very specific signal chain coming from a synth, which dynamically adds to whats put through it based on input. Mick did an entire conference over the ost to doom 2016, at GDC, that goes into more depth on the specifics of the production techniques he used. Also, if you do any further songs from doom eternal, i would highly recommend looking for "koma's mix", since the official soundtrack was bungled by ID, the devs, and was generally a very low quality release. Koma was a youtuber who did very high quality mixes of the original stems, some of which mick gordon helped him on.
Was it a 9 string? I thought it was an 8. Either way, it's well down into registers normally associated with bass, and doing the classic metal bass trick of following the guitar an octave lower doesn't really work cause that drops you off the bottom of the audible range.
@@reaganharder1480 It's a downtuned 8 string, which is standard for the Doom 2016/Eternal soundtracks. Usually in E standard (not regular E standard, it's an octave lower, which as standard tuning for an 8 string is F# makes it the 8 string version of D standard tuning)) but The Only Thing They Fear Is You is tuned to D, which is almost a 9 string pitch. However there are a couple songs that either use a different tuning or use a 9 string (I believe Super Gore Nest is in F standard, while the Nekreval theme is at 9 string pitches, though I'm not sure if Mick Gordon used a 9 string specifically. From Doom 2016, BFG Division is in 8 string E standard, but a decent number of the other songs (including I believe At Doom's Gate) use a 9 string.
Finally someone is backing up what they say instead of going "iT's tOtAlLy aLL lAwNmOwErs n ChAiNsAwS s0 k3WL"
@@mf_ratIt's repeated a lot because it's true. "The only thing they fear is you" does have a heavily modified sample of a lawnmower going through Mick Gordon's extensive signal mix. One of the tracks from 2016 had the same, but with a chainsaw. It's not the only thing, nor is it the defining trait of either track, but it's there.
@@DemonstormlordYeah but people exaggerate it to hell (pun not intended). He was told not to use guitars initially, so he did experiment with different synth types and samples of lawnmowers and chainsaws, but they eventually added the guitars back in once the basis of the tracks were formed.
I never thought I could enjoy music like this, which can only be described as...violence.
But after playing through Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, I gained a whole new appreciation for Mick Gordon's music.
You are absolutely awesome. Very few review channels truly push very far beyond their own horizons, but you react to absolutely anything. And you do so with intelligent commentary and make your viewers feel welcome. You, sir, are an absolute gem.
'Ludwig the Accursed & holy blade' (Phase 1 and 2 of the boss fight) from the Bloodborne soundtrack is probably the best example I know of for a cohesive mesh between Classical and Game composing. Doesn't hurt that it's also an amazing track.
The DS3 OST is also amazing, Twin Princess and Sister Friede have a special place in my Heart.
Ludwig, The Accursed & Holy Blade, is amazing. It also follows a common trope in classical opera, a hero that falls from grace and becomes cursed.
100% agree it'd be a fun one for the channel
Maybe Tenebre Rosso Sangue from Ultrakill as well?
YES, would be perfect for him to react to!
"The Only Thing They Fear is You" is the notable example of music which fits absolutely perfectly to its game. Other examples being "Hell March" for the Command'n'Conquer series and "Dragonborn" for Skyrim.
"Hell March" (seek first or second edition, not the goofy third one) was composed by a living legend of game music Frank Klepacky, in the March he literally played the clang of tank tracks with music.
"Dragonborn" unlike most other game songs was orchestral from the beginning, you might like it.
I go from "ARE YOU FUNCKING DROPPIN' OR WHAT?"
To, "this drop was fucking delicious"
I didn't know chainsaws could be ti's beautiful
It fills me with sheer child-like joy when I watch someone have a great reaction to something so hard and so amazing. Just their "oh damn" expressions gets me every time.
As someone who has played an ungodly amount of DOOM, the music fuels you as you just rip and tear through enemies. I had to many times get up and go for a walk. Glad to see you enjoyed it.
10:56 The music fuels my gameplay, it drives me, gives me the life and energy I need to push through and, as the chant says at the end, "RIP AND TEAR!"
If you take it to the gym, you might just *become* a beast like the protagonist of the game.
I did my reps at the church of iron last night and dropped by my dojo to say hi on the way back home. The 250lb 3 stripe black belt mma fighter just looked at me and laughed. I said I'd see the guys on Sunday for open mat.
