I was somewhat impressed by Halo: Spartan Assaults soundtrack. Mainly by “simple mystery”
No, Davidge does not need “help”. He is doing a perfectly good job of setting the new tone and atmosphere for the Reclaimer Saga and makes references back to Marty’s work when it is contextually appropriate (and a number of tracks which he’s done that have throwbacks to Marty’s scores are featured in the ViDocs but not in the game).
“Green and Blue” has a lot of O’Donnell throwback.
The quintessential aspect of Halo’s soundtrack is the ethereal choir; something Salta made excellent use of. He’s an excellent option for future titles.
Ultimately, I think Neil was a hard done by the implementation of his music. Many of his tracks simply didn’t get the use they deserved, something I’ve ranted about in the past.
I think Neil and Kazuma are good enough but is neil coming back for Halo 5 or not?
No , i want to see what new cool music they can do i guess we are just too used to the original material.
I think Tom Salta should replace Neil Davidge.
Now, before you complain, this isn’t because Neil’s music isn’t “Halo” (that’s a terrible argument for not liking something), this is because of the fact that Neil Davidge does his work in England, thousands of miles away from 343i.
One of the main reasons on why O’Donnel’s and Salvatori’s music blended so perfectly within the game was because of how they were both constantly exposed to it. As a composer of music myself, I’m going to state the number one rule of effectively scoring the soundtrack of something:
Surround yourself in the theme that you want to create. Let the universe that you shape form around you, and let yourself form around it.
Due to the fact that Neil composes his music in England, he is unable to fully immerse himself in the world of Halo 5. He isn’t exposed enough to the world that he’s trying to create. And because of that, despite of how great of a composer he is (I certainly look up to him in some forms), he’ll never be able to truly connect his music with Halo without spending the duration of Halo 5’s development time in Kirkland with 343.
That’s the problem. A film-score composer won’t be able to fully achieve the theme of whatever their composing for if they’re at the other side of the world. Martin O’Donnell and Micheal Salvatori were both dedicated Bungie employees. They had constant exposure to the universe that they portrayed and O’Donnell was even the Audio Directer.
While I don’t know what Salta’s position is, I do know that Kazuma Jinnouchi (the composer of 117, Sacrifice, and many other great songs) is a 343i employee. If Kazuma can ascend to the role of Audio Director and as Halo 5’s lead composer, the next Halo game could be better than anything O’Donnell, Salvatori, and Davidge could ever hope to create.
A part of me wants to say yes, and the other part of me wants to say yes as well.
So yes, he definitely should. I haven’t heard much of Spartan Assault’s soundtrack yet, but the little i have taken the time to listen to does seem to fit the game a lot more than most things Neil wrote.
Don’t get me wrong, Neil does have some nice tracks that are new and refreshing, and I like a lot of what he was able to put in the game, but he sort of missed what it meant to compose for a Halo game. He didn’t seem to be quite as into it as Marty was, so his work doesn’t quite compare to what we’ve seen before. I mean, look at ODST. I don’t think any composer could create a soundtrack like that one. But, if Tom Salta, Neil Davidge and Kazuma Jinnouchi could all team up together for the future of the franchise, we’d get a lovely soundtrack that could at least be as memorable as past Halo games’.
> I think Tom Salta should replace Neil Davidge.
>
> Now, before you complain, this isn’t because Neil’s music isn’t “Halo” (that’s a terrible argument for not liking something), this is because of the fact that Neil Davidge does his work in England, thousands of miles away from 343i.
>
> One of the main reasons on why O’Donnel’s and Salvatori’s music blended so perfectly within the game was because of how they were both constantly exposed to it. As a composer of music myself, I’m going to state the number one rule of effectively scoring the soundtrack of something:
>
> Surround yourself in the theme that you want to create. Let the universe that you shape form around you, and let yourself form around it.
>
> Due to the fact that Neil composes his music in England, he is unable to fully immerse himself in the world of Halo 5. He isn’t exposed enough to the world that he’s trying to create. And because of that, despite of how great of a composer he is (I certainly look up to him in some forms), he’ll never be able to truly connect his music with Halo without spending the duration of Halo 5’s development time in Kirkland with 343.
>
> That’s the problem. A film-score composer won’t be able to fully achieve the theme of whatever their composing for if they’re at the other side of the world. Martin O’Donnell and Micheal Salvatori were both dedicated Bungie employees. They had constant exposure to the universe that they portrayed and O’Donnell was even the Audio Directer.
