Halo 4 OST
7Hz Productions in conjunction with Microsoft and 343 Industries are proud to announce today’s release of the hotly-anticipated Halo 4 Original Soundtrack, a stunning orchestral/electronic opus by the award-winning producer and composer Neil Davidge.
This will be followed on Nov. 6th by the Halo 4 Original Soundtrack Remixes and Composing A Universe DVD - available as part of the uniquely numbered Limited Special Edition Box-Set.
Other release formats include the Original Soundtrack CD, a Special Digital Edition featuring six of the key remixes (details follow below) and a home page exclusive digital remix collection on the newly launch Xbox Entertainment platform.
With a mammoth amount of top-drawer support from both gaming, music and style publications/ websites, plus support from national radio and some of the world’s biggest DJ/producers, the Halo 4 Original Soundtrack by Neil Davidge and the remix collection look set to make a huge impact.
The blockbuster Halo franchise has sold over 43 million game copies to devoted fans worldwide and generated nearly $3 billion in revenue. Halo 4 is primed to become one of the biggest, best video games ever made when it launches on 6 November, and this stunning album will hopefully mirror that success.
This album marks the first time a new composer has taken the reins for the iconic series’ musical score since the launch of the original Halo game more than a decade ago. With his world-class career pedigree Neil Davidge was a wise choice, as he’s the man responsible for either co writing, producing or sonically realizing music by Massive Attack, David Bowie, Snoop Dog, Damon Albarn, Primal Scream, Elizabeth Fraser and Mos Def.
"It was an honor to compose and produce the ‘Halo 4’ score," said Davidge. "I’m so proud of the way the OST has turned out and to have had the opportunity to evolve the great legacy of ‘Halo’ music."
For the first time ever, a Halo original soundtrack will be accompanied by a specially commissioned remix collection, available as part of the Limited Special Edition Box Set. The selection reads like a who’s-who of leaders in their various genre-fields: Gui Boratto, KOAN Sound, Bobby Tank CASPA, Sander Van Doorn & Julian Jordan, Hundred Waters, DJ Skee & THX Matt Lange, Alvin Risk, Maor Levi, Norin & Rad, Andrew Bayer, James Iha and Apocalyptica vs. Neil Davidge.
Neil’s evocative, widescreen soundscapes put you right in the game. From the engrossing tension of ‘Belly Of The Beast’, the thundering eastern-tinged action of ‘Faithless’, to the serrated and snarling ‘Ascendancy’, his soundtrack stands alone as fully cohesive, cinematically captivating album, in which the listener can fully engulf themselves from beginning to end.
‘Requiem’ rivals Vangelis in its epic sense of Sci-Fi awe and comparisons to soundtrack greats like Brad Fiedel, John Carpenter, Michael Kamen, Jerry Goldsmith, Howard Shaw, John Williams and Hans Zimmer are there to be heard.
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, the Halo 4 Original Soundtrack is a product of meticulous attention to detail and is rich with creative production skills, both in capturing and texturally treating recorded sounds and in it’s use of electronics. The soundtrack is an evolution of the musical magic created in the first 3 soundtracks, taken to new levels of emotional and sonic depth.
Working in collaboration with 343 Industries, Davidge enlisted a 16-person hand-picked male tenor/bass choir, 10 females from the London Bulgarian Choir, a full 50 piece orchestra and a whole host of other performers to bring the music of ‘Halo 4’ to life, through a massive production effort on par with a Hollywood blockbuster.
Neil Davidge is a record producer, songwriter, film score composer, musician and occasional backing vocalist. In 1996, Davidge co-produced Massive Attack’s ‘The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game’, a song for the ‘Batman Forever’ soundtrack. Working in close collaboration with Massive’s Robert Del Naja (3D), Neil then had a key hand in shaping the sound of the band’s third album, 1998’s Q Award-winning ‘Mezzanine’. Most of the songs were co-written by Neil, although he didn’t receive any writing credit on the record. As with ‘Mezzanine’, Massive Attack’s fourth album ‘100th Window’ was largely piloted by Davidge and Robert Del Naja.
‘Heligoland’ - the fifth studio album by Massive Attack, was co-produced by Davidge and 3D, with additional production by Tim Goldsworthy. Davidge co-wrote 8 tracks (and produced/mixed the airplay hit ‘Paradise Circus’) as well as playing keyboards, bass and guitar.
In 2004 Davidge and Robert Del Naja scored the Luc Besson movie ‘Danny The Dog’, later renamed ‘Unleashed’. This was followed by Davidge’s solo scores for ‘Bullet Boy’, ‘Battle In Seattle’, the Paul McGuigan-directed ‘Push’, plus ‘Trouble the Water’, which received an Oscar nomination for its score and won ‘Best Documentary’ at the ‘08 Sundance Film Festival. Working with Snoop Dogg, Neil scored the music for ‘In Prison My Whole Life’. He also provided additional music to the Warner Brothers blockbuster ‘Clash of the Titans’.
Neil’s breathtaking work for Halo looks set to propel him from industry renown into the hearts, minds and ears of the music-loving world-at-large.