Halo Original Soundtrack

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Halo Original Soundtrack
Studio album by Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori
Released	June 11, 2002
Genre	Video game soundtrack
Length	65:08
Label	Sumthing Else Music Works
Producer	Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori

Halo Original Soundtrack, composed and produced by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori for Bungie Studios' 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, is one CD comprising 26 tracks. Some editions include a bonus DVD with game trailers for Halo 2. Most of the music from Halo: Combat Evolved is present on the CD, although some songs are remixed and some tracks are intermixed with others in medley form to aid in listening. The soundtrack was released on June 11, 2002.

O'Donnell began working on the music for Halo on a contract; eventually, he joined Bungie to work on the game full-time. The first piece O'Donnell wrote became the basis for Halo's "signature sound" which has been heard in the other games of the trilogy. Upon release, the soundtrack was well-received.

Contents 1 Background 2 Track listing 3 Personnel 4 Reception 5 References

[edit] Background

Composer Martin O'Donnell had worked with developer Bungie since their video game Myth: The Fallen Lords. When Bungie began work on their new project code-named Blam!, O'Donnell and his partner Michael Salvatori's company, TotalAudio, was approached with the task of developing the music.^[1] Eventually, O'Donnell left TotalAudio to work at Bungie as a full-time employee,^[1] joining only ten days before Microsoft acquired the studio.^[2]

The first piece O'Donnell wrote for Halo was dubbed "Halo", and was played as the soundtrack to accompany Halo's demonstration at MacWorld Expo New York in 1999;^[3] the composition would end up being the de facto melody of the franchise. O'Donnell was tasked with creating the music with only a week before the Expo; Bungie cinematics director Joseph Staten approached O'Donnell with the MacWorld demo plan and simply said "that the music should give a feeling of importance, weight, and sense of the 'ancient' to the visuals of Halo".^[2] In an interview, O'Donnell stated his main influences were music he liked—"a little Samuel Barber meets Giorgio Moroder"—and that the final piece ended up with gregorian chanting, a string section, strong percussion and a "Qawwali voice".^[3]

O'Donnell recruited Salvatori and three other colleagues he had recorded jingles with—Robert Bowker, Jeffrey Morrow, and Rob Trow—to produce the "chanting monks" that open the piece. Originally he had intended the Qawwali accents to be sung by one of the professionals, but they suggested they use O'Donnell's own rendition instead.^[2]

Halo's in-game music is very dynamic and changes in response to situations encountered during gameplay. O'Donnell was quoted saying that "Themes, moods and even the duration of these pieces will change and adapt with each player's Halo experience." As such, the music for the soundtrack's CD release was "frozen", remixed and rearranged so that it corresponded with the chapters of the game and was more enjoyable to listen to.^[4]

[edit] Track listing

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" (1:18)
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)

A short instrumental track that is not easily heard in the video game can be found at the end of track 26, "Halo", after about 30 seconds of silence. The song is known as "The Siege Of Madrigal", and is from Bungie's older series of real-time strategy games, Myth.

An instrumental track that is found in the game, but not present on the soundtrack, can be found here. It plays during an encounter with an energy-sword carrying cloaked Elite in an empty corridor during the Assault on the Control Room level.

Another instrumental track that is heard on the level "343 Guilty Spark" is not present on the soundtrack. It features synthesizers and radio is heard going on and off. This track is heard after encountering a traumatized Marine who shoots you with his hand-gun.

A guitar remix of Truth and Reconciliation Suite, the MJOLNIR mix, was later made to jazz up the main song. This track is composed and produced by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, featuring Steve Vai on guitars, and it features two electric guitars playing simultaneously to add a harder experience to the song; however, the Guitar remix does not appear on the Soundtrack. This remix was later used in the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack but was originally done for Halo: Combat Evolved.

[edit] Personnel

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

• Martin O'Donnell (ASCAP) – composer
• Michael Salvatori (ASCAP) - composer
• O'Donnell, Salvatori, Harry Hmura, Arnold Roth, Peter Labella, Everett Zlatoff-Mirsky, Elliott Golub, Niasanne Howell, Marylou Johnston, Kevin Case, Barbara Haffner, Larry Glazier, Judy Stone - musicians
• O'Donnell, Salvatori, Robert Bowker, Jeffrey Morrow, Rob Trow - singers

[edit] Reception

Recetion of the soundtrack was generally positive from critics. IGN praised the soundtrck for its wide use of instruments stating, "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." Adding, overall the soundtrack is "one of the better videogame oriented musical experiences out there" and playing the game is not required to find enjoyment within the score.^[6] 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.^[7] Nuketown gave the soundtrack a 9 out of 10, stating "the soundtrack is a welcome and invigorating reminder of good times had blasting unstoppable alien hordes".^[8]

[edit] References

v • d • e Halo series Main trilogy Halo: Combat Evolved · Halo 2 · Halo 3 Other games Halo Wars · Halo: Chronicles Printed media The Fall of Reach · The Flood · First Strike · Ghosts of Onyx · Contact Harvest · Sixth Halo Novel · Halo Graphic Novel · Halo: Uprising Music Halo Original Soundtrack · Halo 2 Original Soundtrack · Halo 3 Original Soundtrack Information and fiction Official games and media · Characters Promotion I Love Bees · Marketing for Halo 3