Gordy Haab scores Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare

This past summer, composer Gordy Haab recorded the orchestral portion to the video game expansion, Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare, at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox. The music was performed by an 80-piece orchestra, are we are delighted to bring our readers the exclusive photos from the scoring session!

Carl Rydlund conducts the orchestra on Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare

The violins

The score to Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare was composed by Gordy Haab, who composed the orchestral portion of the music, and Finishing Move Inc. composers Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White, who wrote the electronic music for the game expansion pack. The 80-piece orchestra was conducted by Carl Rydlund.

The French horn section

Carl Rydlund conducts the orchestra

Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare is an epic addition to the Halo universe, as always with a compelling story. Like previous Halo games, this soundtrack compliments that story in a way to convey the theme that a new terrifying enemy has been awakened. Gordy and the team were able to keep the soundtrack thematically familiar to Halo fans, while offering a great new flavor to reflect the story in the game.

The woodwinds

The brass

Inside the booth, composer Gordy Haab ran the sessions, and was joined at the console by Formosa Group VP Paul Lipson and scoring mixer Steve Kaplan. Also on hand to give feedback were session scheduling coordinator Michelle Vermillion, Finishing Move Inc. composers Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White, music programming/additional music composer Sam Smythe, scoring assistant/additional music composer Marco Valerio Antonini and ProTools recordist Seth Waldmann.

Inside the booth at 20th Century Fox

Composer Gordy Haab

Scoring mixer Steve Kaplan

Finishing Move Inc. composers Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White, music programming/additional music composer Sam Smythe, and scoring assistant/additional music composer Marco Valerio Antonini discuss a cue

Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare was released on September 26, 2017 and is available for Xbox One and Windows 10. A soundtrack album is available from Sumthing Else Music Works, and is currently eligible for Grammy consideration. (Take a listen here!)

Visit Gordy Haab’s website here.