Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Half-Life 2 Audio Replaced By Modder’s Voice, Internet Rejoice

By John Walker on September 17th, 2009 at 9:18 pm.

MyHero

So the internet has a new greatest thing. Earth’s best human, Trase, has created a Half-Life 2 mod where he replaces nearly all the game’s sounds with his own voice. And yes, it’s just as good as that sounds. Every weapon, vehicle, explosion, and enemy sound is now the vocal stylings of this lunatic modder. See below. Please, see below.

He’s nailed the shotgun. It’s spot on. Many sounds are. Others are just hilariously silly. Sadly he stopped short of dubbing over the character and NPC voices, for the remarkable reason that, “it would sound dumb.” Um…

It’s properly awesome, and you can get the mod from here. I’d love it if he’d also replaced the Combine’s squealy-beep noise, but then I want everything and I’m not prepared to pay. So, watch this. Then express amazement. Thanks to radomaj for the awesome tip.

__________________

« | »

, , , .

123 Comments »

  2. 17/09/2009 at 21:26 Matthew says:

    I absolutely need to get this.

  3. 17/09/2009 at 21:27 mejobloggs says:

    Now this is something I just have to try. When’s it going to be added to Episode 1 & 2? *hopeful*

  4. 17/09/2009 at 21:28 richmcc says:

    The new combine machine gun effect is wonderfully satisfying, he should rent himself out for insomniacs. Few minutes of that noise next to my head and I’d be asleep in minutes.

  5. 17/09/2009 at 21:28 Switch625 says:

    Amazement: consider it expressed.

    This is way, way funnier than it has any right to be. The buggy accelerating at 3mins 29 had me in stitches.

  6. 17/09/2009 at 21:30 versailles says:

    +1

  7. 17/09/2009 at 21:32 Mike says:

    I loved the “pee-yow” of the crowbar on metal. Ahh. Just spent the whole video cackling wildly.

  8. 17/09/2009 at 21:33 HolyShitMatt says:

    Good on Trase. Creative and great if you want human sounds in your ears most of the time. I’m up for that.

  9. 17/09/2009 at 21:34 Sartoris says:

    Lovely <3

  10. 17/09/2009 at 21:35 Cutman says:

    I hate to make a lot of people hate me, but it’s things like this that make me hate the internet.

  11. 17/09/2009 at 21:37 pepper says:

    Basicly all the sounds i usually make when playing games ^_^. This is awesome. I was cracked up when i first heard all those sounds. Especially those mines dropped by the chopper, there crazy.

  13. 17/09/2009 at 21:42 Five says:

    That was one of the funniest things i’ve seen in a long time

  14. 17/09/2009 at 21:44 NoRCoN says:

    I absolutely lost it when he attached the balloons in G-mod.

  15. 17/09/2009 at 21:45 UnwiseTrout says:

    Thank heavens it works with G-Mod, I was beginning to worry.

  16. 17/09/2009 at 21:50 A-Scale says:

    Bloody fucking hell i want to listen to this, but I’m at work on a computer with no sound card and neither my iPod nor my laptop can connect to the internet! DAMN IT.

  17. 17/09/2009 at 21:57 Mahnsikir says:

    Just sit there and make the noises yourself and just imagine its the mod making the sound effects, while ignoring your co-workers stares.

  18. 17/09/2009 at 21:58 Vinraith says:

    This is one of those things that misses “stupid funny” and just lands over in “stupid,” at least for me. Still, that’s a lot of work for a joke whose target audience can’t possibly be that large. Good for him, I suppose, and for the folks that get a kick out of this kind of thing. Personally I’ll be sticking with stock audio effects the next time I play HL2.

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:01 Railick says:

      I really doubt it was all that much work.

      Microphone (check) Free Audio Record program (check) Life of sound files for HL2 (check)
      click record, go ZAP , click stop. Save as (laser.mp3 or something. :P Next sound!

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:05 TotalBiscuit says:

      Yeah Railick, it’s pretty clear you’ve never done anything similar to this, it’s way more work than you might think. (And before you ask yes, I did a full suite of sounds for Savage 2 and it took bloody forever)

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:07 Vinraith says:

      @Railick

      Even if it were as easy as you suggest, replacing every single sound in a 30 hour game would still be one hell of a project.

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:10 Railick says:

      Actually I have. I’ve done voice action for mods for Oblivion as well as replacing sounds in several older games. The only way it would be “hard” is if half life 2 had the sound files compressed in some sort of other file (I’m not sure I havn’t look at he file folder to see how they do their sounds)

      Some games just have a bunch of midi files stored under a /sound folder and it is as easy as opening them up and just over writing them with a sound file that is exactly the same specs but with whatever it is you want.

