What Halo 4&5's music has been MISSING | How Halo Infinite can Recapture the magic!
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- In today's video, we will be breaking down why I felt made the older Halo games' scores so memorable and how Halo Infinite can potentially recapture its magic! Stay to the end of the video to hear the opinions of I Hate Everything, Hidden Xperia and Dishonored Wolf!
Tom Salta’s TedX talk: • My golden ticket for b...
I Hate Everything: / iheofficial
HiddenXperia: / hiddenxperia
Dishonored Wolf: / channel
Original OST video: • Why People don't like ...
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I also noticed throughout your edit from about 16:34 you were barely sprinting, and when you wanted to observe something you would stop sprinting. This is another reason I don't like sprint in Halo - sprinting pulls your attention away from observing the world and puts the attention more on sprinting and dodging obstacles.
This 100%
Thanks for having me on!
ZOO-BOO!
DUR PLANT
Love your vids
Get this man a water spider.
I Hate Everything
Really respect and appreciate your love of Halo/Destiny. It's nice to see such a big 'tuber (weird saying that as I've been watching you since early 2015) throw his hat into the Halo community.
Truly epic gamer music from the OG trilogy
Insert Default dance here
Na man it’s Iconic
HiddenXperia I strongly agree!!! :)
You're the "etc", lol rip
Insert mandatory "I C O N I C" here
So turns out, Tom Salta has actually said, publicly MANY times that he wants to work on the mainline series. Would you guys want to see him take on a bigger budget and compose music for Master Chief?
343 heard our artstyle criticisms... maybe we can get discussions going about Salta and get him noticed by 343?
Yes
I would love Tom Salta. Halo 2 Anniversary and Wars 2 were great.
I loved the theme because it was it had plenty of variety from soothing to scary, calm to enthusiasm, and chanting and etc. It was well blended together
Let’s do it!
I actually would love to see Gordy Haab to give it a try! If you guys have heard his work on the Battlefront games then you can see he is quite great capturing the essence of a franchise without simply copying just old stuff!
Bungie: "They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever musician I wanted. You know me. I did my research, watched as you became the composer we needed you to be. Like the others, you were talented and creative and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw but me. Can you guess? You were I C O N I C... Was I wrong?
Underrated comment my dude...by the way you have 60 likes rn let’s see how many you get!
Very underrated
I would really appreciate it if you closed this quotation.
Leave this at 117 likes
If Tom Salta happens to work on Halo Infinite's soundtrack, I have no doubt that Infinite's OST will be fantastic Halo music
Bruh, you friggin nailed that tom salta halo 5 edit ....
Grinned like an idiot at that exact moment. It was so perfect.
Your edit genuinely gave me those nostalgic chills. It was.. magical. Thank you.
It's also worth noting the different textures across the games and within the games themselves.
Across the games, the use of instruments varied. Halo CE had a lot more electronic melodies. Halo 2 used guitar riffs and took influence from rock music. Halo 3 took a more orchestral approach in many places (probably due to budget) and implemented quite a bit of piano in key pieces. Halo 3:ODST was jazz heavy to emphasise the noir aspects of the game. Halo Reach was more orchestral again, though featured lots of tribal-esque drums as an embodiment of Reach itself.
Within the games themselves (namely the OG trilogy), Forerunner heavy areas are scored with etherial, celtic music.
UNSC heavy areas or areas with lots of Marines are scored with your classic military drums. The Flood sequences have their own unique score, with a quick-rhythm alarm sound, obviously appropriate for a flood outbreak. And so on...
However, Halo 4 and 5 don't follow these approaches. And Halo 5 is almost all just one texture i.e. loud orchestral score with occasional electronic elements.
If Halos soundtrack had to be broken down into four main elements, those would be celtic style, gregorian chanting, violins and the lone piano.
Emphasis varies, and this is not all, but it was always the foundation.
With SOME guitar and drums? Including tribal?
You haven't listened to halo 4's ost enough. To Galaxy is one of the best halo songs, while still being unique.
This is honestly one of the best videos explaining why Halos iconic OT music was so awesome and great! And I quite agree with what you think Infinite can do to bring it back in some ways. I really hope 343 sees this amazing video!!! :) (P.S. The fact that you brought in Dishonored, IHE and Xperia was so awesome! I hope you have them in videos like this for the future! :) )
Luke Skywalker the 2nd they aren’t the issue I follow all that you can think of, but no, the next game will be garbage
VK “they aren’t the issue” well it is an issue for some people. Don’t like it? Leave
LateNightGaming you should leave, let it go bro, let go of the grip 343 has on you!!!
LateNightGaming just stop being gay with 343 is all I ask
This channel is awesome, these videos have such a way of making me think, and he always goes over stuff that I love to be reminded of AND adds a perspective that is fresh to me. I think it's time for another original trilogy playthrough soon
I don't know why they didn't have the composer for Halo Spartan Assault to compose Halo 4 & 5 Tom Salta. THAT sounded like Halo
Aaaaaaaaaah OMG LNG LIKED MY COMMENT!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! GEEKING OUT!!!! #LifeGoals #ForerunnersTakeMeNow
@@staticshockthejedisithavenger Are you ok?
I am now. I've never had anyone i subbed ever like or respond to my comment. I'm in heaven aaaaaaah
Pierre Dorcely that happened to me a couple weeks back on rageaholics channel
Finally someone who knows how i fell lol
5 ways to have Halo: Infinite's Soundtrack be great and sound like Halo:
1. Have Tom Salta work on it
2. Seriously, get Tom Salta to work on it
3. Why are you still reading this? Just get Tom Salta
4. Thomas. Saltamos.
5. I will get on my knees and beg. Plz 343
Did you say... Tom Salta?
Yes please!
The Father (Marty O'Donnell), The Son (Stephen Rippy), and The Holy Spirit (Tom Salta)
Who is Tom Salta?
