Halo 2 Original Soundtrack
Volumes One and Two | |
---|---|
Sumthing Else Music Works | |
Producer | Nile Rodgers |
The Halo 2 Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack for
O'Donnell, who had previously composed the music for Bungie games such as
Upon release, the music of Halo 2 was praised. Critics were split on the merits of Volume 1, with some publications enjoying the bonus offerings while others felt the first volume lacked cohesion. Volume 2 was declared the "real" soundtrack to Halo 2. Upon release both soundtracks became commercial successes, with more than 100,000 copies sold. The soundtracks' success was pointed to as a sign of increasing legitimacy of video game music in the entertainment industry. Halo's music has since been played in concert settings, including Play! A Video Game Symphony and Video Games Live.
Background
In the summer of 2004, Halo 2 composer Martin O'Donnell and album producer Nile Rodgers decided it would be a good idea to present Halo 2's music in two distinct volumes. The first volume would contain the game's themes that were finished and mixed as well as "inspired-by" offerings from other artists.[1] The first volume was released alongside the video game as Volume 1 on November 9 of the same year. As the soundtrack was finished before all the in-game music was completed, none of the tracks written by O'Donnell appear in Halo 2 in the same arrangement.[1] The bands featured in Volume 1, including Breaking Benjamin and Incubus, were enthusiastic about adding music to the soundtrack.[2] Incubus was tapped to produce a suite of music which appears scattered throughout the soundtrack as four movements. Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger said that "Halo is the only video game that ever inspired us to write a whole suite [of music]."[2]
The first pieces of music O'Donnell wrote for Halo 2 were promotional in nature; O'Donnell scored the cinematic announcement trailer for Halo 2 on August 2, 2002, and followed up with interactive music for the
Nile Rodgers produced both volumes of the soundtrack, in addition to writing and performing the track "Never Surrender" in collaboration with songwriter/remixer Nataraj.[2] Rodgers himself is a video game player, noting in an interview that "30% to 40% of the [recording] budget was spent in downtime playing video games. Since all that money was going to that part of the recording session, I decided to figure out what was so compelling about it, and I got hooked [by the game]."[5]
Due to legal issues, the second Halo 2 soundtrack containing the entire finished score, Volume 2, was not released until more than a year after the soundtrack had been mixed and mastered.[6] The volume's music is formatted in a 'suite' structure that corresponds with the chapters within the game, in order to create a "music representation" of the video game.[1] O'Donnell stated that this presentation of the music as a concept album was natural because the overall story and atmosphere of Halo 2 directly influenced the sound to begin with.[6]
Promotion
The first volume of the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack was specifically timed to coincide with the launch of the video game, to cash in on the "Halo effect"; players would go to buy the game and get the soundtrack and other merchandise by association.[7] The first several million copies of the game sold all contained promotional inserts for the soundtrack.[2] The soundtrack was seen as an integral part of the marketing and merchandise push Microsoft planned for Halo 2.[8] The soundtrack's publisher, Sumthing Distribution, also planned and executed an aggressive marketing campaign, including special music listening stations and side-by-side soundtrack and game placement at participating retailers.[2] The "Halo Theme MJOLNIR Mix", the first track on Volume 1, was released on November 22, 2007, as a free track for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on the Xbox 360.[9]
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [10] |
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | Positive [11] |
IGN | Positive[12] |
Upon release, the reaction to Halo 2's score was generally positive.
