Halo Original Soundtrack

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Halo Original Soundtrack
Sumthing Else Music Works
ProducerMartin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori

The Halo Original Soundtrack is a

main trilogy
.

The soundtrack features a wide range of musical styles, including chanting, string orchestra, and percussion. Upon release, the soundtrack was well received by critics. Some complimented the wide range of musical styles, and most agreed that playing the game is not required to enjoy the soundtrack. A special edition of the soundtrack was released on October 28, 2003, featuring a DVD with a trailer, demo movie, and high quality music for Halo 2.

Background

As audio director for

Myth: The Fallen Lords, while working for his audio company, TotalAudio, along with Michael Salvatori.[1][2] O'Donnell stated that he approached the project "with fear and trepidation"[1] and that his main influences were music he liked—"a little Samuel Barber meets Giorgio Moroder".[1] Bungie director of cinematics Joseph Staten told O'Donnell that "the music should give a feeling of importance, weight, and sense of the 'ancient' to the visuals of Halo".[1]

O'Donnell's first piece of music, "Halo", which would become "the signature theme for Halo", was written and recorded in three days.

1999 Macworld Conference & Expo.[1]

Music Sample:
"Halo"
The piece used for the Macworld Expo 1999 Halo announcement.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The remaining themes were written, recorded, and produced throughout 2001.

Chicago Symphony and Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra were added where needed.[1][4] The soundtrack features a wide range of sounds O'Donnell described as "Gregorian chant, string orchestra, percussion and just a bit of a 'Qawwali voice'".[1] Working closely with level designers, O'Donnell divided the music "into chunks". Based on these "chunks", "[Halo's] audio engine could play [the music] back dynamically based on the player's actions".[1] For the soundtrack release, O'Donnell rearranged the music featured in the game in order to make listening to the soundtrack "more enjoyable".[5]

Bungie had previously released soundtracks for their games due to fan request, but Microsoft was hesitant to commit to producing a soundtrack for Halo; at the time most video games did not get a commercial soundtrack release. The publisher finally relented after pressure from O'Donnell and the outside solicitation of musician Nile Rodgers.[6]

Reception

Reception of the soundtrack was generally positive. IGN praised the soundtrack for its wide use of instruments: "Where other videogame scores tend to miss their mark when combining electronic and organic elements, O'Donnell and Salvatori seem to have found a rather stable balance between the two divergent sounds." They described the soundtrack as "one of the better videogame oriented musical experiences out there" and noted that playing the game is not required to enjoy the score.[7]

Reviewing for Monsters At Play, Michael Johnson called the soundtrack "66 minutes of orchestral goodness," citing the wide range of music covered as a strong point.[8] Nuketown rated the soundtrack 9 out of 10, describing it as "a welcome and invigorating reminder of good times had blasting unstoppable alien hordes".[9] The release went on to sell over 40,000 copies.[10]

Track listing

All music was written and composed by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori.[5]

No.TitleLength
1."Opening Suite"3:33
2."Truth and Reconciliation Suite"8:25
3."Brothers in Arms"1:29
4."Enough Dead Heroes"3:00
5."Perilous Journey"2:26
6."A Walk in the Woods"1:52
7."Ambient Wonder"1:57
8."The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe"2:26
9."Trace Amounts"1:51
10."Under Cover of Night"3:41
11."What Once Was Lost"1:40
12."Lament for Pvt. Jenkins"1:14
13."Devils... Monsters..."1:30
14."Covenant Dance"1:57
15."Alien Corridors"1:48
16."Rock Anthem for Saving the World"1:17
17."The Maw"1:06
18."Drumrun"1:01
19."On a Pale Horse"1:35
20."Perchance to Dream"1:00
21."Library Suite"6:47
22."The Long Run"2:12
23."Suite Autumn"4:22
24."Shadows"0:59
25."Dust and Echoes"2:49
26."Halo"4:22
Total length:65:08

Personnel

All information is taken from the CD credits.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Carlson (2001). "Just the Right Sense of "Ancient"". Xbox.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  2. ^ O'Connor, Frank; O'Donnell, Martin; Smith, Luke; Jarrard, Brian (December 12, 2007). "Podcast Ep. 51: With Martin O'Donnell". Bungie. Archived from the original on May 29, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  3. ^ Staff (March 24, 2016). "IGN Unfiltered Interview: Halo and Destiny Composer Marty O'Donnell". IGN. Event occurs at 30'00"—35'00". Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  4. ^ O'Donnell, Martin; Wu, Louis (1999). "TotalAudio Questions and Answers". Halo.Bungie.Org. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
  5. ^ a b c "Soundtrack credits". Halo Original Soundtrack (Media notes). Sumthing Distribution. 2002.
  6. ^ Reese, Emily (September 6, 2011). "Top Score Launches Season 2 with Halo Composer Martin O'Donnell". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  7. ^ Spence D. (September 24, 2007). "Halo Original Soundtrack". IGN. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
  8. ^ Michael Johnson. "Halo Original Soundtrack". Monsters at Play. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
  9. ^ Kenneth Newquist (September 9, 2004). "Halo: The Soundtrack". Nuketown. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
  10. ^ Traiman, Steve (November 3, 2004) 'Halo 2' soundtrack boasts Incubus, Hoobastank. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2012-02-29.

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