The key to Halo's soundtrack I found was *variety*. Especially with CE, no two tracks sounded the same and were geared with different encounters in mind;
*Brothers in Arms* and *Covenant Dance* are essentially the national anthems of the two main factions; the former being a grand quick-paced marching theme fueled by trumpets, drums and patriotism, while the latter evoking tribal/monastic worship and technological superiority through jungle drums, monk choirs and synth tones respectively
*What once was Lost* and *Devils... Monsters...* set the Flood up perfectly as this ungodly, primal and terrifying force of nature with mysterious and unspeakable horrors to their name, in downtime and in combat respectively.
*Perchance to Dream* and *Under Cover of Night* are the perfect stealth mission themes, from the former's rythmic beats and low notes encouraging the player to remain silent, while the latter's soft yet powerful beats support both heated combat and stealth assassinations in the dead of night.
*The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe* and *Rock Anthem for saving the World* are the combat themes, the former's tribal drumbeats evoking guerilla warfare while the latter's "Halo Theme with *ELECTRIC GUITAR*" emphasizes a full-on assault.
*Perilous Journey* is a highly freeform track, being able to be fit in a variety of situations that drive the player forward with a fast, upbeat tempo.
And my personal favourites; *The Long Run* and *Drumrun* : The former encourages the player to remain on the move, using a regularly paced beat and minor tones to communicate a sense of both steam-rolling power and slight urgency; the latter turns up the urgency dial to full, the faster tempo punctuated by individual percussion "explosions" which back the player as they drill through the toughest of challenges to quickly get in and get the hell out of there.
It's this design principle behind the making of these tracks, tailoring them to suit specific encounters and encourages certain gameplay mindsets, which I miss about Halo's music. While the sequels after CE certainly strayed away from this design to focus on overarching themes (noir stealth for ODST, hopelessness for Reach), Halo 4 and 5 went overboard in an attempt to be their own things; 4 deliberately tried not to sound like a Halo game (which, while entertaining for other crowds, didn't exactly gel well with a significant portion of its established audience), and 5 by copying Marvel Studios with a grandiose orchestra (which, barring a few outstanding tracks, is merely bland and repetitive at best). Again, they succeed in terms of individual merit and quality but fail to live up to the standards set by Halo's initial design.
It's perfectly ok to take breaks and deviations from the standard formula, same with taking a detour or scenic route during a trip. However, there's a very clear difference between a "detour" and an "offroad trip through brambles and deep mud"
Throughout this entire video I found myself shaking my head in utter agreement with everything you guys had to say. If there was ever a propper explanation as to why the soundtracks of the newer Halo games dont really sound like Halo, this video nails it.
LateNight, IHE, The I C O N I C One, and Daddy Wolf.. I tip my hat to you gentlemen. Great job with this one.
Yeah, Tom Salta's composition sounds amazing and all, but it's a bit disheartening that you don't mentioned Stephen Rippy, whom composed the Original Halo Wars, which imo sounds like it belongs in the universe. Other than that, great vid and hopefully Halo Infinite's soundtrack will be awesome.
Master Vidxad 58 I should have brought up Stephen Rippy! The Hw1 soundtrack is fantastic!
HW1 menu music brought the fucking feels!!
Rippy's good, but I still have a preference for Salta. Gordy Haab is alright, but overuses percussion and hard horns, perhaps.
@@chrissonofpear3657 Gordy Haab uses those a lot? Huh, no wonder he works for Star Wars games a lot
I would've thought Marty composed the soundtrack to Halo Wars if I didn't look it up. Stephen would be awesome for Infinite
What makes the classic music so good to me is how memorable and catchy they are, almost every song from pre-343 game can easily be hummed, the same cant be said about the 343 era music. Also the music evokes something bigger, as if you the player are only a cog in the machine
I can't think of a time where I haven't caught myself humming any of the pieces from the Bungie Saga of Halo's.
Hell I have a couple of tracks from Halo 2 on my main Spotify playlist and I still have Disk 2 of the Halo 3 OST somewhere in my old CD case.
"Farthest Outpost"
"Follow" and "Follow in Flight" from H2A
"Deference of Darkness" (Rain)
"The Menagerie"
"Winter Contingency"
The Warthog Run from Halo 3
Any of the music from Combat Evolved all the way through Reach have some of the MOST memorable pieces of music in any game series I've played besides Metal Gear Solid and Dark Souls (BloodBorne as well).
While I haven't played Halo 5 and I don't remember much of the Halo 4 OST besides the Menu Theme, I see that the community misses that old feeling of Halos iconic music. Halo Infinite gave me hope that Old school Halo is coming back and it's bringing the music style back with it. I love Halo, but I don't like what it's become since Bungie left, but I am giving my faith to 343 to ignite that spark again that I left behind with Halo Reach all those years ago.
I agree with the latter point.
Some of the stuff from 343 albums was pretty catchy though, I thought.
Hey guys, Thank you so much for sharing these kinds of videos with your friends and other halo fans! it helps the videos reach wider audiences and I love doing them.
I hope to do more with guest voices in the the future
Well, with that level of depth of your analysis, it is quite deserving actually. Your thoughts on many subjects are very interesting and well elaborated. You invite us to participate on these sort of complex topics that make us take a step back and reflect on the matter. This is what I like about your videos.
Also why wasn’t Halo Wars mentioned?????? Spirit of Fire is one of THE greatest Halo OSTs imo
Halo Wars had a beautiful soundtrack
Hearing that spartan assault soundtrack left me scratching my head wondering why they don't want Tom Salta composing for them. Those soundtracks would easily fit into the original trilogy!
I've done a critical analysis on the music of halo in the past, but never shared my knowledge on the subject. To keep things simple and clean i'll just give a brief analysis on the golden era of the series, 1-3.
