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Gustavo Santaolalla (film composer, The Last of Us) working on Red Dead Redemption 2?

Simo

Member
So a cool discovery happened over the weekend where someone on Twitter identified, 6 months later, that the music heard in the Red Dead Redemption 2 announcement trailer is actually a remixed track that Santaolalla originally did for the film, The Motorcycle Diaries, back in 2004.

Take a listen!
Gustavo Santaolalla - Apertura from The Motorcycle Diaries Original Soundtrack

Here's the RDR2 Announcement for comparison:
Red Dead Redemption 2 Announcement Trailer

So now I wonder if Santaolalla worked on RDR2's score, possibly along side Bill Elm and Woody Jackson, or just contributed a theme or two? Santaolalla is returning for The Last of Us 2 but Red Dead Redemption 2 has been in development since 2013 so any work Gustavo could of done should be feasibly complete by now.

So, thoughts? Oh, bonus track where Santaolalla also provided the main theme for AMC's Western show, Hell on Wheels:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fzFctvy6-8
 

Simo

Member
I'm trying to think of when Rockstar has used a track not done themselves and not been included in the game, but hell even the Philip Glass track for GTAIV's announcement made it on one of the radio stations.
 
I'm even up for him composing for a GTA title, seeing how the theme for Making a Murderer was composed by him and it fits the true crime genre really well. That said, a mid west GTA with some true crime themes is probably a more boring version of the game, hehe.
 

Aurongel

Member
It wouldn't shock me but his work in both the Motorcycle Diaries and Babel get used for commercials and tons of film trailers. I hear it crop up on NPR every once in a while too. I think his naturalist aesthetic would be a cool spin on cliche western ambience but I'd take this with a grain of salt for now.

/hot take
 
Oh man I just saw "Gustavo Santaola" and "Dead" in the same thread title and my heart skipped a beat.

Would be cool if he did do the music.
 

dex3108

Member
I am almost sure that Woody Jackson will do RDR2 OST. He did RDR, some things in GTAV, GTA DLCs and L.A. Noire.
 
I could see him involved in a couple of tracks alongside the RDR composers. That would be one mean combination, the trailer music sounds really good for a western.
 
This would make so much sense. A few of us were remarking in a RDR2 thread last year that the teaser felt a lot more neo-Western ala Hell of Wheels/There WIll Be Blood, 70s westerns, etc. That would be a great way to distance it from Redemption 1 and Satoalalla would be a good fit.
 
The music in RDR is so great that I'd be pretty bummed if Bill Elm & Woody Jackson didn't return. But if it has to be, I'd be alright with this replacement.

Then again, it could be all of them working on it. GTA5 had more than a few composers.
 

Psoelberg

Member
It could definitely be an interesting choice. He's one of the best.

It doesn't necessarily mean anything though; it's pretty normal to use music from somewhere else when editing a trailer.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Awesome! I've listened to The Last of Us soundtrack a bunch of times while I read comics. Every track on there is great and he fits perfectly for a Western.
 
Yeah that would definitely check out. His score for TLOU was my favorite thing about the game.

Still, this doesn't mean anything as of yet so I'd check back the hype for now.
 

Simo

Member
This would make so much sense. A few of us were remarking in a RDR2 thread last year that the teaser felt a lot more neo-Western ala Hell of Wheels/There WIll Be Blood, 70s westerns, etc. That would be a great way to distance it from Redemption 1 and Satoalalla would be a good fit.

Yeah exactly! As you said it would be a great way to separate the two, RDR often seemed to lean more on the sounds of the Spaghetti Western side for the soundtrack at least to me.

Either way I've loved the piece in the RDR2 trailer and of course assumed it was original music from the game until now. So I really do hope Satoalalla is involved. That said things change and perhaps he could of been involved at one point? Pedro Bromfman(sp?), composer for Elite Squad and Narcos, composer an entire soundtrack for Max Payne 3 before it got scrapped and Rockstar switched to HEALTH.
 
I'd be all over it but I think people are grasping at straws here. It sounds like that Gustavo song but it also could be anything.
 

Martian

Member
I'm even up for him composing for a GTA title, seeing how the theme for Making a Murderer was composed by him and it fits the true crime genre really well. That said, a mid west GTA with some true crime themes is probably a more boring version of the game, hehe.

Really? So thats why the theme for MaM stuck out to me

Awesome, cant wait for it. Just hope thay Jose Gonzalez will come back to produce another song of the calibre of "Far Away".
Last of us theme is one of the best video game songs ever created imo
 
This would be cool, although I would be sad to see Woody Jackson go. I'm a big fan of his band and I thought the RDR soundtrack was incredible.
 
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