Samples Used in the Half-Life Soundtrack

So, I recently bought the 'Altered States' sample library from Zero-G. It's a collection of 10 libraries that were mostly made in the 90s.
Here are some samples that were used in Half-Life, plus a bonus at the end.
Link to buy Zero-G's 'Altered States' (not sponsored):
www.zero-g.co.uk/store/altered...
Props to Kelly Bailey for making an amazing Sountrack for the Half-Life series.

[@PinkAndPathetic]

The crowbar's swing sound isn't an original asset My entire life is a lie

[@trevorbaker4406]

It's pretty shocking how easy a lot of this actually very highly likely was for Kelly Bailey. I have heard it said that the HL OST was just a side project or something for Bailey. Well, honestly, all he needed were good sample CD's and a decent ear.

[@orbitaloutcast9878]

It can't beh!

[@MAGNUSWAKERS]

This shocked me as well. Just how much is originally created? As in, from in-house (from their own equipment, DAWs and sound rooms?). I know some of them are from the Goldwave metadata.

[@atlev]

@@trevorbaker4406 Bailey handled everything to do with sound. At the time of HL1, he wrote GoldSrc's sound engine and all the DSP effects that it has. In addition to that, he scored and gave the game its sound. Oh, and he also designed and created the resonance cascade map and scene. Plus the entire Uplink demo was his, too. Hell of a side project.

[@trevorbaker4406]

@@atlev I already knew that considering Bailey's background was in programming. Music is really the primary concern I was having. I still respect Bailey's style and will always point people to the soundtrack of the Half-Life series, it's just not the same world now. Composers and music producers are expected to produce their own original sounds, percussion, and mix and master all their own audio. It's not as simple today, which can be a bit frustrating. I wish there were more original samples out there. Creativity and originality may finally be re-emerging with synths like the Hydrasynth, Omnisphere, Arturia, etc. There's just been so much focus on minimalism in society that there's been a lack of innovation and a focus on rehashing and recreating old gear that has nothing new to offer under the hood.

[@TheBreakingBenny]

It seems the Postal Dude is not the only guy who is insane…

[@roscoejustros7080]

I heard that sample and my first reaction was "Holy shit. That's Postal 1."

[@squash589]

The 2003 zombie movie: 28 Days Later also have this soundtrack.

[@CocoTheMii]

Okay, hold up- “A Red Letter Day” is literally just “Jungle Fire.”

[@benrichardson5798]

@MASLIN BRUNER To be fair, "A Red Letter Day" fades out way before than Jungle Fire.

[@eletronictoenails]

@@benrichardson5798 so Jungle Fire is A Red Letter Day but expanded?

[@benrichardson5798]

@@eletronictoenails Jungle Fire is the original track made by Zero-G. Later, Kelly Bailey used it for HL2 and he made it fade out early before the end of the original song.

[@commodore7331]

thats why it isnt included in the sound track and has never been attributed to kelly bailey by valve. it's simply used as a stock sound effect.

[@MrGrimmXM8]

"Is That The Door?" will never cease to freak me right the fuck out.

[@FrankBlaskovich]

the title is so ominous too

[@provenancemachining]

It's funny how some of these OSTs were almost completely unedited from their source samples. This was pretty common practice in the mid-90s to early 2000s, back when many of these companies were running on tight budgets and needed to save wherever they could.

[@beebfajeejy]

not only music, but textures and art assets too! there's been a lot of work in recent years on tracking down the texture pack CDs that a lot of the original textures used in Super Mario 64 came from.

[@a10sin36]

there's a lot of brian eno samples on the original fallout soundtrack

[@200nutman4]

Finally I know where are from these creepy sounds from "radio".

[@SusieFanK]

5:11 This particular sample has a history of being in awesome games, as it was also used in Postal 1 and in Max Payne

[@subsetgamingyt9524]

5:22 IVE LOVED THIS SOUND FOR YEARS AND IVE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW WHERE IT CAME FROM

[@bigo0723]

Never heard of cuckooland but him and Kelly have more or less basically created the sounds that are permanently sealed in my brain, so cool for that.

