Real World

The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe

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The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe

Album:

Halo: Original Soundtrack

Composer(s):

Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori

Length:

2:26

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Ambient Wonder

Next:

Trace Amounts

 

The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe is the eighth track in Halo: Original Soundtrack.

Overview[edit]

It is composed nearly entirely of percussion, only having a deep bass note towards the middle of the piece and some vocals at the end of the piece. The rest of the sound is produced by a combination of drums, auxiliary percussion and hand-clapping, which is usually unheard of in many tracks written for Halo.

The piece was primarily written by Michael Salvatori with additions from Martin O'Donnell.[1]

Appearances[edit]

The track can be heard:

Arrangements[edit]

The track has been arranged into the following:

Production notes[edit]

  • The percussion in this track is similar to a rhythm motif that reoccurs in the soundtracks for Myth and Myth II, including The Watcher, Into The Breach (which coincidentally, is also the name of a Halo 3: ODST track), A Murder Of Crows and The Wall.
  • The continuing rhythm which plays for the entire length of the track is based on an onboard factory audition sequence from the E-MU Protozoa expansion for the Proteus 2000 synthesizer.
  • The track uses the following instruments and patches/samples:[2]
    • E-MU Proteus 2000:
      • Protozoa ROM - 008-3 P3/Percussion 1 (Ethnic percussion)
    • Kurzweil K2500X
      • 118 Cathedral Choir
  • The name of the soundtrack is most likely in reference to the Halo Array, as its near activation can be interpreted as a "Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe". The phrase is also that of the first chapter title of the level Two Betrayals.
  • Martin O'Donnell produced a variation of the piece utilizing hip-hop beats, but the piece was cut from the game. The piece was retroactively named "Seriously?",[3] and O'Donnell later implied that the piece did not survive the test of time.[4]

Sources[edit]