Music & Sound

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The Black Mesa Official Soundtrack

The Black Mesa OST features 30 tracks (50 min. lenght) composed by Joel Nielsen and it was released on September 2, 2012 [1], two weeks prior the mod release.

"After seven years, hundreds of hours and too many song revisions to count, the Black Mesa Soundtrack is finally released. Faced with the impossible task of creating a soundtrack that will pay homage to Half Life 1 and the millions of fans worldwide, I have made production choices that some will most likely question. From a slightly different perspective, I have tried to bring what I feel is the essence of Half Life, to Black Mesa.

I had no prior experience composing soundtracks. Creating the sound effects was a challenge all on its own, but the music was a far greater task than I initially anticipated. Luckily for me, the lengthy development cycle gave me time to learn and experiment with a lot of different ideas.

I wanted to try new musical genres and styles in Black Mesa, while still maintaining a Half Life "feel". A few song re-makes were attempted, but there is no point in re-making something that is already a classic. I know I risk much composing a soundtrack so different, but I am hoping the community will come to like it almost as much as the original." (Joel Nielsen) [2]

Track List

(All tracks can be downloaded at the composer's website)

	#	Track Name	Description / Composer Comments
	1	Anomalous Materials	Plays after wearing the HEV Suit.
	2	Apprehension (Mesa Remix)	Plays its first half in the pistons and the second half when dragged by soldiers.
	3	Blast Pit 1	Plays when first witnessing the silo.
	4	Blast Pit 2 (Mesa Remix)	Plays after turning on the power generator.
	5	Blast Pit 3	Plays when returning to the main tentacle area after turning on the power, fuel and oxygen.
	6	End Credits Part 1	During the credits.
	7	End Credits Part 2	During the credits.
	8	Forget About Freeman	Plays upon rising from the sewers to the battle with the M1A1 Abrams.
	9	Inbound Part 1	Plays at the first map of Black Mesa Inbound.
	10	Inbound Part 2	Plays at the second map of Black Mesa Inbound.
	11	Inbound Part 3	Plays at the third map of Black Mesa Inbound.
	12	Lambda Core	Plays when descending the platform with the truck.
	13	Office Complex (Mesa Remix)	Plays when entering the freezer.
	14	On a Rail 1	Plays while the first turntable in OaR descends.
	15	On a Rail 2	Plays at the launch pad battling the soldiers.
	16	Power Up	Plays upon killing the Gargantua.
	17	Questionable Ethics 1	Plays when the soldiers ambush at the lobby.
	18	Questionable Ethics 2	Plays upon obtaining the Tau Cannon.
	19	Residue Processing	Plays at the inner parts of the facility. Mixed in 2006 and originally called "Black Mesa Teaser Trailer". This track was featured in the Teaser. "The Black Mesa ModDB teaser trailer in all its high res glory."[3].
	20	Surface Tension 1	Plays its first half at the dam and the other half with the chopper battle on the cliffsides.
	21	Surface Tension 2	Plays upon witnessing the harriers flying by and the cliffside vista.
	22	Surface Tension 3	Plays its first half in the snark vents and its second half upon seeing the Gargantua. Mixed in 2008 and originally called "Black Mesa Trailer 2", it was featured in the Official Trailer. "It's been a very busy last couple months, but finally our Black Mesa team has released a brand new trailer. I mixed together a new music track and a bunch of the ingame sound effects to give everyone a bit of a taste of what it will be like." [4]
	23	Surface Tension 4	Plays when seeing the inner part of the warehouse filled with tripmines.
	24	Unforeseen Consequences	Plays when descending the lift with headcrabs going down.
	25	We've Got Hostiles	Plays at the lift ascending to the topside.
	26	Black Mesa Theme (Mesa Remix)	Plays after the resonance cascade.
	27	Black Mesa Theme	Not used in-game.
	28	Apprehension	Not used in-game.
	29	Blast Pit 2	Not used in-game.
	30	Office Complex	Not used in-game.

Early/Cut Samples

Some early renditions of the Black Mesa Soundtrack:

• Demo 3: Featured in the video "Early Trailer Test" with the map Crossfire.

• Demo 5 (2005 - 2006): A very early version of which later turned to be the We've Got Hostiles theme. [5]

• On A Rail - Old Track (2012): Old On A Rail track which wasn't used in the final version of the soundtrack. [6]

• Surface Tension Theme: Renamed to "Surface Tension 1" in the final mix.

• WGH Topside: Renamed to "We've Got Hostiles" in the final mix.

• Anomalous Materials

• Blast Pit: Renamed to "Office Complex" in the final mix.

• End Credits (part 2)

Sound effects and ambient sounds

• Joel Nielsen replaced most if not all hit sounds [7]
• The ambient/environment noise folder alone is about a 1 gig. [8]
• Jumping and landing on surfaces sound different for different materials (Jumping on a solid metal box will sound different than a hollow box). Many of the foot step sounds are also being replaced. [9]

Single-Player

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