      With Oblivion I had to set the recording device up to a exact spec (I can’t remember its been over a year) so that it worked with the Oblivion mod editor but after that it was easy and these were full lines for characters in the game not just sounds for random crap. Had to record them over and over again to make sure they sounded natural, didn’t have any strange artifacts in them, didn’t have to much silence at the start and finish, didn’t have me taking a huge breath right into the microphone. Then I had to edit them to make sure they didn’t sound to tinny or woody :P THAT was a lot of work. (even more so becasue there are no files for you to replace you have to create NEW files with the correct naming scheme to mesh with the editor in Oblivion and it isn’t exactly easy to figure out then you have to load it onto the character in the editor and set it up to play at the right time ect)

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:12 Railick says:

      @vinraith – Just because the game is 30 hour’s long (Is HL2 30 hours long ? O.o) doesn’t mean there are 30 hours of sound in the game. He only replaced the sound effects no the speech. The sound effect for the machine gun could be literally 3 or 4 seconds long.

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:14 John Walker says:

      I AM A WRONG PERSON THIS EVENING

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:18 Railick says:

      I’m not being negative ! I never insulted the guy or said that what he didn’t wasn’t something that is worth while. I like it as a matter of fact and I think he did a good job. Alls I said is it wasn’t all that hard to do (just because it isn’t hard doesn’t mean it isn’t good. He had a good idea and put it into pratice who cares how hard it is)

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:20 Railick says:

      None needed, I apologize for coming out sounding negative. I does seem like I was downing the man’s achievment but I didn’t mean it to seem that way. I think he did a good job.

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:44 Railick says:

      I love you Vinraith. Personally I’m just giving you a hard time. You’re my favorite person on RPS to be totally honest. I love reading your comments and getting into arguments/talks with you.

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:49 Vinraith says:

      I know you’re just giving me a hard time Railick, it’s what you do. I enjoy discussing/arguing with you, as well. I’m mostly upset because I appear to have lost John’s respect (assuming I ever had it) and I hold the guy in high esteem. Well, that and I really do feel that he’s misrepresented the tenor of my posting on this site. If it was any more positive with respect to PC games I’d be bankrupt!

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:52 John Walker says:

      No respect lost! You arrived with a big old downer in an upbeat thread. So when you call a thing that’s making people laugh “stupid”, it sort of spoils the fun people are having. Like rushing into a room of people all chuckling at a joke and saying, “I think that joke sucks.”

      Relax! Have fun!

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:55 Vinraith says:

      So it’s more about timing and placement than it is about actual ratios of content (god I am such a scientist). Thanks, that actually makes some kind of sense. It’s my natural contrarian bent, I tend to rush to the defense of things when they’re getting slammed from all sides and throw a bucket of water on things when they’re getting praised from all sides. I’ll try to repress the latter tendency, just remember (when I inevitably fail) that it’s a very small percentage of my overall output.

    • 17/09/2009 at 22:58 John Walker says:

      I love you Vinraith! I’m sorry. I was wrong. We all love each other. Let’s all make PEW PEW noises together.

    • 17/09/2009 at 23:00 Vinraith says:

      I’m looking at this thing and suddenly feel like a terrible attention whore.

      Ah well, love you too John, we shall celebrate with pew pew noises and financially irreconcilable purchases of The Longest Journey on GOG. :)

  19. 17/09/2009 at 21:58 Arca says:

    bdew bdew bdew!

  20. 17/09/2009 at 22:12 Sonic Goo says:

    I always suspected that many game sounds are made by people. Why drive out to a farm with a mike when you can just stay at your comfy studio and go moooooo?

  21. 17/09/2009 at 22:13 LewieP says:

    It reminded me of Jelly Car.

    I <3 Jelly car.

  22. 17/09/2009 at 22:25 Batolemaeus says:

    I love how the glowing ball goes “bounce” if it bounces.
    The creator just won an Internets in my opinion.

  23. 17/09/2009 at 22:26 The Poisoned Sponge says:

    Oh man, this has to be the most ridiculous, and brilliant, mod ever.

    However, I doubt I could play the entire of HL2 with it. After a while it would get absurdly annoying. Still, hat’s off to him!

  24. 17/09/2009 at 22:29 Scandalon says:

    Music is crap.

    Many of the similar sounds don’t have enough differentiation.

    It is, of course, still gloriously mental.

