Music of Halo: Combat Evolved
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Music of Halo: Combat Evolved | |
|---|---|
| |
|
Released: |
|
|
Composer(s): |
|
|
Performance: |
|
The music of Halo: Combat Evolved is the musical score to Halo: Combat Evolved.
Development[edit]
Initial development[edit]
In July of 1999, Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori began composition for the Halo Theme. At the time, O'Donnell and Salvatori were partners at the freelance production company TotalAudio, composing commercial jingles and music for earlier Bungie games, including Myth: The Fallen Lords, Myth II: Soulblighter, and Oni.[1][2]
Director of Cinematics Joseph Staten approached O'Donnell and Salvatori for a backing track to the Halo MacWorld demo, five days prior to the presentation. Staten wanted a composition that evoked the game's "ancient, epic and mysterious" atmosphere.[3] With that prompt, O'Donnell drew inspiration from his studies on Middle Ages music and incorporated phrases of Gregorian chant into the theme.[4][2] The theme was also influenced by the first verse of The Beatles' song "Yesterday", which inspired the same four-phrase structure of the Gregorian chant.[5][2] In the Remaking the Legend documentary, O'Donnell stated that he laid down the core melody of the theme during the half-hour drive to Salvatori's house, which doubled as their studio.[3] The actual audio was performed by an orchestra composed of six string instruments — four violins and two cellos — and recorded the day before the MacWorld presentation. The Halo Theme has since become an iconic motif, for the series as well as video game soundtracks as a genre.[4]
Later development[edit]
Microsoft acquired Bungie after the presentation at MacWorld, in May 2000, and the platform for Halo moved from the PC/Mac to the Xbox. Adapting to the music implementation system specific to the audio specifications on the Xbox presented significant obstacles to O'Donnell and Salvatori.[2] The rest of the soundtrack took shape over the course of 2001, with O'Donnell specifically citing the time between July and September as a "hellish blur".[6]
After Microsoft's acquisition of Bungie, O'Donnell moved to Seattle with the rest of Bungie, as he was under contract with Bungie for Oni and Halo, while Salvatori remained at Chicago to run TotalAudio.[4] The two sent their music to each other for feedback and suggestions. Different aspects of the Halo Theme, including the Gregorian chant and string melody, would appear in other tracks in the game.[2] O'Donnel described the style of the soundtrack as "a little Samuel Barber meets Giorgio Moroder".[6]
Since a fire had burnt down their studio in 1999, O'Donnell and Salvatori took the opportunity to upgrade to newer equipment, thus enabling the production of music in 5.1 Surround Sound, as well as digital, hard disk based recordings.[7] The soundtracks featured patches and samples from the Proteus 2000 and the Kurzweil K2500X synthesizers and more.[8]
The finalized tracks frequently employed MIDI recordings, featuring keyboards, synths, and samplers as well as digital recording equipment controlled by computers. Some tracks featured live instrumental performances alongside the MIDI recordings, while other tracks only featured the live performance adapted from the MIDI recordings. The music was then cut and edited into chunks, so that the audio engine could respond dynamically to the player's actions.[6] O'Donnell and Salvatori worked closely with the level designers in order to match the audio design to points of tension and release within each level. Level designers’ feedback took priority in changes made to the compositions.[6] O'Donnell also played the game during development and made changes based on his own observations, like inserting silence into moments with higher tension. He also developed musical loops to places where he anticipated players would spent extended time in certain gameplay sequence.[4]
While working with the level designer of Assault on the Control Room, O'Donnell included an Easter egg. A track from the Myth: The Fallen Lords would play if the player reached the top of the control room structure in the level. This track, titled The Siege of Madrigal, was then featured in the official soundtrack as a bonus track following the Halo Theme. Since then, The Siege of Madrigal became a recurring Easter egg in all of the Bungie Halo games.
At one point in development, Joseph Staten wanted to license and play "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones in the mid-level cinematic of 343 Guilty Spark, during the Pelican ride with Sergeant Avery Johnson and the Marines. Ultimately, Old Stuff was composed specifically for the cinematic and represented the in-universe flip music.[9][10]
Several tracks did not pass the sketch phase of composition, while alternate versions of released tracks were cut from the game. These tracks were later made available for download on Bungie.net:[11]
- Halo Love Theme Sketch: A variation of the Halo Theme, featuring a solo piano and an alternative ending.
- Rhythm Sketch Variant: A high strings variation of the heavy strings from the Halo Theme melody.
- String Sketch: A variation of the Halo Theme, featuring strings.
- Fast Sketch: A short sketch featuring the piano.
- Battle Sketch: An early version of Brothers In Arms featuring the piano.
- Club: A sketch that drew inspiration from the music of American rock band Devo, which used synthesizers.[12] The track was arranged into How to Get Ahead in War for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
- Seriously: A slow percussive beat joined by horns playing the bass melody of The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe.
- What?: The Halo Theme accompanied by slow beats.
- Tron: A sketch that was inspired by 1980s