Doom II Soundtrack needed more music

32 maps and only 22 distinct tracks? Come on.

So what ten songs would you have added to the soundtrack to avoid the repeats?

1. Slayer - Mandatory Suicide (main riff)
2. Megadeth - Set The World Afire (intro after the missile)
3. Black Sabbath - Hand of Doom (the bass part in the beginning)
4. Judas Priest - Painkiller (main riff)
5. Pantera - By Demons Be Driven (main riff)
6. Black Sabbath - Buried Alive (main riff)
7. Pink Floyd - Money (main bass riff)
8. Metallica - The Thing That Should Not Be (first heavy guitar part)
9. Ozzy - No More Tears (intro bass riff)
10. Sanctuary - Veil of Disguise (clean guitar during "look deep in my eyes")

I don't know if they necessarily needed more, I just find it strange that several MIDIs were only used once while others were used 3 times - "Angry Chair" only gets used once while the Taco Bell theme is repeated several times? Seriously?

I think all the tracks should have been D_RUNNIN.

*Gets Tinnitus from D_RUNNIN*

I'd replace the whole soundtrack all together. I've said it before, it could have been done better. Not to mention Doom 1's soundtrack was superior, even if it did have reused tracks of it's own. I would have no idea what to replace them with, however.

i don't mind the Doom 2 soundtrack at all, but i do agree that some tracks could have gotten more repeats (Into Sandy's City, Bye Bye American Pie, Adrian's Asleep), and others could've gotten less repeats (The Dave D Taylor Blues.) i'd probably re-organize the soundtrack myself to fix these issues.

Piper Maru said:

I think all the tracks should have been D_RUNNIN.

Du-DUN Du-DUN Du-DUN Du-du Du-DUN
Du-DUN Du-DUN Du-DUN Du-du Du-DUN
Du-DUN Du-DUN Du-DUN Du-du Du-DUN
Du-DUN Du-DUN Du-DUN Du-du Du-DUN

nxGangrel said:

I'd replace the whole soundtrack all together. I've said it before, it could have been done better. Not to mention Doom 1's soundtrack was superior, even if it did have reused tracks of it's own. I would have no idea what to replace them with, however.

I second this. This is also why I believe the PSX soundtrack of Doom is far superior.

The music is probably one of the few components of Doom to me that haven't aged very well. I honestly think that Bobby Prince was not that suited for the job. Not because he's not a good composer; he's definitely a talented composer. I just don't think that his style matches that of Doom at ALL (with a few exceptions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uv6w5f4QaM).

There's this 'behind the scenes' video on YouTube, shot at id Software's office during Doom's development. This video contains a portion where Bobby Prince talks about his music, but he mostly talks about his music for Commander Keen. You can just tell by the way he passionately talks about it that this is his comfort zone. I'd say he's at home when composing cheerful jaunty melodies, and the Commander Keen games were perfect for that.

However, for Doom 1 and 2 I always felt like a lot of the tracks feel somewhat out of place. Who remembers that sweet samba-bar tune from map02's tune? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44lhqrsUTlo&t=3m16s

Yeah. I totally feel at home in this demon-infested hell-hole with this music...

I'd have thrown some NIN in there, probably stuff from Broken. I had a NIN midi WAD back in the day, I remember "Last" as particularly distinctive in that format

Doomkid said:

I don't know if they necessarily needed more, I just find it strange that several MIDIs were only used once while others were used 3 times - "Angry Chair" only gets used once while the Taco Bell theme is repeated several times? Seriously?

I agree, some of Doom 2 best tracks were really underused! (Adrian's asleep, Into Sandy's city and Bye bye American Pie) while some really weaker tracks were repeated too much (like The Dave D. Taylor Blues and especially The Healer Stalks).

nxGangrel said:

I'd replace the whole soundtrack all together. I've said it before, it could have been done better. Not to mention Doom 1's soundtrack was superior, even if it did have reused tracks of it's own. I would have no idea what to replace them with, however.

Doom 2 soundtrack had a really different style compared to the one in the first game. In comparison, Doom 1 soundtrack was more simple, but i do agree that it was superior to the doom 2 soundtrack. I don't dislike the soundtrack in the second game, but there are some really dull tracks, and some that just make me cringe every time i hear them (i really can't stand the samba style of The Healer Stalks)

MIDIs are great, but I think that if Doom 2 had more ambient tracks it could have built a solid atmosphere that would have been on par with Doom 1. I'm not sure if that could have been done right or even possible (since those types of tracks would need a CD to fit on) but imagine going through map 12 and hearing clanking and metal screeching.

As for the existing soundtrack, it's perfectly fine for how much time Bobby Prince had to make it. Though the amount of times certain tracks were repeated coughd_runnincough was a little annoying.

