Blister Media sourced for THE POST-POST PRODUCTION ERA, a special report published in the April 2001 Advertising Age CREATIVITY magazine.
Writer/Reporter Ann-Christine Diaz writes:
Advancing technologies – the Internet, the imminence of interactive TV going mainstream, the explosion of new formats – are driving the redefinition of the post industry from being the last stop in the production chain to being an integral part of the entire creative process…
…Advancing technologies have opened up new sectors of specialization as well. Consider music and sound design. In 1998, for example, Terry O’Gara and Michael Sweet launched Blister Media in New York to cater to the sonic needs of the interactive community. Blister provided both the technology and sound for interactive projects like MTV’s Web Riot, a broadcast cable and Internet quiz show; the interactive game Loop on Shockwave.com; various web sites for Sesame Workshop; and the Nasdaq learning kiosks in Times Square. Such assignments go well beyond the needs of the traditional TV spot.
“We have more homework to do than someone who just has to kick out a track,” says O’Gara. “With interactive projects, everything relies on constantly evolving technology to deliver the message. Even though we’re a music production facility, we have to understand all the technologies our client is speaking – or at the very least, how our technology and code will integrate with theirs from project to project.”
Blister is not alone in its efforts; full service music and sound design houses like Elias Associates and Hest & Kramer in Minneapolis have both added what the Blister crew calls “interactive sonification” to their services.
Sunday, April 01, 2001
Friday, March 30, 2001
Branding With Audio
Branding With Audio
By Terry O'Gara
First published on March 30, 2001 by clickz.com
Advertisers too often limit branding potential to visuals alone. It's as though once a vision statement is drafted in the corporate boardroom, it frequently goes out the door voiceless.
Certainly television commercials give products some sort of voice with original scores or licensed tracks. But many of these scores do not serve the company or product identity. Instead they serve to enhance the commercial itself. Licensed tracks pose another problem. The commercials are transformed in the minds of viewers to music videos, and whether viewers identify the music with the product takes a back seat to the artist and to the video itself.
Traditional Scoring Serves the Film, Not the Brand
Most conversations between agency creatives and the music-production team are usually limited to a few adjectives that describe the target demographic. There may also be some talk about how the music should work with the edit or how the score will enhance the emotional relationship between the actors or clarify the story. But these are all issues that apply to the commercial as entertainment. There is usually little strategic thought invested in how to actually create with sound a bond between the consumer and the product.
Though it's easy to think marketers and their vendors have formed a creative alliance to sell products, this is not always the case in today's economy. Rather we're acting as matchmakers for producers and consumers. We're using advertising then not to sell but to network. We're introducing one good friend to another, and one of them happens to make something that, by the way, appeals to the lifestyle the other leads or aspires to.
Sometimes we can't even offer usefulness. We might try to promise uniqueness, but there may be few discernible differences between your product and your competitors'. One soda conveys universality while the other appeals to individuality. But oats are oats, and cola is cola. So if you're not accentuating the brand, then you're left pushing flavored water. However, as marketers, we know a little stimulation goes a long way.
Branding Through Sound
My specialty is sound. And I submit that unless you are using sound as effectively as possible, you're shortchanging your client. So the question arises: How does one go about creating a voice every bit as identifiable with the company as the building in which it dwells?
First let's change our perspective. I suggest we move away from thinking of commercials strictly as anecdotal short films with strategically placed product shots. Story telling by itself is only one device at our disposal to garner the interest and attention of our desired audience.
But branding beyond advertising means we want to do more than simply tell a story. What we really want to do is make an introduction and deliver a message. Branding is the vision statement given life, and it represents an opportunity to ingrain one's identity into the public consciousness. One highly effective way to do just this is with the prudent and thoughtful use of sound.
Creating a Philosophy of Sound
Some years ago I was the music producer on a campaign for a large investment bank. One of the VIPs came to our initial music presentation when everything was still in an embryonic stage. He was a layman. I sensed the more musically astute people in the room resented his presence. But I found that because he knew his brand thoroughly, he also understood how it should be conveyed sonically.
He didn't play a musical instrument, nor did he know any of the proper musical terms. But he knew how music made him feel and that different instruments evoked different moods. Most important, he could articulate his perceptions quite clearly. To me he represented the ideal client.
It's valuable to know not just how an audience will react but also, more precisely, how they can be made to react. Our VIP didn't know if he was listening to violins or contrabasses, but he knew the high strings evoked one mood, and the low strings another. The sound of the low strings conveyed "a sense of authority and power," and that's what he wanted.
So despite all the preproduction meetings in which the agency creative staff, the director, and the editor all discussed how the music should work with the cut or enhance the story, one brief conversation with someone who knew nothing about music proved to be the most valuable. And we, in turn, were then able to create an audio style guide that would influence the sound campaign for this account for years to come.
Although the same film-scoring issues surfaced with future spots for the same client (i.e., the story, the edit, etc.), we now had a philosophy of sound, the corporate vision statement as it applied to audio. Every new piece of music, no matter what the melody, was designed using the same palette of sounds and was thus easily identifiable as this client's sonic identity. One needn't even see the visuals to appreciate that your "Friends at the Bank" brought you this piece of music.
The Power of Sound in Branding
I put forward that every sound asset used in a commercial, on an in-store kiosk, or on a Web site should be easily identifiable as the voice of your company. Do you know what your company is saying right now?
If music in a marketing context does its job, it will inform as well as entertain. And if consumers -- that is, your audience -- call the company switchboard and ask who wrote the music and where they can buy a CD of it, then maybe you and your client should actually produce a promotional CD that consumers can take home and listen to whenever they want.
Branding beyond advertising means creating an experience that is free of an overt pitch yet is compelling enough that consumers will nevertheless identify it with your brand. If you've produced a CD, for instance, folks will listen to it while they eat, work out, make love, and your company will be the underscore to their lives. Oats may be oats, but if I'm making babies to your music, then chances are my babies will be eating your oats.
By Terry O'Gara
First published on March 30, 2001 by clickz.com
Advertisers too often limit branding potential to visuals alone. It's as though once a vision statement is drafted in the corporate boardroom, it frequently goes out the door voiceless.