>
> While I don’t know what Salta’s position is, I do know that Kazuma Jinnouchi (the composer of 117, Sacrifice, and many other great songs) is a 343i employee. If Kazuma can ascend to the role of Audio Director and as Halo 5’s lead composer, the next Halo game could be better than anything O’Donnell, Salvatori, and Davidge could ever hope to create.
Wouldn’t it just be simpler to have Neil move to the US for the production of Halo 5’s music, in that case?
Also, Neil evidently managed to achieve the theme of Halo 4 perfectly with tracks like Legacy, Aliens, Escape, Foreshadow, This Armour, Revival, Haven, Solace, Green and Blue, Arrival and so on. When Marty was composing the score for Halo CE, he was given just 3 words to work with and look how that turned out. Neil said that he’s sent concept pieces and videos while he’s in England composing which is more than enough to give him an idea of what kind of tone they want to convey, and I imagine that he and 343 kept in very close contact about the music anyway…
> > I think Tom Salta should replace Neil Davidge.
> >
> > Now, before you complain, this isn’t because Neil’s music isn’t “Halo” (that’s a terrible argument for not liking something), this is because of the fact that Neil Davidge does his work in England, thousands of miles away from 343i.
> >
> > One of the main reasons on why O’Donnel’s and Salvatori’s music blended so perfectly within the game was because of how they were both constantly exposed to it. As a composer of music myself, I’m going to state the number one rule of effectively scoring the soundtrack of something:
> >
> > Surround yourself in the theme that you want to create. Let the universe that you shape form around you, and let yourself form around it.
> >
> > Due to the fact that Neil composes his music in England, he is unable to fully immerse himself in the world of Halo 5. He isn’t exposed enough to the world that he’s trying to create. And because of that, despite of how great of a composer he is (I certainly look up to him in some forms), he’ll never be able to truly connect his music with Halo without spending the duration of Halo 5’s development time in Kirkland with 343.
> >
> > That’s the problem. A film-score composer won’t be able to fully achieve the theme of whatever their composing for if they’re at the other side of the world. Martin O’Donnell and Micheal Salvatori were both dedicated Bungie employees. They had constant exposure to the universe that they portrayed and O’Donnell was even the Audio Directer.
> >
> > While I don’t know what Salta’s position is, I do know that Kazuma Jinnouchi (the composer of 117, Sacrifice, and many other great songs) is a 343i employee. If Kazuma can ascend to the role of Audio Director and as Halo 5’s lead composer, the next Halo game could be better than anything O’Donnell, Salvatori, and Davidge could ever hope to create.
>
> <mark>Wouldn’t it just be simpler to have Neil move to the US for the production of Halo 5’s music, in that case?</mark>
>
> Also, Neil evidently managed to achieve the theme of Halo 4 perfectly with tracks like Legacy, Aliens, Escape, Foreshadow, This Armour, Revival, Haven, Solace, Green and Blue, Arrival and so on. When Marty was composing the score for Halo CE, he was given just 3 words to work with and look how that turned out. Neil said that he’s sent concept pieces and videos while he’s in England composing which is more than enough to give him an idea of what kind of tone they want to convey, and I imagine that he and 343 kept in very close contact about the music anyway…
Problem is…
Neil has other things to attend to in life. He has other productions to compose for, and family. It’s not feasible for anyone to move to an entirely different continent just to compose the music for a single product when they have much more things to attend to.
Also, while the tracks that he composed were terrific, they could have been much better if he was an actual 343i employee. Neil Davidge isn’t a 343i employee, despite as good of a composer that he is, he won’t be able to fully achieve the thematic feel of Halo 5 in the same level that people like Kazuma Jinnouchi could.
That’s the problem. It has nothing to do with Neil’s skill in composing, it has to do with the fact that there’s far too large of a gap between him and the game - which is sadly something that cannot be changed.
Honestly I don’t understand how Halo fans like Davidge’s music when we had one of the best composers in the entire videogame industry (O’Donnell). We had the highest quiality standard for a videogame music: orchestrated music, non-transient music and really epic and memorable. In Halo 4, there’s nothing of that. The Halo main theme was completely removed like if 343i would like to replace (usurp) Bungie’s place instead of recognizing the work they did.
Davidge must leave. 343i has enough money for hiring a better musician. Jesper Kyd, Sam Haulick or any other good musician would fit perfectly Martin O’Donnell’s feeling. Davidge simply doesn’t.
> We had the highest quiality standard for a videogame music: orchestrated music, non-transient music and really epic and memorable. In Halo 4, there’s nothing of that.
This is entirely subjective. Speaking for myself (with some fact tossed in):
- It’s still orchestrated.
- You’re going to have to clarify this.
