As any Doom player knows, a good chunk of the visceral joy and laser-like focus that arise while ripping and tearing your way through demons is due to the game's heavy soundtrack. Through some dark alchemy, it thumps and chugs and chings at all the right moments, making every weighty punch feel like a cannon shot.

The end result is amazing, but seeing how the music was made is truly something else. Two weeks ago, in a talk at the 2017 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, game composer Mick Gordon walked us mere mortals through his process. I have never seen anything like the silly business on display.