The Halo 3 soundtrack is magnificent. If you ask me (and, I think, most people), it's the best one in the series (a famously high bar). I have dozens of fantastic memories of conquering Installation 00 to the tune of Microsoft's 2006 orchestra.

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Unfortunately, when I go to relieve these memories by listening to the official soundtrack, I am continually disappointed. The official release of the Halo 2 soundtrack stands up to the high expectations, but the official Halo 3 OST does not.

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The reason for this is that Halo 3's music is dynamic--it actively changes as you play the level. As you enter a building, the violins start playing, and then a shaker rattles to bring in drums in time with a character's dialogue. You hit a load trigger, and an upright bass joins the violin.

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The version of the Halo 3 soundtrack that's on Spotify is certainly a fantastic suite of music, but it's not the music that played while you were playing the game. The music that played when you played through Halo 3 was completely unique to your playthough; composed by the partnership of player and game.

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I wanted to go back and hear that music. I had been obsessed with Halo 3 since I had first played it at a friend's house in 2016, and had been speedrunning the campaign over and over again on my brother's Xbox, which involved me meticulously looking through each level for anything that could give me the slightest advantage on Legendary.

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When Halo 3 came to PC, I realized the opportunity. I could play through the game mostly "as intended", adjusting my path to hit all the most important music triggers and allow each its time to shine. I went into my game settings and muted everything but the music, and got to work. I figured that I, the music mashup kid obsessed with the campaign of Halo 3, was perhaps the most qualified man for the job.

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I recorded three playthroughs, each about six hours, put them together in Audacity, and started chopping away. By length, most of the music was made of O'Donnell's "glue pieces"--long, atmospheric sections meant to establish emotion but not outshine the gameplay. I cut most of these, but not all of them: my mission, after all, was to preserve the classic experience.

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Finally, I added the Spotify soundtrack into the mix, making sure that all of the fantastic moments in the OST that *could* happen in-game did. I'm quite pleased with the final result! When I listen to these