Understanding the Music of Half-Life

beautiful isn't it this is the primary soundscape of half-life beneath everything that happens the gunfire the explosions the cries of zombies and combine when everything dies down you're met with the detailed ambience of whatever area you happen to be in usually this is what fills your ears throughout your time with half-life but on special occasions the game will go a step further that ambience will be accompanied by a unique space ocean of synths electronic instrumentation and industrial guitar riffs and drums it sounds close to home and yet otherworldly and ethereal this is what kelly bailey brought to the world of half-life alongside his calculated compositions that embody the very essence of half-life's atmosphere and his utilization of those pieces and pivotal moments he also made the deliberate decision to leave certain areas without music he let the game create atmosphere on its own and this decision alone enhances the series's most intense breathtaking desolate and terrifying moments the balance he struck remains one of half-life's strongest assets and an example of how composers can be valuable contributors to a game's design i'm liam triforce and in this video we'll be understanding the music of half-life and sometimes the lack thereof before we begin i'd like to thank skillshare for sponsoring this video skillshare is an online learning community with classes that focus on a plethora of creative arts writing music graphic design animation game design almost anything you could imagine the platform continues to expand day by day with new premium classes launching regularly these lessons are designed for real-life circumstances so that you can stay inspired and express yourself alongside a community of millions to ease myself into the various classes skillshare had to offer i decided to start with skills that i've already developed but i soon began browsing outside of my already existing passions to expand my creative horizons personally speaking i'd recommend hanifa durakeev's class on writing for expression if you have any interest in writing it's an in-depth course on how to give everything you write an artful and poetic flair of course there are countless classes to explore suitable for any creative interest you might have so don't feel pressured to stick to one avenue skillshare is also incredibly affordable costing less than ten dollars a month with an annual subscription better yet the first thousand people to use the link in the description will get a free trial of skillshare premium membership so you can try it out for yourself once again thank you skillshare [Music] this song is called vague voices and it was composed to introduce you to the world of half-life by all accounts your tram ride through the facilities of black mesa should have signified yet another day at the office and the music seems to reflect this you get to absorb a lot of information at a steady pace unknowingly preparing you for your upcoming adventure the song is reflective of a traditional calm commute to work but underneath is a sinister sign of what's to come almost beckoning to the player there are many sides to the music of half-life but it consistently focuses on being an audible embodiment of science fiction to kelly bailey this meant utilizing a plethora of different techniques for vague voices it was an ocean of synths foreshadowing the events to come but for this song the impending disaster and the zen invasion are nowhere to be heard instead the game wants you to focus on the cool little suit you just put on with all of its high-tech features and everything when the resonance cascade occurs however kelly was relentless in his approach to horror and his techniques were varied and astounding after fading into the aftermath of the incident we hear what sounds like steam traveling through a pipe until it bursts and lets loose an atmosphere of discomfort and oppressive alien sounds this track is perfectly emblematic of what occurred in the test chamber and the unforeseen consequences it unleashed throughout the majority of your adventure in black mesa music is rare as you roam the halls and greet fellow scientists there's no need as you scramble to adjust to these new circumstances you'll confront zombies headcrabs and many more creatures that have escaped from zen but there's no music the lack of music makes these unexpected bouts scarier the game isn't telling you what to do or how to react to these situations you're just going with your gut and killing anything that stands in your way the first time i was scooped up by a barnacle no music just pure terror as i frantically figured out what to do being ambushed by vortigaunts in the office complex no music just a lot of shotgunning and energy blasts you could go a half hour without hearing a single piece of music and when you do it'll last for a minute or two that's it this establishes both the importance of music and half-life and the importance of the moments in which music plays the space in between provides you with those organic gameplay experiences that music alone could never enhance when music appears it has purpose and it presents itself through a wide assortment of compositional techniques that perfectly capture the essence of half-life in the early stages of your journey the music is intentionally designed to blend into the environment synths reverberate throughout the facilities drops of water fall to the ground and the noises are dissonant and lack any noticeable pattern there's nothing comforting about black mesa in its current state and the halls you once traveled are alien now literally this kind of thing isn't limited to the first portion of the game either one of my favorite ambient pieces is electric guitar ambience both because of the techniques used and the area it plays in there are snipers situated all over