Music of Red Dead Redemption 2
The music for the 2018 action-adventure game Red Dead Redemption 2, developed and published by Rockstar Games, consists of an original score composed by musician Woody Jackson and an original soundtrack produced by Daniel Lanois. The soundtrack album was released digitally in July 2019, consisting of vocal tracks with artists such as D'Angelo, Willie Nelson, Rhiannon Giddens, and Josh Homme. The score album was released in August 2019, mostly consisting of Jackson's original work and collaborations with artists such as Colin Stetson, Senyawa, and Arca.
Red Dead Redemption 2 has three different types of score: narrative, which is heard during the missions in the game's story; interactive, when the player is roaming the open world or in multiplayer; and environmental, which includes campfire singing songs or a character playing music in the world. The game's music regularly reacts according to the player's decisions in the world. Jackson purchased several instruments from the Wrecking Crew that were featured on classic cowboy films. In total, over 110 musicians worked on the music for the game.
Critical reception to the soundtracks was positive, as reviewers felt that the music connected appropriately with the gameplay. In particular, critics felt that the minimalist approach of the soundtrack's composition matched the gameplay, genre, and time. The game's music was nominated for numerous awards. Several tracks became popular and spawned cover versions and live performances.
Production and composition
, who worked with developer and publisher Rockstar Games on Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto V, returned to compose Red Dead Redemption 2s original score. Jackson composed roughly 60 hours of music for the game, but not every track made the final product; the game has 192 interactive mission tracks. Ivan Pavlovich, director of music and audio, estimated that the player would only hear around one-third of the total music created for the game in a standard playthrough. Red Dead Redemption 2 has three different types of score: narrative, which is heard during the missions in the game's story; interactive, when the player is roaming the open world or in multiplayer; and environmental, which includes campfire singing songs or a character playing music in the world. The game's music regularly reacts according to the player's decisions in the world, matching the game's atmosphere and the player's choices. Jackson's goal with the ambient music is for it to accompany the game's sound design and not become distracting for the player. Comparing the game to a television season, Jackson considers a mission to be like an episode, as it tells an individual story arc while maintaining the same themes across multiple missions. For the narrative music, Jackson maintains the same tempo and key to avoid any clutter. At one point during development, he used around 15 stems, but ultimately brought it back to around six.To ensure that his music was effective for the game, Jackson listened to the music while shooting at a target range using a gun from the game's time. He also purchased several instruments from the Wrecking Crew that were featured on classic cowboy films, such as Dennis Budimir's 1898 Martin 1-28 gut string and Tommy Tedesco's Harmina Salinas Hijas gut string. During recording, Jackson played cues to each musician using call and response, to which they would respond organically, either copying Jackson's cue or playing how they feel. This system took place over a few days, and the tracks make up most of the open-world music. Several recording tools were used to capture the music, dating from a 1959 8-track tape to the modern digital workstation Pro Tools. When creating the score, Jackson gathered musician friends like bassist Mike Watt, violinist Petra Haden, and drummer Jon Theodore for jam sessions, often using Jackson's old instruments.
While the first game imitated popular Spaghetti Western film soundtracks, the second game aimed to become more unique. Jackson estimated that he changed the music about four times throughout development, from extreme experimentation to classic Western sounds, ultimately blending to make "something different". Pavlovich felt that in order to find an effective result, they had to "push it almost until you break it, and then you swing back". To avoid imitating the bell used in Spaghetti Western soundtracks, Jackson instead used a mandolin used by the Wrecking Crew. The music team found reference points in Willie Nelson's album Teatro and the soundtrack for the 1971 film The Hired Hand. Session guitarist Matt Sweeney took inspiration from segments of other music—such as the insistent drums in the work of Ennio Morricone—without being derivative. While researching for the game's score, Jackson found that Morricone's work—particularly on Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy —was already a departure from typical Western music of the time, instead featuring sounds popular at the time such as "psychedelic guitars, lots of noises", so Jackson felt that he could also take such creative liberties with Red Dead Redemption 2. Similarly, he was even more influenced by Masaru Sato's score on Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo, which he felt focused on emotion rather than trying to replicate the sound of feudal Japan, the film's setting.
In total, over 110 musicians worked on the music for the game. Sweeney noted that several musicians turned down offers to work on the soundtrack, due to their unfamiliarity with the industry and technology. Pavlovich felt that the diversity of the game's landscapes allowed for more diverse sounds, engaging saxophone player Colin Stetson, experimental band Senyawa, and musician Arca to work on the score. While Pavlovich felt that Arca's work was "too angular or sharp or modern sounding", he found techniques to subtly add it to the game to separate it from the Spaghetti Western sounds. For the arrangement of the traditional songs in the game, Rockstar engaged historic music producer Eli Smith, who fit the songs to the game and worked with the actors to perform them.
