2. Music within Grand Theft Auto 4 -
Radio
19 different radio stations, 16 music and 3 talk based.
The music fits era of which the game is set. Vice City = 80s, San Andreas = 90s and GTA 4 =
modern day.
Over 200 tracks in the original game and more added via add on packs.
Different vehicles start with different stations on and will play from a random point.
Various genre theme stations from Rock and Metal to Hip Hop and House.
Many famous artist’s and band’s tracks are used such as Deadmau5 and The Chemical
Brothers.
3. Music within Grand Theft Auto 4 –
Stations
Music Stations TalkStations
1.1 The Beat 102.7 2.1 Integrity 2.0
1.2 The Classics 104.1†† 2.2 PLR – Public Liberty Radio
1.3 Electro-Choc 2.3 WKTT – We Know The Truth
1.4 Fusion FM††
1.5 IF99 – International Funk††
1.6 JNR – Jazz Nation Radio 108.5††
1.7 The Journey††
1.8 K109 The Studio
1.9 LCHC – Liberty City Hardcore
1.10 Liberty Rock Radio 97.8
1.11 Massive B Sound System 96.9††
1.12 Radio Broker
1.13 San Juan Sounds
1.14 Tuff Gong Radio††
1.15 The Vibe 98.8††
1.16 Vladivostok FM
1.17 RamJam FM†
1.18 Self-Actualization FM†
1.19 Vice City FM†
1.20 Independence FM
4. Music within Grand Theft Auto 4 –
Composed music
Because most of the music comes from the radio, it means that most of the music is
diegetic, with the only bits of non diegetic music being:
•The opening credits - remix of Soviet Connection (Main Theme)
•Saving Screen – Short version of Soviet Connection
•Loading Screen - Short version of Soviet Connection
•Mission Completion - Short version of Soviet Connection
•20 seconds of end of multiplayer match – Remix of Soviet Connection
•Other little incidental bits of music
These were produced by Scottish Composer Michael Hunter
Previous work
Grand Theft Auto – San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto - IV
5. Music within Grand Theft Auto 4 –
Other music
Whilst walking through different buildings in the game the following songs can be heard:
•Rick James – "Come Into My Life"
•Rick Ross – "Hustlin'"
•Goldfrapp – "Ooh La La"
•Mystikal – "Shake Ya Ass"
•Niall Toner – "A Real Real"
•Killian's Angels – "Celtic High Step”
Radio commercials also use the following songs:
•Murderdolls – "Dead in Hollywood" (Played during Liberty Rock Radio ad)
•Type O Negative – "I Don't Wanna Be Me" (Played during the opening of the Liberty Rock Radio ad)
Ringtones are also used through out the game
•Drive – Fictional “Rockstar” Band
•Pager tone from GTA 3
7. Advances In Technology
Video games emerge 1970s, Music is still stored via Tape or Vinyl making it expensive
to use in Arcades.
Ways of storing the music digitally came available using a dedicated processor.
Sound capabilities were limited; the Atari 2600 home system, was capable of
generating only two tones at a time.
Cost of silicon chips come down, leading to the next generation of consoles having
Yamaha chips allowing for more tones (Channels) to be played. (Up to 8)
1981, Frogger was the first game to feature 11 different gameplay tracks that change
according to what the player does.
8. Advances In Technology
1982: Commadore 64 released, able to play 4 bit sounds via a fourth sound
channel.
1985: Commadore Amiga released, handles 8 bit sound.
1988: Sega Mega Drive released, had 10 channels in total for tone generation
with one for PCM samples.
1994: Playstation released, had 24 channels of 16-bit samples of up to
44.1 kHz sample rate, samples equal to CD audio in quality.
Modern Day : Xbox 360, has Dolby Digital software, sampling and playback
rate of 16-bit @ 48 kHz (internal; with 24-bit hardware D/A
converters), hardware codec streaming, and potential of 256 audio
simultaneous channels.
9. Advances In Technology - Production
Midi on PC.
Advancement of Digital Audio Workstations.
More Channels to play with.
More people able to compose and produce from
their bedroom.
Emulation of real instruments.
11. Future of Game Music
Game soundtracks becoming more like film
soundtracks.
• Halo
• Gears of War
• Resident Evil
12. Future of Game Music
• Development into 5.1 surround sound as
standard.
• Music becoming more controlled by what the
player does.
• Game sound improving in kHz
• Budget increases for Composition leading to
real orchestrasbeing used more often.