Halo 1. Mysterious, melodic, and alien. These are all themes that are expressed in Halo's soundtrack without sounding out of place or cheesy. Most of the songs are long, drawn out, slow and ambient. The *ICONIC* long chords sang by Gothic monks and orchestral swells, coupled with strings as backup, make for an interesting backdrop to the game's first ever debut. Something interesting about Halo:CE's music is that it fits and warps around the gameplay. It's something you don't really see in modern games anymore because studio's have gone from "ok we need something that sounds like this because we're trying to set a tone here..." to "just put something there, it doesn't matter we just need music". Some notable tracks that include this sound philosophy are: Lost Muse, Brothers in Arms, and the Truth and Reconciliation suite. Lost muse is only played ONCE in the entire game, it plays when you encounter the two hunters in the room above the valley in Assault on the Control room. It's a sad and mysterious song that highlights an important part of the game. If you look around the room, you'll find marine corpses thrown around everywhere with ammo and healthpacks. The room is bloody. Pick up the marine's weapons and you'll find them with half or less ammo. Paired with Lost Muse, it gives this one singular room a sad story to it. These hunters, however mysterious and curious they are, killed these marines and now you're stuck in the room with them. It's a lonely song, sad, but it gives the player motive for the rest of the mission.
Brothers in Arms is on the opposite spectrum. It starts off at a modest pace. You have your snare drums swelling in the background while a flute and brass backdrop start to swell ever so slowly. This song is like a rally, in fact it is a rally. It's what symbolizes humanities insignificance on the ring beneath an onslaught of alien foes. It's not a sad song, but a glorious one. A rally that fits humanity. Like all conflicts that humanity has faced, both fictional and non-fictional, there are songs that also fit those conflicts ("When Johnny comes marching home" is a nice comparison, as is "What a helluva way to die"). This song is the manifestation of smiling in the face of death, to press on even when injured. It's not just a song that plays when those goofy ass marines are introduced, it's a song of hope. In those rising trumpets and angelic like chorus lies an ideal. Pick yourself up, shrug off the dust and keep moving. An inspiring piece that swells with anticipation.
The last and final example from the original trilogy is the Truth and Reconciliation Suite. This one is phenomenal. It carries the mainstay of the theme in it, as well as others. One thing to mention that i sort of forgot to say when writing the above, most of these songs are driven HARD by percussion instruments. None of these songs would feel the same, or carry the same tones or motifs without it's accompanying percussion. The halo theme is no different, the timpani and bongo-esque drums really nail the mysterious nature and it pairs really well with the rising strings that jump octaves throughout the suite. Then we get to the later half which is probably the flood's minor themes. There's a lot of Polyrythm going on here. From the constant "thuds" to the synthetic strings echoing back and forth. It's unsettling, its setting the stage for one of the most game changing levels I think i've ever played.
Now I won't be going into a lot of what made halo 2's music great, because i would be going on for a long time. I actually don't have the time as of now to write out everything, so i'll just point out a few cool things.
Halo 2. The sequel to halo 1. And what a sequel it was. A game that had too much planned and not enough time to develop. Halo 2 was well regarded, but if had more time to initially finish what they had started; halo 2 could have well just been the single greatest xbox title to hit the market and would probably keep that title. It's music is no different. Especially what they did to the main theme. They took the main theme and cranked it up to 11, literally. They brought on guitar legend, Steve Vai, who played along with the main theme, as well as accompanied many other tracks. Steve isn't the only outside source they used. Back in the day pre-anniversary, they also used an edited version of "Blow me Away" by Breaking Benjamin and "Follow" by incubus. It sounds unfitting, but this was mid 2000s. Rock was pretty much the shit, and halo took a chance by incorporating that genre of music into itself. And it worked. If the Halo theme was a boy playing guitar hero, then the Mjolnir mix was the older brother going on tour in vancouver. Someone decided to take a guitar and shove it in there, and it fit. Halo 2 was the edgy punk rock brother to Halo, and there's nothing wrong with that. Most of us who grew up with halo were starting to either branch in or out of that phase anyway, Microsoft/Bungie knew their Halo demographic. Fun fact, Steve Vai also came back into the set to rerecord the Mjolnir Mix and Genesong for Halo 2 Anniversary. Halo 2 keeps most of the musical philosophy that Halo did, but thanks to advancements in studio technology, it left them a lot more room to experiment. More pieces were created not to fit the scenario, but the local. It got a lot more atmospheric, with it being steadily quiet sometimes if nothing was going on.
Halo 3. Oh boy this is where it all ties in. Halo got serious in 2007, and so did it's music. This was the game that ditched the open ended sandbox nature in favor of a more focused story - and so did the music. Now the music both in game and cutscenes were starting to show signs of being tied to the plot rather than gameplay. The main theme, for instance, lost the guitar in favor for pianos. A more theatrical approach was used in places like "The Storm" also known as "This is the Hour" (When the UNSC blasts the forerunner dreadnought on "The Storm"). And there's nothing wrong with that, music, like the gameplay, was evolving. Halo was no longer mysterious, it was well known. If you asked anybody during 2002-2007 what halo was, i'm positive at least 76% of the United State's population could tell you it was at least a video game. So out with the old, in with the new. The music changed. And it changed well. I'm sure all of you are familiar with the final Warthog Run scenario. How the song changes in game (it actually changes, there are multiple songs playing that change whenever Cortana gives a status update on the % charged). It's one huge climactic rise, a triumphant swell.
I swear only Marty O'Donnel could make like 10 variations of the same song, and each of them would still sound different in a way. Like you've heard it before, but now it's new and improved. The man's a musical savant, and it pisses me off that 343 had the mentality to walk into this man's office and straight up tell him he was not going to be working on any future halo projects. Now halo's music is...bland. Without purpose. It's just there as filler, so the game isn't to quiet when you're doing something. There ARE some good songs that you will hear in the new trilogy every once in a blue moon. (Green and Blue, Trails, etc.). But it lost the magic because it wanted to be different. Well it got what it wanted, it is different. You don't reinvent the wheel, especially when it comes to music. Its as simple as the old saying, if it's not broke don't fix it. Don't fucking touch it.
This took a while to write, if this garners enough demand for an actual quality video I would probably go about making it considering i have a deep intense history with the music of halo. It has not only shaped my view of music as a whole, but taught me that music - albeit simple, is quite the powerful tool.
