Abstract
Much has been written about the music of James Bond but little, if any, attention has been paid to the broader soundscape of the Bond film franchise. Soundscape here refers to the spectrum of non-musical sounds from the physical environment, but also specifically designed sound objects that may be as significant as the dialogue and music that surrounds them. Using an interview with sound editor Norman Wanstall, who worked on several early Bond films including Dr. No and Goldfinger, this chapter considers the soundscape in terms of the manipulation techniques synonymous with Music Concrète and the writings of Pierre Schaffer and Michael Chion.
When they showed the Sound Department the first cut of Dr. No, I was back in my cutting room, and I could not believe it – I heard this tap on my door, I opened it, and it was Mac, of all people, standing there, and he was like a little kid; he said ‘when can we start’. I could not believe that this man had come over to me so keen. And I know what it was; I think for the very first time he thought that we were going to have a film where sound could contribute and not just complement. He and I then worked as a team; we thought we were on to something.
(Wanstall 2016)
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Stockdale, J. (2018). Bond Resounding. In: Strong, J. (eds) James Bond Uncovered. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76123-7_5
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