[@UCILaGtQaYAh3wnkvg4Rxzqg]

Cuckooland is a British sound design duo comprised of Ian Sanderson & Simon Mills.

[@nonsense909]

Wow cool, thank you! I love to see the origin of soundtracks, it fascinates me. And I also disagree, Kelly Bailey wasn't lazy. Sampling is art for me. Many samples are taken from SFX CD's, like these ones from Zero-G (Never heard from them before...). These are samples you wouldn't hear in the radio etc., so these are hard to find for me. Excellent spotting! :)

[@GoldenPickaxe]

nonsense909 a lot of sonic cd stuff is sampled, some from zero g even

[@dededesgustingtkemylife4825]

@@GoldenPickaxe i still find it funny that sonic and half life share samples

[@MFKitten]

Kelly Bailey not only wasn't lazy, but he was doing industry standard work for the time. Also keep in mind he had to also do the sfx. And if you look at the sound folder for the game, THERE ARE A LOT OF SOUNDS. There's no dragging and dropping to get that stuff knto the game!

[@nolram]

@@MFKittenOh and he also programmed the entire game’s audio engine. And designed the whole Resonance Cascade sequence. And made the entire Half Life : Uplink demo.

[@MFKitten]

@@nolram hell yeah!

[@mank11nd]

The "Is That The Door" sample was also used in Vanishing Point for PS1

[@SetsunaTheFandom]

YES! Precisely, in "Peregone". (First time I heard that sample, it ringed a bell)

[@XanderNiles]

Didn't know the soundscapes had an actual source, where they actually came from. This is neat and nice to know.

[@sabotabo7476]

4:47 something i noticed some time ago is that this same sample (or at least, this same melody) is used in the intro to Lost, a show which half-life seems to have referenced a few times, and in which half-life 1 itself appeared.

[@Dalek22comments]

This is incredible! thank you so much for making these videos. I thought Kelly had been using some crazy spectacular synthesizers from another dimension, when most of it was sample CDs... A lot of people are saying it's lazy but keep in mind back in the 90s romplers (sampled instruments put on synths) and samplers were hideously expensive, and getting your stuff to sound professional was difficult due to low memory and computers not being that powerful. The fact that he handpicked these samples as well as edited and combined them together takes a good ear to do so. One question still remains... How did all these sounds get created in the first place? (also fun fact - within the altered states pack there's a sample which is used in the Max Payne 1 soundtrack!)

[@SpeedySPCFan]

A lot of them are just made through really clever sound design and manipulation. You can do some insane things if you have an ear for how to manipulate a sound or craft one on a synthesizer - take a listen to some of the Motion Synth sounds on the Korg Triton and Trinity, they're crazy

[@SpeedySPCFan]

@@randallN-sw6ee Use whatever works for you. I don't think anyone can recreate the exact sounds made on these sample CDs but you can definitely make your own by manipulating sounds.

[@tycho7006]

Which sample was used in Max Payne?

[@Dalek22comments]

@@tycho7006 'Machine Pulse'

[@atlev]

By the time of HL2's release he sure as hell had an incredible synth rig. That game's non-ambient tracks do not rely on samples very much.

[@StephanS]

Very nice and interesting spotting. The track "Klaxon Beat" features a preset pattern from the Roland MC-303

[@casual_villain]

Gordon Freeman: You hear that? Postal Dude: Thought I was the only one!

[@kn00tcn]

i've heard several doom sounds on random things on tv, the hard part is proving if they sampled doom or if they came from packs

[@nonsense909]

kn00tcn good question, I've the exact same thought :/

[@MondySpartan]

When loaded, the Tau Cannon in Black Mesa Source (Steam version) plays out a sound effect which seems to be also used by Doom for door open sounds

[@charlieking7600]

Keep in mind that Classic Doom is Residence of plagiarism, beginning from music ending messed up art design.

[@Blurns]

The song Pulse Phase is mostly just the song Dark Energy played faster.

