Trevor Morris: Well I do play games, but I still learned a lot about “interactive music” on this project. There are many similarities to writing for Film & TV, but it is certainly a different discipline. The gang at EA were really patient about nurturing me through the growing pains of thinking of music in 3 dimensions. It has to do with thinking low, medium high…as well as foreground, middle ground, back ground. Then picturing how those bits may work in conjunction with each other in ways you never intellectualized!

M4G: Music in games is more integrally linked (reactive to gameplay, creating immersion) to the overall experience than music in a film. What do you hope gamers will feel or anticipate when they hear your music in the game?
Trevor Morris: Well, although the delivery medium is completely different, music’s job to me remains the same…convey emotion. Music can help tell story, be it interactively or traditionally in a unique, abstract and wonderful way. I would hope the user doesn’t notice my music sometimes, but yet feels their pulse rise as they come closer to the edge of a canyon cliff. At the same time, I want them to absorb and experience my music when the time is appropriate in a more immediate way.

M4G: How did this experience compare with your previous projects in film and television?
Trevor Morris: I had a total blast. It was a different experience mentally for sure. Thinking non-linear and in a modular way was very challenging, it hurt my brain a lot. It was an adrenaline rush at times, and a story telling exercise in minutia at others. It was just as much music as a feature film.

M4G: What does your studio environment consist of? What are your essential equipment and software tools for writing and producing scores?
Trevor Morris: My studio environment is growing out of control! I think I need therapy or something. For faster paced projects like television or interactive, I sequence in Logic. It has a wonder feel for production-based composing. I have 10 dedicated PC’s running Giga-Studio, which houses my on demand orchestra, percussion and instrument “farm”. Think of them as digital musically vending machines. However a lot more of my work is being done “inside the box” within Logic using software synths and plug in effects to create sounds that are fresh and new to me. It all gets bussed into a Pro-Tools HD rig, running 5 cards in a Magma chassis and 10 Digi-192 interfaces. Essentially my mixer and layback mastering system are all in one. I listen and monitor in 5.1 with B&W 802D’s and Classe amps, a seriously stupidly amazing monitoring environment, but one that continually inspires me and allows me to surgically sculpt my music (something I find increasingly important in production-based music.)

M4G: A lot of composers associated with Hans Zimmer have recently scored games. Do you envisage a time when he might consider actually scoring one himself?
Trevor Morris: You never know. I think Hans would enjoy the experience of thinking about music in the interactive 3 dimension way. He would definitely kick ass doing it. Unfortunately he is a little busy these days doing his small little movies like “The Davinci Code” and “Pirates of the Caribbean 2.”

M4G: What are your ambitions for the future? Do you see yourself scoring more video games or are you more focused on film/TV projects?
 

next