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Google Play“You hear two things in the womb, you hear [the baby’s] heartbeat, and you hear the James Bond theme.”
David Arnold, composer of five James Bond films, jests to a crowd of 24 sitting in the iconic Studio 1 housed inside Abbey Road Studios in London, England. Right behind Arnold sits a more-than-70-piece orchestra filling the world’s largest recording studio—where a number of the Bond, Star Wars, and Avengers films were scored—set to perform three of the most recognizable pieces of music in movie history, the James Bond Theme, Goldfinger, and Skyfall.
Arnold, the orchestra, and 150 guests filed into Abbey Road’s Studios 1 and 2 on behalf of Bowers & Wilkins to celebrate 60 years of iconic James Bond music and the brand’s special edition the Px8 007 Edition headphones. Throughout the night we got to experience the sounds of Bond in three unique ways, first by way of the live orchestra. If viewing a live orchestra of nearly 100 professional musicians perform live in the most famous recording studio in the world wasn’t enough, we each got to sit directly next to one of the performers, being fully immersed in the event.
After that, we moved on to the Studio 1 control room, sitting in with one of its engineers to listen to the performance again through Bowers & Wilkins flagship 801 D4 loudspeakers. Finally, before the evening commenced with a reception in Studio 2—the recording studio responsible for the vast majority of The Beatles’ discography, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Radiohead’s The Bends, and much more—we listened to the tracks in Bowers’ new Px8 headphones.
Before the night’s immersive experience inside Abbey Road Studios began, we got a chance to speak with David Arnold about the iconic James Bond film franchise, working with different Bond actors, and more. The conversation has been edited for clarity.
