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MI6 talked music with Ian Stocker this week, about
squeezing all the big sounds of a Bond adventure
into a handheld console in great style for "Everything
or Nothing"...
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Interview - Ian Stocker
21st December 2003
MI6 talked music with Ian Stocker this week, about squeezing
all the big sounds of a Bond adventure into a handheld console
in great style for "Everything or Nothing"...
Above: Game Boy Advance |
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Sounding Off....
How were you approached by Electronic Arts to modify
the score for "Everything or Nothing"?
It was actually the developer, Griptonite who approached
me about working on this project.
Griptonite and I have
a standing relationship and have collaborated on several
titles to date.
How eager are you to be involved in a project that
is related to such a famous series?
It is definitely exciting to be part of it, being a long-time
fan of the Bond franchise. But aren't we all, deep down?
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What are the main differences with composing music on a limited
playback platform such as the GBA?
It's really a matter of taking a limited framework, and using
illusory tactics to make it seem like those limitations are
breaking
down. So you try to make a few voices sound like more, and play
to the system's strengths. Because a lot of players don't use
headphones, you have to keep the essential sounds of music and
sound effects where they are audible - on the GBA's built-in
speaker
- though I still use some deep bass and stereo effects, as a
cool extra for headphone users.
Although it seems limiting to have so few voices to work with
or so little sample memory, it actually helps give the soundtrack
a unified, more directed sound overall.
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When updating the score for the game, how did you
relate to any pieces written by previous Bond composers?
Do you
admire John Barry's famous work on the Bond series?
When I signed up for this gig, I bought "The Essential
James Bond" which has most of Barry's themes for the
early Bond movies.
The sound has changed a lot in the Pierce
Brosnan era, with a shift from purely orchestral to more
electronic. I did my best to include both sounds, for example
the Siberia theme is very traditional, and the Train Yard
theme is much more modern.
Nintendo Game Boy Advance
UK
- MI6 Price: £24.99
USA
- MI6 Price: $29.99
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Above: GBA cover art |
What equipment did you use to compose the music? How are
you balancing the mix of composed music to what you have produced?
I do pretty much everything on the computer. All the sound effects
and instrument samples are recorded/edited in Sound Forge and
Buzz, and all my composing is done in a variety of trackers. This
year I moved from a MIDI-based GBA audio solution to a MOD-based
one, so I really haven't touched MIDI in some time.
I converted some songs from the console game scores, such as
the Nanotech Facility, title theme, and credits theme, but most
of the songs are original and "in the style of" Bond,
using motifs and chords familiar to the Bond genre.
Above: Mya Harrison plays Agent Mya
Starling
MI6 Mya Starling
Profile |
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How was the Mya Harrison song altered for use on the
GBA?
It would have been prohibitive to simply cut and paste the
original song recording into a GBA cart, so I used a few
techniques to make it work.
The instrumental portion of
the song is sequenced from scratch, using some samples
taken directly from individual tracks in the mix (which
EA was
gracious enough to provide me with). For the vocal track,
I converted the audio to a format that provided a good
balance
of quality and memory usage, then sliced it up into several
small pieces and removed any repeated sections.
The sequencer
then calls from a pool of vocals while the song is playing, "stitching" them together. To match the credits
roll time and for some space considerations, one verse from
the song was removed, but other than that I think it sounds
very much like the original.
How many platforms titles have you worked on? Are they
all for handheld systems?
By the end of 2003 I will have completed 9 games, that's
since I started doing this in February of 2002. All handheld!
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Do you think your involvement with "Everything or Nothing"
will lead onto scoring further Bond video games? If approached
to update a score for another Bond hand held game in the future,
do you think it will be more difficult to come
up
with new original ideas?
Well, I wouldn't try to integrate
the Bond theme into every song in the game. At a certain point
the player's just going to get
tired of hearing the same passage, no matter how creatively you
weave it into the score. But new Bond games and movies come with
their own new themes, in this case Mya's "Everything or Nothing" song.
As long as I had fair amount of creative license (as I did with
EON), I would be happy to score another Bond
game.
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00-Seven Questions
How were you involved in the Bond series?
I did the audio for 007: Everything or Nothing GBA
What was your first ever Bond experience?
GoldenEye.
What did you think of the last film, "Die Another
Day"?
I have yet to see it!
What is your favourite Bond film?
Dr. No.
Who is your favourite Bond?
Sean Connery
Which Bond girl should come back?
Famke Janssen.
What is your favourite Bond moment from the series?
"It's a Smith and Wesson. And you've had your six." -
Dr. No.
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MI6 Biography
Name: Ian Stocker
Portfolio
"Everything or Nothing" - GBA Composer
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Many thanks to Ian Stocker
Images courtesy EA and Amazon Associates.
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MI6 Everything or Nothing Coverage
Interview
- Sean Callery (Part 1)
Everything
or Nothing GBA Features
Everything
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