Soundtrack Titles

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

I’d just like to say that, after deep consideration, I really love Black Mesa. It’s clear that a ton of manpower was put into creating it, and the end product, despite any flaws, still shines through. I think all reasonable people can agree on that. Furthermore, I think we can all agree that Joel Nielsen’s soundtrack was among Black Mesa’s best qualities.

However, I have one objection to his soundtrack - and that would be the titles of the songs. With the exception of “Black Mesa Theme” and “Black Mesa End Credits”, all of the tracks are simply named after the chapters in which they are present. While this is descriptive, I suppose, I’ve always been impressed by the track titles in the Half-Life series. For your consideration, I present to you my retitled version of Black Mesa’s soundtrack. I don’t have anything nearly as clever as CP Violation on there, but I did my best. I would further suggest that anyone else with creative ideas for new track titles post them in this thread. This is just a fun thread, nothing more, nothing less. :slight_smile:

Inbound 1-3 => Uncertainty 1-3
Anomalous Materials => Proper Precautions
Black Mesa Theme => Destroyer Of Worlds
Unforeseen Consequences => Wedge Maneuver
Office Complex => Dry Ice
We’ve Got Hostiles => Occam’s Razor
Blast Pit 1 => Echoes From Afar
Blast Pit 2 => Problem Solving
Blast Pit 3 => Rocket Opera
Power Up => Transcendent Futility
On A Rail 1 => Track Trek
On A Rail 2 => He Will Pay
Apprehension => Shipwreck On Land
Residue Processing => Recovery
Questionable Ethics 1 => Arrogance Through Ignorance
Questionable Ethics 2 => Superior Orders
Surface Tension 1 => Overflow
Surface Tension 2 => Stop And Vertigo
Surface Tension 3 => Unanticipated Cluster
Surface Tension 4 => Lines In Space
Forget About Freeman => Eyes Look Your Last
Lambda Core => Contaminated Sanctuary

I’ll decline to name the two end credit tracks because Xen hasn’t come out yet, so their final context is still up in the air.

#2

If anyone comes up with better titles, try to use more abstract terms like the tracks in Half-Life and Half-Life 2. “Slow Light”, “Pulse Phase”, “Entanglement”, “Miscount Detected”, to say a few. Or simpler ones like “Nova Prospekt”, “Ravenholm Reprise”, or “Calabi-Yau Model”.

There are also some ambient tracks not on the official album but can be heard in the game and can be obtained through the game’s sound files. If anyone can come up with names for those too…

#3

This post is a good reference for this thread too.

For the ambient tracks, here are my initial suggestions.
Ambiance One (UC box room): One Giant Leap (for mankind)
Ambiance Two (WGH end scientist): Idea of Containment
Ambiance Three (LC pre-reactor): Coolant Reservoir
Ambiance Four (PU at wounded guard): Combustion
Ambiance Five (BP start elevator): Descent into Madness
Ambiance Six (BP radioactive elevator): Decay Velocity
Ambiance Seven (BP fan shaft ladder): Air Pressure
Ambiance Eight (QE grunt display): Technical Malpractice

And some suggestions for existing names:
Surface Tension 2: Vertical Vertigo
Anomalous Materials: They’re waiting for you
Blast Pit 2: Potential Dynamics
Residue Processing: Contaminated Sanitation

OR
Anomalous Materials: These ridiculous ties
:smiley:

#4

Why don’t you message this to Joel :wink: This are actually well thought I think he might consider them. Also maybe Inbound should be called: “Big day” though I don’t remember hearing lines of “big day today” like it was in half life.

#5

My suggestions:
Inbound 1-3: Dislocation
Anomalous Materials: Impulse Shift
Black Mesa Theme: Decade of Decay
Musical Ambience One: Quantum Leap
Unforeseen Consequences: Potential Hazard
Office Complex: Freon Ducts
We’ve Got Hostiles: The Topside Blitz
Musical Ambience 2: Verdicts of Truth
Blast Pit 1: Abyssal Echoes
Blast Pit 2: Centrifugal Currents
Blast Pit 3: Adrenaline Rush
Power Up: Conductive Discharge
Musical Ambience 4: Faults at Despair
On A Rail 1: Caverns of Perplexity
On A Rail 2: Ground Zero
Apprehension: Interference
Residue Processing: Momentum Mechanics
Musical Ambience 8: Cognitive Dissonance
Questionable Ethics 1: Military Tactics
Questionable Ethics 2: Energy Reflux
Surface Tension 1: Disequilibrium
Surface Tension 3: Terror Pursuit
Surface Tension 4: Safety Precautions
Forget About Freeman: The Final Frontier
Lambda Core: Distorted Haven
Musical Ambience 3: Extraterrestrial Premonition

I liked Vertical Vertigo for ST2.

#6

Totally forgot about the other piece that plays during Apprehension. When Gordon is knocked out and taken to the trash compactor.

My first idea is Foreboding Chill

#7

why not just ‘chill’?

Then again, I think it might be cool to name all the tracks with a single word.

But that is just me.

