Composer Walter Mair makes extraordinary sounds. Designing unique and unsettling music for Till Death, Crash Bandicoot, and Call of Duty using modular synths, unusual instruments, and NI gear.
DIRECTOR
Tom Green
AGENCY
New Commercial Arts
Production
Stink Films
About the project
Music composition and production for a global new campaign for Vodafone ‘The Irrepressible Girl’.
Live recorded 30-piece string orchestra, featuring a virtuoso cello performance by Tina Guo (Inception, Wonder Woman).
Agency: New Commercial Arts
Director: Tom Green (Monsters: Dark Continent)
Production: Stink Films
Stunning VFX and grade by The Mill (Les Miserables, Snow White and The Huntsman, The Chronicles of Narnia) and sound mix by Wave Studios
Music supervision: Lelandmusic
Some impressions
6 Soundtracks You Need to Experience Right Now: A simple string instrument becomes a sinewy, grotesque iteration of itself. Percussion comes in blasts and splatters that stick to your skin like bloods-strewn molasses. Just sit back and be enveloped by this deeply off-putting and eminently engaging score.
Metal tubes and chains were attached to the instrument’s body and strings to produce dark and evolving textures while some of the more intimate and emotional scenes in the film were live recorded with a string orchestra and string quartet.
DIRECTOR
Ryan Gosling
PRODUCTION
Warner Bros.
CAST
Eva Mendes, Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan
Soundtrack
About the project
This intense thriller is about a single mother who is swept into a dark underworld, while her teenage son discovers a road that leads him to a secret underwater town. ‘Lost River’ premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Music written by Johnny Jewel (producer of The Chromatics) with additional score by Walter Mair. More of Walter’s original music can be heard on the limited LP release ‘How To Catch A Monster’.
Some impressions
PRESS
The New York Times: Score 8/10
“Lost River” ponders people and places left behind in the name of progress. Slyly political, it observes the mortgage crisis through a warped looking glass. The cinematographer, Benoît Debie, finds a perverse beauty in the decline.“
the full reviewLos Angeles Times: Score 7/10
„Turns out Lost River is indeed a mess, but it’s the best mess possible, an evocative grab-bag of images and moods with a heartfelt sincerity and conflicting impulses of romantic melancholy and hardscrabble hopefulness.“
the full review
Artist
Frida Sundemo
Label
Warner Music
Music
About the project
Frida is a Swedish superstar singer who’s profile rose even further in 2015 when she made her Hollywood acting debut with a leading role in the big screen adaption of John Niven’s Kill Your Friends, alongside stars including Nicholas Hoult and James Corden. Her music has also created the right feeling in several key scenes in major international TV shows and movies like Grey’s Anatomy, Girlhood and Kill Your Friends.
‚Forward And Back‘ was co-written by Frida and Walter for the coming-of-age drama ‚Iceland Is Best‘, starring Judd Nelson and Helena Mattson. The beautiful lyrics were performed by Frida with Walter taking over production and recording a string quartet of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The instruments were recorded by Nick Taylor at the iconic Air Edel Studios (Madonna, Queen, ‚Mr Turner‘). To add to a more emotional and warm sound the recordings were made to analog tape and later processed in Pro Tools.
„And, in imbuing these intensely electronic tracks with the orchestral elements Sundemo does, she breathes human beauty into truly breathtaking compositions, the ice thawing – like a heart shape rubbed into moist condensation on, say, a Swedish window – to reveal a palpitating, red-blooded brilliance rushing all the way through her veins.“
Last FM
„New track ‚Gold‘ is just wonderful, recalling everyone from Pet Shop Boys to The Knife in its sheer sonic splendour. „
Clash Magazine
Anthony Wonke (director): I was really drawn to his unique sense of atmosphere. But I also wanted someone who could bring out the emotion in an interesting but not saccharine way. Also, his classical background brings a really strong range across something intimate and personal to something really grand and cinematic.
The soundtrack captures the beauty of the setting and the complexities of the characters and their relationships whilst conveying the dark underlying events taking place throughout.
Sir Paul McCartney has one, as do Lou Reed, Lionel Bart and Annie Lennox. They hold a prestigious Ivor Novello Award, Britain’s tribute to the finest songwriters the world has seen. This week they will be joined by someone whose music has never been near the charts: the composer of a computer game soundtrack.
Publisher
Activision
MUSIC BY
Walter Mair
Developer
Tencent
Soundtrack
About the project
Activision Blizzard’s new game “Call of Duty: Mobile,” enjoyed the “largest mobile game launch ever”, The Verge
The game breaks records with 100 million downloads in its first week.
Call of Duty: Mobile was nominated for a BAFTA Award and wins ‚Best Mobile‘ at The Game Awards, ‚Game of the Year‘ at the 2020 #PGAwards.