    The choo-choo train made me laugh the most.

    I think now we need to get the Unskippable guys to do the NPC voices. :P

  25. 17/09/2009 at 22:30 Blast Hardcheese says:

    I was in tears because of laughter by the time he drove the buggy around.

    That said, this man is clearly insane and a threat to everyone around him. I mean, he might say “pew” and incite terror!

  26. 17/09/2009 at 22:31 Dagda says:

    For best results, imagine that you are listening to Gordon Freeman making his own sound effects.

  27. 17/09/2009 at 22:35 James G says:

    Delightfully silly, reminds me of watching my brothers play with action figures when we were younger.

  28. 17/09/2009 at 22:36 Schmung says:

    Oh lawks. I laughed like an idiot. Solid gold.

  29. 17/09/2009 at 22:36 Lukasz says:

    MUST REPLAY HL2 NOW!

    and yeah plasma rifle sounds wickedly awesome.

  31. 17/09/2009 at 22:44 Morgy says:

    Great stuff. Reminds me of the old kids’ show Ivor the Engine, all the sound effects in that were the narrator’s voice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDWk0BCeblQ

  32. 17/09/2009 at 22:46 Stromko says:

    I’d love to play Ravenholm with this, though he probably hasn’t redone the voices for the zombies.

    Yes it’d sound dumb. That’s the point!

  33. 17/09/2009 at 22:48 Hmm-Hmm. says:

    Very amusing. Not amusing enough to get Half-Life 2, however. :P

  34. 17/09/2009 at 22:49 LeFishy says:

    BDEWBDEWBDEWBDEW

    I love the internet.

  35. 17/09/2009 at 23:00 Farewell says:

    Reminds me of the a capella version of spelunker that someone cooked up:

    http://www.offworld.com/2009/06/offworld-lazyweb-request-can-w.html

  36. 17/09/2009 at 23:03 Redd says:

    The emperor is naked!

  37. 17/09/2009 at 23:13 sinister agent says:

    For best results, imagine that you are listening to Gordon Freeman making his own sound effects.

    Yeah, I was thinking that too. It reminded me of Freeman’s Mind a bit. I didn’t find this half as great as most people here seem to have, but it was amusing enough I suppose. It’s probably a lot funnier playing it through yourself, too.

  38. 17/09/2009 at 23:14 Heliocentric says:

    I’m going to record a full audio replacement mod for planescape.

    The voice talent will be provided by me, my 5 year old and my 2 year old. My 2 year old will be performing the role of the nameless one among others.

  39. 17/09/2009 at 23:21 Octaeder says:

    Downloading now.

    And there go my plans to not replay HL2 for at least 6 months.

  40. 17/09/2009 at 23:23 Tei says:

    I played a mod like this one, but made with the voice a spanish humourist for doom2 ( chiquito de la calzada)… It was hilarious.

  41. 17/09/2009 at 23:27 Rei Onryou says:

    I didn’t know you could shoot the birds in HL2. This. Change. Everything!!!

    BDEEW!!

  42. 17/09/2009 at 23:29 Railick says:

    Yes Rei this takes it to a hole nov-VA, LEV-O!

  43. 17/09/2009 at 23:33 kalidanthepalidan says:

    PEW PEW PEW! That was so funny! :)

  44. 17/09/2009 at 23:40 Lambchops says:

    Enjoyably bonkers for about 3 minutes or so and definitely achieved its goal by making me smile. I especially loved the reloading sounds, particularly the revolver.

    I’d seriously question the sanity of anyone who played the entire game like that though!

  45. 17/09/2009 at 23:47 Metal_Circus says:

    Stuff like this is why i’m glad mod scenes exist. Even though it is stark bonkers.

  46. 17/09/2009 at 23:53 lumpi says:

    Well let me be the probably 100th person in the comments to say that: This is how HL2 sounds to others when I play with headphones…

    Awesome.

  47. 18/09/2009 at 00:04 Small Ivory Knight says:

    I can’t wait to see Gordon Freeman’s Mind move on to game number 2.

    Also, you’re right. it IS way funnier thinking of freeman making the sounds. My favorite by far is the ‘bap’ of the pistol.

  48. 18/09/2009 at 00:04 The_B says:

    Basically, it’s the guy from Police Academy mod, right? AWESOME.

  50. 18/09/2009 at 00:17 Lambchops says:

    Also this makes me want to watch the fake gun fight episode of Spaced.

