ComingSoon spoke with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III composer Walter Mair, who opened up about his creative approach to the action-packed video game.
Launched on November 10, 2023, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is a first-person shooter crafted by Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision. As the sequel to 2022’s Modern Warfare II, it is the third installment in the rebooted Modern Warfare sub-series and the twentieth entry in the expansive Call of Duty franchise. Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, Modern Warfare III upholds its predecessors’ realistic, contemporary setting, weaving a compelling storyline.
Jeff Ames: What was your initial approach to composing the score for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, considering the established legacy of the series and the specific tone of this installment?
Walter Mair: First, it was important to stay true to the franchise but also find new and exciting elements to sonically enrich MWIII and give it its own identity. In one of the first large team meetings with Sledgehammer Games, Dave Swenson (Creative Director) asked if it was possible to add more organic elements and also thematic ideas of the lead characters. So my initial concept was to record textures and patterns with the London Contemporary Orchestra, treat these through my modular synth rig, add a rich electronic soundscape and write strong themes on top that connect us with Captain Price, Makarov and Farah. There would be no limits in how little or how much I treat the pristine recordings with effects and alter their sound.
Can you share insights into your creative process when crafting the main theme for Modern Warfare III? How did you aim to capture the essence of the game in the music?
I wrote a track for the initial pitch that I called ’Stealth’ – this track captured the essence of what I was hoping to achieve for the main score of the game. Something rather wonderful happened and this track was liked by the Sledgehammer Creative, Sledgehammer Audio and Spiderfarm Music Teams so much that it became the main theme for MWIII. I recorded Joni Fuller, a brilliant cellist, on top of an electronic composition that consisted of pulsating synths created with my modular synth rig., mixed with a throbbing kick drum and bendy synths that played the main melody.
During the scoring process, I then replaced some of the solo cello with larger recordings of the LCO but still kept the dirty and gritty sound from the original demo. Running strings through a Revox tape machine in my studio added some analog band saturation and made the strings sound more aggressive.
Modern Warfare III has a diverse range of settings and intense action sequences. How did you adapt your musical style to complement the various environments and gameplay scenarios?
Each setting got its own sounds but always with the aim to cross-connect the whole score. For the missions Precious Cargo and Payload I recorded some beautifully performed ethnic flutes by Veronika Vitazkova. Also, the use of Middle Eastern percussion sounds rooted this track in a more Middle Eastern sound world. TI was also the way the strings were played and the slurred notes on the solo cello that helped us root the music in this particular region of the world.
Other missions, such as Highrise and Gora Dam, make heavy use of electronic sounds. Be it pure synthesizers mixed with some effects or live recorded instruments that I would then extensively treat with my modular synth rig.
Were there specific challenges in scoring a game like Call of Duty, where the pace can be frenetic and the narrative shifts rapidly? How did you maintain a cohesive musical experience throughout?
The score was delivered in such a way that it had a lot of flexibility on offer for each mission. Firstly, I always wrote a lengthy suite of what can best described as a high-octane action track but with plenty of dynamics throughout. So there are quieter passages even within the action piece. But I also wrote a slower paces track for each mission that was in the same tempo and similar key so one could cut from one to the other. Some incredible programming was done by the team of Spiderfarm Productions in the US. They implemented and mixed the music so it is all seamless and makes for an incredibly immersive experience for the player.
The emotional depth in Modern Warfare III is notable, with moments of both intense action and poignant storytelling. How did you balance these contrasting elements in your compositions?
Sledgehammer Games came up with a brand new system to implement music. This was the first game that allowed me to follow a new and unique approach: to write longer suits that have a lot of variation in themselves like emotional peaks, intense crescendos, but also quieter and more emotive moments. This helped root each mission in a specific emotion but also varied within one single track. We had at least 2 of these suits in each mission, which helped the narrative immensely. But also mean that the team implementing the music had much more work to do due to the flexibility they were given with this new system.
Can you discuss any particular musical motifs or themes you developed for specific characters or events in the game? How did you use music to enhance the narrative and character development?
The theme for Makarov, the antagonist of the franchise, needed to be dark and haunting. I reached out to Thomas Mertlseder, who hand-builds instruments, and asked him to come up with a new drum that has a more rattling sound when hit hard. The result was a gorgeous instrument based on the corpus of a 18” snare drum with active transducer and a resonance chamber for feedback experiments. 3 double bass strings were fixed onto the main drum skin, which add some gnarly rattling to the sound.
On top of that, I recorded harsh-sounding metal scrapes and mixed them with sounds from my sample library. A gnarly-sounding synth arpeggio created with modular synth comes out of nowhere and marks the arrival of Makarov in the very first mission of the game. An intense moment that takes the players by surprise. These elements then come together and make for an intense listening experience as the full theme takes center stage in the game.
A motif that was written for one of the last cut scenes of the film called “Who dares wins” is currently receiving a ton of Shazams and comments online. The music is emotive, melancholic and describes one of the saddest moments of the game but also with the view of our main heroes sticking together. The intro is electronic with pulsating synths and a hauntingly beautiful solo vocal line. Ticking percussive sounds, and then the track comes to a halt and a mourning solo cello opens a full-on orchestral outburst of emotions as we see our heroes say goodbye to a long trusted ally and friend of the franchise.
What role did collaboration play in the creation of the score? Did you work closely with the game developers or directors to ensure your music aligned with their vision?
Collaborations in such a big game are key. I was lucky to get a direct line to the Creative Director, Dave Swenson, but also Matt Grimm from the Sledgehammer Audio Team and Johathan Mayer from the Spiderfarm Music Team. We had regular calls to align ourselves and for me to play them new music. These sessions were always super creative and the feedback I got was super helpful. To hear the team being really excited when they hear a track for the first time encouraged me to search for the next creative idea to make the sound of the next mission stand out on its own.
The Call of Duty franchise is known for its immersive sound design. How did you coordinate your work with the sound design team to create a seamless audio experience for players?
Authentic sound design is always very important in Call of Duty. Writing these longer suits for each mission helped give the implementation team of Spiderfarm Productions a lot of flexibility to use specific moments in a track that feature a certain sound less or mix these slightly different. In general, there is so much more flexibility with the new system we used in MWIII. Plus mixing in surround also helps eliminate issues where gun sounds can take center stage in an important gunfight and the music uses the side or rear channels more before it pans back to the front channels and supports the mission end to build towards a full crescendo.
Modern Warfare III marked a significant point in the series’ storyline. How did you approach scoring pivotal moments in the narrative to heighten the player’s emotional engagement?
The music has a lot of emotional depth and I specifically scored many of these important moments in the game that engage with the player on a more distinguished emotional layer. The instrumentation at times deviates in such moments and makes more use of solo cello, wailing vocals, or full-on orchestral themes. Or go completely the other direction by abruptly sucking out the live layers and instead bring in heavy percussive hits or the gnarly Makarov arpeggio, as well as other electronic elements. Both approaches make for an impact that emotionally engages the players on their immersive journey through the game.
