Live-Interview mit Doyle W. Donehoo - der Chatlog

gamocracy: Hello everyone. Please welcome Mr Doyle W. Donehoo, music composer for Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War 2 and its expansion Chaos Rising, among other things (he will tell us I’m sure). Thanks for being with us tonight! We’re very excited to have you here as the first guest of the Gamocracy interviews. We’re halfway between a chat and a regular interview here, something I haven’t tried before. Hopefully some good stuff comes out of it! And the odds can only be in our favour when, interviewing Doyle W. Donehoo we have the German connection aka Imbaer and 4CHI!LL3S as well as myself, for France!

Doyle W. Donehoo: Fire away!

gamocracy: Thank you guys for being here. It’s up to you, may the gaming gods be with us!

Doyle W. Donehoo: “Revenge is a dish best served with mayonnaise and those little cheesy things on sticks.” Osric the Loopy, planetary governor of Corania (appointed 756 M41, removed from office by the Officio Assassinorum 764 M41)

gamocracy: So that’s where you got the inspiration?

Doyle W. Donehoo: Well, the Warhammer universe is vast, huge, so there in excuse not to be inspired.

gamocracy: Did you know the universe before you started working on the music?

Doyle W. Donehoo: I have been playing DOW from the beginning, seeing it in Beta at E3, and trying to connect. For DOWII, it did. When I became under contract, I started getting into the books.

gamocracy: haha, it’s a good one. Yet again the story of the fan that ended up making the thing! I just didn’t expect it here.

Doyle W. Donehoo: My favorite books of Warhammer: Commissar Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium and his Blank sidekick, Jurgen.

gamocracy: So for you there wasn’t a really an effort needed to understand what the game was about.

Doyle W. Donehoo: And yes, I do play alot of games. I play a lot of Company of Heroes, another Relic game. And the Warhammer universe is a good fit for me because I like the bombastic Hollywood style of music.

gamocracy:I thought about epic Hollywood movies when listening from your site. Talking about Relic, are you working on other stuff for them?

Doyle W. Donehoo: If I were, I could not tell you! It is safe to say that I will be working for them in the future.

gamocracy: hehe. Back to Hollywood, did you have particular movies in mind when writing the DoW2 music?

Doyle W. Donehoo: Not really. I do think more in terms of who I relate to and do not relate to in style…. Like, I have more in common with Zimmer, Elfman, and others than say Williams or Arnold. Like Zimmer and Elfman, we all come from rock (band) backgrounds and have that approach to music.

gamocracy: So you played rock music before?

Doyle W. Donehoo: I lived in Germany for 2 years, playing bass and keyboards and seeing many of the bands of the day ELP, Trimvorat, Grobbsnitt and many others. I quit bands when I could do it all myself.

gamocracy: So your music may have some German flavor. Mixing is good When did you start making music for games specifically?

Doyle W. Donehoo: Certainly European flavor. Many of my favorite bands came from there, some unknown, like La Orme and Aqua Fragilia, pardon my spelling. And naturally English band from John Mayall onward.

gamocracy: John Mayall? let me give it a try… Ok I’m listening to this one now.

Doyle W. Donehoo: My game music career basically started in 2000, after yet another tech company went under. I was before (dayjob) a Software engineer and manager.

gamocracy: What happened then? I mean, you took the leap easy or how was it?

Doyle W. Donehoo: Well like most pro anything (knowing how it is in the music biz) there is a breaking in period to make a name for yourself. Pretty slow at first, but things have been picking up: games need people like me who can give them a good sound without hiring a real orchestra (which I can also do), in particular now the way the economy has been going.

gamocracy: I’m linking your website here, there are pictures of you and your setup.

Doyle W. Donehoo: I see that you picked a Beano LP song for Mayall, the LP that changed music.

gamocracy: Oh I need to listen it then. I thought the LP that changed music was by Radiohead?

Doyle W. Donehoo: A note for note Clapton solo. The Beano LP featured Eric Clapton, and the first time an overdriven Marshall stack was recorded. Welcome to the age of metal.

gamocracy: It’s pretty impressive to realize the music for DoW2 is all done by one person. How long does it take?

Doyle W. Donehoo: I do about 1 minute of finished music a day.