the place and you need to move carefully to avoid both their bullets and the landmines this is all set to a nice view of the canyons and the blue sky surrounding the facilities emblematic of the outside world remaining unfazed and unaware of the events from inside black mesa it is a unique atmospheric blend of beauty and death and one of my favorite moments in half-life [Music] as you progress the music of half-life begins to evolve further when it becomes apparent that the military isn't here to rescue you and they are instead here to silence you a new technique emerges from kelly's repertoire the military floods black mesa and they present a new threat to you and the weapons you might have thought you'd grown accustomed to by now to push you forward in taking these guys down kelly composed this track the haphazard synth and harsh guitar riffs are intertwined seamlessly as he created an aggressive electronic rock track that forces you into combat and maintains the science fiction horror atmosphere of half-life a duality that was achieved through his unparalleled ability to tie fear into determination [Music] kelly imbued an atmosphere of hope into a game full of dread and despair i'll never forget how fulfilling it was to hear drums and riffs after launching the rocket at the end of honor rail after such a long chapter of stop and go puzzles and ambushes it was nice to give the world of half-life some hope the song isn't just an ambient rock piece either it's underlying guitar tones and synths with a low sample rate still tie it back to the setting here's another great one during questionable ethics you'll hear a security guard and a scientist discussing a certain weapon once you finally get it and you play around with it nuclear mission jam plays a threatening horror sting crescendos into a badass composition from what i can gather that isn't a guitar delivering the main riff it's yet another synth accompanied by the trademark percussion and backing instrumentation of half-life high-tech guns call for high-tech music that pumps you up to use it on the next chopper you see but perhaps the most iconic glimpse of hope and determination comes from the chapter surface tension after being trapped underground for the majority of the game seeing the deep blue sky and breathing fresh air could not be more liberating it's a small moment in the grand scheme of things but it introduced us to a song that accomplished a lot for one its instrumentation is totally unique synth soaked in filters create an atmosphere befitting of the radiation soaked sewers of black mesa its discordant noises and twisted mixing make it sound ironically crystal clear and almost lifelike it's confronting but it's also very inspiring and because of this it became valve's theme song and it still is after all these years i feel that it has grown significantly larger than it was originally designed to be and for good reason as we've learned with the military's ambush half-life instrumentation doesn't limit itself to synths and techno beats certain enemies get their very own motifs as the music introduces you to their methods of attack and their impact on the gameplay grunge guitars on a fast tempo accompany the military and when they collide with gargantua and other zen forces we get a blend of the two compositional choices distorted clipping synths and disorderly guitar riffs clashing against one another when you first confront the tentacles you'll no doubt realize how dangerous they are although totally blind they are very sensitive to noise and they'll tear you apart effortlessly if they hear you to illustrate how the player should take caution in approaching this thing kelly played the melody for this track on a hindu flute at least i think that's what it is i could be completely wrong about this but the point is this flute both incites fear in the player and clues them into how to approach it due to its lack of percussion and slow concentrated melodies head in carefully distract it with grenades and proceed the gonarch also gets its own theme jungle drums i don't think there could be a more perfect theme for this thing now despite how out there the instrumentation sounds for half-life thus far this song is both appropriate for the boss and it still has underlying synths and electronic noises that maintain the setting of half-life it's a through line that is never compromised on nepal monastery has menacing since despite its flute taking center stage for example despite how absurd and otherworldly some of the events are in half-life it doesn't step far outside its initial philosophy an apocalyptic alien invasion that spiraled out of control on a day that seemed just as ordinary as any other but when it comes to the extraordinary in half-life nothing will rival the feeling of exploring zen for the first time as you approach the teleporter you hear the inverse of a previous song's theme steam traveling through the pipes as the synths take over and the percussion pumps you up whatever was behind that portal was bound to be both exciting and endlessly intimidating and then as the portal finally opens you jump inside to discover zen treacherous terrain an onslaught of enemies in their home world and a persistent air of emptiness fear and confusion all permeate throughout zen all with very little music to accompany you making it the most poignant example of what the lack of music can add to half-life throughout the platforming the aliens attacking the dark caves the putrid colors of the walls are ground and the brutal challenges that await you not a single living thing from your world is there to accompany you it's just you and your hev suit the most comfort you can find is in a healing pool while you sit there and top off your health they emit a cleansing sound that serves as an escape from everything that zen tends to throw at you i could sit here