MI6 got together with the 2003 Emmy award winner Sean Callery late last year as he was in the midst of finishing up the score to "Everything or Nothing."...

Interview - Sean Callery (Part 2)
22nd January 2004

MI6 got together with the 2003 Emmy award winner Sean Callery late last year as he was in the midst of finishing up the score to "Everything or Nothing."...

Continuing..

The music scores have been very solid over the last few games, how are you bringing something new to the music in the series?
We recorded nearly 67-68 minutes of new music recorded for this game using a 65 piece orchestra. We wanted the score to have a rich cinematic feeling to it, and we experimented with spotting the music as it would be done for a movie. For example, many Bond action sequences from earlier films have no music whatsoever, and it was just as exciting. I remember in the finale of Goldfinger, when Bond and Oddjob are fighting at Fort Knox, much of that action sequence is unscored, and it is brilliant, in my opinion. We tried to find areas of the game where we could observe moments where music wouldn't be needed all the time, while not compromising the game's intensity. The visual graphics of this Bond game are astoundingly brilliant. I don't know how they do it. I strived to bring an arc to every piece of music I wrote. Even though the pace of the
game is completely determined by the player, I designed the music so that the game programmers could introduce different musical sections as a player advances onward. I hope the fans like what was done.

At what stage of the production is the 'Everything or Nothing' score? When is it due to be finished? As of this writing all the music has been written and mixed. I should add the music was mixed in 5.1 surround sound. We mixed the score at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California. Glenwood is one of the industry's top state of the art mixing facilities. What equipment are you using to compose the music? How are you balancing the mix of synthesized and orchestral aspects? Back in the early 90's I was a sound designer for the television series, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". I enjoyed designing special sounds for that series. That practice extended onward into my composition work. I like to sound design textures that have as an organic feel as possible, so that when they integrate with live instruments, there is no division where a listener would say, 'oh, that's a nice orchestra piece with synths". I try to have them integrated as if the synthesizer player is sitting in the orchestra with the players. How did you feel about wining the Emmy? Great! I received an Emmy award in 2003 for my underscore composition work on "24".

Above: Sean Callery served as sound effects editor on "Star Trek: Generations" as well as "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"

Above: Le Femme Nikita - Cast

When writing the music for the game, did you relate to any pieces written by previous Bond composers? Do you admire John Barry's famous work on the Bond series? I am a tremendous admirer of John Barry and his work. He has such beautiful haunting melodies in his Bond scores, and when I was hired by EA to do this project, it was explained to me that they wanted to have a very modern score while incorporating some of the brilliant sonorities that have stood the test of time. I was thrilled to received that direction, and I strived to find that balance between fusing the musical styles from earlier Bond films with newer textures. Fans have been eagerly awaiting isolated soundtracks for the previous games, since the 'Tomorrow Never Dies' video game soundtrack was released in 2000. Would you like a soundtrack of the 'Everything or Nothing' music to be released, and are there any plans of such an idea at this stage? From the beginning of my tenure at EA there has always been discussion of having a soundtrack for the game. The music of this game covers a broad variety of musical styles. I was contracted to compose 60-70 minutes of music. It ended up being close to 95-100 minutes of original recorded music for this game.

Do you know if the music you have created for the James Bond game will be release on a CD at any point?
EA is considering releasing a CD of the Bond Music, and I hope they do. I hope the fans will enjoy the game. I thought it was pretty amazing, the things I was able to view and see. I think it would be a great soundtrack. I think if the fans demand it, it will come faster.

Do you think your involvement with 'Everything or Nothing' will lead onto scoring further video games? If approached to score another Bond game in the future, do you think it will be more difficult to come up with new original ideas?
Great questions. I have seen a little of the earlier Bond games, and despite the fact that these action games involve similar actions (i.e, 3rd person shooting, vehicular mission, etc.), the music for each Bond games is very different. I think this is because the Bond character has so many possibilities in terms of story. He travels all over the world. He's put in impossible situations. He's even funny. Even using the themes that are four decades old, musically, I don't think the well can ever really run dry in the Bond franchise.

Many thanks to Sean Callery.

MI6 Biography Name: Sean Callery Portfolio "Everything or Nothing" - Composer

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