Instead of remaking Wolfenstein 3D tracks for MAP31 and 32, Bob should've put the original versions there and work on 2 new tracks instead.

joe-ilya said:

Instead of remaking Wolfenstein 3D tracks for MAP31 and 32, bob should've put the original versions there and work on 2 new tracks instead.

Wasn't Evil Incarnate the music playing during the credits sequence? I guess that counts as one of the two tracks you suggested.

Remember When The OP said:

So what ten songs would you have added to the soundtrack to avoid the repeats?

???

Ten original BP creations in the vein of "Dark Halls", "Sinister", "On the Hunt", "Demons on the Prey", "Demons from Adrian's Pen", or "Waltz of the Demons", instead of ten more ripoffs.

TraceOfSpades said:

???

I'm sorry, but it's a bit of a silly question. Why would you add different artists to the Doom soundtrack? It's going to mesh really bad with the current music.

more megadeth and metallica songs would fit, imo
i just love metal, and i really think it goes perfectly with killing demons :)

edit: better yet, more songs like E1M8

My only real issue with Doom 2's soundtrack are all the repeated songs.
There were good songs that are only used once and then there are those over used songs.

But i still stand by my opinion that D_TENSE is the best midi in the Doom series.

roadworx said:

more megadeth and metallica songs would fit, imo
i just love metal, and i really think it goes perfectly with killing demons :)

Doom's soundtrack doesn't really contain any metal though.

Agentbromsnor said:

Doom's soundtrack doesn't really contain any metal though.

E1M1, E2M3, E3M3...?
i mean, it doesn't have a whole bunch, no. i just think that it fits the mood, especially considering that I find DOOM pretty hard. it just gets me more excited when playing the game, and i think that leads to a better experience overall.

actually, another really good piece of music that the game should've had more of was E1M8. it's the only song in the game that legitimately gives me a sense of dread.
plus it also reminds of the binding of isaac's soundtrack.

roadworx said:

E1M1, E2M3, E3M3...?

E2M8, E3M1, E3M2, E3M8 and intermission.

Agentbromsnor said:

Doom's soundtrack doesn't really contain any metal though.

May I suggest giving this a listen?

That statement suggests you don't listen to enough metal or you don't play enough doom. Both of which is fine...just a little sad.

TraceOfSpades said:

May I suggest giving this a listen?

That statement suggests you don't listen to enough metal or you don't play enough doom. Both of which is fine...just a little sad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y3RWlDz_AA

I'm actually a metal musician and I play in two bands, and I've been playing the game since launch...

I never said that Doom's soundtrack doesn't contain any popular metal INFLUENCES, but to say that the soundtrack is metal is lunacy. There's a big difference. It's like me whistling the tune to a Motorhead song, and somebody claiming that my whistling is now considered metal...

A lot of the tracks don't even contain any guitar elements (or what you could consider to be a guitar in MIDI).

Waltz of the Demons is nothing but guitar.

Agentbromsnor said:

I'm actually a metal musician and I play in two bands, and I've been playing the game since launch...

I never said that Doom's soundtrack doesn't contain any popular metal INFLUENCES, but to say that the soundtrack is metal is lunacy. There's a big difference. It's like me whistling the tune to a Motorhead song, and somebody claiming that my whistling is now considered metal...

Actually a lot of whistles are metal.

esselfortium said:

Actually a lot of whistles are metal.

I guess I'll sell my guitar then. :V

Doom's soundtrack is fine

midi metal is still metal

fight me you cowards

roadworx said:

E1M1, E2M3, E3M3...?
i mean, it doesn't have a whole bunch, no. i just think that it fits the mood, especially considering that I find DOOM pretty hard. it just gets me more excited when playing the game, and i think that leads to a better experience overall.

actually, another really good piece of music that the game should've had more of was E1M8. it's the only song in the game that legitimately gives me a sense of dread.
plus it also reminds of the binding of isaac's soundtrack.

I have to admit I'm more familiar with Doom 1's soundtrack compared to Doom 2. People usually mention E1M1 as their argument for how metal Doom is, but most of the other tracks sound nothing like metal if you ask me. I like more subtle music in video games, so I'm fine with the synth tunes in Doom.

Agentbromsnor said:

I have to admit I'm more familiar with Doom 1's soundtrack compared to Doom 2. People usually mention E1M1 as their argument for how metal Doom is, but most of the other tracks sound nothing like metal if you ask me. I like more subtle music in video games, so I'm fine with the synth tunes in Doom.

i mean, i never said ALL the songs were metal. i only said SOME were. some of the songs in the game are most certainly metal.

(and jimmy is right, midi metal is still metal)

roadworx said:

i mean, i never said ALL the songs were metal. i only said SOME were. some of the songs in the game are most certainly metal.

(and jimmy is right, midi metal is still metal)

I also didn't say none of the songs had any metal-influences.