Pavlovich engaged Daniel Lanois to produce all of the game's original vocal tracks, wanting a consistent "through-line" to complement Jackson's score. Lanois collaborated with artists such as D'Angelo, Willie Nelson, Rhiannon Giddens, and Josh Homme. Lanois wrote the song "Cruel World", especially for Nelson. When a hurricane prevented Nelson from recording the song, the team sent the track to Homme in the hopes that he could record it in time for the game's release; Homme recorded his vocals in an Australian studio while on tour. Nelson was ultimately able to record the song in time in Los Angeles; the team considered combining both versions into a duet, but ultimately included both versions in the game. D'Angelo had played the game at Rockstar's offices in New York City before agreeing to work on the game; his apparent enthusiasm in the title prompted Pavlovich to invite him to work on music.
Lanois' co-writer Rocco DeLuca conceived the chant for the songs "Unshaken" and "Crash of Worlds" in New Orleans, based on a proverb by Paramahansa Yogananda: "You must stand unshaken amidst the crash of breaking worlds". Lanois felt that the term applied to the determination of game's characters throughout the story. Lanois took an early version of the song to D'Angelo in New York; they added a percussion track with Brian Blade on drums and Cyril Neville on cowbell, while Lanois played guitar and D'Angelo played Rhodes piano, and turned it into a full song. The recording process with D'Angelo took around a week and a half. Lanois and D'Angelo originally began working on a rock-oriented song in a time signature, but "it didn't pan out". Nas also recorded a version of "Unshaken" with rap verses. Lanois felt that the darker tones of "Love Come Back" resonated well with the game, despite only featuring musical instruments that did not exist in the game's time; he also recorded an acoustic version with more accurate instruments. "That's the Way It Is" was written with the theme of acceptance and surrender, which Lanois felt resonated with Arthur's stillness towards the game's conclusion as he is questioning life.
Albums
''Original Soundtrack''
The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2 comprises the original songs created for Red Dead Redemption 2. Produced by Daniel Lanois, the soundtrack includes songs from D'Angelo, Willie Nelson, Rhiannon Giddens, and Josh Homme. The album was released by Lakeshore Records and Rockstar Games digitally on July 12, 2019, and as a CD and vinyl record on September 20, 2019. Rockstar announced the album's title and track listing on June 14, 2019, when pre-orders became available. Pre-orders granted immediate access to two singles from the soundtrack: "Crash of Worlds" and "Table Top".In the context of the game, Dave Thier of Forbes praised the vocal tracks for having as powerful an impact as in Red Dead Redemption. The soundtrack album peaked at 45 on the Billboard Top Album Sales, 21 on the Soundtracks charts, 12 on Independent Albums, and 11 on Digital Albums. At the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, the soundtrack won Best Soundtrack Album and "That's the Way It Is" was nominated for Original Song in a Video Game.
''Original Score''
The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2 comprises the original score created for Red Dead Redemption 2 by Woody Jackson. The soundtrack features additional production and arrangement by Jeff Silverman, and musical score and orchestration by Colin Stetson, David Ferguson, David Ralicke, Gabe Witcher, Luke O'Malley, Mario Batkovic, Matt Sweeney, Rabih Beaini, and Senyawa. Over 110 other musicians also contributed to the tracks, including Arca, Duane Eddy, Jon Theodore, and Michael Shuman.Pre-orders for the album became available on July 19, 2019, following Rockstar's announcement of the album's title and track listing. Pre-orders granted immediate access to three singles from the soundtrack: "Outlaws From the West", "Fleeting Joy", and "Country Pursuits". The album was released by Lakeshore Records and Rockstar Games digitally on August 9, 2019. CD and vinyl record versions of the album were released on Record Store Day on April 10, 2020, in a collaboration between Rockstar, Lakeshore, and Invada Records.
In the context of the game, Woody Jackson's musical score was described as "top notch" by IGNs Luke Reilly, who described it as "an evocative mix of jangling Ennio Morricone-esque guitar and more soulful pieces". GamesRadar+s David Meikleham wrote that the score is "both electrifying and eclectic". Matt Bertz of Game Informer noted that the soundtrack "leverages elements from early American folk to bring authenticity to the world". Thier of Forbes described the score as "soaring, grand, and sometimes tender".
The vinyl release of the album reordered the track listing and split two of the songs into two parts, increasing the track numbering from 22 to 24.