[@XRAY81]

Blurns yes

[@GabeMiller2SpoonsOfDoom]

I dont hear it

[@volu9913]

@@GabeMiller2SpoonsOfDoom Load Dark Energy into an audio editor and slow it down by 50%. Then you will be able to hear that Pulse Phase is just a section from this slowed down version.

[@panzermann1181]

4:26 Also heard in the 1999 game _Nocturne._

[@coolborndj]

People shouldn't be mad at Kelly Bailey (and other artists) for sampling. Back in the 90s making those sounds from scratch was not an easy task like it is today, just look at the gear used for making Spectrasonics' "Distorted Reality" and you'll see what I mean, I could make those same sounds nowadays with just free plugins. We need to consider that most of these tracks were used in small sections and on top of that the player would barely notice them.

[@TheGreatestDarn]

People don't understand that musician doesn't equal sound designer. Simply because you can create original musical compositions by your own, doesn't make you an expert in the art of creating sounds. Sampling has been an standard in the industry for decades now for those that just want to skip to the music part.

[@xXblazmodzXx]

I highly recommend anyone that wants to take on horror/thriller soundtrack making to check out Zero-G's libraries. Altered States is honestly the perfect bundle. Comes with all their most popular libraries, including "Ghost in the Machine", which has been used in Tons of things like Half-Life, as shown in this video. I've been using their libraries and man, they're absolutely fantastic starting points, and can also really tie anything together really well. They give off Amazing vibes, especially if you like stuff like Silent Hill and, well. Half-Life! Great stuff!

[@DustyTerrarion]

I'm REALLY sure the Space Ocean samples were also used in Devil May Cry 1. Like, they sound identical to Green Garden's sounds.

[@St_Rizla]

DMC had lots of the samples from this and postal in it

[@DustyTerrarion]

@@St_Rizla Really? I think I only recognized one. Do you know what other samples DmC uses?

[@CubicApocalypse128]

Most of the Citadel ambience was also from Altered States. citadel_drone_loop3.wav, citadel_drone_loop4.wav - Overwhelming Feeling citadel_drone_loop5.wav - Leaving the Gas On citadel_drone_loop6 - Winter Bus Shelter, 45% slower field_loop2 - B-Movie Drug Head citadel_ambient_voices1.wav - One Too Many at the Fete, 40% slower citadel_ambient_scream_loop1.wav - Insect Infestation citadel_hit1_adpcm - Physco Train (sic?) 45% slower Edit: Also, basically all of the citadel_strange_talk sounds are short clips from Winter, One Too Many, or Space Mission. Edit2: Found one more. Edit3: even the AR2 alt-fire sound is from this! Specifically Computachat 2, about 3 seconds in. Edit4: This list is long enough already, but fuck it, let's keep going! The Innsbruck Experiment - samples Trumpet Hole Disrupted Original (not sure where you got the title Self Destruction) - aside from the guitar lick, I'm pretty sure the beat is a heavily filtered version of Dirty Banana 2 Edit5: Found *another* sample in Space Ocean! This time it's Thunder Train Edit6: Train Station 2 (hl2_song27_trainstation2.mp3) - Balancing Act, 48% slower (thanks @Syn)

[@atlev]

Thank you for this!

[@tycho7006]

Damn, that's awesome! I'll have to check those out, thanks!

[@Syn_Host]

Another one! Train Station 2 (hl2_song27_trainstation2.mp3) - Balancing Act 48% slower

[@CubicApocalypse128]

​@@Syn_Host 48% slower? That explains it. I could've sworn it was Balancing Act, but couldn't find the right speed or distortion settings to really confirm it.

[@Syn_Host]

many_pods_loop1_adpcm.wav - Sea Mowing

[@mememaninsertdeadmemehere6382]

One of the sound effects from Half-Life 2 is actually from Malice in Wonderland. The exact sound from that album is one of the Spacy Bleeps sounds.

[@ImpeccableExplanation]

1:40 Those three Space Ocean samples are actually from Zero-G Dream Zone (roughly at the 1h 4min mark of the CD), as well as the sizzling sound at the beginning (1h 1min).