Certainly television commercials give products some sort of voice with original scores or licensed tracks. But many of these scores do not serve the company or product identity. Instead they serve to enhance the commercial itself. Licensed tracks pose another problem. The commercials are transformed in the minds of viewers to music videos, and whether viewers identify the music with the product takes a back seat to the artist and to the video itself.
Traditional Scoring Serves the Film, Not the Brand
Most conversations between agency creatives and the music-production team are usually limited to a few adjectives that describe the target demographic. There may also be some talk about how the music should work with the edit or how the score will enhance the emotional relationship between the actors or clarify the story. But these are all issues that apply to the commercial as entertainment. There is usually little strategic thought invested in how to actually create with sound a bond between the consumer and the product.
Though it's easy to think marketers and their vendors have formed a creative alliance to sell products, this is not always the case in today's economy. Rather we're acting as matchmakers for producers and consumers. We're using advertising then not to sell but to network. We're introducing one good friend to another, and one of them happens to make something that, by the way, appeals to the lifestyle the other leads or aspires to.
Sometimes we can't even offer usefulness. We might try to promise uniqueness, but there may be few discernible differences between your product and your competitors'. One soda conveys universality while the other appeals to individuality. But oats are oats, and cola is cola. So if you're not accentuating the brand, then you're left pushing flavored water. However, as marketers, we know a little stimulation goes a long way.
Branding Through Sound
My specialty is sound. And I submit that unless you are using sound as effectively as possible, you're shortchanging your client. So the question arises: How does one go about creating a voice every bit as identifiable with the company as the building in which it dwells?
First let's change our perspective. I suggest we move away from thinking of commercials strictly as anecdotal short films with strategically placed product shots. Story telling by itself is only one device at our disposal to garner the interest and attention of our desired audience.
But branding beyond advertising means we want to do more than simply tell a story. What we really want to do is make an introduction and deliver a message. Branding is the vision statement given life, and it represents an opportunity to ingrain one's identity into the public consciousness. One highly effective way to do just this is with the prudent and thoughtful use of sound.
Creating a Philosophy of Sound
Some years ago I was the music producer on a campaign for a large investment bank. One of the VIPs came to our initial music presentation when everything was still in an embryonic stage. He was a layman. I sensed the more musically astute people in the room resented his presence. But I found that because he knew his brand thoroughly, he also understood how it should be conveyed sonically.
He didn't play a musical instrument, nor did he know any of the proper musical terms. But he knew how music made him feel and that different instruments evoked different moods. Most important, he could articulate his perceptions quite clearly. To me he represented the ideal client.
It's valuable to know not just how an audience will react but also, more precisely, how they can be made to react. Our VIP didn't know if he was listening to violins or contrabasses, but he knew the high strings evoked one mood, and the low strings another. The sound of the low strings conveyed "a sense of authority and power," and that's what he wanted.
So despite all the preproduction meetings in which the agency creative staff, the director, and the editor all discussed how the music should work with the cut or enhance the story, one brief conversation with someone who knew nothing about music proved to be the most valuable. And we, in turn, were then able to create an audio style guide that would influence the sound campaign for this account for years to come.
Although the same film-scoring issues surfaced with future spots for the same client (i.e., the story, the edit, etc.), we now had a philosophy of sound, the corporate vision statement as it applied to audio. Every new piece of music, no matter what the melody, was designed using the same palette of sounds and was thus easily identifiable as this client's sonic identity. One needn't even see the visuals to appreciate that your "Friends at the Bank" brought you this piece of music.
The Power of Sound in Branding
I put forward that every sound asset used in a commercial, on an in-store kiosk, or on a Web site should be easily identifiable as the voice of your company. Do you know what your company is saying right now?
If music in a marketing context does its job, it will inform as well as entertain. And if consumers -- that is, your audience -- call the company switchboard and ask who wrote the music and where they can buy a CD of it, then maybe you and your client should actually produce a promotional CD that consumers can take home and listen to whenever they want.
Branding beyond advertising means creating an experience that is free of an overt pitch yet is compelling enough that consumers will nevertheless identify it with your brand. If you've produced a CD, for instance, folks will listen to it while they eat, work out, make love, and your company will be the underscore to their lives. Oats may be oats, but if I'm making babies to your music, then chances are my babies will be eating your oats.
Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Blister Media Brings Sound to the Nasdaq Experience
In 2000, Blister Media was commissioned to produce branded audio elements for the NASDAQ MarketSite, located in the heart of Times Square. The following press release was issued by the producers of the project, and I reprint it here because it details our music production process. It may also mark the first time we started referring to the work as 'Sonic Branding' –the now popular coinage for the term. My partner and I had considered using the term as early as '98, but instead opted to use the word 'Audio' because it felt more in tune with the late nineties zeitgeist (ala Audioslave), and so prior to 2001 we referred to our services as 'Audio branding' or 'Branding with Audio'.
BLISTER MEDIA BRINGS SOUND TO THE NASDAQ EXPERIENCE
PRESS RELEASE
FEBRUARY 28, 2001
Apart from being the stock market for the digital world, The Nasdaq Stock Market® now has a place in its MarketSiteSM where visitors can learn even more about the 21st century world of stock trading. The new visitors’ center is a new, integral part the Nasdaq MarketSite, which is located in the Conde Naste building in New York City’s fabled Times Square, and it has become a tourist attraction in its own right. It also represents a year-long effort by the audio designers at Blister Media.
“No matter how inexperienced at investing visitors may be, I hope that they leave here with the enthusiasm to go home and trade stocks on Nasdaq®,” explains Blister Media executive producer Terry O’Gara. “Our goal was to make electronic trading with Nasdaq an audio adventure, and to brand the visitors’ center with a sonic palette that reinforces one’s experience. We didn’t want people to scratch their heads and say ‘interesting.’ We want them eager to trade stock and take part in this economic adventure.”
Nasdaq commissioned Blister Media to create audio content for the “Nasdaq experience,” at its MarketSite, including original music and sound design for the on-site destinations. On the street outside, a forty-five second “Welcome Video” entices passersby to enter and once inside, a five-minute film entitled, “The Global Connection,” plays in a surround-sound theater. The film explains the essence of Nasdaq and the online trading experience. Just past the theater, a bank of interactive kiosks let visitors play a game that simulates online trading.