#8

I’ve always been a fan of the single-word name. Most Half-Life series songs have several words in their names, though.

#9

Sent to Joel as per suggestion! :slight_smile: Also, my only one-word title was Overflow. I should do titles for the ambiances.

EDIT: Here are my titles! :slight_smile: The Musical Ambiance tracks are all really good, now that I’m listening to them sans game context. Wish they were in the main soundtrack.

Musical Ambiance 1 - Math Haiku
Musical Ambiance 2 - Purposiveness
Musical Ambiance 5 - Xen On Earth
Musical Ambiance 6 - Flickering Fights
Musical Ambiance 7 - Ancient Burial Grounds
Musical Ambiance 4 - Spiked IV
Musical Ambiance 8 - It Can’t Happen Here
Musical Ambiance 3 - Behavior While Cornered

EDIT 2: And, as a bonus:

On A Rail 2 (Original) - Vicious Cycle

#10

Bumping this thread because I’d love to see this discussed more and because I came up with a list of soundtrack titles. Note that I’ve used some already mentioned names and for others I didn’t change the name at all. I’ve tried my best to stick to the conventions that HL and HL2 set with their song titles.

Black Mesa Theme - Black Mesa Theme
Inbound 1 - 8:47 a.m.
Inbound 2 - Inbound
Inbound 3 - Equal Opportunity
Anomalous Materials - HEV mk. IV
Black Mesa Remix - Aftermath of a Resonance Cascade
Unforeseen Consequences - Headcrab
Misc. 1 - Quantum Leap
Office Complex - Dry Ice
We’ve Got Hostiles! - Occam’s Razor
Misc. 2 - Idea of Containment
Misc. 5 - Descending Order
Blast Pit 1 - Echoes From Afar
Misc. 6 - Air Pressure
Misc. 7 - Radioaction
Blast Pit 2 - Churning Energy
Blast Pit 3 - Rocket Opera
Misc. 4 - Combustion
Power Up - Power Up
On a Rail 1 - Old Rail System
Year of Death - Year of Death
Lights Out - Lights Out
Dark Skies - Dark Skies
On a Rail 2 - Ground Zero
Apprehension (remix) - Apprehension
Apprehension (original) - Event Horizon
Residue Processing - Second Law of Thermodynamics
Misc. 8 - Morality Decay
Questionable Ethics 2 - U-235 Ricochet
Questionable Ethics 1 - Military Tactics
Surface Tension 1 - Surface Tension
Surface Tension 2 - Vertical Vertigo
Surface Tension 4 - Isometric Algorithms
On a Rail old - Vicious Cycle
Surface Tension 3 - Fight or Flight
Forget About Freeman - Last Ditch Effort
Lambda Core - Lambda Reactor Complex
Misc. 3 - Coolant Reservoir

#11

I think the “Misc. 3” song plays again when you get to the supply depot in Lambda Core.

#12

Yep. That and Surface Tension 1 are the only songs in the entire soundtrack that play in more than one spot in the game.

#13

Surface Tension 1 doesn’t quite play twice. It plays the 1st half once at the dam and the 2nd half later at the chopper battle.

#14

can somebody explain to me this?

(for reference, listen to “Residue Processing” song)

#15

This Black Mesa trailer came out in 2008, two years before the release of that game. My guess is that whoever did the soundtrack just took the percussion from Residue Processing and used it for that song. I think it’s important to note that apart from that, that song sounds only vaguely similar to Residue Processing.

#16

i would not have brought it up just because of similar precussion, i also noticed both songs share that “windy breath fade-in” sound

#17

Here’s my titles. I’m recycling a lot of already-used titles, but I came up with a few of them myself. Also, I came up with different titles where a song plays in several parts at different points.* Black Mesa Theme - Black Mesa Theme