Good thing I'm actually a super gentle sparring partner. Hehehe
If I'm not mistaken, I'm not sure if it was specifically for DOOM 2016 or Eternal or both, but they specifically asked Mick to avoid obvious guitars, because they wanted "heavy metal" but it needed to sound more unique (and alien). Mick's answer to that was to use basically everything _but_ a guitar to sample, then used them as the "guitar" riffs. Chainsaws, lawnmowers, etc :D
I think they did give him the go-ahead to use guitars later on, so maybe that was only for 2016? But super impressive and creative work from Mick, the whole OSTs are incredible.
edit, found it:
"the soundtrack for Gordon’s first DOOM title was unique for a few reasons: firstly, id and Bethesda’s original brief for the soundtrack forbid the use of guitars. They wanted an entirely synth based soundtrack to set this new DOOM apart from its predecessors. Then, slowly but surely, Gordon convinced the team to let some guitars onto the soundtrack. And then more guitars. And then we arrived at masterworks like “The BFG Division”."
10:50 you concentrate by sinc the tempo of the song with your bullets jumping and killing demons. its a great feeling. Amazing vid!
4:01 heres when he reacts
The music is something else when you're playing as it changes based on how much carnage you are unleashing.
E1M1/At Doom’s Gate should absolutely be next, it’s commonly thought of as THE Doom theme. Make sure to check out the original version, even though the 2016 version of it is sick as well. Might even be cool to see your reaction to just how different they are.
For me the Doom Soundtrack is the cover version of the 90s songs by Andrew Hulshult
Time for “One Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy 7. I’d recommend the version from the Advent Children movie. Perfect blend of classical, prog rock, and metal. Absolute classic
The original to awesome, too, if just for the "they managed to do that with MIDI!"
Agreed
I vote for insaneintherainmusic's cover of it 😂
Yeah I loved the AC version so much
Why not the argent metal (doom style) version of One Winged Angel?
Saw the Virgil video, came straight looking for a doom reaction! Couldn’t of timed this more perfectly
i genuinely love watching the reactions to all the ppl that studied music in different ways breakdown/dissect the doom songs. Not one video iv watched is someone coming in disappointed, just headbobs and genuine interest. Stay awesome! :D
You've just earned a subscription from me! I LOVE seeing (and hearing, in this case) reactions from people who understand the important and key concepts of what is being discussed; it's a genuine pleasure to see you describe the musical theories that are being implemented in this piece!
Its an extremely intense game that demands total focus. A sensory overload in all the right ways. The music fits right in when you're in the right mindset to smash your way through hordes of demons
This. I found (find!) it helps me to establish a rhythm for the mayhem. I'm old now with the reflexes of a three-toed sloth, and usually a preference for slower-paced 'stealth' games; I simply couldn't do a fast-paced fps without Mick Gordon's assistance.
After a while I find that there's not even any concentration, you stop thinking, you play, you run, you jump, you shoot, you smash everything, you don't stop, it becomes instinctive, as if you were entering a state of flow.
And when the fight's over, it's all downhill again, you release the adrenaline you've built up over 5 minutes of fighting, but you didn't realise it.
That's why Doom is so good.
I played Doom 2016 (as well as Doom II back in the day), and this music is almost required to rip and tear. The violence and speed mesh exceptionally well with the game play.
Really had to smile when you said "I don't hear guitars" at 7:16. Maybe if you have some time on your hands and want to dive deeper into how the DOOM soundtrack specifically was created, Mick Gordon did a really fun presentation on this at GDC (Game Developers Conference) back in 2017: th-cam.com/video/U4FNBMZsqrY/w-d-xo.html
It's an hour long but really interesting, and the topic of guitars comes up as well 😁
I 1000% Need to see Doug react to this above all else. Nobody reacts to it but it's soooo good
@@Morfalath ...Except that's not actually true. It was true for, like, two tracks in 2016 and Mick himself was like "yeah they let me use guitars after that"
@@colbyboucher6391 and then you have the gigachad casey edwards who just went for the dirtiest bass he could find instead of a guitar
@colbyboucher6391 im pretty sure he uses the "chainsaw" synth mixed with the 8 or 9 string to thicken it up
I appreciate that you let the music continue to play while commentating over it. Many other reaction videos constantly start/stop so the person can speak which drives me nuts!
One of the tracks on Doom (2016) had a synth sampling a chainsaw as its lead instrument.
It is an extended ranged guitar (8 string) but with layers of synth on top. Modern metal has started to really love how full this makes a guitar sound. It has become pretty common in large part due to the Doom OSTs influence.
Your comment about "how do you even concentrate" while playing a game with music like this playing is spot on for me.
