Bobby Prince's 'Doom' Soundtrack Inducted into Library of Congress | DayOne

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Bobby Prince’s ‘Doom’ Soundtrack Inducted into Library of Congress<br>The Healer Stalks

Industry<br>News<br>Genghis Husameddin<br>1 month ago

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As part of its usual round of inducting works of art "worthy of preservation" by the U.S. Library of Congress, the organisation today listed Robert "Bobby" Prince’s ‘Doom’ soundtrack, composed for the iconic and game-changing first-person shooter that shaped the landscape of how we gib and gore demons today.

Joining alongside 24 other nominated singles and albums into the National Recording Registry (including the likes of Kaye Ballard’s "Fly me to the Moon (In Other Words)" and José Feliciano’s "Feliz Navidad"), the organisation goes over what Doom’s soundtrack not only meant in terms of being connected to the shooter that’s still played by many today but also how its music was created in part by Bobby’s fascination with MIDI technology itself:

Originally released in 1993, the video game Doom brought a heavy metal energy to MS-DOS systems across the globe, while at the same time pioneering the ever-popular first-person shooter genre. Key to Doom’s popularity was the adrenaline-fueled soundtrack created by freelance video game music composer Bobby Prince. Prince, a lifelong musician and practicing lawyer, was fascinated by the MIDI technology that rose in prominence in the mid-1980s as a means for instrument control and composition, an interest that led to his earliest work composing video games.

For “Doom,” Prince took inspiration from a pile of CDs loaned by the game’s chief designer, John Romero, including seminal works by Alice in Chains, Pantera and Metallica. Despite the limitations of the 1993-era sound card drivers, Prince composed the perfect riff-shredding accompaniment for the game’s demon-slaying journey to hell and back. Taking advantage of his knowledge of MIDI, Prince even worked to ensure that the sound effects he created could cut through the music by assigning them to different MIDI frequencies. The “Doom” soundtrack would go on to inspire countless remixes and lay the foundation for future generations of game composers.

Bethesda Softworks has recently released Doom and Doom II’s soundtracks across streaming services including Qobuz for your listening pleasure. Doom itself can be played on anything with a pulse and has seen countless ports and modifications ever since it released back in the early 90s.

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