Warning: Some general Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 campaign spoilersCall of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the latest in the long-running historical first-person shooter franchise that originally debuted over 20 years ago. Starting in 2010, the Black Ops sub-series has been carving out its own stories and brought Call of Duty to the Cold War era for the first time. The campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 takes place in 1991 and tells a story that tasks new and recurring series characters with taking down the rogue paramilitary group Pantheon.

As much as the game stays true to the franchise’s bestselling formula, Screen Rant’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 review praises the ways in which it also stands apart from its predecessors. That blend of old and new is evident in many aspects of the game, including the music of longtime series composer Jack Wall. Wall began scoring Call of Duty games with Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and has consistently turned in adrenaline-fueled scores that, even as they fit the bombast of the franchise, are intricate and layered enough to warrant listen after listen.

Just after the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 season 1 launch, Screen Rant 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 hyped up the unique opportunities the game’s story and time period lent him as a composer. He also reflected on his storied relationship with Treyarch and revealed whether or not he is aware of his beloved status among Call of Duty players.

Jack Wall Talks Jumping Back Into The Fray On Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6

Wall Worked From Scripts, Models, And A Flow Chart At The Beginning

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

Jack Wall: With game production development, everything isn't done in parallel. You're deg levels, the art department is deg characters and models, and you've got the sound department that's doing sound, but also doing motion capture because they have to get the right sound for that, too. Somebody's writing the script, and somehow it all gets coordinated to a place where you've created a satisfying experience.

Almost all the Call of Duties are almost like an interactive movie. They're linear in the sense of you must understand this level, then you go to the next level that unlocks the next level kind of thing. So, I start with as much information as I can to understand the 30,000-foot view of what this game is going to be, and what the important story beats are. I create an outline for myself of the flow of that story, just so I understand the sweep of it. And, of course, I'm talking strictly about single player campaign. Multiplayer and Zombies are a whole other thing.

But I start with the scripts, usually, and the character design. For any characters they have developed, I like to see the artwork that they have. I like to see the models they've built. I like to see the descriptions and the backstory of each character. Even though sometimes that doesn't even come out, it's nice 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 the stuff you don't see on the screen, and then try to create that in the music.

Once I understand that 30,000-foot view of what the game is supposed to be, I can start thinking about, based on the characters, “Do I need character themes? Do I need just a game theme?” In this case, it was just a game theme. There was no one character that was the most important. You have Marshall, who's the main character that you're playing, and Case, and then of course there are Adler, who’s come back from other things, and Woods is in there after Black Ops II. It is kind of like old friends ing in, but you’re also thinking, “What is the essence of this game?” It's the few against the many. That’s what Black Ops always is. “We’re going to shrink it down to just a few people going up against the big guy.”

So, my main theme became a single horn line in the beginning, which represents this small little group of Blacks Ops guys and girls. By the end of it, it’s like everybody’s battling and it’s a big giant theme and variations where everybody’s playing.

Do you the first piece of music you wrote for this?

I started with the “Sandbox” level where you’re in Iraq and you go to the palace and you’re trying to find the bioweapon. I’m not sure what it’s called in the game, but we called it “Sandbox” (Note: it’s “The Cradle” in-game.) I started with that one because it was lie, “I’m going to do some ethnic stuff for this. It’s going to be fun.” I got my pal M.B. Gordy to play percussion, and some other people to play some Middle Eastern instruments. Then, I put some orchestra in there with it. I think “The Palace” was the first piece I wrote. That’s the one with Tina Guo playing electric cello. I did that level first so they could implement the score—it was like a proof of concept for the team.

They were concerned that it was too ethnic—they wanted something a little bit darker, I think—but after they put it in, they saw that it worked really well. I write to picture all the time, so what I'm writing is designed for that level and for that moment. And because I'm doing all this work ahead of time with that flow chart and all of the things that make the game what it is, I already have thought about where the ebbs and flows of darkness and more electronic [music are.]

When we get to “Redacted” level (In-game: “Emergence”), it's almost a zombie level. That's where I brought in ROMES, and we did a bunch of stuff together on that. It's very electronic, really hard hitting, and it sounds really cool with those characters. I was really happy with how that came out.

But before anything, I wanted to write a theme so that we could sprinkle it throughout the rest of the score. If I go too far without a theme, it's going to feel like nothing's really connected—at least to me. So, I wrote the theme after I did “Sandbox”. I wrote the theme in three or four days, because I put a lot of thought into it before then. All the real work was done before I actually wrote it.

Metallica & Nirvana Were Big Influences On The Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Score

Metallica Had A #1 Hit During The Year In Which The Game Is Set

Is it easier or harder to do a main theme for a Black Ops game after you’ve done so many others? Is it hard to make something different in this same landscape?

Jack Wall: This is my fifth game, so if you listen to all the scores, it probably does sound like it came from one composer, or one group of composers. But we do have a lot of variation in every score. I try not to be so recognizable, necessarily, but I try to do something interesting and new for each game. For me, the inspiration is coming 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 to it. Cold War was early eighties, Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, Russians, Americans… all the s*** that went down to stop World War III from starting. That has a certain feel.

This one is a little bit more honed-in of to the early ‘90s, and influenced by those sounds that we would hear on the charts, even. I did a deep dive into the Billboard charts in 1991, found “Enter Sandman” by Metallica was at number one for most of that year, and was like, “Oh, okay. I get it.” Back then I was a recording engineer and a mixer, so I was working with a bunch of people—not necessarily stuff like that—but 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 get those drum sounds.

