This thread is about Portal-inspired background music that can be used in your custom maps.

So far today I have made six tracks and I plan on making some more this weekend. If you have any requests or suggestions for new tracks I'll take them into account - such as if you want a song to be faster, have a beat, be distorted, be more melodic, be more or less droning, sound like a corporate product video, be happy(?!) or whatever else you can think of.

The music in Portal was extremely sparse, often only one sound, as it was simply for setting the mood. With that in mind I have tried to do a bit more (omg, two sounds at the same time? poppycock!).

Feel free to use the music in your Portal maps. Please credit the music to The Hamster Alliance.

Here's the music::

All 15 songs in one RAR file:

1. Lost Chambers - deep drone / hollow melody / synthetic strings

2. Full-Time Employee - undulating bass / dark swirling saw synth

3. Required Test Protocol - Repetitious synth hit / steady clicking / mangled GLaDOS voice ambience / deep bass swell

4. Where Am I? - twofer: part 1: "servo-like" synth / heartbeat / ambiance - part 2: calming synth strings / pulsating bass / distorted drums

5. System Error - loud droning bass / swirling ambiance / glitches

6. High-Energy Pellet - nostalgic "science-video" synth / no melody / undulating "electric hum" bass

- Updated 11/18/2007 -

1. It's The Future - really short / retro-futuristic glistening of wonderment. wow...look at all this science...this is the future.

2. Don't Talk About Portal Club - Fight Club style / Super-Deep Bass / minimalistic analog beat / wandering synth lead

3. Live Fire - Action-Packed music good for timed-goals and lots of turrets in a room / cinematic while still being minimal and mostly percussionless.

- Updated 11/22/2007 -

1. The Cake Is A Lie - Sad swelling melodies / melancholy atmosphere / pumping bass

2. Endless Chamber - Drone zone (no real melody) / Steady pulsating bass / minimalistic madness floating about.

3. Stress Free Environment - Synthetic-Mechanical atmosphere / static / a kind of industrial factory vibe...pumps, pistons and other machinery.

- Updated 11/23/2007 -

1. They Should Have Sent A Theoretical Physicist... - This is a pretty "look at all this science" one / very cinematic / epic boom drum / buzzy bass / Cascading synth string melody

2. Tunneling Deeper - Deep dark atmosphere. This one's extremely sparse. Sounds almost like the swelling of a ship with a sci-fi element.

3. Contemplation In Silence - machinery hum / very melancholy melody

Let me know what you think.

I'm sure to credit you if I use one of your tunes, you should request that of people who use your stuff

Artesia wrote:
brilliant!

I'm sure to credit you if I use one of your tunes, you should request that of people who use your stuff

Haha, yeah - I just updated the wording in my original post. Not sure why I stated it as a suggestion rather than a requirement the first time, I never do that!

Where Am I? is my favourite.

Edit: Oh yeah! One kind of tune which seems to be missing is some sort of "high tension" tune like 4000 Degrees Kelvin. The kind of tune that really accentuates that feeling of "oh shit oh shit oh shit I'm so screwed".

Korjagun wrote:
May I suggest releasing the tunes under one of the official Creative Commons licenses? It would surely help everyone, both in terms of making sure the license is unambiguous and providing further exposure for you and your work. The tunes are quite nice, and the sound fits great with the overall feel of Portal.

All of my work is under a Creative Commons license - check my homepage.

I've done a blanket registration for all music by THA.

espen180 wrote:
System error sounds very right for me. Well, it depends on if your music can compare with the works of Irrational Games or Looking Glass Studios.

oh noes, comparisons!

hamsteralliance wrote:
All of my work is under a Creative Commons license - check my homepage.

Wonderful! It wasn't clear from the original post, so I thought I'd bring it up. Thanks a lot.

Duffedwaffe wrote:
Mind if I use System Error?

hamsteralliance wrote:
Feel free to use the music in your Portal maps. Please credit the music to The Hamster Alliance.

Trying to imagine a wide variety of Portal situations to assist anyone wanting to break the mold.

Aside from the boss fight and the original Portal trailer I don't recall any areas in Portal that had a strict time limit. Live Fire is for such a room where you will die if you don't figure it out fast enough.

It's The Future is more retro-futuristic science cheese. Good for a light-hearted theme. A really short mood setter.

Portal Club might be good for a chamber that has more of an intro and setup than just dropping you into the chamber...such as actually having to travel through some offices and through some facilities (cube building factory?) before dropping into a test chamber.

Ideas. Ideas. Ideas...

My favorite is "The Lost Chambers," followed closely by the first movement of "Where Am I?"

Hey, random idea: have you thought of doing a remix in this style of the song from the clock radio, or of "Still Alive"? (You'd probably have to tone down or remove the vocals, I dunno...)

msleeper wrote:
RAR it all up, make a new thread (or edit this one's subject) with a link to the file in the Download DB, and that's Release material if I'd say so.

This thread can be renamed and moved - I see no problem with that.

As for the RAR and download database, I plan on adding more tracks as I come up with them and it might be often. Would this still apply in that case or should I just keep doing what I"m doing? Should I make separate threads for each track or make numbered "music packs"?

Also, what would the new thread title be? [RELEASE] New music for Portal?