for hours [Music] as you find your way into the first cave you get a mild break from everything with the song dimensionless deepness emblematic of everything that zen represents fear and emptiness in an unfamiliar world your final piece of in-game music is far from comforting however as you confront the nilanth you'll hear an assault of low synths and guttural tones and noises confusion persists even in the final boss and you'll get no sympathy from the game until the credits roll kill the nylanth accept the g-man's offer and you're rewarded with the most upbeat song in the game since the very beginning half-life tackled many atmospheres emotions and themes in its music and yet despite stepping out of its comfort zone to make encounters with aliens and such more appropriate it ties everything back to its focus on extraordinary science fiction that feels grounded in reality it shuts itself up when it needs to and it encourages entices and alarms the player in moments that need a composer's touch the only game to surpass kelly's thematic exploration of half-life would be half-life 2. the settings of half-life 1 and 2 are both rich in their own ways however half-life 2 explores the furthest extent of the aftermath of black mesa the combine of occupied earth after a desperate bargain was negotiated by black mesa administrator wallace breen and humanity is being slowly and humanely killed off to that end the music of half-life 2 and the lack thereof opt to explore the depressing reality that the population is facing and the subsequent uprising that gordon freeman would ignite the techniques that were used in the previous soundtrack to give life to black mesa have been repurposed for subtlety and storytelling although the black mesa incident felt like a grounded science fiction tale nothing comes closer to reality than seeing how an all-powerful alien species can take over a city that once felt like home in your first moments with half-life 2 the music will be so subtle in implementation that it may feel as though it's a part of the world while you're observing the firm grip the combine has on humanity and seeing their wide reaching influence on morale there isn't any music to speak of dr breen's speeches are broadcast in an attempt to calm the concerned citizens of city 17 but it's mostly just propaganda to them the first music cue outside of the g-man's introductory speech plays as you step foot in the plaza for the first time you'll see the citadel the monitor and the many ways the combine have taken control it's a quiet hollow chamber of empty noises and slight distortion underneath after the combine begins to assault citizens and you escape to the rooftop this hollow chamber of sound becomes filled with more powerful distortion it isn't chasing you though it's merely following you a powerful omen representative of the combines drawn out process of weeding out the population and exerting control no matter where you turn it doesn't matter how fast you run because they'll catch up to you eventually this echoing tunnel of muffled sound becomes more promising as you enter dr kleiner's lab it's four sustained synth notes but it lights a spark for the future of humanity dr kleiner managed to set up his own makeshift black mesa and continue his research despite the odds being stacked against him he set up a teleporter domesticated a head crab and monitored the combine for who knows how long with your return this truly is a red letter day ambient music in half-life 2 is vastly more subtle inspiring reflective and disturbing than it was in the original game due to the setting in which kelly had to work with him and a natural evolution in his techniques and ideas a lot of his compositions tell a more concrete story this time and expand on the context for certain events through evocative instrumentation let's start by looking at the songs that tell stories about the people of city 17. after you return to the plaza much later in the game you've signaled the uprising and people are ready to fight a group of resistance members succeed in yanking down that monitor but as they celebrate you don't hear a triumphant song to accompany them you hear something dark and defeating something warm yet unsettling the song is called suppression field alluding to the invisible force that is preventing people from reproducing a very subtle detail in half-life 2 has citizens referring to sex and procreation as mating not all of them do but those that have been affected most by propaganda forego any discussion of intimacy due to brain telling them that even the urge is being suppressed this has been going on for 20 years hence why there are no children in sight a playground in the heart of city 17 sits abandoned rusted and filthy this is the slow extinction method the combine has employed in full effect leaving the world a cold and affectionless place to grow up in switching gears a bit kelly decided to channel some positivity into the adventures of the resistance after gordon arrives at new little odessa and takes down the gunship the song slow light plays amidst the oppressive and swirling synths twisted drones echo a feeling of hope the name of the song implies that this small victory is just a stop on the long road toward the light at the end of the tunnel for humanity ambient music outside of meetings with the resistance members also reflects the state of the world however with each piece playing at sporadic intervals throughout your journey bits and pieces of the world are digested at a time for example broken symmetry is such a hopeless and empty song it plays within the toxic sewers of city 17. i reflected on how much damage has truly been caused by the combine outside of their primary goal of human extinction with what's being pumped into the environment the toxicity or lethal radiation might wipe humanity out first in the same stride