I Am Rapture - Rapture is Me

For the list of licensed mid-20th century songs, see BioShock Licensed Soundtrack.

Bioshock orchestral score front — *Art cover.*

I Am Rapture - Rapture is Me is the official score for BioShock composed by Garry Schyman. In conjunction with the many period tracks from the 50s, this original soundtrack contributed to the dark, tense, and tragic mood of the game bringing the fallen utopia Rapture to life.

Background

Audio director Emily Ridgway worked closely with composer Garry Schyman in developing the score. They had previously worked together for the audio on the retro-inspired 2005 video Destroy All Humans!. Schyman's experience with film scoring lead to natural choice by Ridgway for BioShock for creating an atypical video game soundtrack with emphasis on "No Electronic Music".

Much like a film score, several pieces of music are written specifically for certain scenes like the first reveal of Rapture and the introduction of Dr. Steinman. Other pieces were written for introducing each level and imbuing each with their own distinct soundtrack.

Some parts of the score is described by Schyman as "aleatoric" with some parts of the composition cuing up in response to the player's chance maneuvers and encounters. ^[1] ^[2]

In a 2011 interview with Kill Screen magazine, Pat Balthrop, sound designer, was concerned about the sound mixing in the game and the lack of a standard in the video game industry. "Towards the end of BioShock, Ken [Levine] demanded that we find the worst TV in the studio. I still remember him in the middle of the [development] pit sitting next to this little mono TV. He listened to the entire mix of BioShock through this tiny TV." ^[3]

Release Versions

On August 24, 2007, 2K Games released a selection of music tracks from the orchestral score for free at the Cult of Rapture.^[4] Available for download in MP3 format,^[5] the selection contains 12 tracks from the game.

The same selection was also released on a physical CD for the game's German promotion only, named BioShock: Sounds of Rapture, also featuring radio messages and audio diaries from various game characters between each tracks.

The entire score of 24 sound tracks was later released on Februrary 9, 2010, on a vinyl record named I Am Rapture - Rapture is Me as part of BioShock 2's Special Edition.

Track Listing

BioShock Orchestral Score

"BioShock Main Theme (The Ocean on His Shoulders)" - 1:56
"Welcome to Rapture" - 1:52
"Dr. Steinman" - 1:00
"The Docks" - 0:53
"The Dash" - 0:35
"Step into My Gardens" - 1:10
"Dancers on a String" - 1:28
"Cohen's Masterpiece" - 2:53
"The Engine City" - 1:07
"Empty Houses" - 1:43
"This is Where They Sleep" - 1:21
"All Spliced Up" - 1:03

BioShock: Sounds of Rapture

Front cover.
Back cover.
CD.

"BioShock Main Theme (The Ocean on His Shoulders)" - 1:58
"Andrew Ryan - Tauchfahrt" - 1:03
"Welcome to Rapture" - 1:55
"Andrew Ryan - Hohn" - 0:33
"Dr. Steinman" - 1:02
"Dr. Steinman - Schwster, Skalpell!" - 0:39
"The Docks" - 0:55
"Geist - Schönheit versprochen" - 0:16
"The Dash" - 0:37
"Atlas - Little Sisters" - 0:20
"Step into My Gardens" - 1:13
"Dr. Suchang - Zarn-Versuch" - 0:38
"Dancers on a String" - 1:31
"Atlas - Die ganze Stadt Geht zum Teufel" - 0:19
"Cohen's Masterpiece" - 2:55
"Martin Finnegan - Der Eismann kommt" - 0:49
"The Engine City" - 1:10
"Geist - Total verspliced" - 0:11
"Empty Houses" - 1:46
"Dr. Suchong - Bewussteinskontrolle" - 0:29
"This is Where They Sleep" - 1:23
"Andrew Ryan - Natur der Dinge" - 0:18
"All Spliced Up" - 1:04