“The trading game is just for fun ,” says O’Gara. “The data used, though, is culled from the last five years of Nasdaq trading history, so a player can see how well he or she might have done if introduced to the Nasdaq experience earlier.”
Drawing closer to the actual experience of electronic trading, another set of interactive kiosks offer a detailed offline tutorial about navigating the Nasdaq Web site.
“The music is different for each event,” explains O’Gara. “Each is customized. Every sonic element was deliberately conceived to provide Nasdaq with a uniquely cohesive and identifiable sound. Nasdaq was an exceptionally cool client. Beyond our initial conversations about concept, they gave us absolutely free reign in seeking a musical direction. They showed a great deal of trust, which is always gratifying.”
Among the other challenges for Blister was creating a “sonic brand” for the Nasdaq experience that would stand the test of time.
“In this industry particularly, what sounds new today, sounds old tomorrow,” says O’Gara emphatically. “The music we created sounds modern, but isn’t based on musical fads or pop culture. The idea was to give the music ‘legs.’ Instead of relying on the latest electronic sounds, the scores we composed use traditional instruments in ways they weren’t originally intended to be used. Using the guitar, for instance, we would create an unconventional sound, and then manipulate it using computer technology. The result is an electronic sound that is nonetheless organic, a sound somewhere between music and noise.”
Another challenge involved appealing to the multitude of international visitors to Times Square. “In attracting international visitors, the temptation is to use traditional indigenous instruments,” explains O’Gara. “For India, you might think of the sitar, but we wanted something different. We wanted to use traditional instruments from around the world, but to play them in a non-traditional manner to get the feeling of the instruments, without the immediately identifiable trappings. We also recorded voiceovers in six different languages for the guided tour.”
* * *
NASDAQ MarketSite Credits:
NASDAQ TEAM:
Larissa Fawkner - Special Projects, MarketSite Experience
Karen Wilner - Director, MarketSite Experience
Miguel Iglesias - Manager, MarketSite Experience
DESIGN TEAM:
Eleanor Tsang - Senior Producer (Film/video/Guided Tour)
Alexis Menten - Producer (Film/video/Guided Tour)
Jaseung Coue - Producer (Film/video/Guided Tour)
Jason Carreiro - Producer (Film/video/Guided Tour)
Elizabeth Rankich - Interactive Producer (Market Watch game)
Dana Yee - Art Director/CD (Film/video/Guided Tour)
Pakorn Bupphavesa - Senior 3D Animator/Art Director/CD (Film/video/Guided Tour)
Haejin Cho - Senior Designer (Film/video/Guided Tour)
Gary Tam - 3D Animator/Compositor (Film/video/Guided Tour)
Adrian Kays - Editor (Video)
Darcy Bowman - Editor (Film)
AUDIO TEAM:
Composer – Michael Sweet (Film, Video, Game, Installation)
Executive Producer – Terry O'Gara (Film, Video, Game, Installation)
Thursday, February 08, 2001
Thoughts On Audio @ Point of Purchase
Have by now produced audio for several installations and in-store experiences, including Kiosks for Chrysler, Discovery Store, Epcot, Levi's and the Nasdaq MarketSite. And something like this has been bubbling around my head lately on the topic of interactive audio triggered at Point of Purchase locations and special venues:
The overt pitch has been abandoned in favor of something that resembles entertainment. The eyeballs surfing the web are not just eyeballs, but eyeballs with brains. The consumers are not just shoppers, but audience members. And unlike Television advertising, point-of-purchase venues don't have the luxury of seducing the viewer with a cinematic short story.
This new consumer/fan is not at home pondering the warm and fuzzy feeling of your brand. They are on site or in the mall staring at the display or monitor, hopeully engaging in the experience. And perhaps now, they are ready to make a choice. At this stage they want immediate and honest information. You have a few seconds –and certainly not more than a couple of minutes– to make an introduction and deliver a message that inspires them to make a purchase.
How will you fare?
One thing is certain: You will need more than a loop to create an emotional bond between brands and fans.
The overt pitch has been abandoned in favor of something that resembles entertainment. The eyeballs surfing the web are not just eyeballs, but eyeballs with brains. The consumers are not just shoppers, but audience members. And unlike Television advertising, point-of-purchase venues don't have the luxury of seducing the viewer with a cinematic short story.
This new consumer/fan is not at home pondering the warm and fuzzy feeling of your brand. They are on site or in the mall staring at the display or monitor, hopeully engaging in the experience. And perhaps now, they are ready to make a choice. At this stage they want immediate and honest information. You have a few seconds –and certainly not more than a couple of minutes– to make an introduction and deliver a message that inspires them to make a purchase.
How will you fare?
One thing is certain: You will need more than a loop to create an emotional bond between brands and fans.
Monday, January 01, 2001
People to Watch –Me– Hooray
Graphic Design Magazine kicked off 2001 by featuring 50 'People to Watch'. The editors wrote, "Clearly there are thousands to watch in our talent-laden and personality-packed community. But we think you'll agree that these 50 are intriguing individuals who display a special mix of design talent, strategic capabilities, business acumen, joy of creation, and, often, a commitment to professional and public service."
I was really lucky to be selected among an incredible group of people whose reputations I can't begin to live up to. Naturally, of course, they required a nifty quote and I gave it to them–
DELIVERY MODELS ARE MULTIPLYING The coming year presents new challenges for media producers who provide content and service via the internet. Delivery models are multiplying; unlike television, where protocols have been in place for years, internet artisans can't bask in their knowledge of the current methodologies. We still must keep abreast of every technological advance to maintain an edge in the online marketplace. The more you know, the more you can do, and the more clients you can accommodate. Saying "No, we can't do it" might be valid when it comes to creative issues. But not being able to produce a project because you're stuck with last year's technologies is certain death.
No resting on your laurels yet. Maybe after a few more mergers, or if programmers run out of ideas. However, both scenarios seem highly unlikely for some time to come.