probably not a problem plays during a headcrab shelling on station six the shells effortlessly tear through survivors but the music reflects the aftermath the spiraling strings being plucked haphazardly emulate the scattering headcrabs while the horns in general tone depict the zombies you first encounter in this moment the result of headcrabs taking control of what were once innocent human beings calabi yao model balances mystery with dread in a cave far outside of city 17 close to nova prospect it's a harsh listen and in this moment i wondered if the vortigaunts and survivors hold up here would survive another night amidst the combine's reign as phenomenal as the ambience in half-life 2 is it is not the only area in which kelly bailey stepped things up a notch the combat music as well as music composed for when you need to be light on your feet are well-rounded and employ more varied techniques than seen previously just after barney delivers your crowbar apprehension and evasion plays it's a techno dance beat that doesn't attempt to be aggressive as in this moment you're simply evading civil protection all you gotta do is move after equipping a pistol and making your way down the tracks a basey prelude will begin to play before ramping up in intensity as you proceed the drums pick up and suddenly you're speeding through the canals like no one can stop you this is cp violation and it's a fan favorite for good reason it's a champion in pacing and mood a few ambushes to follow feature similar grounded instrumentation reflective of the combine soldiers being limited in comparison to some of the other enemies you faced throughout the game but once you become equipped to face off against that chopper that's been tailing you throughout the canals we get a drum and bass piece to push back the chapter's anti-citizen one and follow freeman appropriately feature the most combat music in the game as you've signaled the uprising you're fighting alongside the resistance in the greatest struggle since the seven hour war you're being ambushed by enemies old and new desperately trying to stay afloat my favorite of these has always been lg orbiful at this point in the game you've taken down a handful of striders by the skin of your teeth and now you're running from one through the torn up streets of city 17 and through ruined buildings and parking garages suddenly yet another ambush occurs and you need to rush to the horse statue nearby as combine flank you and striders chase you down to accompany your mad dash you get a song that combines larger-than-life synths with pulse-pounding drums all set to the perfect tempo for running for your life and fighting back even so in these chapters kelly still knew when to step away when you're forced into condensed areas to create fear of the unknown ruined apartment complexes and infiltrating the claustrophobic overwatch nexus all refrained from overtly implementing music despite being infested with combine soldiers music in those clustered apartment buildings would likely stress the player out due to their limited mobility a lack of music in the nexus allows the player to carefully roll grenades into the turret traps and navigate through the halls while being startled by combine ambushes when they occur when you step back and examine the music of half-life 2 chapter by chapter or area by area you might realize just how much silence adds to it the chapters i'm about to discuss have long intervals of silence between its key pieces of music allowing you to absorb everything they have to offer let's start with nova prospect you begin with that signature balance of impending evil with anxious bewilderment with the only percussion to speak of being a base that sounds like a thumping heartbeat it then crescendos into an array of drones to symbolize the diabolical nature of nova prospect itself when you first arrive you gather that it's a prison well if it's a prison then why are all of the cells empty why isn't anyone here what is this place the music embodies this ungodly atmosphere and then silence silence for the majority of the chapter nothing to comfort you or inform you just silence whatever may await you in nova prospect is up to you to confront another terrifying example of what a lack of music can add rests in ravenholm it's a route you've been forced to take and you have no communication with the outside world here not even the combine come through here it has been swamped with zombies of all shapes and sizes and your time exploring it is once again lacking in any music the scares locales and sharp decision making necessary for your survival are all influenced by the core game design there are songs at the beginning and end of the chapter though the introduction sets the mood with a lengthy drone accompanied by chimes and faint distorted whispering it is unlike anything else in the game much like ravenholm as a chapter after fighting alongside father grigory and bidding him farewell you can watch him be endlessly swarmed by zombies as the bell tolls and signals your escape whatever happens to him now will never be seen and his story will likely never be told still you can't help but be grateful there's a bit more to this chapter though particle ghost plays as you ascend from the caverns below and finally face some sunlight again although cleansing after what you just went through it still delivers a heavily distorted synth to remind you of the danger present outside ravenholm a different kind of danger like waking up from a nightmare and realizing that the nightmare might have been a better reality to exist in but you press onward avoiding a combine sniper down a corridor and eventually barging your way through an ambush to find resistance members after so much bloodshed and amidst the pained moans of wounded citizens the resistance recognizes your return and for you this is the first