MI6 caught up with Music Editor/Programmer Dave L shortly after he completed work on the new 007 game "Everything or Nothing"...

Dave L Interview
6th February 2004

Producer/Remixer, Musician and Sound Designer Dave L's career spans a decade and includes albums, films, video games, commercials, cartoons, and now "Bond, James Bond"... MI6 caught up with Dave L shortly after he completed work on the new 007 game "Everything or Nothing".

How were you approached by Electronic Arts to update the score "Everything or Nothing"?
Veteran sound designer Larry "the O" called me up in June of 2003, as he was audio director for 'Everything or Nothing' at that time. He called me because he felt they needed someone who had both musical and technical experience, especially with interactive music systems. Since I had experience writing music for games and I had been involved in the design and execution of interactive music at LucasArts, I guess he felt I might have something to offer. I had just recently come off RTX Red Rock for LucasArts, where I had written the all the music and had been involved in the design of the interactive music engine.

Could you tell us a bit about your role as Music Editor/Programmer for Everything or Nothing, what does it involve and what are the main differences between this role and the composer role?
My primary job was to take Sean Callery's music, orchestral mixed with some electronica, and use EA's Pathfinder system to design and build interactive music "cues." This is designing and implementing how the music is going to respond to what the player is doing and what's going on in the game. I did this with the help of Sean, a talented programmer named Garrett James, audio director Marc Farly, and a couple others. I was driving the interactive design, but this was really a team effort. Aside from the interactive music work, I also did some editing of music for linear dramatic scenes and I was involved in mixing the game.

Did you work with Sean Callery at any stage during the project? Were there any changes that had to be made to the in-game soundtrack to allow seamless transition?
Yes, I had initial meetings with Sean and the rest of the audio team, and after that Sean and I spoke on the phone several times, as he was in L.A. and I was in San Francisco. Sean was involved in the interactive design from the beginning, and we did have to make some adjustments along the way. He was very aware of what we were trying to get the music to do using Pathfinder. Aside from his composition, we also worked with his own music editor to get alternate versions of cues and the mix elements needed to adapt the music to situations and transitions.

 
Above: Music Editor/Programmer Dave L

How does music editing for a game differ from that of a movie? How does it add to the atmospheric experience?
Two completely different worlds, in my opinion. Music editing for actual gameplay is a completely different approach than editing music for a movie. Music editing for a film is obviously a very linear experience and will always play the same way. Creating development and drama is predictable, because the scene doesn't change. Now, I'm not saying good music editing for a film is easy. I have a lot of respect for good film music editors. Music editing for a game requires building pieces that can be played and shuffled against each other and transitioned between each other, never the same way, and you still have to try and have some kind of development and drama in it. The only goals game music and film music share in my opinion are helping to tell a story and support a dramatic moment.

Did the editing process for Everything or Nothing differ in anyway from what you have done before? What did you enjoy the most about the project?
Yes, it was the first time I worked with Pathfinder, which is a pretty powerful tool for building interactive music into a game.

What I enjoy most about any project is seeing how music and sound help it come to life, and working with great people who are passionate about making things sound good.

 

Download Tracks

Click below to download tracks by Dave L and his band "ZONK"

"The Grind"

"3:05am"

How eager are you to be involved in a project that is related to such a famous series? How has compared to your work on the Star Wars titles?
Are you kidding? Very. Especially because I grew up watching Bond. I also grew up watching the Star Wars series. I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on titles based on things I grew up loving. I was a Star Wars kid, a Bond kid, a video game kid, and a musician. It's funny, I remember as a kid growing up a mixture of Star Wars, Bond, my ATARI 2600, Intellivision, KISS, Queen, The Beatles...so many influences. "Everything or Nothing" was different from my work on Star Wars titles in that it was the first title where I took someone else's music and worked on making it interactive, as opposed to actually writing the music or doing sound design, both of which I did on various Star Wars titles. Most of my work on Star Wars titles was sound design, but I did some "controversial" electronic remixes and adaptations of John Williams' music for a couple of them. I did also do a lot of editing of Williams' music for Star Wars titles.

The music scores have been very solid over the last few games, how are you bringing something new to the music in the series?
The "Everything or Nothing" score involves real orchestra recordings, and a higher level of interactivity in the music than has been done in previous Bond games. Plus it's the first Sean Callery Bond score!

 

What equipment are you using? How are you balancing the mix of synthesized and orchestral aspects?
Sean's job was to compose the score, and I think he and his team did a great job of mixing orchestra and electronica. My primary tools for building the interactivity were EA's Pathfinder and Stitcher, Bias Peak and Pro Tools. EA also has other tools we used for controlling music interactivity as it relates to the actual 3D game world geometry.

When updating the score for the game, how did you relate to any pieces written by previous Bond composers? Do you admire any of the famous work on the Bond movie series?
Sean of course was writing based on the legacy of Bond music, but bringing his own voice into it. I feel that he successfully wrote music both inspired by what has come before and taken in his own direction. As to the composers of previous Bond movie scores I have a lot of respect and admiration for them, especially the 60's and 70's scores, which is what I grew up hearing mostly.

Left: Composer Sean Callery

Do you think your involvement with "Everything or Nothing" will lead onto scoring further Bond video games?
Hopefully! I think we all learned a lot on this one, meaning the next time around it will be even better.

How would you describe the music of your band "ZONK"? What are your musical influences?
ZONK is a "trip-hop-rock" group that I have been working with over the last couple years. I am writing, producing and performing with them, among the other projects I have going on. I spent a lot of last year in the studio with them, and we recently released a new EP which is being received well, I'm glad to say. We are shopping that around to managers and record labels, and we're getting some interest. We have too many influences to mention here, but what do we sound like? We been compared to everything from Beck to Portishead to Goldfrapp to Gorillaz to Bjork.

Related Articles
Sean Callery Interview - Part 1
Sean Callery Interview - Part 2
Dave L's Official Site