  51. 18/09/2009 at 00:35 THIS MUSIC SUCKS says:

    if your tyring to make a sound video, DONT PUT THE WORST GOD DAMNED MUSIC IN THE WORLD IN THE BACKGROUND OF IT GOD YOU IDIOT

  52. 18/09/2009 at 00:39 capital L says:

    Brilliant.

    The Macho Madness L4D mod still takes the cake in my book though.

  53. 18/09/2009 at 00:48 malkav11 says:

    The mod’s mildly amusing, although I have no intention of actually using it. But what did strike me is how utterly lovely HL2 still looks. Man, that is an engine with legs.

  54. 18/09/2009 at 01:00 Impressive... says:

    …load of crap.
    The only “properly awesome” thing in regards to this spectacle is the incredible amount of sheep it has drawn, all bleating in chorus about how cool it is. This isn’t newsworthy, mate, it’s the kind of rubbish a four-year old does when playing with his toys. Honestly, is there anyone here who doubts their ability to produce such noises when playing, should they desire them? It’s not as though this fool even has a distinctive voice. Sounds like any other prepubescent teen to me.

    I’d expect a news-post like this from SomethingAwful or the like, but not the Rock. Color me disappointed.

    • 18/09/2009 at 01:15 a says:

      Looks like someone is FILLED WITH RAGE. I think it’s a hilarious idea.

    • 18/09/2009 at 01:27 MD says:

      It’s fine that you don’t like it, of course. But calling us ‘sheep’ is a bit rich. I find it amusing because, well, I find it amusing — not because other people do.

    • 18/09/2009 at 01:58 merc says:

      Oh piss off, you self important miserable prick.

    • 18/09/2009 at 03:49 Kommissar Nicko says:

      As Railick said on page one (not sure if I love the page dividers on comments, by the way), this probably took a lot less work than you make it out to be. A little bit more than a spur of the moment “let’s photoshop a penis onto someone’s face,” but a little bit less than “let’s completely reskin everyone in the game with a penis.” It just requires recording “pew-pew” over a couple hundred 2 second sound clips. Probably a day’s work, if you’re good with the software and motivated.

    • 18/09/2009 at 05:48 Nick says:

      And your list of achievements is so much more impressive? I doubt it, and if it is, I don’t care. I really like this mod. This has been done exceptionally well. Just because it’s the internet and cynics are “cool” doesn’t mean you have to be a prick. Get over it.

    • 18/09/2009 at 11:32 Hulk Hogan says:

      ^^^
      Most pretentious comment on RPS reward for you

    • 18/09/2009 at 12:35 sana says:

      You almost make it sound like RPS usually doesn’t enjoy blogging about utterly un-important mods and maps!

    • 19/09/2009 at 17:37 FluffyPanda says:

      “the incredible amount of sheep”

      You mean “the incredible number of sheep”.

      You can count sheep.

    • 19/09/2009 at 19:26 Kanakotka says:

      It sounds like SOMEONE, without saying any names, is envious, because didn’t come up with something so spontaneously silly.

  55. 18/09/2009 at 01:08 TCM says:

    It takes a lot of work, a lot of spare time, and a whole notta lotta life to come up with this. Color me impressed that he was willing to put the work in, and what the heck, it might be worth it for a stupid lowbrow fun laugh.

  56. 18/09/2009 at 01:16 DarkNoghri says:

    @Impressive
    I, for one, still have an inner 4 year-old that thinks this is hilarious. I’m the type who’s always been disappointed that they don’t make full sized light up sneakers like the ones toddlers always get.

    This is rather nifty. That buggy sound effect is pretty much what I do whenever I’m mimicing a car of some sort.

    I demand that someone do this for a Star Wars game. It’d be gold with the lightsabers alone.

    This reminds me of a TF2 text mod I saw the other day that renamed everything. The RPG man with his missile lawnchair, the sharpshooter with his throwable special sauce, etc.

    Also, this: http://butifnot.tripod.com/racecar.html

  57. 18/09/2009 at 01:24 MD says:

    Excellent!

    The video could have been a bit tighter, but that’s quibbling. This is awesome.

  58. 18/09/2009 at 02:31 Casimir's Blake says:

    Why must these Americans always populate their youtube videos with dodgy metal?

    Oh the mod? It’s fun.

  59. 18/09/2009 at 03:43 dragon_hunter21 says:

    Two words:

    Gauss cannon.

  60. 18/09/2009 at 04:05 vanarbulax says:

    I tried to convince my friends to make a Half-Life 2: Acapella mod before but they weren’t convinced. Oh well this guy actually went out and did it, and it’s as hilarious/stupid as I thought. Well done!