Doyle W. Donehoo: Hey, you other guys don’t have to lurk. if you have questions, fire away!

gamocracy: yep people, he’s all yours…

Imbaer: Well I didn’t want to interfere

gamocracy: My bad then!

GODJonez: Well, I just enjoy following since my playlist consists mostly of video game music

Doyle W. Donehoo: “If your battle plan is working, it’s probably a trap.” – Warhammer 40k

Imbaer: Do you have a favorite Warhammer 40k race? If yes: Which race is it and why?

Doyle W. Donehoo: Tough call. I like the Space Marines, but others are fun to play, like the Tau, realizing they may not have what it takes to take on Chaos. For DOWII, SM, …..for now….;) Heh heh

GODJonez: What is your take on community making their own remixes based on music from video games?

Doyle W. Donehoo: I say, “Have at it”. When I do music for Relic, I give them a lot to work with, and if they want to remix, fine with me. The results can be fun. As long as I get paid.

gamocracy: Welcome Ratatosk!

Ratatosk: hello

Doyle W. Donehoo: With remixes, you never know what you will get. “Well, that was unexpected…” – The last words of the Chaos Warmaster Varan the Undefeatable

GODJonez: That’s true. Would you think of it as a compliment if someone took a music piece you have produced for Relic, for instance, and did their own version of it?

Doyle W. Donehoo: That gets into legal stuff. Like, if they got paid, then so should I. If it makes money, so should I. If money was involved, AASCAP would be contacting them. It would be a compliment if someone bothered to do their own version in any case.

Ratatosk: I hope this was not asked before, but i would like to know if you got to play the game first and did the music according to the scenes or did it before seeing the actual game.

Doyle W. Donehoo: Oh no, I start on the music long before the game is in any shape to play…

Doyle W. Donehoo: I get artwork, concept stuff, and we talk it over quite a bit, which is a good thing. Its their music after all. The Relic art dudes are really great. You should see some of the stuff I have seen. I have a nice collection.

gamocracy: You mean artworks?

Doyle W. Donehoo: Yup! (Yes) I also see some pre-vis videos. Some of those are pretty interesting too.

gamocracy: And do you play the game after it’s done? or maybe right before? for final adjustments?

Doyle W. Donehoo: No, I only see the game after it is done. The first time I saw it in action was at the Microsoft Booth at the GDC. I got my copy of Chaos Rising yesterday.

Ratatosk: Is there any other game that you would love to do the music for?

Doyle W. Donehoo: Oh, many. For the money, and because it would be interesting. I really liked the Mechwarrior universe (read most all of the books), so doing music for that would be fun. I would like to be the composer of ALL of the “…of War” games. (Think about it).

Ratatosk: That would be pretty awesome

gamocracy: Oh we sure need to find what that means.

gamocracy: Let’s go for one last question guys!

Imbaer: War of War would be an awesome game :D.

Doyle W. Donehoo: Or Gears …or God……you know.

Imbaer: True

GODJonez: Fuel, Art, Act…

gamocracy:

R4VI4TOR: Chances are good for Mechwarrior, the franchise gets a reboot soon

Doyle W. Donehoo: Yeah…;) And I saw the Mechwarrior reboot. I have been in contact with them.

GODJonez: And of course Dawn, but I think that’s already covered

Doyle W. Donehoo: People as me what the words in the music are saying. My stock answer, if you are interested is: “The Space Marines speak in High Gothic and Low Gothic (as well as the tongue of their home world), and they are very closed mouthed about their words and rituals. Its best to ask GW about that. ;)”

Doyle W. Donehoo: Just to cover the most asked question.

gamocracy: Thank you very much Doyle W. Donehoo for spending the time and answering the questions!

Doyle W. Donehoo: No problem! Later all!

gamocracy: And thank you everyone else for being here. Without you…

gamocracy: Doyle W. Donehoo, do you have a final quote for us all?

Doyle W. Donehoo: OK

gamocracy: !

Doyle W. Donehoo: “Paranoia is a very comforting state of mind. If you think they’re out to get you, it means you think you matter.” -Warhammer 40k. And … “Competence on the battlefield is a myth. The side which screws up next to last wins, it’s as simple as that.” -Warhammer 40k

gamocracy: haha I love those sayings

Ratatosk: famous last words?

gamocracy: do you have any?

Doyle W. Donehoo: Go out and play more games!