Composing for Doom engine games

[TheHambourgeois]

I'm currently in a situation where I have a lot more time to contemplate than actually work on stuff, so I want to pick people's brain about what approaches they use for writing music for Doom, Hexen, Heretic, Strife (is anyone actually mapping for this??), etc. I get that to a degree a lot of this is going to be contingent on whether or not you are trying to cohere to the IWAD aesthetics.

 

Regardless of game, I tend to be pretty harmonically stagnant when writing for any of these, using at most only a handful of chords and changing them slowly. Bobby Prince seemed to take this approach most of the time, usually just fleshing out the harmonies as the song develops and modulating to a new key every so often, or just throwing a riff into 12 bar blues and calling it good. In Doom I mostly write in minor key or do the alt-rock thing of using major key chord resolutions but trying to resolve to the vi so it feels like minor. I listen to a lot of other butt-rocky video game music from the era for inspiration, Mechwarrior 2 Mercs and Quake 2 in particular. In Heretic, I find myself using a lot more modal composition or using weird scales. In the songs I've written for condemned I think I've used regular minor key, Phrygian, Lydian, working on a song now using Phrygian Dominant. I use a lot of dissonance for Raven IWAD games, Kevin was clearly a big fan of tritones and opens a lot of tracks by building up a diminished triad. I've been doing the same, occasionally throwing a bass note underneath to define a Dominant chord. I've been using other methods of dissonance too, like tone clusters, mixed 3rd chords, etc.

 

Anyway, I am curious what approach other people take to writing for these. Hopefully this isn't too niche a topic for the editing board.

[Egregor]

Yeah, this is a good topic! Consider that we need not only use video-game compositions when building MIDI tracks for video games, and while Bobby Prince and Kevin Schilder have their moments there are certainly better examples (IMO) of composers who fit the style. Examples for me would be:

Super Castlevania IV Original Soundtrack Remastered
 

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall OST (Roland SC-55*)

ULTIMA IIIX / ULTIMA 8 PAGAN OST [Full] Game Soundtrack
 

I'd say the first backbone of getting away from the Bobby Prince formula is to move AWAY from the 12 bar blues, which I believe was just a quick way for Bobby Prince to take a single 1 or 2 measure riff and put it into a modulating formula to draw out his content. How to do this? Look into other popular chord progressions for starters:

 

7 super common chord progressions and why they work by David Bennett Piano

 

6 common chord progressions and why they work by David Bennett Piano

 

Next, if you haven't explored the Dorian Mode it is a must (again, IMO) for fantasy, as well as chilled out, cool, and relaxing music. Also harmonic minor (or as I call it The vampire's castle scale) and double harmonic minor are again, essentials. Finally the use of "modal mixture" as Eric Heberling uses them in Daggerfall's OST is essential for that "other-worldly" vibe. Here is a lesson on how to implement this compositional tool:

 

Using Modal Mixture for Dreamy and Epic Melodies/Leads [MUSIC THEORY] by Signals Music Studio
 

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[bofu]

I have a lot of musical influences, ranging from classical to punk rock, and each and every one of those shines through in some method. When I write music for a Doom level, I have a specific level in mind, so it helps to make the level first.

 

I try to make the MIDI match the level. For instance, in MAP07 of Dominus Diabolus, the central "centerpiece" fight takes place in an evil cathedral. As such, I decided to write a piece based around the pipe organ, while MAP08 takes place in a volcanic techbase (which I envisioned as taking place on an island), so I decided to go for a more Latin-inspired feel. As far as modes and keys go, while I overwhelmingly stick with things with a lowered third (minor/dorian/phryigian/blues), I try to have some variety as well. I'll even write something completely atonal if the level is going to be abstract enough.

 

One thing I do like to do is have a big, chunky bass line using the Lead 2 (Sawtooth) voice, perhaps even doubling it at the octave and having it panned out to the left and right as two separate tracks. I also like to use the expression parameter and modulation parameters to add a little bit of dynamic shift and vibrato during sustained notes.

[TheHambourgeois]

6 hours ago, bofu said:

When I write music for a Doom level, I have a specific level in mind, so it helps to make the level first.

 

I try to make the MIDI match the level. For instance,..

 

One thing I do like to do is have a big, chunky bass line using the Lead 2 (Sawtooth) voice, perhaps even doubling it at the octave and having it panned out to the left and right as two separate tracks. I also like to use the expression parameter and modulation parameters to add a little bit of dynamic shift and vibrato during sustained notes.

These are both things I like to do too. For Condemned I have had a pretty clear idea of the vibe of the level, if not having it fleshed out and mapped ahead of time. I've been doing a lot of stereo effects, like having 2 tracks with equivalent/very similar notes panned hard right and left, and then randomizing the piano roll a few ticks so the notes don't quite line up, etc. Part of that is I've been listening to a lot of Phil Elverum and its giving me brain worms.

 

I'm kind of curious how people approach harmonic content in particular, I suppose. I've been writing a lot of modal music for Condemned which is more of a melodic framework and having too many chord changes just makes it feel like it naturally pulls to the related major key. Generally, I am 100% that Music Theory 1 and 2 dipshit who writes this out all the time:

Which isn't the end all be all of harmonic progression but it's a good starting framework. I don't modulate keys too often but I know about secondary functions and use them occasionally. I also like to use some jazz chord substitutions, I honestly can't believe I haven't written a song with a tritone substitution for Condemned yet.

[Egregor]

Sweet, it seems you have a good handle on chord progressions. Other aspects of composition to consider are the overall form, IE intro, verse, chorus, bridge, outro, etc. Or perhaps like some prog or metal styles you may just move through several parts that never repeat.

 

 

Consider tempo, time signiture, and rhythm, and how to pair your percussion with these elements. Sometimes adding a 'half time' section paired with a key modulation can really help move your composition along, even if all the other elements of that section stay the same.

 

I also like to layer arpeggios into chord progressions as they tend not to interupt melodies. This can often be a good way to introduce complexity without compromising harmonic compatibility.

 

Harmonizing the melody: in most western music these notes are usually a 3rd above or below the melody but can also occasionally use 4ths or 5ths above or below the melody as well. 2nds and 7ths *usually* don't work here, though there are exceptions to every rule.

 

Counter melody: Make a 'busy' melody sound more conversational by giving the last 25% of it to a different instrument (often in a different register). It's like the main melody is telling a story and the counter melody is saying "Woah! What happened next?" Make the last notes of each of their phrases overlap to make them feel inter-woven.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Egregor

[TheHambourgeois]

8 hours ago, Egregor said:

Sweet, it seems you have a good handle on chord progressions....

Yeah a lot of my referencing the original composers isn't really because I don't know any better, it's more of a design philosophy thing of wanting my songs to fit the game. Kind of trying to have my cake and eat it too with Condemned, e1m2 starts in 7/8 and goes to 4/4 after the key change. I'm working on e1m6 right now and its in 6/8. I don't use as much counterpoint as Kevin, etc. I tend to much more deliberately make music that isn't smart when I compose for Doom, which is maybe a bit unfair to Prince.

 

I feel like to a degree there is a point of diminishing returns in VGM. I think the most complicated song I've made structurally is probably e1m2, which is ABAB'C. Yasunori Mitsuda made plenty of AB songs for Chrono Trigger and I'd consider him to be muuuch more of a VGM heavyweight than Prince or Schilder. I'm open to convincing, of course. Part of it is I tend to make short-ish levels so having the music be too grand seems discordant.