Camels, Felines and Pigs: The Origin of Doom's Sound Effects

The original versions of Doom were not only a festival of action and violence, or the ideal excuse to connect half a dozen computers on a network and spend the whole afternoon firing missiles. They also stand out for their fabulous soundtrack (E1M1 is a masterpiece) and their unforgettable sound effects. Weapons, enemies, objects... I imagine you can identify them with just a few seconds of listening, but if you have ever asked yourself where exactly they come from, a Doom enthusiast reveals their origins in an excellent video.

The doors that open, the shotgun, the chainsaw, the screams of the zombies, the guts, the explosions. Without sound, Doom has no essence. It may be fun to run it anywhere, but personally I don't think its music and effects are optional. However, there is a small detail that not everyone knows: Many of Doom's sounds are neither "original" nor "exclusive". Do you remember the camels of Age of Empire II? Do you notice something familiar?

The video published by "Decino" a couple of days ago does an excellent job explaining why. Doom has a total of 107 sound effects, and all of them passed through the hands of Bobby Prince, a legendary composer who participated in multiple projects of id Software and Apogee. In the specific case of Doom, Prince used samples from the catalogs compiled by Sound Ideas, with tens of thousands of "royalty-free" sounds that anyone can use, and not only in video games. Some of Doom's sounds also made it to film and television, without restrictions or legal conflicts.

Most of the video focuses on comparing Doom's sounds with the originals. Some remain shrouded in mystery (for example, the shot of the plasma gun and the impact of its projectiles), others were edited or processed (with speed and/or duration changes), and then there are those that were implemented "stock", without alterations (the pistol is a Magnum 44 shot).

For the monsters, Prince combined a series of sounds from camels, cats, jaguars, leopards, lions, bats, bears, and pigs. The latter is one of the most interesting because it was used in the mysterious battle cry of the Mancubi. John Romero said in 2012 that the cry was "¡Menablanablah!", and in Spanish it sounds similar to "¡Animal!"... but it was a pig at 75% speed. If you want to know more, or why not, download replicas of the sounds, Decino recommends visiting Per Kristian Risvik's portal, which also stores several tracks.