I often say that the drum fill of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” changed music. The drum fill at the beginning of that song is similar to later on with Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”—it's that sort of change. “We're going to change music with the drums.” With the drums. So, I found these guys, ROMES, who do really interesting and more modern stuff with drums and modernized that idea for the score.

Wall On How Different Levels Presented Different Opportunities

The Composer Gets To “Do Something Completely Different” With Each Level

These levels feel so unique from one another in the best way. There’s the casino level, there’s the zombie level, which is the most scared I have been playing a video game in a decade—

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

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

Jack Wall: Yes. As a matter of fact, I almost feel that way on every Black Ops game I work on. Every level is so different. If you went back and played all of the Black Ops—II, III, IV, Cold War, this one—they're all like that, and I love that I get a chance to do something completely different with every level. When I'm working on one of these games, I swear to God, my mind doesn't turn off for five months while I'm writing the score. It's constantly going on, 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’m like, “Oh. I know what to do.”

I am often pinching myself about how varied each of my scores can be because of that fact. I view each level as its own world, and musically I like to switch it up. I feel like that gives more value to the player, because then it's a different feeling when you're there.

Is there one level that you were most excited about?

Jack Wall: I got excited about a lot of them. I did enjoy doing the Middle Eastern stuff. I love writing that stuff. I loved the “Storm” level (In-game: “Ground Control”), which is where you're in the airport looking for somebody. I think I had the ROMES guys playing drums and guitars. I had this guy, Juan García-Herreros, who played the basses on the Dune soundtrack, play basses on it. I loved the direction of that one.

I loved “Redacted”, which is the zombie level. I'm just going through them in my head. I really liked the “Contract” one (“Blood Feud” in the final game), which is the level where you're trying to acquire one of your teammates, Sevati Dumas, and in order to gain her trust, you have to help her knock off a few people. I love how Splinter Cell-y that one is. Same with “Heist” (In-game: “High Rollers”). “Heist” has its own vibe with this sixties, [James] Bond sort of idea with the bongos and that sort of guitar—love that stuff.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Themes Are Supposed To Feel Like A Party

“It All Has To Sound Like You’re At A Rave”

Obviously, you’re very in-tune with the story and wanting it to feel like a movie. How does that work when you’re writing a multiplayer theme?

Jack Wall: The story doesn't come into any of it. If I had a way to make the multiplayer theme somehow relate to the single player, I might consider that, but I don't worry too much about that. I like to create a multiplayer theme that can be its own thing, 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 for me, it's got to sound like a party. The multiplayer theme “Adrenaline” is my big hit with Jimmy Hinson (a.k.a. Big Giant Circles) in 2012 for Black Ops II, and then you've got “Rising Tide”, which more of a synthwave thing. It all has to sound like you're at a rave and everybody's bobbing their head. That's what we go for.

How quickly did this one come 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 s*** where Nick was putting his drums through all kinds of pedals, guitar effects, and sound manipulators, and creating these amazing sounds. I was like, “Hey, let's do some stuff for Call of Duty,” and he was like, “Yes! So excited.” He would send me some tracks and I'd work with him a little bit and go back and forth. We came up with this character… I'm not sure what they call it now in the game, but when we were developing the game, it was in the “Redacted” level, which is probably called something else now. That was the zombie level where there was this one guy called the Mangler.

We wrote a tune [for that character], it was like two and a half minutes, and when we were done with it, I was like, “I think a version of this needs to be the multiplayer theme.” So, I took the tracks from that, I repurposed 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 to it or something, but you'll also hear that in the “Redacted” level too.

Jack Wall Is Aware Call Of Duty Fans Love His Music

But He Doesn’t “Sit Around For Days Looking At Comments”

I was listening to your themes on YouTube, and the comments are, like, “In Jack Wall we trust.” People love your music for these games. Are you engaged with that at all, and are you aware of it as you’re writing?

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 just really happy with the job that we did as a team. I have other composers that I work with. I'm very proud of my team. I’m proud I brought the ROMES guys in. I'm proud I brought [in] my assistant for 10 years, Jim Lordeman, who wrote some music, and I've got Jimmy Hinson on the multiplayer again, and I've got some other people on other multiplayer stuff. I enjoy telling the story, and it was really fun to piece it all together with everybody. I love that people love this music, because we put a lot of heart and soul into it—a lot of love. And I have a lot of gratitude for the fan base who digs the music. So, yeah, I'm aware of it. I just don't focus too much on it.

Wall Reflects On His Decade-Plus History With Treyarch

“They Just Love Everything I Do … And I’m So Grateful For That”

You’ve been working on these games for about 12 years now. What has been the most surprising thing or has stuck with you the most about your experience being a part of this universe for so long?

Jack Wall: The most surprising thing, which is also the most amazing thing, is that Treyarch lets me do my thing. They just love everything I do, and that's why they keep hiring me, and I'm so grateful for that. They trust me. They keep bringing me back. I actually thought I was going to retire. I moved to Portugal back in ’21. Right after 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 was going to keep working because I didn't know if people would want to work with me being eight hours from LA. The funny thing [that] happened was, COVID was going on, 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 that I have a team. When I send the credits, they're always like, “There's like a hundred, two hundred people that Jack is working with.” When you factor in all the orchestra musicians, it's like a hundred people, and if you have a choir, it's more. And then there are a lot of people involved to make it all happen. I'm just happy to be their captain. It's great.

About Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6

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

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