Interview with Trevor Morris

Composer Trevor Morris currently lives and works in Santa Monica,
his recording studio is part of Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Facility cultural house.
Trevor spent two and a half years working in close collaboration with
Hans as a studio designer, engineer, orchestra leader, technical
supervisor, producer and co-producer. Together they worked on such films as
"The Rock", "Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2", "Black Hawk Down", "The Last
Samurai", "The Ring 1 and 2". Numerous tours around Los Angeles and London, as was to be expected,
allowed Trevor to assemble, produce and manage the best film and television actors,
to participate in the joint project of Hans and Trevor. Currently they are working on the network
TV series "E-Ring" and "Justice" for Jerry Bruckheimer, as well as
on Need For Speed Carbon.

M4G: What is your musical style? How did you begin your work in creating music for
films?
Trevor Morris: When I became interested in music, I studied piano and violin at a child's level,
slightly trained my voice, but ultimately composing was my end goal.
My career began with directing TV and radio broadcasts, so I gained the skills for
further work in the field of soundtracks.

M4G: You are currently based at Hans Zimmer's production house. When did you
first meet him, and also how did this influence your career later on?
TM: I moved from my native Canada to Los Angeles in 2001 to get the opportunity
to write music as good as I can. At the very beginning my unique designs,
production skills and composer abilities led to work with two of my musical heroes,
James Newton Howard and, ultimately, Hans. Hans has since become a close friend,
replaced my father, and of course my musical ambassador of good taste. Hans's influence is hard to convey
in words, it covers many areas of my life, even outside of music. He is, simply put, the smartest
person I have ever met. But he is a tough man, he was as strict with me
as he was favorable to my career.

M4G: How did you get the job for NFS: Carbon? Were you familiar with the NFS series before
you started working on Carbon?
TM: I was introduced to EA by my agent and friend Maria Machado, who
works with EA. I love cars and I'm an NFS fan. I played all the racing games, starting from my young days, back then
I played on my Amiga. The EA crew seriously worked out the physics in the game, thanks to which you feel
the car. I raced my cars in Canada and in California, so I know what it's like. Believe
me, NFS is going to kick the ass of all currently existing racing games. Also in this game
there are things that are truly new for this genre. I think these moments will soon be
used in films.

M4G: How are you writing the music for Carbon, and how many minutes have you done already? Is there music in the game,
or did you write music only for the cinematics?
TM: There are places in the game that are only Japanese Taiko and Shakuhachi Flutes. We
made a remix of "The Last Samurai". We made approximately 40 minutes of fully interactive
musical compositions for the game, recorded in layers known as "stems" as well as in emotional
chapters. All the music in the game will depend on the action happening on screen. Also in the game there will be
13 short cinematic FMV films. It was really interesting to do.

M4G: Do you think it's necessary to play games to understand how to write music for
them, or do you look at it the same way as a film? Do you see any differences between
scoring a film and scoring a game?
TM: Yes, I do play games, but I learned a lot about "dialogue music" on this
project. It is, of course, different music, because in a game you decide what will happen now, while in
a film everything is planned. EA explained to me about music in 3 dimensions: foreground, second plan and
background.

M4G: What will the player feel when they hear your music in the game, in your opinion?
TM: Music can understand the story, whether it's in an interactive mode or in a traditionally
unique, abstract and wonderful way. The music will intensify the "pulse" when, for example,
approaching a fence, thereby making the player nervous.

M4G: What equipment do you have?
TM: I have a control studio, in it there are 10 computers that can be imagined
as an orchestra of machines. Think of them as digital musicians. All of this is routed into a Pro-Tools HD Rig
and 10 Digi-192 interfaces. I listen on 5.1 with B&W 802D’s and Classe amps, and edit the bad spots.
Everything is done by mixing.

M4G: Many composers associated with Hans Zimmer have recently scored games. Do you
think the time will come when he himself takes on scoring games?
TM: I think he wouldn't mind. Unfortunately, he's a bit busy. Working on such
films as "The Da Vinci Code" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2"

M4G: How do you picture your future? Are you going to continue scoring games?
TM: Yes, I am going to continue working on the next parts of NFS.

M4G: Do you think there are ways to make games more like films?
TM: I think it's worth playing with the 5.1 sound system, since all sounds have great
importance, they help transport you to the place shown on screen.