ally you've met outside of ravenholm and what felt like ages despite ravenholm only being an overnight trip to embody everything that this scene represents getting things back on track and hope for the future we get to hear triage at dawn it carries with it a crystal clear piano melody and trumpets to echo the importance of gordon freeman's return but without a doubt my favorite chapter to make use of the silence dynamic is highway 17. as you take off in the scout car and run over ant lions you get some music to fuel your race down the roads but the majority of this chapter is spent amidst the screeching of your engine the sound of a chopper tailing you or the occasional combine ambush but most importantly the sounds of nothing but the wind traveling past and the waves crashing below you in these moments along the coast i'd catch myself thinking about the people that used to live out here aside from thumpers and some property damage the houses along the coast have been left alone by the combine they don't have much of a reason to draw resources from these outskirts thus a lot of what used to be here has been left intact tire swings cozy living spaces and small villages all make up a large ghost town along the highway even if combined soldiers happen to be in hiding in some of these houses or they attempt to stop me from moving onward there isn't any music playing i have no need to move as fast as possible and the level designers intended for you to take a break from time to time sometimes implementing puzzles and areas for you to solve these breaks allow the player to soak in the atmosphere of the coast and think about the circumstances of half-life 2 as a whole highway 17 is the most contemplative chapter in the game i feel it's rare to have relaxing moments in a game about overcoming an all-powerful oppressive force and it's also rare to see areas that carry complete unscathed remnants of what once was before the combine took over so this is what the lack of music adds to the chapter what does music add in order to cross the bridge to nova prospect you'll need to disable a force field preventing you from taking your car on the train tracks to do this you must cross underneath the bridge to a control room you're doing this all amongst the fog far out from city 17 with barely anything below your feet to prevent you from a deadly plummet to wrap everything this chapter encompasses into a neat little package the song lab practicum plays and it is without a doubt my favorite song in the game not because of some electronic rock or some catchy beats and not because it tells a story through ambience either because it allows me to reflect on half-life 2 as a whole it is an engrossing soundscape beyond words it sounds so clear and yet you need a good sound system or a nice pair of headphones to be able to play this back without clipping or distortion perhaps this has to do with the sample rate or frequency i'm not exactly sure i'm not going to pretend i'm an expert on this stuff so i'm fascinated by it on a technical level but i'm also amazed by it from an artistic perspective it sounds like you're floating in a soothing yet hauntingly empty ocean and perhaps that low quality is reflective of the fog the chapter is shrouded in a fog that blankets all of city 17. conceptually there isn't anything this song is trying to deliver on it's a blank slate nothing and yet it is everything i'm thinking about my nervousness in the moment as i traverse the underside of this bridge but i'm also thinking about the people that used to live by the sea the city the suppression field the combine the hopelessness and yet the fact that i could be the catalyst for these people i could single-handedly change the world against all odds the more i listen to the song while thinking about half-life 2 the more i'm able to digest the depth in its storytelling it represents so much more than it lets on as silly as it may seem this has been the first song i'd think of whenever i think about half-life 2 not cp violation or hazardous environments instead i think of an ambient piece from a rather insignificant portion of the game not because of that moment in particular but because of how i'm able to catch my breath and just think about everything the game has thrown at me thus far it plays in a chapter where a god damn ghost town allows me to imagine a normal life amidst the combine's reign all of this to say that this song reminds me of what makes half-life 2 a masterpiece it is a beautifully crafted video game and the most realistic piece of science fiction i have ever consumed due to it being so alien and yet so down to earth and i think a lot of that praises ode to kelly bailey in the years that followed half-life 2's release we'd end up getting the last of kelly's work with valve half-life 2 episode 1 focused on the escape from the citadel after gordon and alex you know blew it up due to the length of these episodic installments there weren't many opportunities to evolve on the sound or implementation of half-life's music but they did exist and kelly took them he previously refrained from using traditional instruments like the piano and guitars unless he could figure out a way to implement them seamlessly with the setting of half-life usually they'd be buried in distortion or underneath a layer of synths but since the episodes focus on a concentrated uprising effort now that the tables have effectively been turned using these instruments as encouragement or to uniquely set the mood of a scenario felt appropriate as a result the combine advisors are introduced through a disturbing blend of traditional piano and guttural warped synths and the music that plays as you fight through the hospital isn't afraid to dig into some good old-fashioned electric guitars the deadly radiation at the citadel core is embodied in the song infraradian guard down is a