Doom Eternal sound and music composer Mick Gordon will not be returning to the franchise, as confirmed by developer id Software. As a result, Gordon will not be back to provide work to Doom Eternal’s upcoming DLC. In the statement, id Software addressed issues including a dispute over the quality of the Doom Eternal soundtrack and comments from Mick Gordon.
The tensions between id Software and Mick began at the end of April, when Ruff Audio founder Reace “thatACDCguy” Niles spotted differences within the audio recordings, citing reduced dynamic range across various songs.
“I expect much better from him” Niles remarked, to which Gordon responded that he’d only mixed a “small handful of tracks”. The Doom Eternal composer added that he “wouldn’t have done that” across other recordings. When asked if he’d be returning for another Doom game, Gordon implied that he would not be returning to scoring duties.
As seen below, Reace compared the wavelengths between Doom’s soundtrack from 2016 with the 2020 BFG remix of Doom Eternal’s soundtrack.
Here's a comparison between the original BFG Division from Doom 2016's official soundtrack (left) vs. the BFG 2020 remix on Eternal's soundtrack from today (right).
Notice how the wavelengths in BFG 2020 form a nearly perfectly straight bar vs. the original with more definition pic.twitter.com/TCJRdOe1Yf
— Doominal Crossing Remastered (@DoominalCross) April 19, 2020
Now, the executive producer for Doom Eternal, Marty Stratton, has released a statement via the Doom Subreddit. He said: “Some have suggested that we’ve been careless with or disrespectful of the game music.”
“Others have speculated that Mick wasn’t given the time or creative freedom to deliver something different or better. The fact is – none of that is true.”
On the subject of Mick’s future with Doom, Marty said that the comments were “surprising to see, as we have never discussed ending our collaboration with him until now – but his statement does highlight a complicated relationship.”
“As for the immediate future, we are at the point of moving on and won’t be working with Mick on the DLC we currently have in production.”
For the full statement, check out the link here.
