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    Black Ops 6 composer Jack Wall talks about grunge, zombies and won’t retire

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    By on THENEXUS
    Black Ops 6 composer Jack Wall talks about grunge, zombies and won’t retire

    Warning: Some general campaign spoilers for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the latest in the historic first-person shooter franchise that originally debuted over 20 years ago. From 2010 onwards, the Black Ops subseries has been creating its own stories and bringing Call to action to the Cold War era for the first time. The campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is set in 1991 and tells a story that tasks new and returning characters from the series with taking down the rogue paramilitary group Pantheon.

    As much as the game remains faithful to the franchise’s best-selling formula, Screen speechof Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 the review praises the way it also differentiates itself from its predecessors. This mix of old and new is evident in many aspects of the game, including the music by longtime series composer Jack Wall. Wall started to score Call to action games with Call of Duty: Black Ops IIand has consistently delivered adrenaline-pumping scores that, while fitting the franchise’s bombastic style, are complex and layered enough to warrant listen after listen.

    Soon after the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 release of season 1, Screen speech spoke with Jack Wall about his work on the game and the franchise. Wall discussed his approach to writing the game’s main and multiplayer themes, and praised the unique opportunities the game’s story and time period afforded him as a composer. He also reflected on his historic relationship with Treyarch and revealed whether or not he is aware of his beloved status among Call to action players.

    Jack Wall talks about getting back into the fray in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6

    Wall crafted from scripts, templates and a flowchart at the beginning


    Black Ops 6 Capitol Station Campaign Screenshot Motorcycle coming off a ramp onto a car.

    Screen Rant: I read that you like to get as much information as possible from developers before starting a project. What kinds of things did you get from Treyarch and how did that help with this game?

    Jack Wall: With the development of game production, not everything is done in parallel. You’re designing levels, the art department is designing characters and models, and you have the sound department that does the sound, but also does the motion capture, because they also have to get the sound right for that. Someone is writing the script, and somehow everything is coordinated to create a satisfying experience.

    Almost every Call of Duty is almost like an interactive movie. They’re linear in the sense that you have to understand that level, then you go to the next level which unlocks the next level’s kind of stuff. So I start with as much information as possible to understand the 30,000 foot vision of what this game will be and what the important story beats are. I create for myself an outline of the flow of this story, just to understand its scope. And of course, I’m talking strictly about the single-player campaign. Multiplayer and Zombies are a totally different thing.

    But I usually start with the scripts and character designs. For any character they’ve developed, I like seeing the art they have. I like seeing the models they built. I like seeing the descriptions and history of each character. Even though sometimes it doesn’t even come out, it’s cool to know where they come from, just to get away from the more two-dimensional aspects of the character that you only see in the game. I like to think about the third dimension, which is what you don’t see on the screen, and then try to create that in music.

    Once I understand the 30,000-foot vision of what the game should be, I can start thinking, based on the characters, “Do I need character themes? Do I just need a game theme?” In this case, it was just a game theme. There was no character that was the most important. You’ve got Marshall, who’s the main character you’re playing, and Case, and of course there’s Adler, who’s back from other things, and Woods is there after Black Ops II. It’s like old friends are participating, but you also think: “What is the essence of this game?” There are few against many. That’s what Black Ops always is. “Let’s cut it down to just a few people facing the big guy.”

    So my main theme became a single horn line at the beginning, which represents this small group of Blacks Ops boys and girls. In the end, it’s like everyone is fighting and it’s one big giant theme and variations where everyone is playing.

    Do you remember the first song you wrote for this?

    I started with the “Sandbox” level, where you are in Iraq, go to the palace and try to find the biological weapon. I’m not sure what it’s called in the game, but we call it “Sandbox” (Note: it’s “The Cradle” in the game.) I started with this one because it was a lie: “I’m going to do some ethnic stuff for this. It will be fun.” I got my friend MB Gordy to play percussion and a few other people to play some Middle Eastern instruments. So I put an orchestra there. I think “The Palace” was the first play I wrote. This is the one with Tina Guo playing the electric cello. I did this level first so they could implement scoring – it was like a proof of concept for the team.

    They were worried that it would be too ethnic – they wanted something a little darker, I think – but once they put it in, they saw that it worked really well. I write for images all the time, so what I write is designed for that level and for that moment. And as I’m doing all this work upfront with this flowchart and all the things that make the game what it is, I’ve already thought about where the ebbs and flows of the darkness and more electronic elements are. [music are.]