I don't know about others, but there are some times in games where I'm so caught off guard by the music, or so distracted by how incredible it is that I perform worse in the game. This has happened to me more than once during boss fights in Final Fantasy XIV. Sometimes I need to pause games just to enjoy the music because I'm so distracted by it. A good problem to have!
Yeah, the game music has some unique requirements, one of the is "not being too much good all of sudden".
Final fantasy is different than Doom. Both gameplay and music-wise.
In ff you wanna listen to boss mechanics, call-outs, abilities sound effects.
Doom Eternal is more like a rhytm game, the more aggressive you are playing the dynamic sound mixing will adjust the music to the action, sound ques are not as important, but the music helps the adrenaline flow.
@@0ne0fmany 100% agreed
The soundtrack made these modern Doom games. It was such a monumental tool for engrossing you in the experience. In the game these tracks actually change and progress based on how well you are doing. Its epic.
So TH-cam suggested this video to me, and I didn't know what to expect. But I am so happy I watched this. It warmed my heart to see how much you got into this song. Great commentary as well. And to answer your question as to how someone plays to this music - the music makes you play better.
I love, Sir, how you let the music do the talking without pausing it and letting it teach you how it came to be. Not to mention it is awesome seeing a classically trained conductor getting so into such a head-banger like this!
I think you would really appreciate the talk Mick did for the GDC, where he talks how's the process of making the music for the game, the different challenges it took and how even a chainsaw was used as an instrument for the OST
I'm so happy you actually reacted to this! I hope you liked the theme, despite this not being your usual type of music. Fun fact, some of the sounds in the DOOM soundtrack are sampled from a real chainsaw.
To the question "how do you concentrate with this in your ears?" the answer is "we don't concentrate, we just blast through"😂
Though you're right, gaming themes are meant to build the atmosphere of either a location, a character, or a boss battle. The aim of the composer, is to create something that can accompany the player through what the game is intended to portray and has to make it credible enough, so that the player is also driven by what the music expresses, especially with tracks like this, which are meant to hype you up.
What I love about gaming music is that it can tell stories effectively with or without lyrics. It's like a modern opera or a concerto, if I may say so.
The sound you described as a "heavy base" in the beginning is actually an 8 string guitar, the composer Mick Gordon just tuned that thing super low and threw on a bunch of effects and distortion. Absolutely brutal tone.
He's very clever at making you feel uncomfortable while you listen, absolute genius. Loved your reaction matey.
This is the first video of Doug's i have seen. What is really cool is his knowledge of music is so great he can anticipate changes in the music and in some cases what comes next. What an ear!
Mick Gordon’s soundtrack fits the gameplay so well. It pushes you forward constantly and amps you up without fail
Cuántos hispanohablantes vienen a escuchar al doctor Helvering por su absoluta claridad y precisión al hablar? Es el uno de los angloparlantes más claros que he escuchado en YT 😊
yo
Doom's music is nuts and completely suits the game. Play the song Cyberdemon on a spectrogram... fun stuff.
The voices in the end where chanting "RIP AND TEAR"
Its just constant adrenaline when the music kicks in. "RIP AND TEAR, RIP AND TEAR" were the lyrics you were hearing
Part of the reason these songs all sound a little off in the OST version is in game they are mixed dynamically with different stuff layered in depending on the action going on at the time , so it also has a very ridged tempo so it can be in sync
I actually saw the documentary on that. It's freaking genius that the game actually looks at the situation and literally stitches the different parts of the song together seamlessly to create a seemingly non repeating flow that keeps you in the moment with no hard cuts in tempo or intensity.
Hello Doug! This is my first video watched and I loved it! If you are looking for another game with amazing music, then you need to listen to the Halo soundtrack. It is my personal favorite! There are a bunch of games, some with a different feel. The older ones were composed by a Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori.
A completely different sound than Doom, but you might be more used to the sound of Halo.
Other games with great music:
Mass Effect trilogy
Assassin's Creed 2
BioShock Infinite
Destiny
Skyrim
The Witcher 3
Far Cry 5 (in my opinion)
The GDC talk he does on this is great and well worth checking out how some of the sounds were made
On the topic of how music is composed for games VS traditional media, there's another video game composer by the name of Gustaf Grefberg who played with an interesting concept to video game scoring.
Gustaf has composed a number of games, but he played with a concept in the video game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, and later on a much more well known title called "The Darkness" where every song in the game had two versions. He would compose a slow, softer, and suspenseful version of the song, and then he'd make another track that was extremely high energy and intense.