Walter’s music for the game won numerous awards including a gold-award at the 2020 Telly Awards and a nomination for ‚Best Original Dramatic Score‘ at the #AcademyOfVideoGames.
To get more insight into the scoring process behind the game check out the article in Pocketgamer. The magazine exclusively premiered the main theme of the full soundtrack.
More impressions
PRESS
Gamezebo: Score 10/10
„It’s a huge thumbs up from us for Call of Duty Mobile. This release very much blurs the lines between console and mobile, feeling every bit the huge profile console release on our phones.“
the full reviewDestructoid: Score 8.5/10
„It looks good, it plays great, and its pick-up-and-play nature makes it the exact type of game I want to boot up … Now give me that zombies mode.“
the full reviewGamespot: Score 8/10
„…is like a greatest hits tour of the best aspects of the series‘ console multiplayer. It features the most popular game modes and some of the best maps from Modern Warfare and the first two instalments of Black Ops, faithfully recreated to give you the same sight lines and choke points you’re familiar with. It looks great, too.“
the full reviewPocketgamer
„Call of Duty Mobile composer Walter Mair shares insight on his approach to the main theme.“
the full reviewGlue director Daniel Nettheim added: ‘Walter is a wonderful collaborator and true craftsman of music for the screen. His entrancing score elevates the emotion and drama of the series to another cinematic level.’
The cinematic film features the voice of Ayrton Senna, and a cameo from Formula 1 driver Jenson Button.
Iggy Pop makes his starring debut in this indie thriller as a dying rock star caught in a web of sex, blackmail and murder. Pop’s stunt casting should give it cult appeal in theaters .
Such an iconic and groundbreaking title demanded an original, thematic and hybrid approach to reflect its cinematic and immersive gameplay as well as representing the entire legacy of the franchise, including the Modern Warfare and Black Ops universes.
Lakeshore Records has released a soundtrack album for the British horror thriller The Unfamiliar.
The Unfamiliar is a 2020 American horror film written by Henk Pretorius, starring Jemima West, Christopher Dane …
The key element was to find a successful combination of the main theme as well as defining a very distinct overall sound for the music. Lots of experiments happened in this stage. Live recordings were held on a daily basis with instruments spanning from a more classical orchestral setup to custom-built instruments.
DIRECTOR
Oliver Hirschbiegel
NETWORK
Netflix
Cast
Sofia Helin, Tom Schilling
Soundtrack
About the project
Academy Award nominee Oliver Hirschbiegel, who has already brought films like ‘Downfall’ and, most recently, ‘13 Minutes’ to the screens, once again dedicates himself with ‘The Same Sky’ to another important chapter of contemporary German history, the 1970s.
The scripts were written by Paula Milne, one of the most inventive writers in British TV (The Politician’s Wife, White Heat, The Virgin Queen).
East Germany (GDR), 1974. Lars Weber — young, ambitious and impenetrable — will soon have to prove his loyalty to his country; the 25-year-old knows that every step forward in the GDR comes with strings attached.
For Lars, this means being sent to West Berlin as an East-German ‘Romeo’ agent. His mission is to seduce women working in sensitive positions in the West. One of them is Lauren Faber, a high-ranking British intelligence officer and lonely single mother of a rebellious teen.
Some impressions
Press
New York Times
„The harsh toll that the espionage takes on the spies themselves unspools amid picture-perfect art direction, while a story line about the human toll of an East German doping program targeting teenage athletes is more chilling still. If you like “The Americans” or “Deutschland 83,” you’ll want to savor these six hourlong episodes.“
the full reviewThe Guardian
„From seduction workshops to chat-up labs, The Same Sky is an electifying look at the tactics used by the East German secret police to get intel from the west. Prepare to go deep under cove.“
the full reviewVariety
„The six-hour series, written by British author Paula Milne, portrays the fate of two families on either side of the Berlin Wall. The action revolves around the relationship between an East German “Romeo” agent – a spy who uses seduction as a way to unearth secrets — and his female target in the West.“
the full reviewThe Hollywood Reporter
„The Cold War drama from ‚Downfall‘ director Oliver Hirschbiegel stars Tom Schilling (‚Generation War‘) and Sofia Helin (‚The Bridge‘).“
the full reviewSony wanted to re-launch this extremely popular franchise and I was given a lot of creative space to come up with new themes and a new overall musical tone. In the first meetings the creatives and I discussed the story and the fact that our main hero crosses sides half-way through the campaign and abandons the former allies to fight alongside the Helghast.
The soundtrack features about 40 minutes of ‘heart-pumping’ tracks that will let you relive the ‘drama, fear, and undying courage of war’ experienced in the game … be sure to pay particular attention to the unique sounds for each score.
