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Marty O'Donnell on Staying Creative in Game Audio - 11/12/13 (Destiny)

by GrizzNKev, Down the street from Microsoft, Monday, November 11, 2013, 19:23 (4028 days ago)
edited by GrizzNKev, Monday, November 11, 2013, 19:27

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Tomorrow night I'll be making my third visit to Bungie's magical theater to listen to the words and work of my favorite modern composer and personal inspiration. Marty's contributions to video games pushed me toward becoming involved in game audio, and now I get the chance to feel the waves generated by his vocal cords travel directly into my ear drums.

I'm ecstatic! I'll probably write a little something after his presentation to summarize or point out anything new, and attempt to describe the music played.

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Marty O'Donnell on Staying Creative in Game Audio - 11/12/13

by ncsuDuncan @, Monday, November 11, 2013, 19:45 (4028 days ago) @ GrizzNKev

Event Page

Tomorrow night I'll be making my third visit to Bungie's magical theater to listen to the words and work of my favorite modern composer and personal inspiration. Marty's contributions to video games pushed me toward becoming involved in game audio, and now I get the chance to feel the waves generated by his vocal cords travel directly into my ear drums.

I'm ecstatic! I'll probably write a little something after his presentation to summarize or point out anything new, and attempt to describe the music played.

Cool! I look forward to your recap. :)

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Marty O'Donnell on Staying Creative in Game Audio - 11/12/13

by Beorn @, <End of Failed Timeline>, Monday, November 11, 2013, 20:03 (4028 days ago) @ GrizzNKev

Woah, thanks for the heads-up on this. Maybe I'll see you there!

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That was awesome.

by GrizzNKev, Down the street from Microsoft, Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 21:52 (4027 days ago) @ GrizzNKev
edited by GrizzNKev, Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 22:51

Marty sort of summarized most of his career in music, and even played a few of his old jingles for us. His decision to move to video games was influenced by no longer feeling a sense of purpose or freedom in the jingle world. Commercials were too limiting and wore him out.

One of the most prominent and recurring points was that large corporations tend to mistreat creative teams out of greed, and that Bungie starting over on something new was a huge factor in preventing boredom in his work. Be nice to the goose! Apparently. There was also a very long discussion on collaboration. When working as part of a creative team, it's imperative that you believe the result of your collaboration is going to be better than what you could do on your own. He applied the same principle when deciding whether he and Paul McCartney were going to work well together. He showed us a video showcasing what their collaboration was like, but he muted the video when Paul started singing. Such a tease.

Then he turned off the lights, asked us to close our eyes, and played a set of five samples from the upcoming Music of the Spheres on some very loud speakers. Some of the music was stuff we've already heard from trailers and ViDocs, and some was new. I moved with the music and got chills throughout. The goal with Music of the Spheres is to set the stage for the locations and emotions present in Destiny, and to serve only the ears. Marty explained how daunting of a challenge it has been to work on, since he has spent his entire career writing music meant to accompany something else. It was incredible and I can't wait to hear the rest.

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That was awesome.

by Stephen Laughlin ⌂ @, Long Beach, CA, Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 22:55 (4027 days ago) @ GrizzNKev

Then he turned off the lights, asked us to close our eyes, and played a set of five samples from the upcoming Music of the Spheres on some very loud speakers. Some of the music was stuff we've already heard from trailers and ViDocs, and some was new. I moved with the music and got chills throughout. The goal with Music of the Spheres is to set the stage for the locations and emotions present in Destiny, and to serve only the purpose of being listened to. Marty explained how daunting of a challenge it has been to work on, since he has spend his entire career writing music meant to accompany something else. It was incredible and I can't wait to hear the rest.

Interesting. I'm really excited to hear this. I love it when musicians and composers get to try new things.

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Ditto

by Beorn @, <End of Failed Timeline>, Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 23:24 (4027 days ago) @ GrizzNKev

Sorry, I missed you, I was looking around for someone that might look like DBO material! :) (I actually posted a note here asking if you were around, but deleted it once the talk started).

The talk was fun, and I appreciated his comments about cultivating creativity and all of the collaboration discussion. I liked the Hand of Leadership concept, too.