My esteemed colleagues –class of 2001– included the rockin' and talented: Joan Nicosia, J.J. Sedelmaier, Sharon Mahoney, Mike Hughes, Ken Hanson, Diane Sterman, Susan Vinik Consales, Ed Han, Chris Do and Jessie Huang, Natalie Pryor, Rondi Tschopp, Carla Hall, Robert Keren, Bill Thorburn, Rob Deluke, Brad Gensurowsky, Kent Hunter, Jackie Merri Meyer, Doug Joseph, Sam J. Ciulla, Tim Larsen, Janet Odgis, Kenneth Cooke, Brian Hill, Jaye Donaldson, Jonathan Pite, David Ford, Dave Miller, Dennis Ryan, Kenneth White, Iti, Candy Piemonte, Kenneth Quail, Victor Rodriquez, Bonnie Barnes, Bob Whitmor, Scott Sugiuchi and Steve Carsella, Limore Shur, Todd Mueller, Joe Lisaius, Robyn Streisand, David Annunziato, Brian Diecks and Gerri Guadagno.
I was really lucky to be selected among an incredible group of people whose reputations I can't begin to live up to. Naturally, of course, they required a nifty quote and I gave it to them–
DELIVERY MODELS ARE MULTIPLYING The coming year presents new challenges for media producers who provide content and service via the internet. Delivery models are multiplying; unlike television, where protocols have been in place for years, internet artisans can't bask in their knowledge of the current methodologies. We still must keep abreast of every technological advance to maintain an edge in the online marketplace. The more you know, the more you can do, and the more clients you can accommodate. Saying "No, we can't do it" might be valid when it comes to creative issues. But not being able to produce a project because you're stuck with last year's technologies is certain death.
No resting on your laurels yet. Maybe after a few more mergers, or if programmers run out of ideas. However, both scenarios seem highly unlikely for some time to come.
My esteemed colleagues –class of 2001– included the rockin' and talented: Joan Nicosia, J.J. Sedelmaier, Sharon Mahoney, Mike Hughes, Ken Hanson, Diane Sterman, Susan Vinik Consales, Ed Han, Chris Do and Jessie Huang, Natalie Pryor, Rondi Tschopp, Carla Hall, Robert Keren, Bill Thorburn, Rob Deluke, Brad Gensurowsky, Kent Hunter, Jackie Merri Meyer, Doug Joseph, Sam J. Ciulla, Tim Larsen, Janet Odgis, Kenneth Cooke, Brian Hill, Jaye Donaldson, Jonathan Pite, David Ford, Dave Miller, Dennis Ryan, Kenneth White, Iti, Candy Piemonte, Kenneth Quail, Victor Rodriquez, Bonnie Barnes, Bob Whitmor, Scott Sugiuchi and Steve Carsella, Limore Shur, Todd Mueller, Joe Lisaius, Robyn Streisand, David Annunziato, Brian Diecks and Gerri Guadagno.
Sunday, December 31, 2000
Assembling the Machine Head Dream Team
I spent nearly two jet set years operating as the Executive Producer and Creative Director of Machine Head, New York – and was charged with leading bicoastal operations for the legendary sound designer, Stephen Dewey.
I spent a week of nearly every month in LA, which I loved, enjoying creative work, tacos, daiquiris and KCRW with both Stephen and Patty Chow, both of whom I really liked. The trips out west also provided me some some surreal professional moments whereby I found myself taking meetings with The Dust Brothers and Anton Fier of The Golden Palominos; or producing the likes of Ralph Schuckett.–who co-produced Sophie B. Hawkins hit ‘Damn I wish I Was Your Lover’ with Rick Chertoff; and David Baerwald, an original member of the Tuesday Night Music Club. But here’s the deal with producing guys like that: They don’t need another expert in their lives; what they require is another expert ear to bounce ideas off of. If there's anything I know, it's how music should work with picture.
Machine Head hired me to extend the west coast presence to New York, but once he did so I wanted to kick down the doors, storm the Big Apple, and show him we could be also be kings.
Back in New York, I assembled a crack team of young composers, each possessing an amazing core competency in a different arena from the others, a formula that lent itself to collaboration; and none of them yet possessed a wide reputation in the industry.
[Initiate 'Mission Impossible' Theme in a new window before proceeding–]
Deniz Hughes had worked as an arranger for the feature film composer, Elliot Goldenthal. Her own music was playful, passionate and always wonderfully emotive. The first project we worked on together went straight to the Super Bowl and proved to be the highlight of the year.
Michael Sweet, a graduate of Berklee’s film composition department, started his career as an engineer for Jonathan Elias before emerging as the company’s technology guru. He left Elias at roughly the same time I did, in 1996, in order to become a free agent and did business composing music for electronic games as ‘Building Hal’.
Valerie Wilson Morris and Chris Botti recommended Georg Brandl Egloff to me, some years before, when I mentioned that I was looking for a lyricist. I’ve long forgotten what happened to the lyric project, but Georg’s music was super-contagious. Few swing like Egloff: Stick him in a room with a jazz trio and wait for the roof to blow off. I still owe Clinton Recording Studios damages to the ceiling in studio A.
My go-to rock guys were Eric Schermerhorn and Hal Cragin, whom I hired as a team on several spots. Representing two thirds of Iggy Pop’s former rhythm section, there was nothing the three of us couldn’t work out, lugging equipment, tape, guitars and chord charts all over New York and from disparate home grown analog studios in the East Village and Chelsea.
I hired other people along the way, too, for specific projects –notably Shari Feder, who always delivered world class goods, on time, on budget, and her work always sounded ready for broadcast. She came recommended by Mike Davis, who is perhaps most know for playing bone with The Rolling Stones. What I didn’t know at the time was that Mike and Shari are husband and wife. Whatever, the nepotism worked out great, so keep it coming. You got any kids, Mike? Do they play an instrument yet? Cause I got a project that needs a kid…
Rounding out the East Coast contingent was Bill Chesley, an artisan and a meticulous sound designer who was the only one of the bunch who had already carved out a reputation and had a fan base.
We made a big initial impression on several major advertising agencies, and thereafter it seemed like The Gods on Madison Avenue constantly fed us projects. For the first time in my career it seemed like I consistently had my finger exactly placed on the pulse of popular taste.
I usually pitched musical ideas by myself based on an initial review of sketches or storyboards. If I could get our clients invested in an idea, then I knew we’d have an easier time of it, if only because then everyone would be on the same page.
