It demonstrates how a soundtrack can contribute to video games by performing functions that are not solely led by narrative, aesthetic or mood. ‘Cyberdemon’, in which five-pointed stars and the number of the beast are sonically rendered as an ominous four-beat crotchet crunch, is a case in point. This need not mean that the sonic outcome was ignored, but rather that sight and sound were considered together. The tracks discussed here sound the way they do in order to achieve a visual result, as the title of ‘Look’ makes explicit. Spectrogram from ‘Look’ by Venetian Snares Once online, they will quickly circulate within the fan community. Few listeners may think to run a spectral analysis, but it only takes one curious person to follow the clues and release the images. Whether through the convenient glimpse of Mick Gordon’s computer screen, or the attention-grabbing mathematical symbols in the unabridged title of ‘’, each composer offers hints that their audience should dig further into the music. Venetian Snares’ ‘Look’ offers a cuddlier example, in a reference to the album’s central theme: Songs About My Cats. Using this method, Aphex Twin’s ‘Windowlicker’ can be seen to contain a spiral, while its B-side – known unofficially as ‘’ – features Richard D. By carefully reverse-engineering the frequencies used, it is possible for a composer to create a picture out of them, to later be found by others with the right software. Sound spectrograms plot the degree of amplitude for each frequency heard in a given range (y-axis), against time (x-axis). Spectrogram from ‘’ by Aphex TwinNor is the act of hiding visual images in music without precedents, most often to be uncovered through spectral analysis. On Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Bloodbath in Paradise’, a backmasked passage adapts an infamous line from The Exorcist: “Your mother sells whelks in Hull.” Many incorporated the effect into their songs to exploit the association - a recent example being Cradle of Filth’s reversal of the Lord’s Prayer on ‘Dinner at Deviant’s Palace’ – while others did so in parody. Metal and hard rock groups were accused of attempting to indoctrinate listeners with unholy, subliminal messages. The technique of backmasking – reversing vocals to obscure the lyrics – was pioneered by The Beatles, but quickly became considered a declaration of devil worship. The insertion of satanic references into music is not a new trick. Spectrogram from Mick Gordon’s ‘Cyberdemon’, from the Doom soundtrack When the spectrum of frequencies heard on one composition, ‘Cyberdemon’, is graphically represented (see below), pentagrams and triple sixes emerge from the mix – both magnifying and lightly mocking the game’s demonic backdrop. As glimpsed in a behind-the-scenes video with Mick Gordon, Doom’s composer, its soundtrack includes gifts of its own. These Easter eggs are not limited to the visuals, though. Fleeting allusions to films and other video games can be spotted during gameplay – Terminator 2, Skyrim, the Fallout series – while secret levers unlock hidden areas modelled after the original game. Amid the hellfire and rapid gunfire of the latest Doom title, a handful of treats lie waiting to be discovered.
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