 The core creative team behind the project was Reznor , Atticus Ross , and Alan Moulder . Live @-@ band member Alessandro Cortini and studio musicians Adrian Belew and Brian Viglione also contributed instrumental performances on select tracks . Reznor described the band 's early intentions for the project as " an experiment " , and explained the group 's process : " When we started working with the music , we would generally start with a sort of visual reference that we had imagined : a place , or a setting , or a situation . And then attempt to describe that with sound and texture and melody . And treat it , in a sense , as if it were a soundtrack . " 
