The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe

The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe
Album:	Halo: Original Soundtrack
Composer(s):	Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori
Length:	02:26
Previous:	Ambient Wonder
Next:	Trace Amounts

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

Overview

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.

Appearances

The track can be heard:

• In the level Halo, when John-117 finds the last group of Marines in the Forerunner structures.
• In the level The Silent Cartographer, when John-117 comes to the Cartographer building for the first time.
• In the level Assault on the Control Room, briefly when John first commandeers an M808B Scorpion, when he encounters the tunnel entrance guarded by two Type-26 Wraiths, and when he battles the Plasma Rifle-wielding Sangheili Zealot.
• In the level 343 Guilty Spark, when John and the Marines are leaving the Flood containment facility.
• In the level Keyes, when Captain Keyes orders John and Cortana to pull out.
• In the level The Maw, while the John blows up the engines of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn

Reorchestrated versions

It is reorchestrated into the following:

• Into the Breach of More Than His Share as a remix in the Halo 3: ODST Original Soundtrack.
• Unless You Mean to Shoot in the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Original Soundtrack.

Trivia

• 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 section 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?", and O'Donnell later implied that the piece did not survive the test of time.

Production notes

• 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:
  • E-MU Proteus 2000:
    • Protozoa ROM - 008-3 P3/Percussion 1 (Ethnic percussion)