Nuketown.com declared that Volume 2 was the soundtrack that fans had been waiting for;[17] other publications agreed, saying that it "feels like the real soundtrack to Halo 2".[18] IGN found the soundtrack ultimately enjoyable, but felt that the more traditional orchestration that appeared in Halo 2 clashed with the ambient and electronic sounds that had appeared before, making the album "divided".[19]
Overall, the Halo 2 soundtracks sold well. Volume 1 sold more than 100,000 copies,[20] and peaked at the number 162 position of the Billboard 200, the first video game soundtrack to ever enter the chart. This compares favorably to typical movie soundtracks, which generally sell no more than 10,000 copies.[21] The Halo 2 Original Soundtrack's success was pointed to as a sign of increasing legitimacy of video game music in the entertainment industry, which had graduated from "simple beeps" to complex melodies with big budgets.[22]
Track listings
Volume 1
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Halo Theme MJOLNIR Mix" (featuring Steve Vai) |
| 4:11 |
2. | "Blow Me Away" | Breaking Benjamin | 3:25 |
3. | "Peril" |
| 2:46 |
4. | "Ghosts of Reach" |
| 2:22 |
5. | "Follow (1st Movement of The Odyssey)" | Incubus | 4:15 |
6. | "Heretic, Hero" |
| 2:34 |
7. | "Flawed Legacy" |
| 1:58 |
8. | "Impend" |
| 2:21 |
9. | "Never Surrender" (featuring Steve Vai) | Nile Rodgers | 3:35 |
10. | "Ancient Machine" |
| 1:38 |
11. | "2nd Movement of The Odyssey" | Incubus | 7:40 |
12. | "In Amber Clad" |
| 1:39 |
13. | "The Last Spartan" |
| 2:18 |
14. | "Orbit of Glass" |
| 1:18 |
15. | "3rd Movement of The Odyssey" | Incubus | 6:40 |
16. | "Heavy Price Paid" |
| 2:31 |
17. | "Earth City" |
| 3:06 |
18. | "High Charity" |
| 1:59 |
19. | "4th Movement of The Odyssey" | Incubus | 9:07 |
20. | "Remembrance" |
| 1:17 |
21. | "Connected" | Hoobastank | 2:39 |
Total length: | 69:20 |
Volume 2
All music is composed by Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori
No. | Title | Length | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Prologue" |
| 2:35 |
2. | "Cairo Suite" |
| 9:42 |
3. | "Mombasa Suite" |
| 6:41 |
4. | "Unyielding" | 3:04 | |
5. | "Mausoleum Suite" |
| 8:10 |
6. | "Unforgotten" | 2:09 | |
7. | "Delta Halo Suite" |
| 11:29 |
8. | "Sacred Icon Suite" |
| 7:26 |
9. | "Reclaimer" (featuring Steve Vai) | 3:03 | |
10. | "High Charity Suite" |
| 8:29 |
11. | "Finale" |
| 3:10 |
12. | "Epilogue" |
| 3:49 |
Total length: | 68:48 |
Personnel
All information is taken from the CD credits.[23]
- Martin O'Donnell (ASCAP) – composer
- Michael Salvatori (ASCAP) – composer
- Simon James – concert master/contractor
- Christian Knapp – Northwest Sinfonia conductor
- Marcie O'Donnell – choir conductor
- Nile Rodgers – producer
- Nile Rodgers, Michael Ostin – music co-supervisors
- Lorraine McLees – album art director
References
- ^ a b c O'Donnell, Martin (2006). "Introduction". Halo 2 Original Soundtrack: Volume Two (Media notes). Sumthing.
- ^ a b c d e Traiman, Steve (2004-11-06). "Halo 2 Soundtrack Bolsters Game Push". Billboard. Vol. 116, no. 45. pp. 43–45.
- ^ O'Donnell, Martin (2003-10-01). "Halo 2 Recording Sessions report". Music4Games. Archived from the original on December 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- ^ a b Staff (2004-09-01). "Interview with Halo 2 composer Marty O'Donnell". Music4Games. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- ^ Waslh, Christopher (2004-11-13). "Audio Pros See Opportunity In Videogames". Billboard. Vol. 116, no. 46. p. 54.
- ^ a b Staff (2006-04-27). "Interview with Halo 2 Volume 2 composer Martin O'Donnell". Music4Games. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ Traiman, Steve (2005-02-12). "Retailers Chase Gaming Dollars". Billboard. Vol. 117, no. 7. pp. 43–45.
- ^ Nussenbaum, Evelyn (2004-08-23). "Video games get Hollywood makeover". National Post. p. F1.
- ^ Sinclair, Brendan (2007-11-21). "Halo 3 theme hits 360 version of Guitar Hero III". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "Halo 2 (Original Soundtrack)-Martin O'Donnell". AllMusic. 2004-11-09. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ "Halo 2, Vol. 2 (Original Video Game Soundtrack)-Martin O'Donnell". AllMusic. 2006-04-25. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ "Halo 2 Original Soundtrack Volume Two". IGN. 2006-05-05. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ Andrews, Stuart (2005-01-09). "Games [Final Edition]". Sunday Times. p. 32.
- The Ottawa Citizen. p. F6.
- ^ Brennan, Mike (2004-10-13). "Soundtrack.net: Halo 2 Volume 1 OST". SoundTrack.net. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
- G4 TV. Archived from the originalon 2006-04-28. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
- ^ Newquist, Kenneth (2007-11-03). "Halo 2 Soundtrack, Vol. 2 Delivers the True Halo Experience". NukeTown. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ Goh, Alex (2006-05-09). "Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 Review". FutureLooks. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ D., Spence (2006-05-05). "Halo 2 Original Soundtrack Volume Two". IGN. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- Seattle Times. p. C3.
- Business Week. p. 1.
- ^ "Gaming a hit tune". Newsday. Associated Press. 2005-08-14. p. C21. Archived from the original on 2005-09-20.
- ^ "Soundtrack credits". Halo 2 Original Soundtrack Volume Two (Media notes). Sumthing Distribution. 2004–2006.