Gonna subscribe to your channel just in case this video does come out some day haha I am interested
Halo 4 while being radically different had a lot of good tracks and kept a lot of atmosphere within it. My favorite one is the Diadact's theme and it shows his power, the mystery surrounding him, it exemplifies the god-like status the Covenant put on him as well as showing the dark and menacing presence he has in relation to Humanity both ancient and modern all at the same time. It's very captivating. The few major things like tying it to the plot more than setting a tone for the game and feeling more personal than ethereal and distant does make it harder to like in terms of Halo. But 5 ruined even that and I would say only Kamchatka has anything close to 4's characteristics that I liked.
I want a halo 2 type of soundtrack again, the use of the guitars and the epic tone.
I think the simplest way to put it is that Marty's Halo music doesn't sound like anything else, whereas Halo 4 and onward could be used in pretty much anything. If you told me that it was originally written for a cancelled game in the Resistance series, then I would believe it.
Marty just has a touch that's hard to define. It's like trying to explain what makes David Wise's Donkey Kong Country soundtrack so unparalleled, but even more difficult.
It sounds vaugely like Star Wars.
Halo 4s score worked very well in a Star Ocean game.
Box this up throw a bow tie on it, a (from the halo community) tag on it and send this to 343 this bad boy is ready to be shipped
If Halo 5 would have been a non Halo game. And just a Sci-fi story. It would have an excellent soundtrack. And Halo 5's soundtrack isn't bad. I think it's very good and it has some very good songs.
For Non-Halo game it would have been good enough but it isn't up to mark with the name of Halo. The soundtrack is too forgettable
This is a weird comment but i can't get over the language you used to express your opinions/emotions towards the music it was absolutely brilliant! Awesome video👍
I actually saw you guys at PAX. The Act Man legit was sitting right in front of me during the panel with Marty and the other composers
we can't really blame Kazuma for the loud, explosive tracks in Halo 5 because the entire "theme" of that game is how badass and over the top a spartan can be (e.g. the opening intro). Composers need to stick close to the theme in order to make his/her work immersive
Now, I am a musician. I’m only addressing that so you can see where I am coming from.
As someone who listens to many composers, Bach, Chopin, Gustav Holst, Beethoven, Hydan.. I can go on all these great composers. So breaking down and understanding the fundamentals of pieces is my favorite thing to do.
For someone who doesn’t know a lot of musical jargon, you have explained it amazingly. I agree that Halo 4 and 5 sound tracks are amazing actually, not too generic. But they aren’t a halo sound track, if you labeled them with a different game it would be ground breaking.
Marty is known for using familiar motifs in his music. But what people don’t know, is that each and every single one of those pieces are based off of the Main Chant. Which is a Gregorian Chant. Most Western compose pieces based off of a particular motif. If you ever listen to Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto off of Paganini’s a minor caprice that’s a good example.
Marty and Michael have brought Classical orchestra And modern music together. He’s brought it to the attention of people who didn’t care.
I’m not gonna go into depth because I couldn’t possibly type what I want to say but, you Literally did a good job explaining, I don’t think I could even explain it the way you did.
Also, halo WARS 1 is one of the most underrated soundtrack and Halo reach being the most overrated.
Also HALO WARS SOUND TRACK.
I could have easily mistaken "eliminate the resistance" for Halo 3 soundtrack
I'm glad someone finally acknowledged Spartan Assault. "Quiet Giant," is a personal favorite of mine.
I think that part of what 343 could do for Infinite is take some of their newer songs and make them sound more like Bungie-era soundtracks by using largely the same instruments of the original music (vocal, strings, drums, piano, etc.) The first thing that comes to mind is "117" from Halo 4 but composed with the aforementioned instruments and maybe also at a different, perhaps slower pace.
I've seen a lot of talk about Tom Salta lately but I feel like Paul Lipson is really getting the short end of the stick. He was the main guy for both Halo: CEA's and Halo 2A's soundtracks, even if Tom Salta did help him, he was still the main composer. He helped Tom Salta with Halo Online, The Spartan Games, and Halo Channel. He also helped with Halo Wars 2's soundtrack. And most importantly (At least to me) is his work with the Halo: Evolutions Motion Comics. He did the soundtracks for those, and they are absolutely amazing and definitely give me the Halo vibe. Seriously check them out.
Halo's old soundtrack is so..... calming
LNG's Russian roots really shined through with that potato stew analogy :P
One thing I want to see Halo Infinite do is have proper background music. Halo 3 had the most amazing soundtrack for me, and that's because 90% of the time there was some form of music playing.
I hope that they include something similar to Installation 04/Honest Negotiations from CEA or One Final Effort from Halo 3 because they're awesome in my opinion.
Also for other Halo themes I enjoy include, Winter Contingency, beginning of Tip of the Spear, Halo 3 Warthog Run, Last Spartan, Behold A Pale Horse, parts of ONI Sword Base, Unyielding, The Rookie, end of Skyline
I don't know why you worried about the release for the video so much... this whole thing was fantastic! I'm glad to see your writers block was cleared out!!!! (Oh and one more thing, did you say lamp?)
The Halo Trilogy music is stuck in my soul
We need the best composers of humanity to do music on Halo Infinite!
Not really. We dont need the best, we need someone who understands how Halo music should sound.
I wasn't expecting much from Spartan assault, but the music shocked me. I was saying to myself, why the hell isn't he the composer for the main series.
Amazing man back at it again
That was awesome man!! The Tom Salta edit is impeccable and strangely fits perfectly. The Halo music for me is the aspect of mystery, religious feel when depicting the Covenant and the scary and creepiness for The Flood. I love the music from Halo 4. Especially at the beginning, when you first discover Requiem, but after that, it doesn't have the same idea of what the Halo sound actually is. I think you and the other youtubers explained it perfectly.
