Marty O'Donnell (Marty the Elder, Lance)

**Martin "Marty" O'Donnell** (a.k.a. Marty The Elder who enjoys calling himself **"The Maestro"** and **"God"**) is the former Audio Director at Bungie and is known for his work on musical pieces for video games from Bungie, such as the *Myth series*, *Oni*, and the *Halo series*. O'Donnell collaborated with his musical companion Michael Salvatori for many of the scores. He has also directed voice talent and sound design for the *Halo trilogy*. Starting out writing television and radio jingles, O'Donnell moved to the world of video games when he and his company, Total Audio, did the sound design for the 1997 title *Riven*. Since then he has scored more than several video games.

Marty's sound studio at Bungie is called the "Ivory Towers," lending its nickname to the *Halo 2* multiplayer map Ivory Tower. In addition, this tower is noted to be owned by a character named Lance O'Donnell, another nickname for O'Donnell.

## Bio

**Nickname:** Marty the Elder, Lance

**Classification:** Grizzled Ancients

**Origin:** Vienna, Austria

**Hair:** Flaxen, waxen

**Age:** Wise

**Height:** 6'0"

**Talent:** Beyond years

**First Job:** Outdoor Department Manager, Abercrombie and Fitch

**Hobby:** Etch-a-Sketch Master.

**Ultimate Halo Match:** Sidewinder, Two Player Lan only, Snipers

**Ultimate Snack:** White Cheddar Cheez-Its

**Ultimate Website:** www.TotalAudio.com

**Mode of Transport:** Friday night wine & cheese at the O'Donnell's featuring Bungie Iron Chef

**Fake Weapon:** Jenga Death-Ray

One of only three people still at Bungie to have done solid work on titles as far back as Myth: The Fallen Lords, Marty O'Donnell has composed music, directed voice talent, created sound design, and wowed artists with Etch-a-Sketch skills. Obviously the oldest and wisest member of the Bungie team, Marty also has the most stable family life, celebrating 30 years of wedded bliss to his long-suffering wife Marcie, and fathering two wonderful children (now adult size) Alison, and Christine. Little known factoid, both daughters are part of the singing children's choir for the Flintstones Vitamins commercials, which Marty wrote.

## Music career

O'Donnell began working in television/film. In his early career, O'Donnell wrote the jingles for Mr. Clean and Flintstones Vitamins, and owns the rights to the melodies. According to O'Donnell, after fifteen years of doing TV and radio commercials, he decided he wanted to do game soundtracks.

The composer's first foray into game-related work was working as a sound designer for the video game *Riven*, the sequel to *Myst*. His company, TotalAudio, also produced the music for Bungie Studios' *Myth: The Fallen Lords* in the same year. TotalAudio later composed the music for Valkyrie Studio's *Septerra Core, Legacy of the Creator*; O'Donnell met Steve Downes while working on the game, and the composer would later recommend the voice actor to Bungie for the role of the Master Chief.

Soon after producing the music for *Myth II*, Bungie contracted O'Donnell for several of Bungie's other projects, including *Oni* and *Halo: Combat Evolved* (which at the time was code-named *Blam!*) In 1999, Bungie wanted to re-negotiate the contracts for *Oni*, and the negotiations resulted in O'Donnell joining the Bungie team, only ten days before the company was bought by Microsoft; he is one of only a handful of Bungie employees who remain working at the company since then. While O'Donnell worked at Bungie, Michael Salvatori handled the business side of TotalAudio. After producing the music for *Oni*, O'Donnell was tasked with composing the music for Bungie's next project, which would be unveiled at E3 2000. After talking with Joseph Staten, O'Donnell decided the music needed to be "big, exciting, and unusual with a classical orchestra touch to give it some weight and stature. We also wanted it to have some sort of 'ancient' feel to it." The music was recorded and sent to New York the same night the piece was finished; the resulting music became the basis for the *Halo* series' "highly recognizable" signature sound.

