This is part 2 of the Music Weeklies that was run by Disasterpeace. We were challenged to extend our favourite video game soundtrack by writing at least 2 tracks that sound alike. This is my go at extending the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack. My previous track was all about action. This second piece is about resting at the end of the day.
I wanted this track to sound as if you’re really there, listening to people play their instruments, so I added in some campfire sounds for the ambience. I also wanted it to play out like a story so one person starts playing their guitar, another joins in, the banjo starts, someone starts playing on a violin, another person starts stomping their feet and then finally there’s someone whistling along towards the end.
Track Breakdown
Guitar 1: This is the guitar that starts off the track. It’s me playing my Court acoustic, capo on the 7th fret, mic’d up and going through BIAS FX 2’s acoustic amps. The main sound comes from the octaver pedal which lets you mix the dry sound, the low octave and the high octave all together.
Guitar 2: Same guitar but without a capo or the octaver pedal this time. This adds the lower end to compliment guitar 1.
Banjo: My wife hates the sound of banjos won’t let me get one in real life so I’ve had to make do with the banjo sample on EastWest’s Ra library.
Violin: This compliments the banjo and follows some of the melody lines from the banjo and guitars. I recorded multiple improvisations because I wanted it to sound like somebody was joining in spontaneously. I’m using the Violins 2 Leader sample from the BBC Symphony Orchestra library with a close mic position.
Foot stomps: I found these on freesound, split them up so they were in time and lowered the pitch of them to blend in with the rest of the music.
Whistle: I wanted more whistling but boy can I not whistle in tune. Not quite as bad as my singing but it’s almost there. That’s really why there’s only one whistle in the piece. I ran the audio through the same fx as guitar 2. I had a tuner on the screen while I was whistling so I can attempt to make myself in tune. It’s still a little off but I like to think that adds to the atmosphere.
Ambience: The final track is the campfire ambience. It starts off quite loud to set the mood then I dipped the volume when the other instruments came in.
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