Office of Halo Intelligence, or OHI for short, is a semi-regular diary-type feature brought to you by various members of the Halo 4 development team. Sotaro Tojima, Audio Director for Halo 4, kindly agreed to write the seventh entry. We hope you enjoy an inside look at the making of our next title!
From the 4.11.12 edition of the Halo Bulletin:
I’m so excited to announce the Halo 4 music composer, Neil Davidge, finally, today! It was hard for me to keep the exciting news secret for 15 months.
Back in 2010, I was looking for a music composer who could establish the epic score for Halo 4. But it wasn’t going to be enough to just have great music; I wanted to establish something fresh and new for Halo 4’s score. I needed not just strong talent but also a strong passion for exploring new, less traditional avenues with music.
I had a vision for the overall Halo 4 music production that I think of as “Digital and Organic”—something very much inspired by the game script. With that vision in mind, I explored Electronica and heavily digitally-processed–based dance music to find that new sound. I also had to respect the game’s previous orchestral experience, while still trying to find something new.
But of course Halo games traditionally have strong, weeping melodies to drive the story, so we needed someone who could capture that, but with a very new sound. My prior experience also drove me to look for someone who could create a great-sounding percussion track.
After spending almost a year looking, I finally found a composer from the Bristol music scene who could fulfill all of those requirements and match my vision perfectly. That’s Neil Davidge, of course. And I just fell in love when I listened to his percussion tracks.
When we met up, it was perfect—I discovered that he was a huge fan of the Halo series and had an equally strong passion for matching the next Halo score with his technique and experience. He was also willing and, indeed, enthusiastic to have strong communication, collaboration, and tough iteration with 343 to build something really special with Halo fans in mind. We were exactly on the same page! For me, there was no reason to look any further.
His music on his past works was already great. But with his strong passion for exploring epic music, I’m convinced that his Halo music will be different from his any past work. I believe the music he composed will make people excited.
Please enjoy the music and see his passion in this very special soundtrack sample!
-Sotaro Tojima
Download the soundtrack sample now
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