The reason he did this was because the game's soundtrack could be faded in or out to one version or the other depending on the player's actions. If the player was sneaking around or recovering from a fire fight, the slow music would play, but as soon as the player entered combat, the intense version of the song would play.
As someone who grew up playing classical piano and cello, I was always impressed by the technicality of a lot of metal music.
Oh, welcome to Video Game Music! Honestly, it goes *extremely* hard for no reason. I love the breakdown between concert and game but gaming is actually a whole adventure! It's very hard to capture most modern video game soundtracks in a, well, track because they are largely dynamicly integrated nowadays. What I mean is the music is actually built in isolated parts and there is an array of coding that goes into determining what plays when/where/why which prevents it from being a track that just...ends or repeats? (Doom Eternal actually does this very well.) Some game music is extremely complex, some of it less so, but since about 2010 the score has been a hugely involved piece of the game that reacts to your actions.
I'd love to share insights if you like, but this is already gonna be a super long comment. (There are many games on the Wii that employ this sort of music, particularly the Zeldas.)
If you are still taking suggestions:
1. Undertale. You can't possibly go wrong with the Undertale soundtrack. Literally no choice is bad. Undertale is an indie game produced entirely by one guy, every song is a banger of overlaid themes/leitmotifs in largely 8-bit style. I don't think they're fully dynamic but, I mean, understandable, no one person has that kind of time and energy. If anyone did, though, it would be Toby Fox. The whole soundtrack for Undertale was composed in a 24-tone system and the timescale jumps frequently between 4/4 to 5/4 to 6/8. Breaking it down is mind bending.
"Megalovania" - th-cam.com/video/c5daGZ96QGU/w-d-xo.html is *easily* the most famous of them, but they are all very distinctive.
"Hopes and Dreams" found here is a great blend of the 8bit and more orchestral sounds: th-cam.com/video/tz82xbLvK_k/w-d-xo.html
"Asgore" is a good example of how the In Game Experience is very superior to just listening to a score track: th-cam.com/video/MXJPgl39exM/w-d-xo.html (A Pacificst run, because the music does shift if you are not a Pacifist.) Versus the same track on the OST: th-cam.com/video/hMa4hZQbrms/w-d-xo.html (This is an excellent example of how the parts of the score can loop and are timed to match in game events.)
2. Portal. Perhaps the best techno soundtrack ever made was for Portal 2, a game where you are trapped in a defunct R&D facility being put through athletics courses by an AI who hates you (passive aggressively and regular aggressively). All the songs are very different, but not one of them is less than an absolute banger. This is "The Courtesy Call" the very first track of Portal 2's OST: th-cam.com/video/DuC6fqK1swQ/w-d-xo.html
The most popular song is from Portal 1, that plays over the end credits. The AI who hates you sings a very lovely little ditty ( th-cam.com/video/Y6ljFaKRTrI/w-d-xo.html - 15 years old, wonderful) . She does the end credits in the sequel as well ( th-cam.com/video/dVVZaZ8yO6o/w-d-xo.html ).
3. Pokemon Sword and Shield, The Gym Battle Theme - th-cam.com/video/quYjN57Tycg/w-d-xo.html - Stay with me here, but this is a piece of art. This battle theme was a dynamic series of overlapping parts that change depending on how you're doing in the fight. Extremely hype to terrifying as your health drops, to the crowds cheering as they watch.
If you want variety of game music that falls in a more classical/orchestral vein:
4. Shadow of the Colossus (2005) is one of the best scores I've heard in either games or movies. It is a game that has maybe a page a dialogue in total, and is about you, a tiny guy with a sword, who has to track down and slay these giants the size of skyscrapers. It is told almost entirely through the orchestral score which is not exactly dynamically integrated, but it was the PS2 so.... The opening ( th-cam.com/video/Pdi1DSqBZ6Q/w-d-xo.html ) is haunting as you proceed into...??? Somewhere? The land of the dead? Who knows??