  • Black Mesa Inbound Part 1 - Dislocation
  • Black Mesa Inbound Part 2 - Uncertainty
  • Black Mesa Inbound Part 3 - Equal Opportunity
  • Anomalous Materials - Proper Precautions
  • Black Mesa Theme (Mesa Remix) - Aftermath of a Resonance Cascade
  • Unforeseen Consequences - Take Up Arms
  • Misc. 1 - Quantum Leap
  • Office Complex (Mesa Remix) - Dry Ice
  • “We’ve Got Hostiles!” - Ockham’s Razor
  • Misc. 2 - Idea of Containment
  • Misc. 5 - Descending Order
  • Blast Pit 1 - Echoes From Afar
  • Misc. 6 - Air Pressure
  • Misc. 7 - Decay Velocity
  • Blast Pit 2 (Mesa Remix) - Churning Energy
  • Blast Pit 3 - Rocket Opera
  • Misc. 4 - Combustion
  • Power Up - Conductive Discharge
  • On a Rail 1 - Old Rail System
  • Year of Death - Year of Death
  • Lights Out - Lights Out
  • Dark Skies - Dark Skies
  • On a Rail 2 - Ground Zero
  • Apprehension (Mesa Remix) 1 (Plays at the crusher scene) - Shipwreck on Land
  • Apprehension (Mesa Remix) 2 (plays upon being knocked out. Only the beginning is heard) - Interference
  • Apprehension (original) (Plays while being dragged to the compactor) - Foreboding Chill
  • Residue Processing - Contaminated Sanitation
  • Misc. 8 - Morality Decay
  • Questionable Ethics 2 - Superior Orders
  • Questionable Ethics 1 - Military Tactics
  • Surface Tension 1: Part 1 (Dam Scene) - Overflow
  • Surface Tension 2 - Vertical Vertigo
  • Surface Tension 1: Part 2 (Boeing Assault Helicopter-64 Apache Chopper Battle) - Disequilibrium
  • Surface Tension 4 - Isometric Algorithms
  • On a Rail old (Surface Tension Aliens versus Marines fight with the Alien Craft blowing up the M1 Abrams) - Vicious Cycle
  • Surface Tension 3: Part 1 (Snark Vent) - Unanticipated Cluster
  • Surface Tension 3: Part 2 (Gargantua Chase) - Terror Pursuit
  • “Forget About Freeman!” - Last Ditch Effort
  • Lambda Core - Unsafe Haven
  • Misc. 3 - Extraterrestrial Premonition (upon getting to the reactor complex & upon reaching the Supply depot)
#18

I wanted to bump this four-year-old topic for a couple reasons. Namely, I wanted to revisit it because I’ve given some recent thought on soundtrack titles (especially since some new songs have been added since this thread’s lifetime), and also kinda draw attention to it. On an aside note, I’ve just completed a four year physics degree (and am moving on for a doctorates), and I’ve been exposed to many physical concepts in that time. My revised song list will more or less reflect this. I also revisited some song titles that I realized were redundant or, quite frankly, didn’t make too much sense to me.

Black Mesa Theme - Black Mesa Theme
Gamestartup1 - Ominous Opportunities
Gamestartup2 - Systematic Uncertainty
Inbound 1 - 8:47 a.m.
Inbound 2 - Inbound
Inbound 3 - Equal Opportunity
Anomalous Materials - HEV mk. IV
Black Mesa Remix - Aftermath of a Resonance Cascade
Unforeseen Consequences - Wedge Maneuver
Misc. 1 - Leaps and Bounds
Office Complex - Dry Ice
We’ve Got Hostiles! - Occam’s Razor
Misc. 2 - Idea of Containment
Misc. 5 - Descending Order
Blast Pit 1 - Rocket Test Labs
Misc. 6 - Air Pressure
Misc. 7 - Photoelectric Effect
Blast Pit 2 - Faraday’s Law
Blast Pit 3 - Rocket Opera
Misc. 4 - Combustion
Power Up - Power Up
On a Rail 1 - Old Rail System
Year of Death - Year of Death
Lights Out - Lights Out
Dark Skies - Dark Skies
On a Rail 2 - Ground Zero
Apprehension (remix) - Apprehension
Apprehension (original) - Event Horizon
Residue Processing - Unwanted Contaminants
Misc. 8 - Ethical Standards
Questionable Ethics 2 - Deep Inelastic Scattering
Questionable Ethics 1 - Military Tactics
Surface Tension 1 - Surface Tension
Surface Tension 2 - Cliffside Vertigo
Surface Tension 4 - Feynman Diagrams
Surface Tension Uncut - Maximal Entropy
Surface Tension 3 - Fight or Flight
Forget About Freeman - Last Ditch Effort
Lambda Core - Lambda Reactor Complex
Misc. 3 - Coolant Reservoir
End Credits - End Credits

It’s also probable that this topic will get bumped again once Xen comes out and we see what songs are contained therein.

#19

Thought I’d chime in. These are some titles I’ve thought of a while back.

BMS Theme - Years of Development

Inbound 1 - Black Mesa Inbound

inbound 2 - delayed

inbound 3 - running late

Anomalous materials - HEV

BMS Theme remix - We tried to warn them

ambiance 1 - system crash

ambiance 2 - back online

Unforeseen consequences

Office Complex

ambiance 3 - lurker

Office Complex remix - cold

We’ve got hostiles - Our own race turned against us

Blast Pit 1 - so much for the government

Blast pit 2 - Decaying Depths

Blast Pit 2 remix - Radioactive depths

Blast Pit

ambiance 4 - in the pipes

Power Up

On a Rail

ambiance 5 - dying machine

ambiance 6 - empty tunnels

On a Rail 2 - area secure

On a rail unused - Surrender Freeman

Apprehension - Off the rails

Apprehension remix - Flooded

ambiance 7 - haunted facility

Residue Processing

ambiance 8 - pulse

Questionable Ethics 2 - Just a Prototype

Questionable Ethics 1 - Too Easy

Surface Tension

Surface Tension 2 - The Valve is Missing

Surface Tension 4 - Extreme Caution

Surface Tension uncut - Losing Battle

Surface Tension 3 - Get Below

Forget about Freeman

Lambda Core

Credits 1 - Through the Portal

Credits 2 - Into The Void

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.