synthrok piece that pumps me up just as much as it creeps me out and i can definitely say the same for disrupted original which plays in a dark tunnel as you and alex desperately fend off zombies with nothing but your flashlight to guide you kelly's techniques were slowly inching towards something exciting for half-life and they would be fully realized in episode 2. the wide open terrain of white forest brings with it plenty of unexpected threats and ambushes but it also carries a serene beauty and i believe this is best depicted in the song eon trap it's an ambient electronic rock piece that reflects well in the small village gordon and alex find themselves trapped in against combine forces and the pace of the song carries the fight as you defend yourselves soaked in beautiful yet antagonizing synths with some electric guitar strums thrown in for good measure the episodic games tend to use synths in place of guitars to fall in line with the setting but occasionally you'll have those moments where kelly isn't afraid to just go for it sector sweep and last legs are evocative of combine technology tracking your every move but they also thrust you into the action making me want to tear through them the guitar riffs work in this game due to their frantic nature the chords are unusual and they slip and slide everywhere underneath the synths they match the frenetic combat of half-life perfectly and play amongst the backdrop of a large-scale war in an empty scenic forest this is part of the reason episode 2 is so incredible on its own everything takes place in what should have been an area far removed from the combine's tyranny it harkens back to the coast levels of half-life 2 but the tone is marginally different here winning against the combine actually seems like a possibility now warranting some motivating electric guitars perhaps my favorite combat track in the game is vortal combat it plays during your defense against the horde of ant lions with so much going on and so much to pay attention to i can't think of a better song to keep me focused on the action [Music] episode 2 still scaled back its music and moments that don't need it like the disgusting antlion grub caves 13 years later these still make me nauseous they glow a putrid greenish yellow with blood splattered across the walls and ground you're supposed to squeeze through these tunnels while being chased by an antlion guard which is no easy task the tension comes from the uncertainty as you rush from tunnel to tunnel hoping that the guard doesn't catch you beforehand it's a whole lot scarier without any music backing you up as you might have guessed i also couldn't get enough of how serene and relaxing the driving segments were in episode 2. much like with highway 17 although i had no idea what lay ahead nor the dangers i'd have to confront i found solace in the scenery of white forest checking buildings fighting the occasional monster and solving puzzles for weapon caches may have been part of a grand adventure but to me it was nothing more than a leisurely drive through a calm portion of an otherwise war-torn world no music necessary here just take it all in while you can another poignant moment in which music was withheld was during the launching of the rocket the portal is neutralized and everyone celebrates everything this scene represents didn't need to be depicted in music in the face of the ongoing war between the resistance and the combine silence is golden and after launching that rocket it was nice to have some time to reflect the moments that followed however weren't quite as peaceful the final song in the game plays just as you're about to board the helicopter and search for the borealis i'm sure you all know what happens next so i'll spare you from seeing it again the song is called dark interval and it is without a doubt one of the most unnerving songs in half-life you have this rustic chime echoing as the advisors draw closer and these sharp industrial sounds ringing out eventually fade into a somber synth piece eli's final message the uncertainty that came with searching for a teleporting ship and the effect that this would have on alex are all wound into this song anxiously setting the player up for whatever the episodic trilogy's conclusion would be but you all know the rest episode 3 never came out for over a decade we were forced to sit in silence agonizing over eli's death and the continuation of both this series's story and gameplay half-life was going places but it was looking like we'd never get to see those places kelly bailey left valve after a short while with mike moroski becoming the lead composer at the company he worked on team fortress 2 left 4 dead and portal 2 establishing his own identity and sound within their games and after a long while he would also be tasked with revitalizing the sound of half-life on november 21st 2019 we got our first look at half-life alex the first half-life game in over 10 years mike did everything he could to make sure that his music would live up to the series reputation consulting with kelly bailey while working on the game in the end i feel that he did the series justice in ways that were only possible through him [Music] something about the first chapters music and half-life alex seemed to click with me despite how noticeably different it was i mean it sounds far more orchestral and grandiose than anything kelly bailey had ever composed i wasn't sure of how i felt about strings and brass being pumped into songs that didn't necessarily need them previously the beginning of half-life 2 was almost entirely silent and those moments that attempted to evoke a feeling of intimidation did so synthetically they were still vivid soundscapes in lieu of a studio orchestra but in the context of the long-awaited revisitation of city 17 i came to love the music that plays throughout this first chapter