Then, during development I’d work with each individual composer on their presentation –as a record producer works with an artist– until I was no less than greatly enthusiastic about his or her work. Sell it to me and I'll sell it to America. Some clients thought I was being disingenuous when they asked me, which was my favorite demo, and I’d reply that I liked ‘All of them’.
But it was true: I never let myself walk into a meeting without a pocket full of hit tracks. I really believed that if I loved the work I was presenting, all of America would have to love it, too. Fortunately for me, this belief was confirmed by our frequent success.
Yes, I suffered a few miserable failures, too. One client asked for a ‘modern’, ‘edgy’ track making it perfectly clear that the agency would not accept an orchestral score. In my gut I knew the boards demanded a symphonic tonality. Nevertheless I gave him what he thought he wanted. He took the job to another house who of course delivered the orchestral track that I knew we should have given him in the first place. I still beat myself up over that one, but you live and learn: Give them what they want, but also give them what they need, and while you’re at it –and if you have the time– why not have some fun and give them what you want, too.
For a brief while in 1997 though 1998 my hand picked crew shone with the brightest of the bright, and they made me proud to be a member of their team.
It was –I think you can tell– a lot of fun while it lasted.
[Fade Music]
(Hey, was that possibly the first musical cue for a blog?)
I spent a week of nearly every month in LA, which I loved, enjoying creative work, tacos, daiquiris and KCRW with both Stephen and Patty Chow, both of whom I really liked. The trips out west also provided me some some surreal professional moments whereby I found myself taking meetings with The Dust Brothers and Anton Fier of The Golden Palominos; or producing the likes of Ralph Schuckett.–who co-produced Sophie B. Hawkins hit ‘Damn I wish I Was Your Lover’ with Rick Chertoff; and David Baerwald, an original member of the Tuesday Night Music Club. But here’s the deal with producing guys like that: They don’t need another expert in their lives; what they require is another expert ear to bounce ideas off of. If there's anything I know, it's how music should work with picture.
Machine Head hired me to extend the west coast presence to New York, but once he did so I wanted to kick down the doors, storm the Big Apple, and show him we could be also be kings.
Back in New York, I assembled a crack team of young composers, each possessing an amazing core competency in a different arena from the others, a formula that lent itself to collaboration; and none of them yet possessed a wide reputation in the industry.
[Initiate 'Mission Impossible' Theme in a new window before proceeding–]
Deniz Hughes had worked as an arranger for the feature film composer, Elliot Goldenthal. Her own music was playful, passionate and always wonderfully emotive. The first project we worked on together went straight to the Super Bowl and proved to be the highlight of the year.
Michael Sweet, a graduate of Berklee’s film composition department, started his career as an engineer for Jonathan Elias before emerging as the company’s technology guru. He left Elias at roughly the same time I did, in 1996, in order to become a free agent and did business composing music for electronic games as ‘Building Hal’.
Valerie Wilson Morris and Chris Botti recommended Georg Brandl Egloff to me, some years before, when I mentioned that I was looking for a lyricist. I’ve long forgotten what happened to the lyric project, but Georg’s music was super-contagious. Few swing like Egloff: Stick him in a room with a jazz trio and wait for the roof to blow off. I still owe Clinton Recording Studios damages to the ceiling in studio A.
My go-to rock guys were Eric Schermerhorn and Hal Cragin, whom I hired as a team on several spots. Representing two thirds of Iggy Pop’s former rhythm section, there was nothing the three of us couldn’t work out, lugging equipment, tape, guitars and chord charts all over New York and from disparate home grown analog studios in the East Village and Chelsea.
I hired other people along the way, too, for specific projects –notably Shari Feder, who always delivered world class goods, on time, on budget, and her work always sounded ready for broadcast. She came recommended by Mike Davis, who is perhaps most know for playing bone with The Rolling Stones. What I didn’t know at the time was that Mike and Shari are husband and wife. Whatever, the nepotism worked out great, so keep it coming. You got any kids, Mike? Do they play an instrument yet? Cause I got a project that needs a kid…
Rounding out the East Coast contingent was Bill Chesley, an artisan and a meticulous sound designer who was the only one of the bunch who had already carved out a reputation and had a fan base.
We made a big initial impression on several major advertising agencies, and thereafter it seemed like The Gods on Madison Avenue constantly fed us projects. For the first time in my career it seemed like I consistently had my finger exactly placed on the pulse of popular taste.
I usually pitched musical ideas by myself based on an initial review of sketches or storyboards. If I could get our clients invested in an idea, then I knew we’d have an easier time of it, if only because then everyone would be on the same page.
Then, during development I’d work with each individual composer on their presentation –as a record producer works with an artist– until I was no less than greatly enthusiastic about his or her work. Sell it to me and I'll sell it to America. Some clients thought I was being disingenuous when they asked me, which was my favorite demo, and I’d reply that I liked ‘All of them’.
But it was true: I never let myself walk into a meeting without a pocket full of hit tracks. I really believed that if I loved the work I was presenting, all of America would have to love it, too. Fortunately for me, this belief was confirmed by our frequent success.
Yes, I suffered a few miserable failures, too. One client asked for a ‘modern’, ‘edgy’ track making it perfectly clear that the agency would not accept an orchestral score. In my gut I knew the boards demanded a symphonic tonality. Nevertheless I gave him what he thought he wanted. He took the job to another house who of course delivered the orchestral track that I knew we should have given him in the first place. I still beat myself up over that one, but you live and learn: Give them what they want, but also give them what they need, and while you’re at it –and if you have the time– why not have some fun and give them what you want, too.
For a brief while in 1997 though 1998 my hand picked crew shone with the brightest of the bright, and they made me proud to be a member of their team.
It was –I think you can tell– a lot of fun while it lasted.
[Fade Music]
(Hey, was that possibly the first musical cue for a blog?)
Saturday, December 30, 2000
Executive Producer Machine Head/NY 1996-1998
In December of 1996 Stephen Dewey, the acclaimed Los Angeles Sound Designer –whose company Machine Head, had practically defined the standard of sound design– called me up at home at exactly the same time I was trying out a new fangled thing called the Internet.
