Classic Alpha Release

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Volume Alpha was the first album to come from the soundtrack for Minecraft, a 2011 sandbox video game created by Markus Persson. Prior to creating Volume Alpha, independent musician Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld was a small artist, mainly producing experimental albums inspired by Aphex Twin that he described as "making no sense". During the development of Minecraft, Persson met Rosenfeld through indie game development forum TIGSource, and the two became friends. When Persson showed the game to Rosenfeld, he requested that he become the game's sound designer. Rosenfeld accepted, and began work on the game's sound effects and music. The first three tracks Rosenfeld made for Minecraft, added early in development, were "Minecraft", "Clark" and "Sweden", known in the game files as "Calm" 1, 2, and 3, respectively. After these tracks were added, Rosenfeld continued experimenting with the soundtrack's direction. He later concluded that the compositional style present in the "Calm" tracks was the most well received by players. He would then use this style as the basis for the composition of other tracks in Volume Alpha.

In Their Own Story

Rosenfeld composed the soundtrack using Ableton Live, alongside other software and plugins. He also used synthesisers like the Moog Voyager. After every track was complete, Rosenfeld arranged the final renditions so that every track flowed naturally into the next, sometimes extending tracks to achieve this. He wanted Volume Alpha to be able to be listened to in one sitting and presented independently of Minecraft, while being interpreted as a single piece. In an interview with Vice, Rosenfeld stated that the album's track order originally had a narrative, though he had forgotten what it was. Despite Volume Alpha's track order, the music in Minecraft is played randomly, with no set moments where specific tracks play. The album's cover art is of a 3D version of a Minecraft block of grass.

Reader's Guide

Volume Alpha consists mainly of simplistic ambient and acoustic music that predominantly uses piano and strings. This design was primarily caused by the technical limitations of Minecraft's sound engine, which Rosenfeld said heavily limited the capabilities of the game's sound design. Originally, Rosenfeld wanted the game to include more "epic" music that would play during fights, music that would play depending on what type of biome the player was in, and music that would play exclusively in caves. These were all unfeasible due to how the game's sound engine worked, or because they were based on events that would've lasted too short for the music to be worthwhile. Instead, Rosenfeld opted to create more quiet, simplistic music. His approach was inspired by Dwarf Fortress (2006), where he viewed the game's lower graphical quality that would otherwise be a turn-off to be backed up by music that would encourage the player to continue playing. This style does not apply to all tracks in the album, with compositions such as "Cat" and "Dog" being upbeat chiptune themes that use synthesisers. Volume Alpha was released digitally on 4 March 2011 via Bandcamp as Rosenfeld's first commercial release. The commercial release of Volume Alpha contains several tracks exclusive to the album, ranging from those cut from the game (such as "Excuse") to compositions from Rosenfeld's previous albums (such as "Droopy Likes Ricochet"). On 23 June 2015, a physical release of the album was announced by record label Ghostly International. Alongside the standard CD and LP releases, a limited-edition version that came in the form of a transparent vinyl was announced, with only 1,000 units being produced. These were released on 21 August 2015. On 15 April 2025, Ghostly announced that Volume Alpha would be released in cassette tape format starting 13 June, available alone or in a limited-edition box set with Volume Beta.

Did You Know?

• Volume Alpha was released digitally on 4 March 2011 via Bandcamp as Rosenfeld's first commercial release.
• The album's cover art is of a 3D version of a Minecraft block of grass.
• In 2025, the soundtrack was selected to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant", making it the second piece of video game music to do so after the Super Mario Bros. theme.
• In July 2026, Volume Alpha was certified Platinum by the RIAA, after "Sweden" received its own Gold certification in August 2023.
• A third soundtrack album by Rosenfeld has been completed, but remains unreleased.