it's just as lovely as it is somber to be placed in combine oppression once more and this is reflected through the string melody the citadel is under construction and the combine are in the process of turning city 17 into their central hub reflected in the synths and electronics strewn about the chapter's music mike discussed creating pacing through music and one of the commentary notes in chapter one and this is demonstrated as civil protection begins rounding up citizens the music subtly pushes you forward through percussion but not so much that it forces you to do anything this is because level pacing is usually dictated through stems remember how i mentioned kelly's work made him a vital asset to half-life's design well with stem-based compositions mike moroski essentially is a game designer the prime example being the fight with the strider in the parking garage the music starts with an uncertain synth beat during your rush to the elevator before exploding into technological grunge there's a moment of calm before you are once again thrust back into a chase as the strider smashes into the crumbling apartment complex after turning the corner you'll meet a few combine soldiers as the synths turn determined and violent as the strider loses you things become more calculated as you have to pick off a few more soldiers in manhattan then after you catch your breath the chase continues it's a mad dash for that turret while shooting at the strider that first melody returns and everything fades out once you deal the final blow this scene has like 14 stems in total all subtly focusing you on a task through differentiated composition another chapter that tackles this point extraction never dull moment in this chapter and the same can be said for the music the stems are twisted and barely held together by any sort of time signature or structure always surprising and always attempting to emulate the mind-boggling layout of your journey through the extracted apartment buildings only as you approach the vault does it finally regain some semblance of a structure as the synths rip through your ears to reflect on the energy pumping through the vault that even the combine are afraid of [Music] the strider's music also taps into a motif from the original half-life enemy themes striders have that grunge sound to match their stature their dangerous movement and their attack methods ant lions have synth-based percussion beats to synchronize with their skittering as they inch towards you huge fights with a variety of enemies take on a full orchestra which works well in a combat scenario like that and the soldiers get the combat music that probably challenged mike the most when composing for half-life alex usually once the sound for a game is nailed there will be a process in which composers create music that ends up becoming associated with the game mick gordon went through this process with both of his doom games giving us songs like bfg division and the only thing they fear is you for mike this meant creating something immediately identifiable that both kept the player engaged in combat and lived up to the infinitely recognizable stuff that kelly bailey had put out in the past in the end he delivered in your first real bout with overwatch soldiers you'll get to hear the song anti-citizen which perfectly balances haphazard synth and guitar riffs with the traditional rock elements of some of kelly's finest since the series is inception this is the kind of sound that i will forever associate with combine soldiers and the pacing of half-life combat half-life alex also reuses music from the original game when appropriate half-life 2 did this as well and it made for a few tender and nostalgic moments electric guitar ambience plays as you approach eli's lab dubbed black mesa east vague voices returns during your tutorial with the gravity gun making an already fantastic learning process feels safe and comforting as you play fetch with dog in half-life alex these reuses are few and far between but they are welcome at one point you raise a garage door to reveal an entire room rigged with trip mines and explosives if they explode they take the whole building down you have to carefully disable the trip mines while steaming the pipes plays it's a nice blast from the past amidst a soundtrack so concerned with sounding bombastic and modern but it also maintains the game's focus on creating pacing through music for all of these reasons the soundtrack of alex succeeds as a half-life soundtrack but there's something missing like i've illustrated there is a lot of music in half-life alex stems consistently create pacing for the game and they introduce new elements as you progress through the level and encounter new challenges even in chapter 1 there are stems for a strider towering over you and a gunship flying through the air there aren't nearly as many moments of calm although they do exist in areas where the game feels like you can handle things on your own and i savor those moments but losing regular moments of silence diminishes a primary philosophy established time and time again in previous soundtracks with that said there is one chapter that understood the importance of silence in half-life jeff if you've seen my half-life alex retrospective you'll know that i adore this chapter it is entirely based on sound and pushing yourself into doing things that you would otherwise be very uncomfortable with the stems in this chapter are subdued acting as validation of the player's fear during your search for the three batteries the music only takes a break from fear outside in your only safe haven one of the most soothing synth melodies in half-life history plays out here as the game allows you to take a break and stare out into the sunset jeff can't hurt you out here but at some point you must throw yourself back into the action while not complete silence