Stephen started his career as sound engineer and electronic devices guru for The Thompson Twins; went on to be a Product Specialist for the Fairlight Computer Music Instrument company; did a stint at Hans Zimmer’s film scoring company, Media Ventures; and then riding on the recognition earned by producing effects work for Ridley Scott’s film Black Rain, founded Machine Head, naming it after a mechanical guitar part.
Over the years, Dewey’s company and the team at Elias Associates had provided elements for some of the same projects. I had spoken with him several times over the phone –in order to coordinate elements– but I had never met him person. In fact, as the Senior Producer at Elias, I considered him a main competitor. Our team also produced sound design treatments; and Alton Delano –in particular– did such an excellent job of it, that it frustrated me when clients split their projects up between our two shops; but sometimes they did.
I would of course later come to understand exactly how and why Dewey outshone the rest of the Industry. Sound Design wasn’t just an area of expertise. To members of the advertising community, he defined the standard by which all others would be judged.
By Sound Design, I mean both the actual creation and construction of any given sound, and it’s creative application to film and video. Later –after I began working for him– my contribution to the company’s marketing strategy was to convince our clients that what Machine Head produced was less an effects treatment –which any editor with a sample library could provide– and more like an electronic music composition, which indeed was the truth. Many of Stephen’s efforts are comparable to and reminiscent of the groundbreaking work of Pierre Schaeffer, which Schaeffer so famously called ' Musique Concrete'. In the case of Stephen's work, think John Cage with Hollywood attitude.
Now here he was, former competitor and industry legend –not to mention ex-guitar tech for The Thompson Twins– and he was inviting me to come work for him. And oh, by the way, the first project on my To-Do list would be to produce a spot for the upcoming Super Bowl (MCI ‘Kids In Space’:60/:30), which would require me to hop back forth between both coasts between Christmas and the broadcast.
Essentially, my signing bonus was getting to produce a three million dollar video that everybody on the entire planet was going to see, hear, and talk about.
Graciously, I accepted, and then ran out into the New York night to celebrate the beginning of a new sonic adventure.
Stephen started his career as sound engineer and electronic devices guru for The Thompson Twins; went on to be a Product Specialist for the Fairlight Computer Music Instrument company; did a stint at Hans Zimmer’s film scoring company, Media Ventures; and then riding on the recognition earned by producing effects work for Ridley Scott’s film Black Rain, founded Machine Head, naming it after a mechanical guitar part.
Over the years, Dewey’s company and the team at Elias Associates had provided elements for some of the same projects. I had spoken with him several times over the phone –in order to coordinate elements– but I had never met him person. In fact, as the Senior Producer at Elias, I considered him a main competitor. Our team also produced sound design treatments; and Alton Delano –in particular– did such an excellent job of it, that it frustrated me when clients split their projects up between our two shops; but sometimes they did.
I would of course later come to understand exactly how and why Dewey outshone the rest of the Industry. Sound Design wasn’t just an area of expertise. To members of the advertising community, he defined the standard by which all others would be judged.
By Sound Design, I mean both the actual creation and construction of any given sound, and it’s creative application to film and video. Later –after I began working for him– my contribution to the company’s marketing strategy was to convince our clients that what Machine Head produced was less an effects treatment –which any editor with a sample library could provide– and more like an electronic music composition, which indeed was the truth. Many of Stephen’s efforts are comparable to and reminiscent of the groundbreaking work of Pierre Schaeffer, which Schaeffer so famously called ' Musique Concrete'. In the case of Stephen's work, think John Cage with Hollywood attitude.
Now here he was, former competitor and industry legend –not to mention ex-guitar tech for The Thompson Twins– and he was inviting me to come work for him. And oh, by the way, the first project on my To-Do list would be to produce a spot for the upcoming Super Bowl (MCI ‘Kids In Space’:60/:30), which would require me to hop back forth between both coasts between Christmas and the broadcast.
Essentially, my signing bonus was getting to produce a three million dollar video that everybody on the entire planet was going to see, hear, and talk about.
Graciously, I accepted, and then ran out into the New York night to celebrate the beginning of a new sonic adventure.
Friday, December 08, 2000
The 2001 Challenge
At the end of the 2000, I was among several members of the advertising community asked to submit my thoughts regarding what I thought would be the most important issues affecting the Industry in the coming year. Putting on my magical forecasting hat, and from my studio in the heart of Madison Alley (Madison Ave + Silicon V/Alley, i.e. the ad tech community), here's what this interactive music producer thought at the time–
–Terry O'Gara/ August, 2006
The 2001 Challenge
By Terry O'Gara
Published in Shoot Magazine, Dec 8, 2000
This coming year presents new challenges for producers who provide content and services via the Internet and Television. These, depending on your perspective, are either becoming one technology, or parallel technologies working in tandem. New Media will remain "new" for only so long, before becoming standard operating procedure.
Until then, delivery models multiply. Unlike their peers in television, where protocols have remained stable for years, Internet artisans can't bask in their knowledge of current methodologies. Suppliers must keep abreast of every technological advance to maintain an edge in the online marketplace. The more you know, the more you can do--hence the more clients you can accommodate. Saying, 'No, we can't do it,' is valid regarding creative objections. But not being able to produce a project because your eyes glaze over when you learn that the message will be delivered over a mobile phone is business death.
Is it "Sync-to-Broadcast" or Enhanced TV? Does it work in Netscape and Explorer? The makers of these technologies are in competition with each other; that means we folk who create the stuff that gets broadcast have to understand as many of these technologies as possible. If your business hasn't evolved yet, my advice: Jump in. It's changing on a daily basis, anyway. Immerse yourself in the stream; then figure out which way the current flows.
Remember the first time you started using a PC? Cute folders and trash icon aside, you were still befuddled. But you finally got it. Now it's second nature, Well, you're about to experience growing pains again.
Maybe you've spent the last year focused on print, or television, or you were an Internet specialist. Tomorrow your projects will cross all platforms. It'll be your job to understand how things get done and when they go wrong, to understand if it's a creative issue, an integration issue, a technical issue or all of the above. By "your job," I mean, of course, everybody's job.
