Kelly Bailey
Kelly Bailey is an American composer, musician, programmer and sound designer. He was the senior game designer of sound and music in Valve until he left in 2011 with Mike Dussault to concentrate on their project, Sunspark Labs LLC. Valve composer Mike Morasky mentioned in February 2014 that Bailey had returned to Valve, but in a February 2016 article on Forbes it was reported that Bailey has founded his own company, IndiMo Labs, and that he is no longer working at Valve.
Kelly Bailey
- Name
- Kelly Bailey
- Born
- YYYY MM DD
- Occupation
- Composer, game designer, sound designer, conceptual artist, programmer, vocalist
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- video game
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q3194883
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Kelly Bailey • Born — YYYY MM DD • Genre — Video game music, industrial, ambient, rock • Occupation — Composer, game designer, sound designer, conceptual artist, programmer, vocalist • Instrument — Guitar, keyboards, programming • Years Active — 1998–present
Biography
Biography
When asked by The Gaming Liberty in a 2011 interview, Kelly was asked about his musical inspirations growing up. On the defunct Half-Life website, his function was described as follows: "Kelly did all of the music and sound effects for Half-Life, and wrote sound code to create character speech and DSP reverb effects." On Valve's official website circa 1998, his function was described as follows: "Kelly, formerly a product unit manager at Microsoft, has a programming background that includes consumer multimedia, database engines, and networking. He created all the music and sound effects for Half-Life." As also stated on the website, he was the lead singer for the Seattle based band: Lucy's Fishing Trip In addition to composing the soundtrack for Half-Life 2, Bailey was one of four Valve employees – the others being David Speyrer, Eric Kirchmer, and Greg Coomer – who served as facial models for Gordon Freeman's face in the game's promotional materials. On Valve's official website circa 2010, his function was described as follows: "Kelly is Valve's senior audio producer, responsible for creating sound effects & music." Around March 2011, Kelly Bailey left Valve with colleague Mike Dussault to work on their project Sunspark Labs LLC, launched in December 2010, developing iOS applications, their first being "Morfo", released in June 2011. The news caused some concern and displeasure from the Steam community due to the lack of any public farewell or notification regarding Bailey's departure. However, at a press conference in February 2014, Mike Morasky (the current composer at Valve), stated that Kelly Bailey was working with Valve again. On 24 September 2015, a collection of new music composed by Bailey was released as a custom music kit in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive titled Hazardous Environments. The music kit's description states that it was "inspired by the darker side of the Half-Life universe". On 18 March 2016, Forbes wrote that Bailey is no longer with Valve but that he has created his own video game company, IndiMo Labs, and that he had been spending sixteen hours a day for the previous seven months as the sole developer behind Vanishing Realms: Rite of Steel, a virtual reality video game with RPG elements for the HTC Vive. The game released as an early access title on Steam on 5 April 2016, the same day the HTC Vive was launched. On 22 January 2020, Valve employee David Feise stated in a Reddit AMA that Mike Morasky, the sole composer of the then-upcoming Half-Life: Alyx, had consulted Bailey about his approach to the music of the Half-Life series and would likely honor his advice when composing the music for Alyx.
Gear
Gear
In a 1996 interview with Planet Quake, Kelly Bailey was asked about his role working on Half-Life 1, and subsequently asked about his gear.
Video games
Video games
• Half-Life (1998) • Half-Life 2 (2004) • Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006) • Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007) • Portal (2007) • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (additional music, 2015) • Vanishing Realms: Rite of Steel (2016-2019)
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Kelly Bailey (composer), revision 1369028032 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.MobyGames profile.
- 2.Creating A Mute Icon. Ex-Valve’s Kelly Bailey On Gordon Freeman. The Gaming Liberty.com.
- 3.on the defunct official Half-Life website
- 4.about the valve team on Valve's official website
- 5.Prima Games. Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar – A Behind the Scenes Look: Prima's Official Insider's Guide. 23 November 2004.
- 6.Company People on Valve's official website
- 7.Valve Vets Launch 3D Face App for iOS on GameSlice
- 8.iTunes App Store page for Morfo. iTunes.
- 9.on Ripten Videogame Blog
- 10.Music in Valve Games and Media. YouTube. February 2014.
- 11.Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Update and new music from Kelly Bailey. September 2015.
- 12.Release Notes for 9/24/2015. Counter-Strike.net. 24 September 2015.
- 13.Music Kit. Steam Community.
- 14.Vanishing Realms on Steam.
- 15.D&D Meets Zelda In 'Vanishing Realms,' A Killer RPG for the HTC Vive. Forbes.
- 16.The 7 big things we just learned about Half-Life: Alyx. Polygon. 22 January 2020.
- 17.kelly bailey. www.fortunecity.com.
- 18.Vanishing Realms on Steam.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 28 August 2026.
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