as seen previously in half-life the compositions in this chapter allow for the player to breathe in what is unarguably the most stressful scenario in the game it acknowledges past half-life games and their techniques in creating organic tension but it also goes in a new and admirable direction and to me that describes the game and it's ending pretty well we all had our own form of closure with episode 3's demise mark laidlaw let us know how the story was supposed to end and unleashed a plethora of fan projects that aim to finally close out the still unfinished episodic trilogy for half-life alex creating something that changed the ending fans had grown accustomed to would be jarring to say the least as such the writers took things in a new direction from when eli was supposed to die with the g-man seeing continued promise in alex fans with alex placed in stasis most of us probably felt confused betrayed or even upset and this is reflected in the piano melody that follows the scene but this piano melody eventually descends into a ballad of hope through intense drums and a badass electric guitar and then after fading back in we grabbed the crowbar as gordon freeman i don't think the writers intended for people to soak this ending in immediately especially considering the um heavy implications but the more i thought about what this ending could represent the more i realized that i wouldn't have it any other way and this is all reflected in that credits theme it represents something greater than just a bridge into the continuation of the half-life story it represents the return of something that half-life fans were struggling to maintain for the longest time hope for the first time in what felt like an eternity half-life was assured to be an ongoing franchise its story continues and its legacy lives on it's funny how the silence between games ended up mirroring the silence between songs in a half-life game with valve keeping their lips sealed for so long and with the time it takes for a half-life game to finally come out we were expected to fend for ourselves just like the silence that sits between its pivotal compositions we were forced to wade through ravenholm or barrel through white forest with nothing to accompany us but our wits and i believe that inspired me most when it came to the various landmarks of half-life and the silence on valve's part inspired me too just as the silence spawned countless passionate fan works between half-life games ironically the silence became the spearhead for storytelling as it'd go on to inspire more people than i believe valve ever dreamed it could and to the same extent the most memorable songs in half-life's history have always become known for more than they were originally intended to be what would eventually become valve's theme song a song that plays at the beginning of nearly every valve game to date represents the collective community that was born from the games that valve created all of the art music mods and stories all stem from a song that when heard signals some of the greatest ideas to come out of the game industry vague voices allowed people to bask in the wonder that came with not just half-life but the gold source modding community as a whole cp violation pumped people up back in 2004 as they got to control gordon freeman in something new after six years of waiting and now it becomes synonymous with the gameplay of half-life 2. then after episode 2 we received nothing half-life floated in limbo for years lab practicum became my comfort food whenever i dream about the future of the series its blank canvas of sound allowed me to escape for whatever reason i needed and perhaps most significantly triage at dawn like its intended purpose in-game signaled the eventual return of gordon freeman although it seemed more and more unlikely as the days went by it was a beacon of hope that fans held onto no matter how difficult the weight might have been and now we've received hope we received a full game on top of hope any inconclusiveness amidst the end of half-life alex is accompanied by the simple notion that gordon after many years finally has some work to do [Music] i'm sure you all have stories attached to the music of half-life and what it represents to you and that's the beauty of these soundtracks they embody both the rich and detailed settings of the games and the emotions of the people that played them grew up with them and lived with them for many years and i'd love to hear those stories so feel free to let me know in the comments on twitter or through email what the music of half-life means to you and some stories you have with it for now i've been liam triforce and i'd like to thank you for watching you

Channel: Liam Triforce

Views: 173,097

Rating: 4.9522786 out of 5

Keywords: half-life, half-life 2, hl2, half-life alyx, episode one, episode two, music, ost, analysis, retrospective, critique, review, valve, orange box, vr

Id: jqQp4jnon24

Length: 46min 31sec (2791 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 13 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Techboah]

Half Life 2's OST never ceases to amaze me, such a consistently great soundtrack. I still listen to some of the tracks every now and then.

And to fellow Synthwave fans, there's this absolute gem of a synthwave remix of Triage at Dawn

[u/NewOldUser2046]

The theme where you fight a shit ton of antlions with 2 funny as hell npcs in ep2 is awesome. That's also one of my best video game moments as well.

[u/Barn_Advisor]

Valve's music is always a treat to the ears, but hl2 OST was a piece of beauty. Personal opinion, one of the greatest soundtracks of 2000s among the likes of Silent Hill 2, Morrowind, REmake and so on.

[u/En_Ex]

The music that plays when you enter Nova Prospekt is pitch perfect. It matches the lonely, prison atmosphere and sets the mood for what's to come.