- I find the Halo 4 OST very memorable. Especially “Nemesis,” “Revival,” “To Galaxy,” “117,” and “Green and Blue.”
> The Halo main theme was completely removed
As it was in Halo 3: ODST. The “Halo Theme” is relevant to the original trilogy. This is a new trilogy. More than this, however, 343i does not usurp Bungie’s work, as there are many references and - most importantly - they were founded by Bungie. It’s hard to usurp the people that hand you the reigns.
> 343i has enough money for hiring a better musician. Jesper Kyd, Sam Haulick or any other good musician would fit perfectly Martin O’Donnell’s feeling. Davidge simply doesn’t.
Only problem being that they wouldn’t. Only O’Donnell can fit O’Donnell’s feeling. Jesper Kyd would do Jesper Kyd, Sam Haulick would do Sam Haulick, and Neil Davidge does Neil Davidge. If you really want O’Donnell’s music, play the older Halos or pick up Destiny.
> orchestrated music, non-transient music and really epic and memorable. In Halo 4, there’s nothing of that.
So why is it that I find myself going back and listening through both volumes of Halo 4’s OST more than I have done any of the other soundtracks? How ‘memorable’ a track is is entirely subjective, and to me almost every single one stands out.
> The Halo main theme was completely removed
Er… go back and play the opening of Composer, I’m pretty sure that you’ll find you’re quite wrong here. ODST and Reach, on the other hand, are a different story.
> like if 343i would like to replace (usurp) Bungie’s place instead of recognizing the work they did.
So why are there so many tracks that pay homage to Marty’s work? 117, Escape, Green and Blue, Lasky’s Theme, Sacrifice, and a number of the unreleased tracks from the ViDocs and Spartan Ops. Oh, and need I even bring up Never Forget?
This is a new trilogy with a new story, new themes and a different atmosphere to Halo CE, but the music makes throwbacks to Marty’s scores when contextually appropriate.
The notion that 343 are trying to “usurp” Bungie is completely asinine…
> Davidge must leave. 343i has enough money for hiring a better musician. Jesper Kyd, Sam Haulick or any other good musician would fit perfectly Martin O’Donnell’s feeling. Davidge simply doesn’t.
As was pointed out above me, no they wouldn’t. They would all do music in their own style to fit the theme of the game, the same way that Marty did music in his style to fit the feeling of the game.
> Problem is…
>
> Neil has other things to attend to in life. He has other productions to compose for, and family. It’s not feasible for anyone to move to an entirely different continent just to compose the music for a single product when they have much more things to attend to.
People move abroad for work-related reasons all the time. What exactly do you know about Neil’s personal life or his professional one to say that it’s “not feasible”? The only thing that he’s documented to be working on right now is Slo Light which is due for a January/February release next year, that’s plenty of time to do music for Halo 5 (provided that he hasn’t already been working on it and has just kept silent about it).
> Also, while the tracks that he composed were terrific, they could have been much better if he was an actual 343i employee. Neil Davidge isn’t a 343i employee, despite as good of a composer that he is, he won’t be able to fully achieve the thematic feel of Halo 5 in the same level that people like Kazuma Jinnouchi could.
How exactly would they have been “better”? He knew what the game was about, he was sent concept pieces and various bits of artwork, and kept in close contact with 343. You don’t need to directly oversee the development of a game, a film or a tv show to understand the thematic direction they want from you.
> That’s the problem. It has nothing to do with Neil’s skill in composing, it has to do with the fact that there’s far too large of a gap between him and the game - which is sadly something that cannot be changed.
It can be changed though, but it doesn’t need to be because him being in the US simply wouldn’t make a difference.
> As it was in Halo 3: ODST. The “Halo Theme” is relevant to the original trilogy. This is a new trilogy. More than this, however, 343i does not usurp Bungie’s work, as there are many references and - most importantly - <mark>they were founded by Bungie.</mark> It’s hard to usurp the people that hand you the reigns.
False. 343 were founded by Microsoft, not Bungie. Hence the reason why they are called ‘a branch of Microsoft.’ Just thought i’d clear that up!
Tom salta created some good tracks for spartan assault. I still miss the old theme though.
> If you really want O’Donnell’s music, play the older Halos or pick up Destiny.
In that notion wouldnt that lead to people doing in a week what they did to Halo 4?
On twitter Neil already said he wont be part of the franchise anymore.
> On twitter Neil already said he wont be part of the franchise anymore.
Any proof to back up this claim?
> On twitter Neil already said he wont be part of the franchise anymore.
No he hasn’t, I just looked through his tweets going back to last November and he’s said nothing of the sort.