Criticized 'DOOM Eternal' Soundtrack Composer Explains the Circumstances, and Why?
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Mick Gordon , who was involved in the music production of the fifth installment of the popular FPS series ' DOOM Eternal ' released in March 2020, composed only 12 of the 59 songs included in the soundtrack released after the game. There are a lot of different opinions about what it doesn't. Marty Stratton, executive producer of DOOM Eternal, made an unusual statement in 2020 criticizing Mr. Gordon, but Mr. Gordon refuted this over the course of two years.
My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal | by Mick Gordon | Nov, 2022 | Medium
https://medium.com/@mickgordon/my-full-statement-regarding-doom-eternal-5f98266b27ce
Marty's statement posted on the online bulletin board Reddit in 2020 accused Gordon. Mr. Gordon repeatedly requested to extend the delivery date of the soundtrack, and when things did not proceed on time, he had no choice but to have his in-house sound designer, Chad Mossholder, arrange the arrangements. It was stated that Mr. Gordon would not join the DOOM Eternal download content that was being produced at the time due to discord between the two.
The soundtrack was a hot topic even before it was released, as you could hear the songs of Mr. Gordon, who was involved in past works and won numerous awards, but the performance did not live up to the expectations of the fans. . Some fans who found Mr. Mosholder's name in the credit notation even attacked Mr. Mosholder directly and personally.
However, with Mr. Stratton's statement above, the blame has also turned to Mr. Gordon. On November 9, 2022, more than two years after the uproar, Mr. Gordon issued a statement arguing against Mr. Stratton based on some evidence. According to Gordon, Stratton's statement contained falsehoods and cover-ups.
It was extremely difficult for Mr. Gordon to produce music for DOOM Eternal. Artists need to create music that is closely tied to the gameplay, but in the early stages of development this was not realistically possible, and they had no choice but to guess the scene that would appear in the game and create the music. There were also problems such as the emails from the development team not returning immediately, and from Mr. Gordon's schedule, which was gradually clogged up, it is possible that he will not be able to accept requests for re-production and re-creation from the team that will come in the future. It seems that gender was considered. So Mr. Gordon proposed a change to produce music as soon as the theme of the game was decided, but Mr. Stratton said it was rejected. In order to meet the original schedule, Mr. Gordon said that staying up all night became the norm and he was exhausted.
In addition, Mr. Stratton and others did not give approval for the music produced by Mr. Gordon and only requested redo one after another, and Mr. Gordon said that he had been producing music without pay for 11 months. After that, at the game event on June 6, 2019, it was announced that `` DOOM Eternal will be released on November 22 of the same year '', but at that time it was announced that the
After that, Mr. Gordon continued to make songs, but there was no payment for additional songs delivered, and the relationship continued to deteriorate. Even so, he continued to work, thinking, ``If I quit as it is, I will lose more.''
DOOM Eternal has since been delayed to March 20, 2020. As a result, Mr. Stratton and others requested Mr. Gordon to change the content of the game due to the postponement and request additional songs.
The salary was finally deposited at the end of November 2019, and the music production was completed, but at the time of completion, he said that he had produced more than twice the amount of music described in the contract. And finally DOOM Eternal was released, but it became clear that only half of the five hours of music produced by Mr. Gordon was paid. ``It turns out that the move by Stratton and others to not approve the song and withhold payment was to make up for a budget shortfall,'' Gordon said.
Even after the game reservation reception started, information about the soundtrack was not told, and Mr. Gordon, who felt a sense of crisis, contacted the publisher Bethesda Softworks himself and forced the project to move. However, Mr. Gordon did not make a contract on the soundtrack, and Mr. Gordon was unable to work on the soundtrack because he was out of touch even after a long period of time.
Mr. Gordon finally signed a contract to create the original soundtrack on March 18, 2020, 48 hours before DOOM Eternal's release, and was required to produce 12 songs by April 16, 2020. rice field. Although the deadline was short, Mr. Gordon made up his mind to start production. Initially, Mr. Gordon was proceeding smoothly with the production, but on April 3rd, when the delivery date was 13 days later, Mr. Stratton received an e-mail saying, ``Because there is a problem with the Consumer Protection Law, the delivery date must be strictly observed.'' That's right. 'Due to consumer protection laws in some regions, those who purchased the special edition are entitled to a full refund if they do not receive the soundtrack by April 20,' the email said. It was said that it was.
Reflecting on this fact, Mr. Gordon said, 'I was horrified at the financial loss. Why didn't Mr. Stratton tell me sooner? If I hadn't known about the consumer protection issues before I signed the contract, I would have been terrified.' If it had been, I would have refused the production.' Mr. Gordon further said, ``Mr. Stratton and others hid such important information, and the developer, id Software, had been producing the soundtrack without Mr. Gordon for more than half a year before the contract.'' claims.
These points, according to Mr. Stratton, 'we agreed that the production period for the soundtrack would be from January to March, but Mr. Gordon couldn't make it in time, so just before the deadline, Mr. It is inconsistent with the claim that 'I appointed him.' However, Mr. Gordon showed the email from Mr. Stratton and the metadata of the file created by Mr. Mosholder as evidence, saying, 'The contract was indeed signed in March, and furthermore, six months before the contract was signed without permission. It is clear that production had begun,' he countered.
The music production that started without Mr. Gordon was handled by Mr. Mosholder, a sound designer at id Software. Mr. Mosholder was doing the work of ``arranging a song that Mr. Gordon had previously produced'', but the song that was actually completed was incomplete, full of sudden tempo changes, harsh breaks and switches. It is said that Mr. Gordon continued to produce 12 songs as originally planned, although he was not convinced, but Mr. Stratton did not accept some of the completed songs, and finally Mr. Stratton decided to put together the soundtrack. It is said that it has become. It seems that the unpaid contract money has been paid in full, but the completed work will not be heard by Mr. Gordon until the release, and Mr. Gordon said, ``I feel like I'm going to be criticized by fans who don't know the behind-the-scenes situation. I was very nervous as the release approached,” he recalled.
As a result, the soundtrack was quickly criticized, and Mr. Stratton, who took the situation seriously, offered to work with Mr. Gordon to produce a joint statement to resolve the issue. only issued a statement blaming Mr. Gordon for the problem of the soundtrack failure. In addition, id Software provided Mr. Gordon with a large amount of settlement money to accept this statement.
However, Mr. Gordon refused to do so and said that he has issued a statement this time after Mr. Stratton's behavior seen in the two years since the release, as well as harassment and threats against himself from fans.
'By issuing this statement, I am exercising my right to defend myself,' Gordon said. 'I've had a lot of great experiences in the gaming industry. I'm not quitting DOOM, I'm just quitting dealing with toxic clients.'
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