I’ve been listening to Halo music for a long time and I appreciate you for making a video on this subject 👍
11:14 - 11:20 I can totally see those two songs being a part of Halo 2s soundtrack, and that is awesome. Also, I agree with what Marty says, I think the reason Halo's music became loved overtime is that it recycles a lot of melodies, and is very repetitive when it comes up with new tunes, so it gets stuck in your head, it becomes recognizable, I think that is what Halo 4 and 5 were missing, recognizable, catchy, simple tunes
When Halo was first released I was only a child so I was waaayyy to young to appreciate the game as a whole let alone the music. But when first playing Halo reach at he age of 7 I was immediately interested in the atmosphere and music.
Over my years of playing Halo and all of the various games I’ve grown to love the music that accompanies the gameplay and often find myself sitting in my classes at school tapping away to the drum beats of the iconic pieces and playing the tunes in my head. Some of my favourite tracks come from the original trilogy and ODST despite not really playing them until I was around 12-13.
Listening to Halo infinite’s trailer music got my heart racing, the combination of ambient sound and music reminded me more of Halo 2 than any of the recent instalments. It truly felt like a halo game. I really think halo infinite has amazing potential and I’m exited to see what 343 does.
Wish you all the best Latenight this was a great vid. :)
It's easy to listen to these songs like "oh yeah, this could be/couldn't be Halo" but for me it nearly needs to be *played in game* to get a feel for how it fits. After all, it's how I fell in love with the music in the first place. Good video dude!
Dishonored wolf is here too!damn i'm lucky for this kind of upload.
I found halo music to like you said "magical". It had that unique sense of feel. It was really orchestral and grandiose. Forruners had often mysterious tone, covenant had drums, flood had a wrird and unconventional music.
The music of halo had its calm elements and adrenaline inducing ones. I just really loved the choirs
The original Halo music was unique and wonderful in the sense that it combined choral themes and synths with classical music. Many tracks made you feel the grandness of the scale that the flood/human/covenant war was being fought on, along with the remains of the mysterious forerunners. Some notable tracks to me are Unforgotten, Farthest Outpost, Halo Reach Overture, Halo 2 Epilogue, Punishment, and of course the original theme from Halo CE. If I ever were to look more into composing my own music, I would definitely be inspired by the original Halo OST. It’s just that good
The og soundtrack makes me feel like I am the hero in the story or I am the last hope in the middle o war and lets not forget about the nostalgia.. it gives sometimes a heroic kind of vibe and also so peaceful at times.. also is so mysterious and I can keep going describing that music and I couldn't finish too many feelings.. btw 4 and 5 are not bad I just don't feel the same when I'm playing
For me, what made halo’s sound track beautiful was how it brought my emotions to the table. It gets me to feel something and when I listen to the track on my own, I can paint a picture in my head. Many games don’t do that for me, I don’t feel something big when I listen to most other shooter soundtracks.
I really miss the Celtic drums in halo
I strongly liked both CE ANNIVERSAY score as well as Spartan Assault and DEFINITELY Spartan Strike!!! Salta and anyone he worked with did an outstanding job! Bravo Salta and crew for recreating a new version of the old Halo music!
I'm actually considering playing Spartan assault now because of the soundtrack
Africa, Christianity, Wonder, Mystery, Science-Fiction; those feel like the fundamental parts of halo music. Even the more eerie and terrifying tracks from halo CE conduct these various emotions.
If halo's music went the same way as doom 2016 I would love it. Mick Fordon did a good job of recapturing the way doom music was the way he remixed classic themes like at dooms gate and suspense felt really cool. I'm not saying I hated kaz's score in halo 4/5 I did love score like 117, mantis, composer and the light is green from halo 5. All I want is kaz to kinda do what mick did in doom 2016, recapture some of the old the themes but remix them so they don't sound so much like the original
Take the mission "The Maw" from Halo CE for example, after the cinematic where you land on the ship, the autumn suite plays on. It gives me goosebumps till this day. It's the mixture of eerie ambiance, with a religious undertone. As if Chief and Cortana, are just two small parts fighting the most grand battle humanity has ever been in, spanning hundreds of light years, yet, the battle itself is minuscule compared to the forces in the background: the halo, the forerunners, the flood, the precursors.
This is what I thought was missing from the new games.
The music has the ability to make you feel small, insignificant and inconsequential to the forerunners and the universe as a whole, and then moments later, everything converges onto you and you feel like you are the reason the universe still exists. I think it's that contrast that really makes each track sound so unique and sends shivers down your spine. I can't wait to see Halo Infinites OST!
Amazing work Latenight! I’ve felt there was always something missing with the 343 Halo’s, and when I for a while back played through Halo 2 and heard the soundtrack, I felt goosebumps on my arms. Not many songs are able to do that to me, but every time Halo soundtrack in general is played, I just float on a cloud of bliss. My favorite tracks from Halo 2 besides the iconic Mjolnir Mix, are Ghosts of Reach and In Amber Clad. I can listen to them time and time again and never become tired.
I know by heart so many memorable tracks from the Bungie games. Never Forget, One Final Effort, Behold a Pale Horse, Skyline, Under Cover of Night, Greatest Journey, Covenant Dance, Tip of the Spear, Deference for Darkness, The Last Spartan, Winter Contingency, Perilous Journey, Farthest Outpost, Finish the Fight, and so many more.
From Halo 4 I remember... 117 and Arrival.
From 5 I remember... The Trials. That's it.