  61. 18/09/2009 at 05:25 Tenorek says:

    I was just thinking the other day that I needed an excuse to play the game again, and this seems like just the one. I think it’s swell.

  62. 18/09/2009 at 05:34 M.P. says:

    Umm…. either The Sarcasm Is Strong In This One, or I’m missing something here… 0_o

  63. 18/09/2009 at 05:53 Lucas says:

    I didn’t watch the whole thing, but I kept waiting for him to yell “BANG” for something appropriate, like the revolver or grenades or exploding barrels, like they do for training artillery officers now to save the $$ that real ammo would cost.

  64. 18/09/2009 at 06:15 sexyresults says:

    Hasn’t this been done for Half-Life (original) already?

  65. 18/09/2009 at 07:05 apa says:

    lol :D good start for a friday :D

  66. 18/09/2009 at 07:08 Owen says:

    This is how the HL series has alwasy sounded in my head.

  67. 18/09/2009 at 09:24 Butler` says:

    haha, funny stuff

  68. 18/09/2009 at 09:38 Eben says:

    It amuses me. bleat

  69. 18/09/2009 at 10:06 mouj says:

    Yeah that was pretty hilarious, specially when he gets people following him..

  70. 18/09/2009 at 10:11 Jerricho says:

    This is hillarious, I love it. the sounds of the rebels reminded me of the seagulls in Finding Nemo “Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!”. Also the handgun is suitably mocked. “pop!”

  71. 18/09/2009 at 10:38 CakeAddict says:

    Really amusing although it will probably get annoying after a few hours.
    I specially liked the gravity gun and the pod.. thingy sounds.. hehe *squish squish*.

  72. 18/09/2009 at 12:52 Joao says:

    I think it is entertaining. I laughed a bit and was amused throughout the video.

    And another thing: Say whatever you want, but HL2 has aged incredibly well. A game from 2004 still makes some games from 2009 hide in shame.

    It’s not only pretty, but there’s also a very solid feel to the visuals.

    Now, just bring me Episode 3 already!

    *cries*

  73. 18/09/2009 at 13:29 Comment system, what comment system? says:

    To bad he didn’t dub the voices, that would catapult this from merely amusing to divine.

    Though who didn’t replace their voice for all the sounds in Doom when they figured out how to edit wads?

  74. 18/09/2009 at 13:45 Maxheadroom says:

    Would perhaps be better if it was even original.

    Anyone remember Pencil Whipped? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy_tEPkvYhU
    That guy did his own sound effects ‘and’ drew all the graphics by hand (I especially liked the guillotine’s “Shing! Shing!” noise)

  75. 18/09/2009 at 14:18 Stense says:

    Good silly fun. Reminds me of the bored, rainy afternoon years ago that my brother and I spent making our own sounds for Quake. Childish, but strangely satisfying.

  76. 18/09/2009 at 14:39 Geoff says:

    This story desperately needed to be tagged “pew pew pew”

  77. 18/09/2009 at 15:23 manik.half says:

    why is this getting such publicity?

    this has been done several times before, with several other games including this one. or is it just because he did a LOLOLSORANDUM video?

  78. 18/09/2009 at 15:43 Davee says:

    Oh yes, I saw this on the official garrysmod news page, but I never thought it would get on RPS! Maby I do have a chance of getting some RPS coverage when I finally get around to release my Gmod/L4D/CSS/HL2/Basicly-Any-Source-game horror-map…
    Probably not. But one can hope.
    I got a bit of a laugh out of this vid, didn’t download it though. It’s not like he’s talented about making noises with his voice – but I think that was the point because it would just ruin the fun part.

  80. 18/09/2009 at 20:09 int says:

    I used to do this with Resident Evil when it was new on the PC. That must have been… More than 10 years ago. Still, it is fun to do.

  81. 18/09/2009 at 23:27 Tam-Lin says:

    This is the sort of thing that makes me fall in love with humanity all over again. It’s completely pointless, just someone seeing something and wanting to add a little something of themselves to it.

  82. 17/10/2009 at 23:30 Genoskill says:

    This is fucking funny as my ass.

  83. 30/10/2009 at 15:14 Phasma Felis says:

    It’s great music.

    It’s just pathetically inappropriate for a goddamn comedy video. Use Yakety Sax or something if you’ve just got to put music in everything.

Comment on this story

XHTML: Allowed code: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Respond to our gibber

Read our finest words

Wot I Think: Soundodger

Search for clues

Play indie, mods, demos

Browse the archive