Quite frankly, I think the new music is foreign to Halo and doesn’t really fit.
Now don’t get me wrong, I believe Neil Davidge makes good music, but the problem is that it doesn’t have… you know, the Halo feel to it. That’s what is missing from his music.
As the original trilogy progressed, we got fresh new music with each installment, but there was always that original music at the core. The new blended with the old perfectly.
Now that the story in this new trilogy is being focused on the Master Chief again, this would be a great opportunity to bring back classic Halo tracks from the original trilogy.
That’s what was missing from Halo 4’s soundtrack. It was all new and unfamiliar, and ultimately didn’t feel like Halo music.
This is a perfect example of (at the time) old and new music. When you blend the new music with the original Halo music, like this, then it has the Halo feel.
That’s when it becomes memorable, that’s when it becomes liked, that’s when it ultimately becomes titled HALO music.
> I agree, it didn’t quite feel like the familiar Halo, but I believe they’re trying to go with something new.
>
> My grief is that none of the music was really memorable IMO. There really is no “theme” as far as I can tell, which is unlike Halo.
I personally think the music itself was great, but the way that it was executed was not.
Halo 4’s soundtrack was never a prominent character in the game, it was normally flushed out by gameplay sounds, and it never seemed to fit into the part where it played…
This was due to improper communication between 343i and their lead composers (Neil Davidge and Kazuma Jinnouhchi). Neil, and English Composer, only visited the studio in the US for only one week… He composed all of the 300 songs that he was tasked with in the UK, not in Kirkland.
Bungie had an extreme advantage when it came to soundtracks. That advantage was not due to Marty being an amazing composer, but that Marty was the lead audio producer. He had control over every sound, and unlike Neil… Marty was at Bungie with every step, not separated by an entire Ocean.
> Quite frankly, I think the new music is foreign to Halo and doesn’t really fit.
>
> Now don’t get me wrong, I believe Neil Davidge makes good music, but the problem is that it doesn’t have… you know, the Halo feel to it. That’s what is missing from his music.
>
> As the original trilogy progressed, we got fresh new music with each installment, but there was always that original music at the core. The new blended with the old perfectly.
>
> Now that the story in this new trilogy is being focused on the Master Chief again, this would be a great opportunity to bring back classic Halo tracks from the original trilogy.
>
> That’s what was missing from Halo 4’s soundtrack. It was all new and unfamiliar, and ultimately didn’t feel like Halo music.
>
> This is a perfect example of (at the time) old and new music. When you blend the new music with the original Halo music, like this, then it has the Halo feel.
>
> That’s when it becomes memorable, that’s when it becomes liked, that’s when it ultimately becomes titled HALO music.
Thank you for this job nobody sees that in halo 4 music was erased we barely heard it was not like the other halos. I do not know if Neil Davidge made osts watching the campaign … Normally in halo you walk with the music you’re fighting with the music.
Please listened to all the ost of halo spartan assault which made Tom Salta you will change fast opinion and I hope that in the next halo the music in the campaign will be more present because it is what makes halo.
> Neil, and English Composer, only visited the studio in the US for only one week… He composed all of the 300 songs that he was tasked with in the UK, not in Kirkland.
>
> Bungie had an extreme advantage when it came to soundtracks. That advantage was not due to Marty being an amazing composer, but that Marty was the lead audio producer. He had control over every sound, and unlike Neil… Marty was at Bungie with every step, not separated by an entire Ocean.
Now that’s something I never knew, and it explains a-lot of the disconnect between the game and music. Maybe 343i should have picked someone closer to home then?
> > Neil, and English Composer, only visited the studio in the US for only one week… He composed all of the 300 songs that he was tasked with in the UK, not in Kirkland.
> >
> > Bungie had an extreme advantage when it came to soundtracks. That advantage was not due to Marty being an amazing composer, but that Marty was the lead audio producer. He had control over every sound, and unlike Neil… Marty was at Bungie with every step, not separated by an entire Ocean.
>
> Now that’s something I never knew, and it explains a-lot of the disconnect between the game and music. Maybe 343i should have picked someone closer to home then?
>
> That would have solved some of the problems.
Exactly must support the most important element of halo and composers must be in the studio it Explains a-lot of the disconnect betweens the game and music … It makes sense for halo. Tom Salta must ABSOLUTELY.
Please listened to all the ost of halo spartan assault which made Tom Salta you will change fast opinion and I hope that in the next halo the music in the campaign will be more present because it is what makes halo.
or maybe it’s bad because it’s…bad? We could consider that option as well.
I hated the soundtrack from day 1 and still do: not a single piece jumps out at me and none of it, whilst in the middle of battle, sounds in the least like something I get a charge out of it.
In -every- single Halo game from before there were tunes that gave you a charge that gave you a morale boost or mood shift to help you in battle.
The best Davidge gave us was the faux cinematic “DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN! DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN!” would-be-music that sounds more akin to white noise and stiff sound singing of a few notes here and there. It’s simply awful compared to every other Halo piece before.
> or maybe it’s bad because it’s…bad? We could consider that option as well.
>
> I hated the soundtrack from day 1 and still do: not a single piece jumps out at me and none of it, whilst in the middle of battle, sounds in the least like something I get a charge out of it.
>
> In -every- single Halo game from before there were tunes that gave you a charge that gave you a morale boost or mood shift to help you in battle.
>
> The best Davidge gave us was the faux cinematic “DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN! DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN!” would-be-music that sounds more akin to white noise and stiff sound singing of a few notes here and there. It’s simply awful compared to every other Halo piece before.
> <mark>I miss the monk chants</mark>, the more ambient music and the blue-toned title screens.
>
> With Halo 3 I would sometimes leave the title screen on for the music and watch the snow fall outside. It was magic.
I like the Halo 4 music. It was a bit quiet at times compared to surrounding atmosphere/sounds.
Otherwise I found a majority of the music to be very emotionally moving, motivating and inspiring. But I might be mildly biased for certain reasons. Hard to say.
But the Halo 4 version of Never Forget is my favorite version of the song hands down. Couldn’t have been made without the original creation from Marty of course. But Halo 4 just takes it to a whole new level with the subtleties for me.