The music for *Halo 3* contained refinements and revisions to previous themes heard in the series, as O'Donnell stressed the importance of using previous motifs in the final installment of the trilogy. O'Donnell also introduced a distinctive piano theme which had never been heard before, and first made its appearance in the *Halo 3* announcement teaser. In an interview, O'Donnell stated that he has always approached music from the keyboard, and that at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (where the trailer would first be shown) he had a feeling that "no [other announcement] would start with a piano." In addition to composition, O'Donnell has also arranged his work; a special arrangement was used for a *Halo 3* segment of Video Games Live in London, England, after which O'Donnell appeared.

O'Donnell tweeted that he had been "terminated without cause" on April 11, 2014. In June, he filed a lawsuit against Bungie president Harold Ryan.

On May 1, 2014, Marty filed a lawsuit against Bungie CEO Harold Ryan for "unpaid benefits." In his response, Ryan denied that Bungie owed Marty anything additional.

On September 4, 2015, Marty won the lawsuit he filed against Bungie CEO Harold Ryan, and was awarded $142,500 in profit-sharing for his work on *Destiny,* as well as $95,000 in unpaid wages.

## Personal life

O'Donnell described his upbringing as "typical"; he received piano lessons and wanted to start a rock band when he reached junior high school. he liked to play and do crazy things. Despite his interest in progressive and fusion rock, O'Donnell studied the classical component of music and composition and received his Masters of Music Degree in composition with honors from the University of Southern California in the early 1980s. He has been married for 30 years to his wife, Marcie, and has two daughters, Alison and Christine. His children were part of a singing choir for the Flintstones Chewable Vitamins commercials, which O'Donnell wrote. O'Donnell is a self-described political conservative, and his fellow co-workers at Bungie described him as the most right-leaning employee at the company.

## Trivia

* Marty O' Donnell was the leader of the group; The Marty Army.
* Both of his daughters are part of the singing children's choir for the Flintstones Vitamin commercial which Marty wrote.
* His favorite movie is Ben-Hur.
* He drives an electric blue Acura TLS.
* He has a Bachelor's Degree of Music in composition from the Wheaton Conservatory of Music.
* He has a Master's Degree of Music in composition from the University of Southern California.
* He was the arch enemy of Frank O'Connor.
* His father is Bob O'Donnell, who voiced a prophet for a brief moment in the opening cutscene of *Halo 2*, Dr.Kerr in *Oni*, the Surley Dwarf in *Myth*, and Brother Vance in *Destiny* and Destiny 2.
* Marty and Joseph Staten, on one of their many trips to LA for dialog recording, went to the theater to see 28 Days Later which inspired them later, while sharing a hotel room, to start discussing the idea of a Halo movie. However, the discussion quickly ended when the night was soured by something that shall forever be known as "The Spectravision Incident."
* When G4 announced *Halo 3* as 2008 Game of the Year, Marty was the one who appeared with flaming Recon armor and many other players in a video to thank G4.
* The ODST achievement *Be Like Marty* is a reference to him, who apparently hung back and let other people kill enemies in games of Firefight. This was explained in the Bungie Podcast.
* In the *Halo 3* Microsoft Sam Easter Egg, O'Donnell is referenced twice; "Happy Easter Marty," and "I am a monument to all of Marty's sins lololol."
* Marty is the self-proclaimed Etch-a-Sketch champion of Bungie.
* In *Halo: Reach*, there is a Fireteam trooper named "1LT M. O'Donnell."
* The *Halo 2* Instruction Manual was the only manual of all the games that referred to Martin O'Donnell as "Marty O'Donnell" in the Game Credits section. All the other manuals refer to him as Martin.
	+ In the *Halo 4* credits, he is credited as Marty O'Donnell.

## See Also

* Michael Salvatori
* Jay Weinland (Man Behind the Man)
* Total Audio Studios

## Links

* Bungie.net - Meet the Team
* Marty O'Donnell on Wikipedia

[[Category:Former Bungie Employe