Mair’s diverse repertoire ranges from epic full orchestral scores recorded with 80-piece choirs to intimate, small ensembles and hybrid electronic scores featuring solo instruments and found sounds. To create unique sounds for each score, Mair employs his extensive collection of analog digital synths
Developer
The Creative Assembly
Publisher
SEGA
Music by
Walter Mair
Soundtrack
About the project
It is an age of endless conquest, thousands of warriors clash in titanic battles as entire races wage war on one another, each led by a formidable hero seeking dominion over the world.
Being able to choose to play either Humans, Vampires, Orcs, Beastmen, or the all bloodthirsty Chaos Warriors, required the music to sound very different. A more unique instrumentation had to be defined for each race. Which also affected the choice of primary melodic instrument ranging from epic war horns, to angelic solo vocals, massive kettle drums and a dark Russian choir which was recorded in Macedonia.
Some impressions
It’s been far too long since I’ve been swept away by a score that’s truly original. The music from this score bursts to life with choral accompaniment that is as grand and moving as anything I have heard in all of 2008. It’s safe to say that this soundtrack rekindled my energy….
Lauded by critics as ‘setting a new bar of quality for FPS on handheld’ and ‘one of the better first-person shooters, period’ Walter Mair’s music for the latest installment in the blockbuster series reflects a new story set in the Killzone universe and captures the emotional drama, fear and undying courage of war.
The combination of electronic and orchestral sounds was an amazing brief that enabled me to combine my two alter egos, classical and electronic music. I also got to record a lot of instruments live and either leave the sound pure and organic or process the instruments afterwards and run them through chains of effects and outboard gear.
The music had to bridge Ronaldo’s early childhood with his adult life as the world’s best player; his childhood was riddled with life defying moments and the music needed to be sparse and intimate in the early stages and become cinematic and epic in scope without overpowering the picture.
The 8-parter starring Yasmin Paige, Jessie Cave, Callum Turner, Jordan Stevens and Charlotte Spencer is set in the English rural countryside and centers around the friends of 14-year-old boy, Cal Bray, who is found dead.
Mair’s soundtrack to Empire: Total War was so well received that it was nominated for a highly prestigious Ivor Novello award. Mair also has experience with all sorts of orchestras and groups, from enormous choirs and full orchestras to smaller, more intimate ensembles and groups.
I like the challenge of producing a soundtrack that is unique in many ways but partly uses known sounds and sources of music that were treated in such way that the origin of the instruments are disguised. This always results in a soundtrack where you think you know what you are listening to but just can’t put your finger on it.
Fighting sequences feature live recorded drums mixed with synthetic drums and big booms that were specifically created for this title. Stealth and tension tracks feature a rich soundscape that consists of many live recorded instruments that were heavily processed to create an interesting and ever-evolving texture.
I am always experimenting with sounds and instruments, recording techniques and layering instruments to produce unique sounds that help the game/movie to set it apart from other titles in a similar genre.
When the mellow and fragile melody played on a piano came in, it brought a tear to their (producers and director) eyes. We kept this track without any further changes and it became one of my favorite moments in the film.
It is always great to work with amazing developers who share the same vision for a project and to be honoured for your work shows that not only was the music well-received but also that the entire team were pushing in the same direction to get music and sound to its fullest potential.
All we had were scripts and some artwork. For me, this was the ideal scenario to start with because you are then an essential part of the project and can contribute to define the overall sound of the game.
DIRECTOR
Ash Bolland
AGENCY
GPY&R
Production
Curious Films
About the project
“It’s Show Time”
“The Big Bash League is breathing new energy and excitement into Australian sport, and we needed to make sure we captured this in our communications as we reach out to younger and more technologically-savvy audiences,” Julian Dunne, senior marketing manager at Cricket Australia said.
The campaign rolled out with other media, including large format outdoor, press, radio digital page takeovers, and a 3D version of the TV commercial airing in cinemas.
Visual effects and grade were created by Method Studios (Wonder Woman 1984, John Wick).
Some impressions
DEVELOPER
Guerrilla Games
Publisher
Sony Entertainment Europe
Music by
Walter Mair
Soundtrack
About the project
Music composition for Sony’s AAA video game. More than 2 hours of original music were written for this epic title. The music utilizes a palette of different instruments ranging from big orchestra to twisted synths and heavily processed sounds, blurring the lines between music and sound design. 80 minutes of the music were recorded at Air Studios to elevate the production quality to the highest level possible.
‘Killzone: Mercenary’ received amazing reviews and has a Metacritics Score of 8.8/10
‘The music for Killzone: Mercenary needed to span from ambient tones that conveyed the mood of the locations to high action cues and all in-between, whilst having signature sounds for both the ISA and Helghast. Not such an easy task, but Walter managed this with ease, creating a tone that fitted the story arch perfectly.’