[@ceptor36]

so you're telling me most of the hl2 soundtrack is just a giant cuckooland album 💀

[@Nikku4211]

I actually have a 0G sample library CD myself, bought by my father way before my birth. The one I have isn't in the collection, though, its name is 'Trance Formation'.

[@mfkrmaggot2755]

a track from trance formation is used in the credits music iirc

[@Reshirom-yb5mj]

Military Precision used some of East West's Tekno Industrial for a drum beat around 58 seconds in.

[@memedude8303]

the half life games are like a light hearted horror game.

[@Collision_TN]

The crowbar was a lie

[@norinpony]

I just got an abundance of sounds from the 90s and 00s from Zero G, Spectrasonics, AMG, Roland, etc. and this video was awesome to watch! keep up the good work chief!

[@AwesomeRudi51]

1:34 makes me think of Postal 1 outro song

[@username7663]

yo, i literally had the same thought as i was hearing that. chances are the sound designer literally used that as a sample, which would make a whole lot of sense, seeing as the track "Is That The Door?" can also be heard in postal 1

[@picklesrevenge]

Eerie and nostalgic at the same time. Love this, thanks for sharing! I feel another play-through of the series is needed now thanks to this haha.

[@tajgrstajl]

Awesome work mate.

[@mehephegHANDLEOMGAHHHHH]

THE VALVE THEME ISNT AN ORIGINAL ASSET I AM IN TEARS

[@lionocyborg6030]

I’ve been trying to find the main bit of Adrenaline Horror for a while (the psycho trumpets sounding part). The only other place I know it from was an episode of Lizzie McGuire when the camera pans up to see someone hiding in the auditorium rafters. The beginning of the song is Wild & Free B from the same sound library as Dark Piano short (original sample of that is called Doom Threat).

[@AdHocF1]

Great job, this is excellent!

[@Velvetic]

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

[@leadersofthenewschool]

omfg i wish this was up on the pirate bay... but nevertheless i'll buy it. i'm a huge soundophile

[@CodyDBuni]

Samples used in Max Payne when?

[@PieroMinayaRojas]

Good idea

[@MaximBG]

Is that the Door…

[@MAGNUSWAKERS]

"Machine Pulse" in Ms. Valykir

[@szykero]

Didn't know Postal 1/Redux and Half-Life 2 share the same sample. Good to know and also kinda weird.

[@lionocyborg6030]

Mike and Dave: “Someone stole our doughnuts and now you’re all gonna pay!”

[@streylok439]

The valve theme is a SAMPLE? the FUCK

[@napesok]

Zero-G fucking legend of ambient

[@sabotabo7476]

i was watching fear factor the other day and i heard several of these sounds in one episode

[@troidord]

corrections: Deep sea atmos is from dream zone the deep is from dream zone ominous sea cave is from dream zone the valve theme didnt use smashing 2 (if i heard it correctly) and smashing 2 is not in cuckooland ambience bamboo is from cuckooland ambience the song at 5:24 is actually called disrupted original the frost sample was not actually used for cavern ambience. it was atmos snare from zero g's electric dreams

[@pass9786]

where is smashing 2 from

[@troidord]

@@pass9786 i think they used some spectrasonics distorted reality jungle kit thingy

[@pass9786]

@@troidord do you remember what it's called?

[@troidord]

@@pass9786 its from the raveland rye folder. samples are: JUNGLE GHOST, JUNGLES A AD , JUNGLES A AC

[@pass9786]

@@troidord i checked the files but they don't sound like smashing 2

[@Isaacfess]

Nice one dude, Subbed.

[@SHPIDEN]

so now we know where did "radio.mp3" come from. Great video!

[@Velvetic]

Thanks man! Some people (myself included) already knew this.

[@cozmolikeytrainz]

I think that that funky synth sound and drums in Diabolical Adrenaline Guitar (Lambda Core in hl2) are samples, but i forgot the names.

[@TheAngryAstronomer]

Instant like and sub. Well done good sir.

[@MagnusMFX]

Now I have come to repeatedly listen to “Jungle Fire”

[@missepicmandy]

I also found recently some sounds from red alert 1 on some old akai cd. What freaks me out is how heavily the producers relied on sampling

[@julnenmusic]

Wow Velvetic, great moves. Keep it up. Proud of you.