As a music producer I've been forced to deal with things I never thought I'd have to deal with as a "creative guy." Once, all I needed to know to produce music--beyond a sonic vision--was a broad understanding of the film production process. Skip one beat ahead and we've entered an age where, for instance, if a composer doesn't understand the technical issues regarding the way audio is delivered, then maybe he's in the wrong business. I'm not advocating a complete out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new. The piano, for instance, is a wonderful technology as it is. But there's more to music today than just tickling ivories.
Storytelling remains paramount. But as the definition of "television" is expanding, it follows that the definition of "composer" is also expanding. Artisans in other broadcast industries will have to broaden their general knowledge, as well. Clients are changing, too. They're not hiring talent that can't speak their language--which is increasingly sounding like jargon to those used to standard American English.
Experimentation yields great advances in science and technology. The same is true of art. I believe the challenge ahead is to make the line between technology and art transparent.
–Terry O'Gara/ August, 2006
The 2001 Challenge
By Terry O'Gara
Published in Shoot Magazine, Dec 8, 2000
This coming year presents new challenges for producers who provide content and services via the Internet and Television. These, depending on your perspective, are either becoming one technology, or parallel technologies working in tandem. New Media will remain "new" for only so long, before becoming standard operating procedure.
Until then, delivery models multiply. Unlike their peers in television, where protocols have remained stable for years, Internet artisans can't bask in their knowledge of current methodologies. Suppliers must keep abreast of every technological advance to maintain an edge in the online marketplace. The more you know, the more you can do--hence the more clients you can accommodate. Saying, 'No, we can't do it,' is valid regarding creative objections. But not being able to produce a project because your eyes glaze over when you learn that the message will be delivered over a mobile phone is business death.
Is it "Sync-to-Broadcast" or Enhanced TV? Does it work in Netscape and Explorer? The makers of these technologies are in competition with each other; that means we folk who create the stuff that gets broadcast have to understand as many of these technologies as possible. If your business hasn't evolved yet, my advice: Jump in. It's changing on a daily basis, anyway. Immerse yourself in the stream; then figure out which way the current flows.
Remember the first time you started using a PC? Cute folders and trash icon aside, you were still befuddled. But you finally got it. Now it's second nature, Well, you're about to experience growing pains again.
Maybe you've spent the last year focused on print, or television, or you were an Internet specialist. Tomorrow your projects will cross all platforms. It'll be your job to understand how things get done and when they go wrong, to understand if it's a creative issue, an integration issue, a technical issue or all of the above. By "your job," I mean, of course, everybody's job.
As a music producer I've been forced to deal with things I never thought I'd have to deal with as a "creative guy." Once, all I needed to know to produce music--beyond a sonic vision--was a broad understanding of the film production process. Skip one beat ahead and we've entered an age where, for instance, if a composer doesn't understand the technical issues regarding the way audio is delivered, then maybe he's in the wrong business. I'm not advocating a complete out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new. The piano, for instance, is a wonderful technology as it is. But there's more to music today than just tickling ivories.
Storytelling remains paramount. But as the definition of "television" is expanding, it follows that the definition of "composer" is also expanding. Artisans in other broadcast industries will have to broaden their general knowledge, as well. Clients are changing, too. They're not hiring talent that can't speak their language--which is increasingly sounding like jargon to those used to standard American English.
Experimentation yields great advances in science and technology. The same is true of art. I believe the challenge ahead is to make the line between technology and art transparent.
Friday, November 24, 2000
THE NAPSTER DILEMMA
Because I'm only too happy to make some attempt at solving all the world's problems, let's start with protecting rock stars–
Eventually the record companies will prevail in their litigation against Napster and it's ilk. But that doesn't mean they will have ultimately resolved the situation in their favor. The record industry has misjudged the issue that the online exchange of music files presents. Underlying the very real notion of copyright infringement is a perception that provokes the public to participate in this illegal distribution.
First and foremost, teen age fans, who are by far the greatest participants in this activity, will never be convinced by a corporate behemoth that he or she doesn't have a right, and indeed obligation, to trade and exchange their favorite music among their peers.
Secondly, among fans (the ire against the rock group Metallica notwithstanding), the general perception is that the record companies are exploiting the artists themselves by trapping them in unfair contractual arrangements. It may only a perception, but it would still be appropriate to call it circumstantial fact. So, it goes to reason that if the very people who distribute the music are taking advantage of the recording artists, and this perceived exploitation appears sanctioned by the government and the trade, then fans logging onto Napster look less like pirates and more like rebels with a cause. People are trading mp3 files because they love the artists. Not because their trying to steal from them. Can the same be said of an industry where nightmarish stories of exploitation surface on a regular basis?
The final point to consider is the price of compact discs. Technological advances generally drive prices down based on newfound conveniences in manufacturing and production. But record companies haveignored this economic fact. Consumers understand that what was already a luxury item in 1979 should now translate into a modestly priced compact disc. Instead prices have escalated towards the dizzying nearly twenty dollars CD's fetch in many retailers today. When the means of distribution are limited this cost can be explained as 'what the market will bear'. But now the consumer has a weapon and it's called the Internet. If the artists were smart, they'd understand this weapon is also theirs to use to their advantage.
The bottom line for record companies? Repair their relationships with the artists, and the public perception of those relationships as well. Next, lower the price of this expensive product. Or alternately, they can continue to chase the technological demons that will never cease to look like a consumer's saving grace.
Eventually the record companies will prevail in their litigation against Napster and it's ilk. But that doesn't mean they will have ultimately resolved the situation in their favor. The record industry has misjudged the issue that the online exchange of music files presents. Underlying the very real notion of copyright infringement is a perception that provokes the public to participate in this illegal distribution.
First and foremost, teen age fans, who are by far the greatest participants in this activity, will never be convinced by a corporate behemoth that he or she doesn't have a right, and indeed obligation, to trade and exchange their favorite music among their peers.
Secondly, among fans (the ire against the rock group Metallica notwithstanding), the general perception is that the record companies are exploiting the artists themselves by trapping them in unfair contractual arrangements. It may only a perception, but it would still be appropriate to call it circumstantial fact. So, it goes to reason that if the very people who distribute the music are taking advantage of the recording artists, and this perceived exploitation appears sanctioned by the government and the trade, then fans logging onto Napster look less like pirates and more like rebels with a cause. People are trading mp3 files because they love the artists. Not because their trying to steal from them. Can the same be said of an industry where nightmarish stories of exploitation surface on a regular basis?
