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This article is about the soundtrack of Age of Empires. For soundtracks of the other games in the series, see Soundtrack. |
Cover art for the Definitive Edition's soundtrack
The music for Age of Empires and Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome was composed under the lead of Stephen Rippy, collaborating with his brother David.
While it was designed to have an organic and almost classical feel, all of the music in Age of Empires, and the vast majority of Rise of Rome, was performed electronically. Actual hardware was used, via MIDI, rather than being performed in a digital workstation. The instruments are mostly from the E-mu ESI-32 sample library, via the Proteus 1 rack module, and the Boss Dr. Synth DS-330 was used for string pads and bass drops. Reverb was processed with the Lexicon PCM-91, and then the composition was mixed down to Digital Audio Tape for the CD soundtrack.
The music was intended to reflect the environment and the player's actions, blending seamlessly into the experience. After experimenting with more overt recordings of hunter-gatherer activities, a less obtrusive percussion-over-synth-pad approach was chosen. This was also influenced by the hardware requirements of the time: by using MIDI to control synthesizers, the soundtrack could be performed by the sound cards on players' computers, minimizing the storage space of the installed music files. The fully produced music would be playable on a CD, but players could use the installed MIDI files as a more limited fallback if their disc wasn't in the drive - and also for the trial versions of the game.
For the Definitive Edition, the soundtrack was recomposed by Todd Masten for Semitone Media Group. This version uses a full orchestra, and is performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra, Prague.
Original[]
The game's CD stores the music in Red Book format - this means it can be played on any CD player, after skipping the data track. The installation files also include a different, more limited soundtrack in MIDI format, stored in /Age of Empires/Sound, which can be used as a fallback if the CD isn't in the drive.
Some of the MIDI tracks are alternate versions of the CD tracks: less complex/unengineered versions which can be played by the computer's sound card synthesizer. Others are unique to the MIDI version of the soundtrack, although three of these would later appear as fully-produced tracks in The Rise of Rome.
The game has been released multiple times, including a version for Mac OS, and track naming has varied between these different versions.
CD soundtrack[]
| # | Track Name | Composer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open (also "The Hunt") | Stephen Rippy |
| 2 ² | Win (also "Marching Forward") | Stephen Rippy |
| 3 ² | Loss (also "Discovery At Sea") | Stephen Rippy |
| 4 ¹ | Cave (also "Conquest") | David Rippy |
| 5 ¹ | Death (also "Awakening Spirits" or "Fresh start"³) | David Rippy |
| 6 ¹ | Battle (also "Dawn of a New Age") | David Rippy |
| 7 ¹ | Gamelan (also "The Wind Gods") | David Rippy |
| 8 ¹ | Party (also "The Emergence") | David Rippy |
| 9 | Rain (also "The Journey") | David Rippy |
| 10 ¹ | Hunt (also "Eastern Echoes" or "A New Day"³) | David Rippy, Stephen Rippy |
| 11 ¹ | Thunder (also "Egyptian Hymn") | David Rippy |
| 12 | Wally (also "Stephen" or "The Capture") | Stephen Rippy |
| 13 ¹ | Gray Sky (also "New Technology") | David Rippy |
¹Not present in the MIDI soundtrack
²Reprised in The Rise of Rome
³Title in the Gold Edition release
MIDI soundtrack[]
| # | Track name | File name | Composer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | open.mid | Stephen Rippy | |
| 2 ¹ | Sick Sate Rittim | music1.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 3 ¹² | Fretless Salsa | music2.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 4 ¹ | Polyrhythmic Pong | music3.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 5 ¹ | String Attack! | music4.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 6 ¹² | Medieval Melody | music5.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 7 ¹ | The Old One Sleeps | music6.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 8 ¹² | Slow and Spacious | music7.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 9 | Wally | music8.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 10 | Rain | music9.mid | David Rippy |
| 11 ² | lost.mid | Stephen Rippy | |
| 12 ² | won.mid | Stephen Rippy |
¹Not present in the CD soundtrack
²Reprised in The Rise of Rome
The Rise of Rome[]
In The Rise of Rome, nearly two-thirds of the music is new. The win/loss themes are alternate mixes of those in Age of Empires, and three more tracks are high-quality renditions of songs which were unique to the original game's MIDI soundtrack.
Most of the music is composed similarly to the original game, but the credits track is the first song in the series with live performance, featuring guitars, bass, percussion, and even a fife.
The only track present in the CD audio that is not available in MIDI format is the Credits theme. The following table is incomplete due to missing some of the alternative CD track names:
| # | Track name | CD track name | File name | Composer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | xopen.mid | Stephen Rippy | ||
| 2 | Tango Alpha Bravo | The Build Up | xmusic1.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 3 | Polyester Jammy | Peaceful Village | xmusic2.mid | David Rippy |
| 4 | Hyman's Wrath | xmusic3.mid | Stephen Rippy | |
| 5 | Slow and Spacious (Mix 2) | xmusic4.mid | Stephen Rippy | |
| 6 | Mean (Aint no Hip-Hop in tha House Mix) | xmusic5.mid | David Rippy | |
| 7 | Medieval Melody (Mix 2) | Empire | xmusic6.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 8 | Sh'washa / Rocky Roads | Preparation | xmusic7.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 9 | Crawly / Kitty's Song | xmusic8.mid | Stephen Rippy | |
| 10 | Fretless Salsa (Mix 2) | xmusic9.mid | Stephen Rippy | |
| 11 | Bigelow's Bungalow | In Formation | xmusic10.mid | Stephen Rippy |
| 12 | Loss (Mix 2) | xlost.mid | Stephen Rippy | |
| 13 | Win (Mix 2) | xwon.mid | Stephen Rippy | |
| 14 | (Not present in MIDI soundtrack.) | Credits (also "Dawn"*) | Stephen Rippy, Chris Rippy, Kevin McMullan |
*Title in the gold edition release
Ages Compilation[]
Age of Empires: Collector's Edition bundles Age of Empires and The Rise of Rome together with Age of Empires II and The Conquerors. Also included in this package is a soundtrack CD titled the Ages Compilation, which contains a selection of tracks from across the included games. This is playable on any CD player.