Alastair Lindsay – head of music – Sony Entertainment
Soem Impressions
Press
Digitalspy
Mair said: „Glue was a fantastic experience that required me to leave the picturesque countryside of England behind and dive into a gloomy and sinister England. „The music focuses on the relationship between the main characters and their playful and emotive nature, which ultimately heads into much darker territory.“
the full reviewDevelop
„Rightly recognised for its quality, Killzone Mercenary’s score is a palette of different instruments, ranging from big orchestra to twisted synths and heavily processed sound, blurring the lines between music and sound design.“
the full reviewThe Audio Spotlight
„I drilled holes into the corpus of a cello and put metal tubes through them. These were hollow on the inside and filled with objects such as shrapnel and other metal parts. When played back, the cello produced these amazing overtone heavy resonances you wouldn’t normally ge.t“
the full reviewGame Insider
Ivor Novello nominated and Telly award winning composer Walter Mair scores Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s (SCEE) highly acclaimed PS Vita title, Killzone: Mercenary. Walter Mair’s music for the latest installment in the blockbuster series reflects a new story set in the Killzone universe and captures the emotional drama, fear and undying courage of war. The official soundtrack is now available for digital download via Sony Entertainment Network.
the full reviewCinemablend
„I knew I wanted to use unique sounds paired with more classical sounds and in order to do so I would even custom-build instruments. A game of this magnitude deserves its very own sound.“
the full reviewVideo Game Music Score 4.5/5
„This music is mixed like you are really in an industrial warzone kind of setting. I highly recommend the Killzone Mercenary Soundtrack for music lovers, as there is action, suspense and an incredible connection to the gameplay.“
the full reviewMore impressions
Developer
Slightly Mad Studios
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Music by
Walter Mair
About the project
The critically acclaimed SHIFT franchise returns to the track with SHIFT 2. The most immersive racing experience to date brings the True Driver’s Experience to life with all the intensity and exhilaration of being behind the wheel and competing in the Driver’s Battle. From the all-new helmet cam to night racing to frighteningly real physics and crashes, SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED delivers all the violence and excitement of race day in a groundbreaking authentic racing experience.
Walter wrote the music as well as created the music sound design for the trailer campaign. He also contributed hi-action music to the fast paced franchise.
Some impressions
DIRECTOR
Duncan McWilliam
AGENCY
The Brooklyn Brother
Production
MPC Creative
About the project
Launch campaign for Jaguar’s prestigious new F-Type.
Created entirely in CG by MPC (Suicide Squad, Fantastic Beasts, The Martian) the light trails were taken from Duncan’s motorbike as long exposures around London and then reflected in the stunning curves of the Jaguar as a 3D model.
Intricate beats, paired with glass-like musical effects. For the main motif Walter wrote a melody for cello which was performed by Richard Harwood, principal cellist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Some impressions
DIRECTOR
Hernan Reig
Network
MTV
Creative
Eduardo Maraggi
About the project
Walter composed and produced all music and sound design for the re-launch of MTV Networks. Part of the new On-Air-Design were formats such as ‘MTV News’, ‘Brand New’, ‘MTV Music Video Awards’, ‘Mash’ and many more.
Some impressions
Client
Audi
DIRECTOR
Olivier Gondry
MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN
Walter Mair
About the project
Music composition and creation of a unique sound world for Audi R8.
The film was made by visionary director Olivier Gondry who shot countless music videos for artists such as Daft Punk, Bjork, Massive Attack and The Rolling Stones. VFX and Grading by The Mill (‘Les Miserables’, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’).
‘We wanted to make a film which made the process of constructing an R8 as beautiful as the car itself’, explains Richard McGrann. The effect captures the workers’ movement through time — each frame measures a point in time compressed into one shot. Filming took place over eight days in Germany, with each frame requiring a minimum of 20 different shots and four layers to achieve the unique visual effect.
Some impressions
DEVELOPER
Rockstar Games
MUSIC BY
Walter Mair
Publisher
Rockstar North
About the project
Niko Bellic comes to Liberty City, America to live the good life, but ends up having to assist his dangerously indebted cousin Roman with his financial troubles, by any (mostly illegal) means necessary.
In a city where there is no such thing as peace and sincerity is rare and indistinguishable, Niko Bellic truly ponders the deeper meaning of the American dream.
Dozens of tracks were written and licensed for this title, spanning different genres ranging from hip-hop to jazz and electro.
More impressions
DEVELOPER
Rockstar Games
Publisher
Rockstar North
About the project
A family tragedy prompts a man to return home, only to find it overrun by crime and corruption, which he must regain control of the streets before it gets even worse.
Music licensing for the GTA series, the license deal included several tracks for GTA: San Andreas. The music got featured on advertising campaigns, trailers and in-game. Main Composer: Michael Hunter.
