Bobby Prince vs. Aubrey Hodges

[SoBeR_ReBeL]

Personally I liked Prince's score better. Now granted I liked Hodges score and I also like ambient music. But Hodges score just didn't have that sort of spirit that Prince's score had. Prince's score gave me an attitude. It made me wanna run out there and pump shells into fucking monsters. I didn't exactly find that in Hodges score.

What do you guys think?

[Lila Feuer]

It isn't even possible to compare the two. Bobby did midis of metal songs, Aubrey created an atmospheric horror ala Silent Hill and F.E.A.R. and both did their own thing well. Doom 64 was generally much darker and more evil ala the first Quake, whereas Classic Doom was brighter, colorful and more upbeat, essentially a more violent Wolf3D. Not to say Classic Doom doesn't have a menacing nature to it in many levels or some of the songs, but there's a definite concentration of the "Classic Doom" and "Dark Doom" styles.

I've always seen the various incarnations of Doom as Classic Doom being arcadey, Doom 3 would be Doom IRL, and Doom 64 and PSX Doom fall somewhere in between.

Doom can be much more than just an action shooter, it's always had horror elements. Aubrey just enhanced it, along with D64's creepy visuals.

[SoBeR_ReBeL]

You are right. It all just comes down to what kind of music you like better. Rock tunes or Ambient tunes.

[Xaser]

Who's Aubrey Hodges?

[Technician]

Xaser said:

Who's Aubrey Hodges?

http://www.aubreyhodges.com/

[scalliano]

Sacrilege as it may be, I'm more of a fan of Hodges' music for the PSX and N64 ports (Quake 64 included, although there is but one Trent ;) ). His ambient soundtracks help put over a much darker, meaner atmosphere that the metal midi files lack IMO.

[AveryMaurice]

Bobby Princes stuff will always be my favorite.

[Technician]

scalliano said:

Sacrilege as it may be, I'm more of a fan of Hodges' music for the PSX and N64 ports (Quake 64 included, although there is but one Trent ;) ). His ambient soundtracks help put over a much darker, meaner atmosphere that the metal midi files lack IMO.

I prefer Trent contribution but I'd be lying if I said Hodges' material wasn't a close second. The N64 port of Quake had fantastic atmosphere.

Hodges' ambient "music" for Doom 64 are on a whole new level. They aren't so much music as very cleaver sound design. They have no melody, beats or rhythm, just very cleaver and downright ingenious sound arrangement and manipulation. Doom 64 has great atmosphere.

[40oz]

Im a big fan of midi's but I think the soundfx and music used in Doom64 was absolutely perfect for it, where I'm more attached to the Bobby Prince music and soundfx picked for PC Doom staying on PC Doom.

[Xaser]

I see my sarcasm was missed. :P

I see it the way 40 does: I prefer the original Doom midis, but Doom64's ambiance fits it perfectly. 'Course, that has the fun side effect of making PSX Doom feel very unnatural to me.

[Mattfrie1]

I personally prefer Hodges score, but maybe that's because I played PSX Doom before PC Doom. It's amazing how some of his tracks were able to change the atmosphere of many PC Doom levels in PSX Doom. Play Suburbs from Doom II on the PC and compare it to the PSX version. It feels like I'm really fighting in a deserted city on the PSX version, thanks to the music.

[SoBeR_ReBeL]

I wouldn't be lying if I said his Doom 64 soundtrack scared the shit out of me as a kid. It fits perfectly with Doom 64.

My favorite Aubrey Hodges track is Final Outpost.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC0O80qi6V8


My favorite Bobby Prince track is Donna to the Rescue


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg_5MEuDVLs

[scalliano]

Xaser said:

I see it the way 40 does: I prefer the original Doom midis, but Doom64's ambiance fits it perfectly. 'Course, that has the fun side effect of making PSX Doom feel very unnatural to me.

Ironic, given that PSX Doom predates Doom 64 by almost 2 years.

If I had to pick a single favourite from both, then for Prince it would have to be E1M5 and for Hodges it would be Mt. Erebus.

[40oz]

I played Doom on PC shortly after it came out. I was not aware of Doom for the playstation but I found out about Doom64 on a trip to Blockbuster to rent video games for the N64 we were borrowing from a friend while he was on vacation.

Finding out about PSX Doom last was kind of a bummer because to me, the colored lighting is terrible and out of place in the doom maps I was already used to playing, and while the soundfx and music are good, they felt completely unfitting for the type of game it is.

I rarely find Doom to be a horror type of game as it's usually made up to be, especially like in Doom 3 or KDiZD. Sure there are definitely scary elements, mostly pop-scares such as monster wake up noises, teleport flashes, and your first encounter with the revenant, but I didn't find the general motif of the game as intending to be scary

[Koko Ricky]

Overall, I have to say that Hodges is the man. Prince's riffs fit perfectly over the PC version, but on the Playstation, you expect something a little more cinematic. The dark ambient music (which I still find frightening today) really gave the game an atmospheric touch not found on the PC. It's the best kind of music to play Doom to, although some sludgy old school doom metal works well too. Anyways, he also did a fantastic job with Doom 64's music, and if I'm not mistaken he also did the Quake 64 soundtrack.