Seriously, LateNight, that means a lot to hear you trust in us for logical and calm discussion. I am personally a fan of the original trilogy due to what Marty said about his music at Kent University back in April this year. The concept of that nostalgic feeling and triggering this perfect response for a given moment I heard HiddenXperia say is called emotional equity, and if you look at the songs more like symphonic compositions' movements, you see how this theme carries over into each other, with editions and arrangements like Unforgotten to Never Forget and how the key change gives a remorseful and somber mood to joyous and celebratory chorale that "Finish[ed] the Fight", and makes a huge impression when something simple can stick in your mind and it can be triggered again and again, a tactic that is remarkable. I believe that the soundtracks offer the same things you guys mentioned and overall an ambiguity that Halo known for, as subtle as Gothic literature, especially Gothic horror and how it makes you find these answers alone in the music to understand what is happening. Such detail can be found in Halo 4's pieces but not as often and isn't acknowledged in Halo 5. What is amazing about Halo 5 is that the soundtrack's ability to move you does the same thing Marty did, that is emotional equity. It is used for the UNSC themes such as Blue Team and it always comes back. Or the Light is Green motif you hear at the first grandiose part when the screen cuts to Halo 5: Guardians. It's done so well that I wish that they gave just enough direction to keep him and make more in a specific direction like described here. Holy shit that is really long but thank you if you read that all. It means a lot that you acknowledged this topic and addressed it so thoroughly and logically. It's a very intelligent analysis of this topic, no one does it as well as it is here.
Halo 2's soundtrack was what really pooled me into the franchise's music, even before I'd actually played more than about half the first game. From the frantic strings signifying the Flood to the softer, sadder space them we hear in the opening to ever mainline game, to the bass-heavy themes for urban combat in New Mombasa to the instantly recognizable theme for the Arbiter, this music hooked me. That's even getting away from equally great pieces, like "Peril" (which I see you sampled here a *lot*) and "In Amber Clad" which were featured on the disc of the soundtrack I didn't initially have access to.
Halo has always been a musical journey and re-listening to the original soundtracks still puts me in a good mood a decade late.
I didn’t know that IHE, HiddenXperia, and Dishonored Wolf were going to be on here, nice addition to the video. Fantastic
The first time I played Halo was when i was around 6 or 7 years old in 2002 or so.
My best friend/neighbor who was actually from England and moved to Germany got an Xbox with Halo CE (UK Import).
You can imagine how well my English was, so I actually understand nothing they were talking about.
It were the visuals and the music telling me the story to a degree and let me guess what the whole game was about.
And I guess that's why the classic artstyle and the classic soundtrack have a special meaning for me.
I think the silence followed by the choir worked well, it's everything after that fell flat (including how loud it played over the conversation).
Excellent points. I wrote a very long “Top 25 Halo Music Pieces” blog post a couple years ago. In it, I managed to provide an OBJECTIVE reason that the Halo music composed by Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori is likely more memorable than the music from more recent titles. This is a point oft-overlooked and one not mentioned in this video. Here it is:
You can HUM most of the pieces from the older games. They have SINGABLE MELODIES. You get to PARTICIPATE in the music, not be attacked by it.
Think about it. “Halo,” “Brothers in Arms,” “Covenant Dance,” “Perilous Journey,” “On a Pale Horse,” “A Walk in the Woods,” “Impend,” “Unforgotten/Never Forget,” “In Amber Clad,” “Peril,” - to name a mere few from just the first two games.
Halos 4 and 5? Well, there’s “117,” “Mantis,” “Arrival” and “Atonement” (4’s main menu music) - then 5’s best tracks are recycled melodies from previous entries.
Don’t get me wrong - the melodies ARE there in the newer games. Just not as plentiful as they were in the past. And the ones that *are* there are excellent - the beginning of 5’s “Blue Team” is radiant and moving and gives me the feels.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE that I used the words “more memorable” and NOT “better.” I’m arguing only that the average gamer is more likely to REMEMBER the music from an older Halo title than he is the music from a newer title.
Please 343, hire the Salta referred to as Tom
well i kinda hat to agree mostly with what I Hate Everything said. But i feel as if their music gave the covenant a sense of mystery kinda like ancient tribes as i hear the music kick up it sends chill up my back. I remember the first time playing through so many years ago it was like a perfect mix of old meets a new kind of age and i listen to the newer halo ost's i don get that same feeling
Great music vid, as always.
As much as I'd love to hear the old motifs, I think I'd miss some themes like 117/Blue Team and the Mantis' theme. Marty never composed "the Chief theme", "the Arbiter theme" etc., he said that only later they started associating some tracks to specific characters, whereas he kept making specific ambient themes like "Earth City", "High Charity" and so on. On the other hand, 343's era music can't properly capture the feeling of where we are as effectively as it does for who we are playing as/with. What I get is that I kinda like 343's music that tells us about the single person from the Halo universe (even Lasky has a great theme that makes me understand who he is, heck, Locke's theme speaks more about Locke than he himself in the game and it was such a shame they didn't even use his theme), so, imho, I think whoever composes Infinite's soundtrack should be able to understand both aspects: get Marty's approach while writing themes for new characters or, even better, rewrite some tracks from H4 and H5, like To Galaxy, while picking some old favourites like Tribute, and I think something even greater could be accomplished. It's a huge task, I know, but if Tom Salta got the first one and Kaz especially wrote some nice new character's themes, maybe someone, someday, will make this dream real.
Halo’s Music was why I became a huge fan of Two Steps From Hell and Audiomachine; they tell stories, they create an emotional experience unique to that piece, and they are memorable and easy to whistle to as the layers of instruments stack over each other yet do not interfere with the escalating main melody. Halo’s Music was the first to do these things and I craved more (granted TSFH goes over the top sometimes)
Just installed Halo 3 in my Xbox One after watching this
Thanks for the suggestion. I do have the Master Chief Collection, but I uninstalled it because it was so frustrating thatI couldn't find any games
You probably live in the US then or in a highly populated country, I don't and since the MCC is now region locked I can't find any games at all...
@@zethbox8619 damn bro, that sucks :(
I was listening to this video in my car and when you got to the part about the scarab at one point I yelled “THATS MY BOY RIGHT THEIR” and I have no idea why. Great video and I hope they include some electric guitar riffs like in halo 2.
Halo Wars is another great example. The Halo theme pops up here and there but most of it is original music not made by Marty, yet it still gives those Halo vibes. My favorite track is Bad Here Day. The choir gives off a similar sound like the Halo theme so much that I almost couldn't tell that it wasn't a revise of the Halo theme. Thats a great example of new music but in the same style
Hey, who knew IHE was so invested in Halo? I agree with everything he said, and he has gained a lot of respect from me.