And the music. Holy. Moly. I already had had chills when he played the original Halo Monk theme earlier on, and had a huge smile on my face the whole time he was playing the Music of the Spheres samples. I cannot wait to get my hands on that complete recording! Chills for sure. For what it's worth, Marty seemed to really want the Music of the Spheres to come out soon (he crossed his fingers, stating, "Coming Soon. I hope so!" - or something to that effect). It sounds like the project may be completely wrapped, though, which suggests to me that Activision may be holding it up for some reason. Who knows, but tomorrow won't be soon enough! ;-)

Thanks again for the heads-up, GrizzNKev. I had no idea the talk was happening, and it made for a very fun evening.

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Ditto

by GrizzNKev, Down the street from Microsoft, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 00:24 (4027 days ago) @ Beorn

I was sitting on the left end of the front row, in the Bungie 20th Anniversary shirt. I asked the question about how he plans out live recordings.

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Ditto

by Beorn @, <End of Failed Timeline>, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 01:26 (4027 days ago) @ GrizzNKev

I was sitting on the left end of the front row, in the Bungie 20th Anniversary shirt. I asked the question about how he plans out live recordings.

LOL, I was sitting two right from you (was next to you until someone sat down between us). I had a blue plaid shirt on over my Destiny tee. >.<

Hi-larious.

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DBO: Hiding In Plain Sight

by Ragashingo ⌂, Official DBO Cryptarch, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 05:56 (4027 days ago) @ Beorn

Alternatively:

DBO: Masters of Disguise
DBO: We Is Good Planners
DBO: We're All Around You

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You know...

by MrPadraig08 ⌂ @, Steel City, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 06:27 (4027 days ago) @ Beorn

this is why we use the HBO DBO call on such occasions.

Step 1. Power Stance
Step 2. DEEEEEEEEBEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Step 3. ???
Step 4. Profit

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That should be a law or something

by ZackDark @, Not behind you. NO! Don't look., Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 08:03 (4026 days ago) @ MrPadraig08

- No text -

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You know...

by JDQuackers ⌂ @, McMurray, PA, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 10:07 (4026 days ago) @ MrPadraig08

Step 1. Power Stance
Step 2. DEEEEEEEEBEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Step 3. ???
Step 4. Profit

Directions unclear. Could you please demonstrate the power stance for me?

You know...

by Claude Errera @, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 10:25 (4026 days ago) @ JDQuackers

Step 1. Power Stance
Step 2. DEEEEEEEEBEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Step 3. ???
Step 4. Profit


Directions unclear. Could you please demonstrate the power stance for me?

Don't encourage him.

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I'm totally encouraging 'im. I need pictures here. :)

by INSANEdrive, ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 10:40 (4026 days ago) @ Claude Errera

- No text -

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What?

by MrPadraig08 ⌂ @, Steel City, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 11:02 (4026 days ago) @ Claude Errera

- No text -

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If you are doubting it's effect...

by MrPadraig08 ⌂ @, Steel City, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 11:13 (4026 days ago) @ JDQuackers

I used it at HaloFest to great effect. I used the, now defunct, HBO Call to great effect in the empty theater and a wild GrimBrotherOne appeared and said "HBO?"

Ditto

by marmot 1333 @, Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 07:28 (4027 days ago) @ Beorn

Thanks to both of you for the write-up. Sounds incredible--wish I could have been there.

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That was awesome.

by Mr Daax ⌂ @, aka: SSG Daax, Sunday, November 17, 2013, 12:20 (4022 days ago) @ GrizzNKev

Then he turned off the lights, asked us to close our eyes, and played a set of five samples from the upcoming Music of the Spheres on some very loud speakers. Some of the music was stuff we've already heard from trailers and ViDocs, and some was new. I moved with the music and got chills throughout. The goal with Music of the Spheres is to set the stage for the locations and emotions present in Destiny, and to serve only the ears. Marty explained how daunting of a challenge it has been to work on, since he has spent his entire career writing music meant to accompany something else. It was incredible and I can't wait to hear the rest.

Awesome. I stumble across this today. Still no release date, but some cool info nonetheless.

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