The Music of Grand Theft Auto V is a 2013 soundtrack containing various music tracks from Grand Theft Auto V. It was released on 24 September, 2013. Various songs from the radio stations of the game are featured in the soundtrack, as well as songs from the original score for the game. The soundtrack was released in three volumes: original music, score and soundtrack, respectively.^[1]

Background and recording

Grand Theft Auto V is the first entry in the series to make use of an original score.^[2] Music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich noted that creating original score for the game was "daunting" given that it would be a first for the series.^[3] Like previous entries in the series, the game also contains licensed music tracks provided by an in-game radio. Pavlovich noted that the team did not want the original music to detract from the use of licensed music as well, but rather to accompany it.^[4] To work on the score, Rockstar brought The Alchemist, Oh No and Tangerine Dream on board with Woody Jackson, who had collaborated with the team on three previous projects, Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire (2011) and Max Payne 3.^[5] In collaboration with each other, the team of producers composed twenty hours of music which scores the game's missions.^[6] In addition, music will play dynamically throughout the game in both the single-player and multiplayer modes.^[7] Pavlovich noted that at times Rockstar would give the team missions to specifically provide score for, but that some of the team's music composed for no specific purpose would influence some other missions and provide jumping-off points for further score development. He noted what he described as a "stem-based" system to make the music fit dynamic factors in the game; after a piece of music was assigned to a particular mission, the team would compose music to underscore outcomes the player could make after completing it.^[3]

"Welcome to Los Santos" "Welcome to Los Santos", Grand Theft Auto V's main theme, was composed by Oh No. He collaborated with several other musicians to produce original music for the game. Problems playing this file? See media help.

Early in Grand Theft Auto V's development, the music team were shown an early build of the game before conducting production on the score. Their work on the score was mostly complete later in the game's development, but they continued composing up until the final build of the game had to be submitted for manufacturing. Edgar Froese, Tangerine Dream's founding member, was initially uninterested in being involved in music production on the game. After being flown into the studio and shown the game, he had a change of heart, impressed by the game's scale and cinematic nature. Froese's initial eight months of work on the score produced 62 hours of music.^[3] He recorded with Tangerine Dream in Austria, but further work was mainly conducted at Jackson's studio in the United States, which The Alchemist and Oh No accessed.^[4] Jackson, who upon learning that the composers would be building off each-other's work, expressed concern that the finished product could end up disjointed. His initial work on the game was to provide score for Trevor's missions, citing The Mars Volta and Queens of the Stone Age as stylistic influences during this process. After sending his efforts around to the other members of the team, Jackson was impressed by Froese's contributions to his work. "Edgar evolved the music, made it into a whole other thing", he noted.^[3] Froese had taken Jackson's hip hop-influenced work and interpolated it with a funky sound. Froese and Jackson also sent their efforts between The Alchemist and Oh No, who heavily sampled their work. "We were sampling, taking a piece form here, a piece from there. [...] We pitched stuff up, chopped it, tweaked it. Then we chose the tracks that worked and everyone came in and layered on that", recalled The Alchemist.^[3] DJ Shadow then mixed the team's creations together and appropriated it for the gameplay.^[3]

Critical reception

In the context of the game, The Music of Grand Theft Auto V was well-received. Jim Sterling of Destructoid considered the game's sound design "impeccable", directing praise at the score.^[8] McDonald felt that the licensed music had been selected well, and that the original score "builds tension" on missions.^[9] Gerstmann agreed that the score helped enhance dramatic tension during missions,^[10] and Carolyn Petit of GameSpot wrote that the score "lends missions more cinematic flavour".^[11] Edge wrote that the licensed music "enrich[es] Los Santos' already remarkable sense of space" and considered that the original score enhanced the atmosphere of the gameplay, summarising Grand Theft Auto V as "a compendium of everything Rockstar has learnt about the power of game music in the past decade".^[12]

Track listing

† All songs written and composed by Tangerine Dream, Woody Jackson, The Alchemist and Oh No. All songs layered, mixed and arranged by DJ Shadow from the original interactive in-game score.