| # | Track name | Original game | Original track number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shamburger | Age of Empires II | 1 |
| 2 | Voodoodoodoo | The Conquerors | 4 |
| 3 | Polyester Jammy | The Rise of Rome | 3 |
| 4 | Tide Me Over Warm 'Em Ups | The Conquerors | 3 |
| 5 | Hunt | Age of Empires | 10 |
| 6 | ...Where Credit Is Due | Age of Empires II | (credits) |
| 7 | Bigelow's Bungalow | The Rise of Rome | 11 |
| 8 | Smells Like Crickets, Tastes Like Chicken | Age of Empires II | 8 |
| 9 | Gamelan | Age of Empires | 7 |
| 10 | The Bovinian Derivative | The Conquerors | 5 |
| 11 | Rise of Rome Credits | The Rise of Rome | 14 (credits) |
| 12 | Death | Age of Empires | 5 |
| 13 | T Station | Age of Empires II | 5 |
| 14 | Tango Alpha Bravo | The Rise of Rome | 2 |
| 15 | Droppin' Tha Trou | The Conquerors | (credits) |
| 16 | Rain | Age of Empires | 9 |
| 17 | Hyman's Wrath | The Rise of Rome | 4 |
| 18 | Ride, Lawrence, Ride! | Age of Empires II | 7 |
| 19 | Pork Parts | The Conquerors | 1 |
| 20 | Age of Empires Theme (Single Mix) |
Definitive Edition and Return of Rome[]
With modern games being freed from the need to perform the music on the player's sound card synthesizer, the decision was made to recreate the soundtrack using an orchestra. Todd Masten headed the project, with David Christiansen contributing additional orchestration, and performance from Prague's FILMharmonic Orchestra. Rather than precisely recreating the original music with the orchestra, it is a recomposition. So while the core original theme remains within each track, they generally progress differently.
The Definitive Edition soundtrack recreates almost every track from Age of Empires CD, MIDI, and The Rise of Rome, the exceptions being the opening theme from Age of Empires, and the opening and credits tracks from The Rise of Rome. The campaign theme is an original composition.
The Definitive Edition installs the music as easily-accessible MP3 files in 48 Khz 256-320 kbps CBR format. It also includes the earlier games' CD music soundtracks in 44.1 Khz 175-224 kbps VBR-2 format, for use in classic mode. The files can be found in /AoEDE/Assets/Music.
This version of the soundtrack was reused for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome. This time the music files are stored in /AoE2DE/wwise/Pompeii.pck, a proprietary archive format. Return of Rome's menu gives options about the order in which the tracks can be played, but none of these options includes the original 1990s music.
The Definitive Edition's soundtrack is available on various digital distribution services, as well as a physical CD/LP release. It is split up into two volumes:
Volume 1[]
| # | Track Name | Rework of |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Main Theme | |
| 2 | Campaign intro | |
| 3 | Cradle of Civilization | Sick Sate Rittim |
| 4 | Spear Rythm | Fretless Salsa |
| 5 | Singing Bronze Bowls | Polyrhythmic Pong |
| 6 | Mist Along the Nile | String attack! |
| 7 | Whirling Dulcimer | Medieval Melody |
| 8 | War Drums in the East | The Old One Sleeps |
| 9 | Temple Bells | Slow and Spacious |
| 10 | Siege of Winter | Wally |
| 11 | Seasons Through the Ages | Rain |
| 12 | I Shall Return | Tango Alpha Bravo |
| 13 | Mountain Temple | Polyester Jammy |
| 14 | Ransom at Ctesiphon | Hyman's Wrath |
| 15 | Year of the Four Emperors | Slow and Spacious Mix 2 |
| 16 | Queen of Palmyra | Mean |
| 17 | Coming of the Huns | Sh'washa |
| 18 | Pyrrhus of Epirus | Crawly |
| 19 | Revolt of Spartacus | Bigelow's Bungalow |
| 20 | Mission Won | |
| 21 | Mission Loss | |
| 22 | Gray Skies* | Gray Sky |
*Credits also include Vitalis Eirich
Volume 2[]
| # | Track Name | Rework of |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wonder of the World | Cave |
| 2 | Battle of Kadesh | Battle |
| 3 | Ceasar's Revenge | Gamelan |
| 4 | Caravan | Party |
| 5 | Holy Man | Hunt |
| 6 | Battle of Tunis | Thunder |
| 7 | Canyon of Death | Death |
| 8 | Release trailer (not in game) | |
| 9 | Splash (Introduction) | |
| 10 | 30sec Trailer, ver. 1 (not in game) | |
| 11 | 30sec Trailer, ver. 2 (not in game) | |
| 12 | Launch Trailer (not in game) |
Trivia[]
- As of April 2021, the main theme of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition has been the most played track of the album on Spotify. "Whirling Dulcimer" is the second-most listened track, even though it's the seventh in the album.