| “ | Like all my favorite game soundtracks the ones that stay with me the most are the ones not with just great music alone, the key is when the right music, plays at the right time in sync with the game to create a moment that stays with the player forever.[1] | ” |
Gareth Coker is a British composer currently based in Los Angeles, California who co-composed the music of Halo Infinite, alongside Curtis Schweitzer and Joel Corelitz.[1][2] He is known for his work on the soundtracks of several video games, including Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Ark: Survival Evolved.[1]
Biography
Becoming a composer
Gareth Coker was born in Great Britain and has lived in Los Angeles, California since around 2009. He has been playing games for as long as he can remember, and he even remembers the days of needing to use cassette tapes to load video games.[1] Prior to composing for Halo, Coker's works included Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Ark: Survival Evolved, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Darksiders Genesis, and several soundtracks for various Minecraft expansions.[1][2]
Composing for Halo
During the development of Halo Infinite, 343 Industries' music supervisor, Joel Yarger, reached out to Gareth Coker via email, asking if he would be interested in joining the project. Yarger referenced several of Coker's tracks that he composed for previous games and explained why he liked them so that Coker would have an idea as to why he was being presented with this new position. After that, Yarger assigned him a scene from Halo Infinite to write music to. Ultimately, the interviewing process went well and Gareth Coker was brought onto the team.[1]
Something that was discussed early on during Coker's work on Halo Infinite was the importance of respecting Halo's musical history while also pushing boundaries to take it forward. Another topic that was discussed at length was capturing the essence of what it means to be Master Chief and delivering that in a musical form to the player while also contextualizing the in-game events. Coker composed his music for the game with the mindset that Master Chief represents a beacon a hope for humanity, making sure to get that point across to the player through the soundtrack.[1]