    When we get to the “Redacted” level (In-game: “Emergency”), it’s almost a zombie level. That’s when I brought ROMES in, and we did a lot of stuff together about it. It’s very electronic, very hard-hitting, and it sounds great with these characters. I was very happy with the result.

    But first and foremost, I wanted to write a theme so we could spread it throughout the rest of the score. If I go too far without a theme, it will feel like nothing is really connected – at least to me. So, I wrote the theme after making “Sandbox”. I wrote the theme in three or four days, because I thought about it a lot before that. All the real work was done before I actually wrote it.

    Metallica had the number 1 hit during the year the game is set


    Black Ops 6 Park-1 campaign screenshot

    Is it easier or harder to make a main theme for a Black Ops game after having made so many others? Is it difficult to do something different in this same landscape?

    Jack Wall: This is my fifth game, so if you listen to all the scores, it probably sounds like it came from one composer or a group of composers. But we have a lot of variation in each score. I try not to be too recognizable, necessarily, but I try to do something interesting and new for each game. For me, inspiration comes from what I’m looking at.

    I’m looking at this game completely differently than I looked at, say, Cold War. It has a completely different feel. The Cold War was in the early 80s, Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, Russians, Americans… all the shit that happened to prevent the start of World War III. It gives a certain feeling.

    This one is a little more refined in terms of the early 90s, and even influenced by those sounds we would hear on the charts. I took a deep dive into the Billboard charts in 1991, discovered that Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” was No. 1 for most of that year, and thought, “Oh, okay. I see.” At that time I was a recording engineer and mixer, so I worked with a lot of people – not necessarily with things like that – but with bands, in the early grunge period, [with] Nirvana and stuff like that. It was probably my favorite time as an engineer because I loved trying to capture those drum sounds.

    I often say that the drums on “Smells Like Teen Spirit” changed the song. The drums at the beginning of this song are similar to those in Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” – it’s that kind of change. “Let’s change the song with the drums.” With the battery. So I found these guys, ROMES, who do really interesting and more modern things with drums and modernized this idea for the score.

    Mural about how different levels presented different opportunities

    The composer manages to “do something completely different” at each level


    Black Ops 6 campaign screenshot – Capitol Station

    These levels feel so unique from each other in the best way. There’s the casino level, there’s the zombie level, which is the scariest level I’ve played in a decade.

    Jack Wall: It’s bananas, at that level. I love this level so much. I can’t wait to play.

    Oh my God, that mannequin thing. As a composer, did you feel [that diversity] gave you the opportunity to do something musically unique for each level?

    Jack Wall: Yes. In fact, I almost feel that way about every Black Ops game I work on. Each level is so different. If you go back and play all of Black Ops – II, III, IV, Cold War, this one – they’re all like that, and I love having the chance to do something completely different on each level. When I’m working on one of these games, I swear to God, my mind doesn’t shut down for five months while I write the score. It’s happening constantly, even in the background. I’ll be at home relaxing, having a cocktail after a long day, I’ll be watching a television show, the show will end and I’ll be like, “Oh. I know what to do.

    I often find myself pinching myself about how varied each of my scores can be because of this fact. I see each level as its own world, and musically I like to change that. I feel like this gives more value to the player, because it’s a different feeling when you’re there.

    Is there a level that you’re most excited about?

    Jack Wall: I was excited about a lot of them. I liked doing Middle Eastern things. I love writing these things. I loved the “Storm” level (in the game: “Ground Control”), which is where you are at the airport looking for someone. I think the ROMES guys played drums and guitar. I asked a guy, Juan García-Herreros, who played bass on the Dune soundtrack, to play bass on it. I loved the direction of this one.

    I loved “Redacted,” which is the zombie level. I’m just going through them in my head. I really liked the “Contract” (“Blood Feud” in the final game), which is the level where you try to acquire one of your teammates, Sevati Dumas, and to gain her trust, you have to help her take down some people. I love how this is Splinter Cell. The same happens with “Heist” (in the game: “High Rollers”). “Heist” has its own sixties vibe, [James] Kind of a connection between bongos and that kind of guitar – I love that stuff.

