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Martin O'Donnell

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Martin O'Donnell is an American composer and sound designer, born in 1955. He received piano lessons from his mother, dreamed as a schoolboy of a rock band and studied composition at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music and the University of Southern California. In Chicago he first worked in film and television. Together with Michael Salvatori he founded the production company TotalAudio, which made jingles for fifteen years, including for Mr. Clean and Flintstones Chewable Vitamins.

Music and breakthrough

When his company did the sound for the game Riven in 1997, he moved into game music. For Bungie he wrote the music for Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter, then for Oni. In 1999 he joined Bungie, ten days before Microsoft bought the company. His best-known work is the music of Halo, starting with Halo: Original Soundtrack in 2002, followed by Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach. The theme opens with Gregorian chant and a classical orchestra, to get the old-fashioned and grand feeling that the design team wanted. For ODST he chose a jazz-like sound, fitting the atmosphere of a film noir.

Influence

In 2014 he wrote the music for Destiny and left Bungie. He then founded the studio Highwire Games, for which he made the music for Golem. He showed that a game soundtrack can also stand up on CD or in the concert hall. In 2015 Halo was voted into the Classic FM Hall of Fame by listeners for the first time.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the theme of Halo: Original Soundtrack and notice the opening with choral singing, after which orchestra and rhythm join in. Can you hear how the music wants to sound both ancient and grand at once?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsWestern orchestral and indie game music