One of the big things about DOOM Eternal and its predecessor was the music by composer Mick Gordon. Gordon managed to replicate the adrenaline-fueled intensity that made Bobby Prince’s soundtrack for the original DOOM games so memorable. Which is why news of Mick’s apparent disappointment with Bethesda is surprising.
The story goes that after an initial delay, DOOM Eternal‘s soundtrack was released this past weekend. Audiophiles noticed that the soundtrack, while great, suffered from far more compression than 2016’s DOOM, and resulted in a poorly-mixed sound. Mick Gordon caught wind of this, and took to Twitter to explain that he didn’t end up mixing much of the album himself.
I didn’t mix those and wouldn’t have done that. You’ll be able to spot the small handful of tracks I mixed (Meathook, Command and Control, etc…)
— Mick Gordon (@Mick_Gordon) April 19, 2020
Mick didn’t elaborate as to why he wasn’t given the opportunity to mix all of the tracks on the album, but his annoyance was clearly apparent. This is after he had gone to great lengths to get a “heavy metal” choir for DOOM Eternal, and had even done a livestream showing his process of composing the soundtrack.
Of course, if you want to delve into the rumour mill, according to an unsubstantiated post on the DOOM subreddit, one poster claims to have had an interaction with Gordon via Instagram where Mick stated that he doubts he’ll work with Bethesda again. None of that’s been addressed by either Gordon or Bethesda, but the fact remains that you have a composer who wasn’t given the final say over his work.
DOOM Eternal is out now on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
