Quake Soundtrack

Quake Soundtrack

Quake is a video game by id Software released on June 22, 1996, which features music by Nine Inch Nails. NIN was also responsible for the game's sound effects. The soundtrack was remastered and reissued in 2020 on vinyl and digital.

Historically, there was confusion as to whether the music was credited to NIN or Trent Reznor alone, but this was cleared up by id Software designer American McGee[1] and by the 2020 edition. It is notable that this soundtrack contains ambient music, which Reznor went on to explore further with the Ghosts series and various scores created with Atticus Ross. It is also reminiscent of the dark ambient music of Coil.

Track Listing

Digital

12" Vinyl

Side A

"Quake Theme"
"Aftermath"
"The Hall Of Souls"

Side B

"It Is Raped"
"Parallel Dimensions"
"Life"

Side C

"Damnation"
"Focus"
"Falling"
"The Reaction"

Original CD-ROM

Most versions of the game included 10 audio tracks from the game as standard CD-Audio files, so the game disc could be played in a CD player with the first track reserved for game data (which cannot be read by a CD player), and 10 additional tracks of music. Some versions of the game include shortened edits of the music tracks.

game data
Track 1 - 5:05
Track 2 - 2:23
Track 3 - 8:18
Track 4 - 6:02
Track 5 - 7:20
Track 6 - 8:35
Track 7 - 5:33
Track 8 - 6:26
Track 9 - 3:30
Track 10 - 5:13

2020 Reissue

On September 16th, 2020, it was announced that the Quake 12" 2xLP would be available for sale via the nin.com store. Per John Crawford on Echoing the Sound, it was confirmed that the release has the Null 0.5 release number. The packaging credited the music to Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, and listed Charlie Clouser, Robin Finck, Danny Lohner, and Chris Vrenna as having been involved. The final, blank side of the vinyl is etched with program code from the game. A digital release was also made available on December 4, 2020.

Reznor also posted the following to nin.com, which was later removed:

*NOTE
WE DESIGNED THIS REISSUE TO INCLUDE A BOOKLET CONTAINING ESSAYS FROM ID SOFTWARE’S JOHN CARMACK AND AMERICAN MCGEE. A CERTAIN UNNAMED VIDEO GAME PUBLISHER MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO INCLUDE THIS IN THE PACKAGE, SO PLEASE HONOR THEIR WISHES BY NOT CLICKING HERE TO EVEN SEE THE ESSAYS OR HERE TO PRINT THE BOOKLET OUT FOR YOURSELF.

Essay from nin.com, page 1
Essay from nin.com, page 2
Essay from nin.com, page 3

Alternate Track Titles

Until the 2020 release, the official names for the tracks were unknown, as they were untitled in the accompanying game literature.[2] They were referred to by their track number; however, because the first audio track is the CD's second track (the first being reserved for the actual game data), this usually led to confusion.

Alternatively, fan-made titles and game level names are often brought up when CD ripping/playing software looks up the information on the CDDB, and some of them ended up being the official titles. The official titles were uploaded to the CDDB at least as early as 2000, and were likely provided by someone at Nothing Studios or id Software.

game data
"Persia Inversion", "Quake Theme" or "Main Theme"
"Aftermath", "The Life Beneath It All" or "Intermission"
"The Hall of Souls", "Conscience" or "Start/Whispers"
"It is Raped", "Freezing Vertigo" or "Grisly Grotto"
"Parallel Dimensions", "The Journey" or "Slipgate Complex"
"Life", "The Hammer" or "Underearth"
"Damnation", "Ice" or "Castle of the Damned"
"Focus", "Peace?" or "Necropolis"
"Falling", "Violence Inside" or "Ziggurat Vertigo"
"The Reaction", "Death" or "Gloom Keep"

In-game appearances


Dimension of the Doomed the mystical past comes alive...	Slipgate Complex (E1M1) "Track 5"	Castle of the Damned (E1M2) "Track 7"	The Necropolis (E1M3) "Track 8"	The Grisly Grotto (E1M4) "Track 4"	Gloom Keep (E1M5) "Track 10"	The Door to Chthon (E1M6) "Track 3"	The House of Chthon (E1M7) "Track 6"	Ziggurat Vertigo (E1M8) "Track 9"
The Realm of Black Magic ancient castles and strange beasts ahead...	The Installation (E2M1) "Track 5"	Ogre Citadel (E2M2) "Track 7"	Crypt of Decay (E2M3) "Track 8"	The Ebon Fortress (E2M4) "Track 4"	The Wizard's Manse (E2M5) "Track 10"	The Dismal Oubliette (E2M6) "Track 3"	The Underearth (E2M7) "Track 6"	no level
The Netherworld primal fear in a strange dimension...	Termination Central (E3M1) "Track 5"	The Vaults of Zin (E3M2) "Track 7"	The Tomb of Terror (E3M3) "Track 8"	Satan's Dark Delight (E3M4) "Track 7"	The Wind Tunnels (E3M5) "Track 10"	Chambers of Torment (E3M6) "Track 4"	The Haunted Halls (E3M7) "Track 3"	no level
The Elder World your worst nightmares come true...	The Sewage System (E4M1) "Track 5"	The Tower of Despair (E4M2) "Track 7"	The Elder God Shrine (E4M3) "Track 8"	The Palace of Hate (E4M4) "Track 4"	Hell's Atrium (E4M5) "Track 9"	The Pain Maze (E4M6) "Track 3"	Azure Agony (E4M7) "Track 6"	The Nameless City (E4M8) "Track 9"
Deathmatch Arena and special levels	Place of Two Deaths (DM1) "Track 4"	Claustrophobopolis (DM2) "Track 4"	The Abandoned Base (DM3) "Track 5"	The Bad Place (DM4) "Track 2"	The Cistern (DM5) "Track 4"	The Dark Zone (DM6) "Track 4"	Introduction (START) "Track 3"	Shub-Niggurath's Pit (END) "Track 3"

"Track 2" plays upon completion of each level when statistics are shown (time spent, secrets, kills)

Trivia

Reznor became involved as the result of mutual fandom between himself and developers at id Software. He was a big fan of Doom and had sent tickets and backstage passes to developers, expressing an interest in working on Quake.[3]

Nailgun ammo.

A particular weapon in game play is the "nailgun" which can be reloaded by collecting ammo boxes decorated with the NIN logo. Also, Reznor was the original choice for sound design on id Software's Doom 3, but circumstances halted his involvement. Former NIN member Chris Vrenna composed the game's theme song.

The game's readme mentions something called Nothing Interactive, an entity that has never been referred to on any other NIN or Nothing Records product.

Credits

Titles of songs or themes (C) 1996 TVT/Interscope Records.
Written by Trent Reznor (C) 1996 Leaving Hope/TVT Music. ASCAP
Special thanks to Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails for sound effects and music.

Vinyl Credits

Written, arranged, produced, programmed and performed by Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails (1996): Charlie Clouser, Robin Finck, Danny Lohner, Trent Reznor, Chris Vrenna

Mastering: Tom Baker at Baker Mastering

Art Direction: John Crawford
Design: Corey Holms

War Room Photos: John Romero

Legal: Ross Rosen for Ross B. Rosen & Associates, LLC
Management: Silva Artist Management
Booking: Marc Geiger for WME
Business Management: William Harper and Michael Walsh for Gelfand, Rennet & Feldman