I have no religious background, but I still like the orchestral feel that Halo 1-3, and ODST had. My absolute favorite music in Halo 4 is 117. It was like a hymn to Master Chief!
Back when I was in high school, I used to play an instrument. I was part of the school band. I began to appreciate how amazing a lot of well known music sounded. When I heard about Halo, I wanted to play the music for myself. See the notes and listen how it sounded for myself. I played the flute, but it probably didn't have as many parts in it. I wanted to play a flute solo of the entire Halo music. I sadly was never able to find such a solo piece. I didn't want to play what the school band played, I wanted to play music from video games!
I own 7 Halo soundtracks, FYI: Halo Wars, Halo Reach, Halo 1, 2, 3, ODST, and Halo 4. Those are the soundtracks that I can at least listen to over and over again should I choose to. Appreciate how amazing it sounds.
Music styles are built upon others the Christan styles is based off Pagans, which had chants that used words, gibberish & instruments.
These also made people reach emotional states when listened to.
I'd like to add to the point about the mythical aspect of the classic Halos' soundtrack: most of the memorable (I C O N I C) Halo songs we know and love are composed in the Dorian scale. This scale has roots all the way back in Ancient Greece, which ties in nicely with the fact that Master Chief is a Spartan (referring to Sparta's warriors during the Antiquity). All in all, Marty must've done his research when composing for Halo; this attention to detail is what makes the soundtracks so well-loved...
I honestly don't know what I liked about Marty's music but I just love it so much. I consistently listen to it over other music and are some of the only music i've really been able to listen to over and over again without getting bored, finding new things I didn't notice before each time I listen to Marty's music.
I'm not sure how you felt about the music of the various stories told in Halo: Legends, but I think the brief, gripping tune of "Machines and Might" which plays during "The Prototype" just as the eponymous suit enters the picture is... Glorious. There's this tension from start to finish, right there alongside this rising sense of fragile hope, coupled with firm, unwavering determination. Like something terrible sits just over the crest of a hill, and some wary soul who knows that *something* very well, but grits their teeth and starts the ascent all the same, committed to seeing things through... And just as they reach the summit, and that dark, foreboding *something* is about to be made know to us, the audience, the curtains close. To me that is Halo, the will to push forward, knowing the worst has likely yet to come, and the end might not be pretty, but someone has to see things through, for better or for worse, and we see those bitter ends over and over throughout the series, with Keys, first father then daughter, Johnson, Noble team, the Savannah, the Forward unto Dawn, Forge, and even on the side of the Covenant there is Tartarus, the previous Arbiter, the Heretic leader... More still, I'm sure. But ah, this comment has gone on long enough for one nobody will ever read, have a good one, guys.
I love how you used the small musical piece from halo ce when you go up the gravity lift throughout the video great touch!!
Unrealistic expectations aren't something one considers when balancing a series, but this trailer does put a smile on my face.
How does this only have 14 k views. This vid is awesome and you can tell how much effort went into this. Keep it up late night
I seriously enjoyed Tom Salta's work on CEA and Spartan Assault. It very very reminiscent of the classic Halos while also having it's own unique kick into it. The same can definitely be said for Kazuma's work as well. *117 Theme Intensifies*
I always thought Halo was at it's best when it showed scale, and the music always reflected that. Tracks like "One Final Effort" coupled with the Scene of Hood's Frigates engaging the Keyship gave you, as the player, an incredible sense of grand scale.
In the Older games, I feel as though the soundtracks, in all their ethereal glory, helped to sell that idea of how big, important, and all-encompassing the story and conflict was.
I’ll be honest, I never really “got into” the soundtracks as much as some other people did, mainly due to the fact I paid more attention to the game itself. But I did notice the change in the music, especially with halo 4 in some of of the tracks. Personally I think the Bungie games had better soundtracks (reach’s being my favourite), but I do like a lot of the 343 tracks. But again, I find that bungie did a better job at setting up the atmosphere with the music than 343. That’s my opinion. If you read all the way through, good job I guess. Sorry for it being so long
I just have to disagree about Halo 4. I think there are some different sounding tracks, but it still sounds like Halo to me. It still uses chants, chorus, strings, drums and pianos in a very classical way while still being mixed in with mysterious techy synthesized sounds. 117, Revival, Awakening, Arrival, Never Forget Midnight version, Wreckage(I LOVE this one), etc all make me pumped to play Halo when I listen to them. Arrival playing as I jump man cannons and fight off Knights to stop the Didact after Cortana disappears is epic material.
Exactly.
I really cant picture the H4 soundtrack fitting in a classic halo setting outside of the few re-compositions of classic themes like Never forget. Revival, Awakening and Arrival especially reminded me more of Mass Effect than halo
Arrival,Wreakage and 117 are amazing soundtracks and fits perfectly with the atmosphere Halo 4 was trying to convey.They don't need to meet this 'classic Halo' criteria since Halo 4 sets a completely different mood.
There's alot of good tracks in halo 4. Some of my favorites are Faithless, Ascendancy, Kantele Bow, To Galaxy and the extended version. I also agree the last mission with arrival playing is truly epic
Some of the action music could be better, but all those above tracks work great (maybe not Faithless?) Atmospheric tracks also left a strong impression.
Spartan Assault was one of my wonky ways to experience halo for a while after first getting my Xbox, so it’s cool to see someone partially review it positively for the presentations
Little late, but...
Man, I loved that each of the Bungie games went with a theme that the music went for. With Halo 1 it was a theme of wonder, danger, exploration, and horror. Mainly, I think, wonder. Halo 2 had, of course, the electric guitar, lending its music to be much more combative and action-esque. Halo 3 held for me a sense of remorse in the added orchestral breaks in the familiar themes, and a sense of finality. Halo: Reach lent at first cautious aggression with its drums, but gave way more and more to loneliness and regret as the game went on, and Halo: ODST was a master class in crushing loneliness and quiet remorse with heavy mystery. Unfortunately, I'm not enough of a music genius to explain most of why these themes make me feel that way, but at the very least everyone in my circle of friends agrees.
