Australian composer Mick Gordon has accused Marty Stratton, Doom Eternal’s executive producer of lying in a post in order to place the blame for the game’s disappointing official soundtrack on him.
When the game’s official soundtrack was released to music platforms it was noted by fans that the soundtrack was different to that of the game and that even the tracks that did appear on both sounded different as if re-recorded or remixed. In essence the audio being released WASN’T the soundtrack to the game…
Two years after the minor kerfuffle composer Gordon has now taken to Medium to post a lengthy article which includes yards of detail as well as past incidents about his time with the company. Finally, we’re getting his side of the story after Stratton posted his own lengthy version on Reddit on May 5, 2020.
Stratton wrote in the Reddit post, “Some have suggested that we’ve been careless with or disrespectful of the game music. Others have speculated that Mick wasn’t given the time or creative freedom to deliver something different or better. The fact is – none of that is true.” Though Stratton does admit that of the soundtrack’s 59 tracks only 12 are credited to have been edited and mixed by Mick Gordon, with the rest coming via id Software’s Lead Audio Designer.
The composer has now revealed in his post that he was “offered a six-figure settlement to never speak about it.” Adding that – now, after two years of silence has passed – “the truth is more important.” Gordon has also made known the time he was officially given to work on the OST for the game, explaining that he “received the contract 48 hours before the game was released. By then, it had taken over nine months for it to materialise.”
The truth is in here… Somewhere
“Marty claims I demanded several extensions to the schedule, forcing him to delay the OST. But the truth is I wasn’t under contract until after the delay,” says Gordon.
A screenshot posted by Gordon to back his claim shows that he wasn’t signed on to work on the project until March 18, 2020, whereas Bethesda announced the OST delay on March 11.
Gordon also shared in his post that after objecting to Stratton’s public accusations for the poor Doom Eternal OST and backing them up with solid evidence, Zenimax and Stratton’s lawyers offered to settle.
Gordon describes it as an unnecessary drawn-out process as Zenimax offered him a six-figure sum contingent on Stratton’s Reddit post remaining on the platform (being the defacto version of events for all time) and Gordon never being able to speak about the situation or degrade both Stratton and Zenimax.
Gordon seemingly turned down the offers and decided to publish his post on Medium (albeit waiting two years to do so) which has so far received over 23,000 claps on the platform.
The composer added that he is yet to be paid for half of Doom Eternal’s music and has endured death threats and harassment after Stratton’s publicly published letter on Reddit.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