[@Velvetic]

Mmmmmmmmm mmmmmm CREAMY!

[@JODI606]

amazing video

[@scottriddell3514]

I love the abyss of this

[@sofacus2.052]

nice video bro, also nice bandcamp

[@user-kp3ul9dq1u]

thx, good job!

[@RMT0615]

1:34 I'm 75% sure that this was also used in postal 1

[@sabianmateinnit]

I hate Radio (HL2). Gives me the chills.

[@IX_TheHermit]

They used the same sample that running with scissors used on Postal 1 (is that the door?)

[@Zylon1337ROBLOX]

oh that must be why it felt so familiar to me

[@gordonfreeman162]

Can you do a vid on Opposing Force OST?

[@kizufgsfds]

damn you need way more subs and views

[@makarylli1]

4:09 Is The Best!

[@mercuryfulmina]

you made a hell of a job

[@Velvetic]

1k views already? Wow, thanks guys!

[@srredfire]

Saw this the other day, went and bought the pack. Some really cool samples in there, not to mention very neat to hear the raw ones that Kelly used. Cheers for the video.

[@Velvetic]

Glad you enjoyed it! I'm already gathering some more samples for a 'Part II', stay tuned!

[@srredfire]

I'm too lazy to check but it sounds like "Dungeon Trampoline" in Horror from Atmospheres 2 was one of the city tones or something from Half-Life 2. I don't think it's was part of the soundtrack per say, but I'm pretty sure it was in the game.

[@Velvetic]

I already have that sample on my list, the sample is used in 'Trainstation PT. 1'.

[@stas7che]

And what source of this track 5:44 ? Do you know?

[@Dalek22comments]

Another fun fact: I found out one of the SFX from Half-Life are from sounddogs.com as well - this also applies to Max Payne 1 as well.

[@Dalek22comments]

sprayer.wav pl_fallpain1.wav doormove6.wav doorstop6.wav bodysplat.wav bodydrop3.wav The title of these audio files are 'unnamed' so they're a little easier to spot when searching for sounddog specific ones.

[@Dalek22comments]

I didnt, in the 'details' tab of those files under copyright line it says: 'Sounds Copyrighted by Sound Dogs'.

[@someperson4536]

i found out the techno beats at the start of diabolical adrenaline guitar is used in devil may cry 1 (nightmare battle) at around 0:21

[@HammerBros235]

Wish this would get trending so people can watch this stuff.

[@sweetwheatsy]

Concerning the rest of the track "Self Destruction", does anyone know the other samples used there? 'cause at one point, there's a very distinct sample being played that is the same used in the bossfight versus Leonard Wolfe

[@CaptainReynolds-flyinspace]

I watch 3th season of Babylon 5 and found few ambient sounds, that i hear in HL2))

[@SquidySaurus]

The is pretty cool!

[@vulgerstal]

Half-Life 2 (2003-2004 production ) has a music fragment from 28 Days Later (2001-2002 production ) : (there's a TV set in the game, and a moment in the film when protagonist wandering in his house) . About the video, on 3:23 now, - so far, the consequences of cascade sound absolutely exactly like those excerpts

[@vulgerstal]

Oh, it's here on 5:00

[@lointmoint6703]

Zero G *exist* Kelly bailey: MINE

[@malcolmkoharian]

OOT also used samples like this

[@PieroMinayaRojas]

What about the screams in the citadel?

[@butterdogestarwars6709]

Piero Minaya Rojas Also stock sounds, I think I read somewhere that they were from the same sound pack as the radio music.

[@user-kb1su7mg1g]

@@butterdogestarwars6709 yeah! it's called infestation... something, but its part of the altered states bundle pack which is now 55% off. grab it as soon as you can

[@bathshebahubber614]

damn zero g made the caretaker-type music before it was cool

[@vlagamer3440]

5:10 No day in the park. Too much of the blood on me is mine. But the day is not done, and I’ve miles to go to make them sleep…Peanuts anyone?