The skyvoice that speaks to you in a great temple is underscored with this: th-cam.com/video/JHJXy7-ksXA/w-d-xo.html
When you track the colossus: th-cam.com/video/N6oqdI-OdtI/w-d-xo.html
And the fights all have different music but they're each fantastic: th-cam.com/video/36M-NwEFSOc/w-d-xo.html
5: Dragon Age - Particularly Inquisition, as the music was arranged to change constantly based on what you're doing. The whole soundtrack is...difficult to encapsulate because of how it works in game, but it is beautiful. People much more dedicated than I have gone through the files to find and label all the parts of the songs and track their flags, but the OST is a decent representation: th-cam.com/video/2syU3e2MOXM/w-d-xo.html Lost Elf - The culmination of a 60 hour game's worth of overlapping leitmotifs. It is preceded by these two songs (depending what you're doing) and extensive, grueling combat as you race to catch up: th-cam.com/video/4njUC0go2Ew/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/2oI7V2FYnbA/w-d-xo.html
From what I understand Mick used an 8 string guitar in Drop E and a drum set, the rest was all electronic manipulations using sounds from chainsaws and lawnmowersand other heavy sounds. Its just insane how good he is.
The unique thing about the music for the recent Doom games is how it dynamically changes depending on your actions in the game. You really get a whole new experience when you are playing the game and listening to the music change. I believe Mick Gordon specifically wrote and arranged the soundtrack in such a way that it could be chopped up into bits that fade into each other as you move in and out of combat.
Finally a reactor that doesn’t pause every 2 seconds.
😁
I just want to appreciate you did not pause the video for 1 second to say nonsense about how much you know about whatever. This is gold man, keep it up! 🤘🏻
The Lyrics- Rip & Tear.
A cool thing about the way the soundtrack flows with the player based on how they are doing, so heavy an intense when slaying, then haunting/hunting lower parts of the song when moving onto the next slaughter house lol. It's something i wish studios would pick up on more often for future titles.
The music is what helps drive the gameplay. That's the beauty of it! Without it the game, while still fun, wouldn't drive the player to keep taking down enemies constantly. This music is basically focus fuel for this type of game.
Exactly.
This definitely has the metal sound for a video game. If you want to really go pure metal instrumental than Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence is what you want to hear.
I love watching these for the subconscious tics of the expert shows while actively listening. I'm a pop-punk/electro-punk drummer, so I'll start tapping without knowing it; seeing a professional composer actually conduct a song they've never heard before based solely on their knowledge of music is amazingly fun. Music is a language, so it doesn't matter what dialect we prefer to speak in, we can all feel the emotions in music. Great content to stumble upon on a Friday night, and I'll definitely be seeking out some original compositions tonight!
The little air drum part at around 6:29 was very relatable and on point haha😂
There's a lot of other requests for his fantastic Doom work but I would put forward some of his prior work on Killer Instinct as more interesting music to break down. It really highlights his ability to work across genres, styles and even cultures. Sabrewulf's Lycanthropy with its haunting string section that sounds like demented cellos. Aganos's Polemos, the phrygian mix of heavy guitar tones against a sitar with Greek chanting. Jago's Tiger Warrior, where Mick learned throat singing for a theme about a Tibetan monk. Thunder's Hinnamatoom, a flute heavy mix that was made in conjunction with the Nez Perce tribe. Spinal's Warlord, where Mick acquired a kangling (a flute like instrument made out of a human tibia) to complete the swashbuckling nightmare. All these songs have their own unique version of the main theme's motif hidden within them.
Just wanted to provide a little extra details because the music for this game and its predecessor are just so fascinating and still innovative.
There are a couple videos on how Mick Gordon constructed the meat of his soundscape for these tracks which explain more in detail, but to summarise very briefly, you actually are hearing guitars and of course synthesizers. He has a pretty gnarly signal processing chain which utilises a lot of compression, distortion, as well as (as some other comments have mentioned) some plugins which mix the timbre of different sounds. For example a lawn mower mixed with a 9 string guitar and then thrown through the effects chain. My explanation really cannot do it justice, but its so cool.
As far as the game side, there is another side to it as well. In line with the music, the game itself is rather aggressive and fast paced and its all about this kind of primal dance. They actually created a system where the arrangement changes/progresses dynamically based on how intense the combat is. Honestly it works very well.
If you're looking to see more of Mick Gordon's range, I highly recommend the Killer Instinct 2013 soundtrack. A good variety of genres and vibes to fit each of the different characters.
Mick Gordon handled Seasons 1+2 before leaving to compose Doom 2016, after which Atlus Plug and Celldweller composed Season 3 and beyond.
Loving the doom vibe, with a dark side of the moon vinal and Beatles iconic walk through the lane. You get my sub!!!
Im so glad this man is getting to experience all the joys that the music world beyond the mainstream has to offer. If you are looking for more videogame music, i really do have to recommend Skyrim's soundtrack. Dragonborn, Secunda, Streets of Whiterun, Around the Fire or my absolute favourite Sovngarde, i could move a mountain to that composition