Smith opened the day with a blunt warning to the orchestra about the workload ahead.
It's mostly action music, so if you hate us by the end of it that's totally understandable.
Before the session, Dunkley tested the brass section with a line that set the tone for the marathon recording.
Save your lips, because they are a finite resource.
Smith said modern software orchestral tools were essential for mock-ups, but hearing world-class live brass in the room changed the scale of the project.
The things you can do with software orchestral instruments nowadays is amazing. We absolutely need that as we're mocking things up, but then you come here and you have the best brass players in the world... It's mind-blowing.
As the first run-through landed, Henderson reacted quietly to Smith.
Take that to the bank.
How the score tracks Bond's origin
007 First Light presents an original take on the secret agent's origin story. When players first meet Bond, he is a tender-footed Navy aircrewman thrown into a terrifying hostage rescue in Iceland. His instincts are strong, but he has not yet acquired the sophistication of Ian Fleming's character, and he does not yet hold a licence to kill.
Because Bond is nowhere near 007 status at the start, The Flight held back the biggest musical cues for later and scored early scenes like a film. Smith pointed to the Iceland mission as a personal highlight.
My favourite bits of the Bond films are always the opening sequence, so I really enjoyed the Iceland mission. It's set in this dark, craggy, bleak landscape, and we had the permission to be really electronic and avant-garde. That was really nice, to go somewhere people aren't expecting us to go.
As Bond is recruited by MI6 and the player progresses through training and missions, familiar Bond sounds enter the mix. The Flight had permission to use classic movie motifs, including John Barry's theme from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, anchoring the game inside the established Bond universe.
Henderson said leaning on those established cues beat inventing a pastiche.
We were very lucky, because trying to write a new theme or a pastiche is never going to be as cool.
Smith agreed that the main James Bond theme is too iconic to imitate.
The main James Bond theme is one of those things that everybody knows. You couldn't do a sound-alike of that. It would be terrible.
The game also carries direct references to classic Bond films. In Q's lab, one scientist mentions discovering the lifeboat with a minibar that appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me, adding:
I guess things were different in the 80s.
The Flight's path to Bond
In the wider Bond tradition, music sits near the center of the franchise identity. Monty Norman's surf guitar riff and John Barry's sweeping orchestral scores helped define spy music, built on minor-key suspense and sharp trumpet stabs. With more than three million copies of First Light already sold, players have heard how The Flight adapted that template for Bond's latest escapades.
The Flight have multiple awards for game scores including Alien: Isolation, Assassin's Creed, and the Horizon series. Their background also spans pop and electronic work with credits including Bjork, Mel C, and the Freestylers, making a full orchestral Bond suite a major step beyond their usual lane.
Henderson described the weight of that assignment.
It was a huge thrill but also nerve-wracking, because it's quite a responsibility. You don't realise until you're working on Bond how much a part of you it is.