[@hyperborea3]

Central Park intesifies

[@ATRips]

I wish someone could provide a download link for the altered states like MediaFire or Google drjve

[@thewizard2390]

Has anyone figured out what sound samples are used in opposing force?

[@somepersonyouhavenoassocia1856]

What's the music at the beginning? Edit 1 yr later: took me a year to find out it's "Sirens in the distance"

[@screamsinrussian5773]

the font is barely readable, please make it at least slightly thicker. also add periods, cheers. great video though.

[@olzhas1one755]

a.d.d.p.e.r.i.o.d.s.p.l.e.a.s.e.

[@UCILaGtQaYAh3wnkvg4Rxzqg]

I can read it fine. You probably need glasses.

[@screamsinrussian5773]

@@UCILaGtQaYAh3wnkvg4Rxzqg no

[@webstermaximumspeed28]

What? Why wasn't I told?

[@Vistalgia]

You are the orange to my blue.

[@user-kb1su7mg1g]

weird?

[@_a_curious_robot]

What about the credits music??

[@bl9211]

Someone buy it and can you tell me if all the half life's samples are present ? Thank you for all this work !

[@ShoHidari]

Isn't that Bamboo one used in Zelda OOT?

[@geosmindonothack9699]

"Smashing 2" from Album?

[@elenariverarodriguez8492]

Hibbie A, which Doodle Do Song samples This songs

[@masondiaz9512]

Is there any chance I could have a download link to "Jungle Fire"? I really want that file but I don't want to pay 41.99 for just one sound, and I only want to have it for personal use.

[@GabeMiller2SpoonsOfDoom]

Same, I want it too

[@CubicApocalypse128]

It's on the HL2 soundtrack as Red Letter Day.

[@UCILaGtQaYAh3wnkvg4Rxzqg]

Sadly I don’t think they sell Ambience anymore.

[@burakkartoflany7613]

still dont know if half life 1 credits music is sample or not... i heard that in south park at least twice

[@MaximG.]

Interesting fact - "Fate" from Devil May Cry OST used same samples as "Space Ocean". For some time I though DMC composer just outright copied this track.

[@Viviana088]

You mean the one soundtrack that plays during the Garden before the 2nd Nelo (Nero) Angelo fight? Edit: The sound track is actually called "Green Garden"

[@leo_misha]

Nepal Monastery?

[@cindyharry1201]

Upload Zero-G UNHINGED into google drive or mega. Pretty PLEASE!

[@sabianmateinnit]

What font did you use?

[@metalboozyjupiter6474]

In his video on postal's samples, someone else asked the same thing and he said "Futura Light," I know this is old but I couldn't let this go unanswered...

[@Landserr]

i want this one so bad 1:10

[@PieroMinayaRojas]

Would be cool if you did this for Max Payne

[@randyharry3836]

Cuckooland Ambience Download Please 🥺

[@PanMannYT]

Fascinating, also the font is really hard to read

[@user-kb1su7mg1g]

its not maybe learn english

[@PanMannYT]

@@user-kb1su7mg1g says a russian person

[@user-kb1su7mg1g]

@@PanMannYT I live in England. its not hard to read its really easy you just have to learn lol

[@PanMannYT]

@@user-kb1su7mg1g oh, alright, it’s just I have a 4:3 monitor and I have trouble reading thin text

[@XRAY81]

Also Kelly Bailed used FL Studio's old version (i don't know 6 or something) to make the soundtracks.

[@Dalek22comments]

FL Studio 6 came out in December 2005?

[@kn00tcn]

i started on 3 around 2003

[@MAGNUSWAKERS]

Didnt he use GoldWave and Sonic Forge to compose?

[@MagnusMFX]

What is the bpm of 3:22 and what was it changed to thereafter?

[@user-kb1su7mg1g]

90 then after: perhaps 85

[@MagnusMFX]

@@user-kb1su7mg1g Ah! Thanksss

[@thecleric0]

Ótimo

[@tajgrstajl]

I want the smaples for my phone

[@MAGNUSWAKERS]

Any specific one? Just asking... ;)