    Call Of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer themes should feel like a party

    “Everything has to sound like you’re at a rave”


    A Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 player jumps over an explosion in Nuketown.

    Obviously, you’re very in tune with the story and want it to feel like a movie. How does this work when you write a multiplayer theme?

    Jack Wall: The story doesn’t get into any of that. If I had a way to make the multiplayer theme relate in some way to the single player, I might consider it, but I don’t worry about it too much. I like to create a multiplayer theme that I can own because a lot of people get Call of Duty just to play multiplayer. It’s a fun thing to do on a Friday night with your friends, so it sounds like a party to me. The multiplayer theme “Adrenaline” is my big hit with Jimmy Hinson (aka Big Giant Circles) in 2012 for Black Ops II, and then you have “Rising Tide,” which is more of a synthwave thing. Everything has to sound like you’re at a rave and everyone is bobbing their heads. That’s what we’re looking for.

    How quickly did this get to you?

    Jack Wall: I was working with ROMES—[they’re] two brothers from Toronto who have a band called ROMES. I found them on Instagram doing crazy stuff, where Nick would put his drums through all kinds of pedals, guitar effects, and sound manipulators, and create these amazing sounds. I was like, “Hey, let’s do some stuff for Call of Duty,” and he was like, “Yeah! So excited.” He would send me some tracks and I would work with him a little bit and go back and forth. We created this character… I’m not sure what they call him now in the game, but when we were developing the game he was at the “Redacted” level, which probably has another name now. This was the zombie level where there was a guy named Mangler.

    We wrote a song [for that character]it was about two and a half minutes, and when we were done, I was like, “I think a version of this needs to be multiplayer themed.” So I took the tracks, tweaked them, added some vocals and Jimmy came in and did some extra drums and production. And that was the multiplayer theme. We added another minute or so, but you’ll also hear this at the “Redacted” level.

    Jack Wall is aware that Call Of Duty fans love his music


    Two operators holding rifles exiting a train in Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

    I was listening to his songs on YouTube and the comments were like, “In Jack Wall we trust.” People love your music for these games. Are you engaged with this and are you aware of it as you write?

    Jack Wall: Occasionally. I’m not necessarily a humble guy, I love that people love my music, but I don’t sit around for days looking at comments. I’m very happy with the work we did as a team. I have other composers that I work with. I’m very proud of my team. I’m proud to have brought the ROMES guys. I’m proud to have brought [in] my assistant of 10 years, Jim Lordeman, who wrote some songs, and I have Jimmy Hinson on multiplayer again, and I have other people on other multiplayer things. I like telling the story and it was a lot of fun putting the pieces together with everyone. I love that people love this song, because we put so much heart and soul into it – so much love. And I have a lot of gratitude for the fan base that enjoys the music. So yes, I am aware of that. I just don’t focus on it much.

    Wall reflects on his decade-plus history with Treyarch

    “They just love everything I do… and I’m so grateful for that.”


    Black Ops 6 Capitol Station Campaign Screenshot Motorcycle coming off a ramp onto a car.

    You’ve been working on these games for about 12 years. What was most surprising or what impacted you most about your experience of being part of this universe for so long?

    Jack Wall: The most surprising thing, and also the most incredible thing, is that Treyarch lets me do what I want. They love everything I do and that’s why they keep hiring me, and I’m very grateful for that. They trust me. They keep bringing me back. I actually thought I was going to retire. I moved to Portugal in ’21. Right after the Cold War, I started thinking, “I think I want a new adventure, living somewhere else just for fun,” and I wasn’t sure if I would continue working because I didn’t know if people would want to. . work with me being eight hours away from Los Angeles. The funny thing [that] What happened was COVID was happening, and within a two-week period, everyone at Treyarch was working from home. It changed the world. You can work from anywhere now.

    I love my team and [Treyarch] loves having a team. When I send the credits, they always say, “There are about a hundred, two hundred people that Jack is working with.” When you take into account all the musicians in the orchestra, it’s about a hundred people, and if you have a choir, it’s more. And so there are a lot of people involved to make it all happen. I’m very happy to be their captain. That is great.

    About Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6

    As tensions rise during the Gulf War, Black Ops veterans face a secret group within the CIA now labeled traitors. Players navigate intense missions in new multiplayer modes, including dynamic environments and innovative features like body shields, while Zombies mode returns with classic round-based action and new maps.

    Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows platforms.

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