QUEST STUDIOS - Sierra Soundtrack Series

A special thank-you to Tom Grandgent and Gary (gortmertl0) for their work in making this page possible.

When starting this project, it was hard to pick from a couple hundred or so pieces of music that I've written over the last few years for Sierra On-Line computer games. I thought of all the people who have written to me about favorite songs or spots in games, songs that people here who worked on the games enjoyed, and songs that were special to me. After realizing that all that wouldn't fit on one CD, I cut it down to the songs included on this project. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it.

- Mark Seibert

CLICK HERE FOR CD COVER ARTWORK

KING'S QUEST V

Track 01 - King's Quest V Theme
See Track 02.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
1:24 mins.
1368 kb

Track 02 - Graham's Theme
The two pieces above are from the opening seuence. Both are significant in that they carry strong motifs from which much of the music for the game was derived.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
1:47 mins.
1688 kb

Track 03 - Cassima's Theme
This theme is played when Graham meets Cassima in the kitchen of Mordack's castle. When King's Quest VI was being designed and I found out that Cassima was a major character, I thought it natural to spin off the "Girl In The Tower" from the basic motifs in this piece, thus tying the two games together.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
2:53 mins.
2758 kb

Track 04 - The Bandits
During the last few weeks before shipping a game, it seems everyone at Sierra is playing it. With King's Quest V it was no different, except that perhaps more people were playing than usual. It is during these times that a musician gets to know what the favorite songs are by listening to people humming or whistling as they walk through the hallways. I don't know that this was necessarily the favorite. Maybe a lot of people got stuck at the bandit's tent that day. I don't know, but it seemed this silly little song was whistled on more than one occasion during that time.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
1:05 mins.
1046 kb

Track 05 - The Dark Forest
When I started writing the music for King's Quest V, this was one of the first pieces I wrote. King's Quest IV started a sound for the King's Quest series by featuring the classical guitar, and having a degree in classical guitar I felt very comfortable in continuing to write in that style. The solo guitar accompanied with the occasional bassoon, cello, owl, and cricket seemed the perfect backdrop of sound.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
2:44 mins.
2637 kb

Track 06 - Crispin's Theme
This is the music that underscores meeting Crispin during the opening sequence. I chose the bassoon to represent magic users in King's Quest V and since Crispin is a Wizard, his theme is built upon the bassoon carrying the bass part. It made for an interesting counterpoint between he and Cedric, who was represented by the clarinet. During the game one might notice the use of the bassoon with other characters like the Witch and Mordack.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
4:49 mins.
4589 kb

Track 07 - King's Quest V Closing Sequence
This is the music from the closing sequence. It's a long piece that covers a number of the main themes from the game as Roberta did what was in my mind; a curtain call. As each characer is featured, their theme is recapped.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
6:03 mins.
5742 kb

CODE-NAME: ICEMAN

Track 08 - Whitney
Both this song and cut number 10 (FunkQ) are songs the band in the bar is playing. When I saw the band in the scene I thought it a natural to have the band playing the music for the background. The band has a song list of 4 or 5 tunes (I can't remember which) but I do remember spending lots of time on this with Mark Hood, the programmer of the scene.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
2:08 mins.
1943 kb

Track 09 - Love Theme/Morning
This is a seque of two pieces that were written around a certain person you meet in the bar. Without giving away too much of the story, let's just say you spend the night and wake up in bed alone.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
3:32 mins.
3415 kb

Track 10 - Funk Q
See "Track 08".

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
1:17 mins.
1253 kb

POLICE QUEST II: THE VEGEANCE

Track 11 - Police Quest II Theme
A vicious killer has escaped from prison. Armed and dangerous, he's out to get even with the cop who put him away. Other than a very short little piece in King's Quest IV in Lolotte's Castle, Police Quest II was the first game for which Sierra asked me to write. About 6 weeks before they were going to ship the game, they came to me and asked if I could throw something together. The Police Quest Theme was the first thing I did.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
2:06 mins.
2027 kb

CONQUEST OF CAMELOT

Track 12 - Camelot Credits
Solve the enigma of the Holy Grail as you cross Europe and the Middle East in an action-packed quest to find three missing Knights of the Round Table. This is the opening credits music. The theme is weaved into a number of the pieces of music through the game. I enjoyed writing the music for this game. At school, I spend much of my time studying early music, since I was a guitar major.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
1:02 mins.
1004 kb

Track 13 - Opening Sequence
Much of the music for the opening and other sections of this game were written while I was out playing golf. I would often work in the mornings cleaning up sequences I had done the day before. Then I'd hit the golf course about two in the afternoon. I found just playing and walking helped clear my mind so I could concentrate on the music. When I would get home from the course, I would input the music I had developed in my head while playing. The golf course is now one of my favorite places to compose (and hack.)