I really love spv3 and installation 01 osts. They take halo in the old and very new directions which sound awesome. Also they have action, creepy, sad, and mystical songs. I think installation 01 especially makes songs that sound “Halo” but are completely new. Jafet and the other helpers did something amazing with it.
Fun fact: The music used in the Halo Infinite trailer before Chief's reveal is from halo 4 Green and Blue. Right at the end it's the same tune.
The Dishonoured Wolf's open mic was very detailed. I enjoyed listening to his take
I only recently got into Halo (Since I'm a PC scrub and experienced them all for the first time on the MCC except for Halo 5). While I adore the soundtrack of 3 the most, my favorite individual track has to be 117 from 4. I had heard the track prior to playing 4, so my perspective might be skewed, but hearing it in the final mission was a really awesome moment for me. While I agree that 117 is a departure from the previous games thematically, I cannot deny that it fits 4's story perfectly.
My favorite part of the whole track is the brief return of the classic Halo theme in the track's finale, and it always sends chills through me. The Trials from 5 is also incredible because it blends both 117 and the older theme in such a masterful way. I really hope that in their effort to return to form with Infinite, they still hold on to that 117 theme from 4 and 5!
EDIT: Forgot to add that the finale of 117 draws some similarities to the track 'This is the Hour' from 3!
Never realised how good spartan assaults soundtrack is.
It's absolutely beautiful and it breaks my heart that this "shitty game" sounds more like halo than what halo 4 and 5 did.
You know the classic Halo music is special because you can take the music out of context and still be able to identify it as Halo the moment you hear it. Case in point: the E3 trailer for Infinite took forever to visually identify itself as a Halo trailer, but after five seconds of hearing the music I already knew what it was. I know I’m not the only one, either.
"Wolverines Return" sounds A LOT like its drawing inspiration from "Just Ad Nauseum" from Stephen Rippy's Halo Wars OST, more specifically the guitar segment. It sounds like a slowed down version of "Just Ad Nausem's" guitar.
It's like the reverse star wars sequel trilogy. Halo's sequel games started out "too different" and are slowly returning to form, while star wars' sequels started out too safe and familiar, and are becoming more different and new each movie.
Another soundtrack that I think the infinite team should take notes from is the halo legends soundtrack. While most of the songs that were done by Marty were remixes/redos of pre-existing songs, they managed to incorporate many new elements that made them sound unique. And even with the more original songs on the soundtrack, they were able to include very familiar sounds and notes with the newer stuff, and they made it sound unique and new, while still making it sound like something to expect from a halo property
The original Halo games soundtrack is a combination of human sounds, sounds that our civilization has created through time because if you pay attention that's what all the game is about: humanity, what is and what means to be human, that's why there's a lot of different melodies, sometimes melodies of loneliness, melodies of fear, heroism, loss, etc. But all of this melodies are composed with a variety of sounds like tribal sounds, ancient choir sounds, orchestra sounds, classic instruments, electric sounds, rock sounds, etc. Because is what humanity has made through ages, and those sounds define humanity, and that's what Halo is all about.
Everybody says that new Halo games doesn't sound like Halo because the sounds in the new soundtracks are not human sound at all, there are a lot of electronic sounds, artificial sounds, because the soundtracks of those games don't represent humanity, represent the forerunners, artificial life, artificial intelligence, wich is the main theme of Halo 5 history, that's the difference between the original trilogy and the new games.
In every story you want to tell, call it a video game, a movie, a video, whatever you want, the music needs to speak as the same way the images do, if the sound and visuals are telling the same story, you have a potential masterpiece, like Halo.
Although I don’t really like too much of the stuff in Halo 5’a score (there are some standouts) I really like Halo 4’s soundtrack. Here’s why it works really well.
The UNSC have themes that are memorable and stick in your head. They are used often, but not overused. That moment in Halo 3 where the Forward Unto Dawn comes and drops Scorpions off has this really epic theme used often. But the thing is, when it kicks in, you know your in for something cool.
I literally get the exact feeling when I hop into the Mantis in Halo 4. Another part I really enjoy with the music in Halo 4 is in the last mission when you’re flying over the Didact’s ship and emerge into that arena where you take out the weapons’ power source, and the 117 theme combined with the remix of the classic Halo theme kicks in. However, imagine if, when that 117 theme kicks in, there was a piano and choir as the main instrument and the strings in the background. It would sound incredible! I do understand Davidge wanting to make his own sound.
Another thing Halo 4’s score does well is give the Didactic and the Prometheans a haunting, memorable soundscape. It stands out, and it’s too bad it wasn’t used in Halo 5. This is something the Halo games have all done very well. The Covenant uses Tenor and Bass choir, and that theme from Halo 2, Sacred Icon Suite, features a use of bass clarinet. As much as I like Halo 4 score, the Covenant didn’t have their own sound. The Flood have god knows what, with adrenaline pumping alarms and weird sounds. The Prometheans have their own sound in Halo 4 anyway, and every time that choir and synth, or that terrifying alarm, or that haunting soundscape kicks in, you know who you’re fighting and what’s going on. Too bad the Prometheams aren’t fun to fight.
If Halo 6 could use elements from Halo 4’s score, sound new, sound old and still sound like Halo, I think everyone would be happy.
I can't help but think Marty looks like an older version of you wtf love your videos man
Nice!
And it's great to have IHE Hidden Experia, and our furry friend on.
Now it would also be nice to have a (musical) piece in Halo Infinite without strings or something, or at least after Halo 5, I nearly wanted that. One of my problems with Halo 5's soundtrack was that so much of it was pretty much mostly strings doing the same things, leaving me a bit bored.
What Marty said about keeping music relatively simple perfectly describes why I’m not a huge fan of the halo 5 soundtrack. The first time I listened to the trials I wanted to love that they were using the original theme again but I couldn’t help thinking that there was just too much going on most of the time for me to find it as enjoyable as older renditions of the theme.