Music (A Quick Word About It)

One of the most important elements of a video game to me is the ambient music, particularly when it comes to games that involve immersive 3D environments. While it might be okay to have hip-hop music running in the background while playing Need For Speed, that type of soundtrack is really not befitting of the mood of a game like Doom in my opinion.

I was just chatting via PM with a fellow member of the Nexus Forums about this very subject in regard to the popular Bethesda games and how I consider it to be a bit of an art form to be able to select music from a variety of sources and assemble the tracks into a soundtrack that actually makes sense to have in the given game. (Long ago I replaced the vanilla Oblivion soundtrack with my own hand-picked music, and the player I was chatting with similarly did a major music overhaul for Fallout 3.) After I had finished with that message I realized that I needed to make a post about the subject here.

Before I joined the multitude of PC owners I played Doom in a variety of different incarnations from the Super Nintendo to the XBox. Each of these console versions contained the music from the original game, or a very similar rendition of it. However, there was one very unique soundtrack for the Midway/Williams/GT versions of Doom for the Playstation and Sega Saturn that was completely different, and I fell in love with it. I'm referring to the music composed by Aubrey Hodges.

Unlike the twangy and often annoying and monotonous midi soundtrack of the original Doom where only half the tracks actually seemed to fit the mood of the game in my opinion, the Aubrey Hodges soundtrack for Doom (I believe) is a masterpiece that perfectly fits a game where the theme is exploring the deepest reaches of Hell itself and battling the endless hordes of demons therein. Many of the tracks have a very evil sound and convey the feeling of forlorn hopelessness one would expect to feel when finding one's self in such an environment and situation. After my Dooming experience on the Playstation I refuse to play the game with anything else.

But simply describing this soundtrack does not do it justice; you have to hear it for yourself. The WAD file that I use while playing Doom with GZDoom can be found and downloaded here, at the Doom Depot. Or, you can sample the individual mp3 files to see if you will like them first and download them that way as well, but to use those while playing the game you would either have to use an editing tool (which I'm not going to discuss until later) to pack them into a WAD or pk3 file yourself or simply play them in the background with a media player while you were running the game. The WAD file is by far more convenient and much simpler for newcomers to use and is already configured to work with Doom I, Ultimate Doom, Doom II, TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment.

Also available at the Doom Depot is a WAD file containing all the music from Doom 64. I believe this soundtrack was an attemt to emulate the Aubrey Hodges music, but the music is more like a random collection of electronic noises and in my opinion does not serve to convey the mood of the game quite as effectively. However, when I'm in the mood for some variety I'll play classic Doom levels with the Doom 64 music as well.

But, if you're a Doom purist and insist upon the original PC soundtrack, the Doom Depot also makes available mp3 versions and enhanced WAD files of the original midis, thus allowing you to enjoy all your Doom favorites with improved quality.

It's my hope that Doomers both new and experienced will find this info useful, and even if you're not a Doomer maybe you'll find something in the music I've described that will work well for you in another game. Who knows unless you check it out?

Until next time, happy Dooming!