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
4:27 mins.
4287 kb

Track 14 - Glastonbury Tor & The Mad Monk
Glastonbury Tor was one of my favorite places in the game. The music and pictures were kind of strangely peaceful. That is, of course, until you talk to the monk about certain things!

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
3:41 mins.
3558 kb

QUEST FOR GLORY 1 (Hero's Quest)

Track 15 - Quest For Glory Theme
Your custom-designed character is a graduate of the Famous Adverturer's Correspondence School. Rescue the children of a powerful Baron and defeat the schemes of an evil witch. You'll confront magic spells, weapons, and wicked opponents. But, be careful, the road to glory is full of challenges.

The Theme and Battle Music from Quest For Glory has stuck with the game throughout the series. It was a challenge to orchestrate these pieces out on an MT-32 or Adlib card. Here you will get a chance to hear a more complete interpretation of what these pieces were supposed to sound like.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
0:57 mins.
920 kb

Track 16 - Battle Theme
See "Track 15".

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
1:14 mins.
1197 kb

Track 17 - The Magic Meadow
Of all the music I've written for Sierra over the last few years, "The Magic Meadow" is the one I've received the most mail concerning. So with all of the requests for it, how could I leave if off. Besides, this is my dad's favoirite and if it wasn't included on this recording, he'd probably write me out of the will.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
3:54 mins.
3756 kb

CONQUESTS OF THE LONGBOW
The Legend Of Robin Hood

Track 18 - Longbow Opening Sequence
The opening sequence for Longbow was written as a piece to be sung by the troubadour. The words for the piece were given to me by Christi Marx and I was supposed to set them to music. Since by nature of the style this gets rather repetitive, I tried to set each verse to a subtle arrangement depicting the tone of the words and the actions on the screen. My first thought was to record this with the words, but after much debating, it ended up as the instruental version you hear on the disc.

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
3:27 mins.
3328 kb

Track 19 - Map/Abbey/Hedge/Fens
I found the music of Longbow to be rather relaxing and peaceful and thought perhaps a collection of segued guitar pieces might make for a nice piece. "The Abbey" music was written as a traditional "Gloria" using the Latin, "Gloria in excelsis Deo". For fun, can you figure out how the words fit to the music?

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
5:18 mins.
5104 kb

KING'S QUEST VI
Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow

Track 20 - Girl In The Tower
The industry event of 1992! Sierra assembled the best writers, artists, animators, and programmers to create the biggest chapter in the best-selling computer game series of all time. In this richly textured adventure, you help the shipwrecked Prince Alexander make his way through a series of mysterious islands. Each island holds unique surprises and is populated with such amusing and terrifying characters as the Five Gnomes of the Senses, the Winged Ones, and the Lord of the Dead. This game is so detailed, it's quite possible for you to come to the end without seeing or solving everything. Fully 30-40% of the encounters are optional, so beginning players can complete the story with plenty of challenge but a miinum of frustration.

"Girl In The Tower" was an idea I came up with when I found out that "King's Quest VI" was going to be a love story between Alexander and Cassima. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to write a top 40 type love ballad to be sung as a duet. As I explored the possibilities, I found some of the motifs from the original Cassima theme worked well in this style..

STEREO
44.1 kHz
128 kbps
4:27 mins.
4174 kb

CD Front Cover CD Back Cover CD Label

Crib notes:

All selections were re-orchestrated during the summer of 1992 by Mark Seibert in his home studio. Recording of the sequences took place at Maximus Recording Studios in Fresno, California the first week of September 1992. All the selections were recorded onto a 2-inch 24 track format at 30 ips. Engineering and mixing was done during the middle of September by Jeff Hall at Maximus along with an occasional hand in the way by Mark Seibert.

Extra musicians include:

Ron Delarm (Guitar on "Girl In The Tower")
Bob Bergthold and Debbie Seibert (Vocals on "Girl In The Tower")
John Ayala (Sax on "Whitney", "Funk Q", and "Police Quest II Theme")

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All songs and screen captures Copyright ©1986-1998 Vivendi Universal/Sierra On-Line/Dynamix, Inc.
All rights reserved. Used with permission.