The final point to consider is the price of compact discs. Technological advances generally drive prices down based on newfound conveniences in manufacturing and production. But record companies haveignored this economic fact. Consumers understand that what was already a luxury item in 1979 should now translate into a modestly priced compact disc. Instead prices have escalated towards the dizzying nearly twenty dollars CD's fetch in many retailers today. When the means of distribution are limited this cost can be explained as 'what the market will bear'. But now the consumer has a weapon and it's called the Internet. If the artists were smart, they'd understand this weapon is also theirs to use to their advantage.
The bottom line for record companies? Repair their relationships with the artists, and the public perception of those relationships as well. Next, lower the price of this expensive product. Or alternately, they can continue to chase the technological demons that will never cease to look like a consumer's saving grace.
Sunday, October 01, 2000
HBO ZONE: Creating a Sonic Identity
In 2000, long before the phrase 'Sonic Identity or ‘Sonic Branding’ was on everyone’s lips, Blister Media was commissioned to create a unique sound design treatment for a new HBO television channel, HBO ZONE, which was described to us as 'HBO for a GEN X audience'. Our resulting innovative audio packaging not only garnered us substantial acclaim, but the Television Industry community recognized us by awarding Blister with a Gold Promax statue, an award whose significance seemed all the more surreal since our competitors were some of the networks themselves! While I had already won a couple of CLIOs, and Michael a mention in the New York Times for his work on games, it was this award that finally made me feel like we had arrived.
Both VIDEOGRAPHY and the online mag, digitalproducer.com, asked us to describe our process. What follows is one of the subsequent published articles.
–Terry O'Gara/ August, 2006
Creating a Sonic Identity for a Cable Network: HBO ZONE
By Terry O'Gara
First published by digitalproducer.com, October 1, 2000
Blister was commissioned to create a signature audio identity for the complete inner package introducing HBO viewers to the HBO Zone, an alternative urban movie channel. The package includes opens, closes, transitions, lower-thirds, bumpers, end pages and teases. In the opens, the camera flies through a maze of high-rise buildings to reveal the HBO logo glowing on a rooftop, then drops down below the city streets to a network of tunnels where individuals gain access to the HBO Zone through hand print identification. [Visual treatments were created by New York branch of the design firm, The Attik.] The 'story' behind each interstitial, Intro, Bump, etc. was that the viewer was to experience being transported from HBO to HBO Zone, or from a familiar world to an unfamiliar world.
The Network wanted a sound design treatment that was both emotional and visceral in content, non-musical, more sound design oriented than the typical Network logo. Our process for this project, the assembly of noise into something one might call a composition has it's roots in musique concrete, the process by which ambient sounds are recorded and then manipulated into electronic music pieces. (developed mid twentieth century by Pierre Schaeffer who was in turn influenced by Luigi Russolo's publication 'The Art of Noises'.
Our technique is a natural evolution of the 'art of noises': Our palette of sounds consisted entirely of a variety of noises, ambient sounds, found sounds and the like. And we could have accomplished it with comparable results using 1/4" tape, a reel-to-reel (or several) and a razor blade. But it would have been painstaking to do. So, we did not forgo the convenience of modern technology.
To accomplish our task we first created a palette of sounds from which to create our final electronic music compositions. To do so, we walked the streets of China Town with a Mini Disc Recorder collecting random ambient street sounds. Once we had about an hours worth of material we took it back to Blister and recorded the sounds into Digital Performer. Then we dissected each sound to its constituent parts so that, for instance, a sidewalk store clerk rustling through a barrel of live crabs was edited down to simply a rattle here, a shuffle there, scraping noises and the like. By repeating this process with each set of sounds on from the mini disc, we created a sound palette that sounded not like street ambiance at all, but rather like an endless variety of noise samples, each unique unto itself. Even the wind against the unshielded collar mic proved a useful sound once we sent it through a digital delay plug-in.
We then took the existing HBO fanfare most people associate with the brand and proceeded to 'dirty' it up. To give it a gritty overly compressed sound we recorded the logo from digibeta onto a 3/4" dub, and then again from the 3/4" dub re-recorded it onto a simple audio cassette. Then we sampled it off the audio cassette into the Power Mac G4 where we could use Digital Performer to edit it and add further crackle and pop to it.
Visually, transitions within the interstitial often looked as though they were interrupted by a channel change, or television static, or interference and the like. In today's world of remote controls those changes are often smoothed out by a soft and sometimes inaudible 'click'. So on a short trip to visit my retired parents in Florida I pulled out the old Panasonic black and white TV from my childhood (pre cable, pre remote, pre stereo) and proceeded to record random channel changing of otherwise static UHF channels. The resulting sounds are unarguably hard channel changes, perhaps an almost obsolete sound, certainly clunky, and now seemingly unique, but still immediately recognizable as interrupted transmissions.
We were also fortunate to be the recipients a DAT ostensibly recorded during the Gulf War of a transmission between a fighting crew in a helicopter and their command. It's mostly unintelligible but we garnered sounds from it, including beeps, crackle and feed back. We sampled as much of this as we needed, and again, put it into Digital Performer, and cut it up into components parts.
So, from China Town to the Gulf War and transformed in a digital studio 17 floors above New York City, we had our palette: literally hundreds of sounds which were then assembled via Digital Performer to correspond to, enhance the video, and also to stand alone as being recognizable as HBO Zone logos.
Again, not unlike creating a piece ala musique concrete, we basically created an audio collage out of hundreds of minute sound samples which were dissected and re-assembled using Digital Performer. After the usual presentation and revision process we were 99% done. Once our basic tracks were approved we then further sweetened them with electric guitar. But not with anything melodic. Rather we pulled out an old $35 electric guitar, plugged it in, and destroyed it in the stairwell of our building, running a cable back to the Power Mac G4 to record every step of destruction. The resulting sounds were hardly recognizable as a guitar. Again, splicing those sounds up into their component parts we then processed the lot through a Electrix filter factory to give them an otherworldly feel.
Once the final tracks were approved, we mixed them via the Mackie D8B, and mastered them using a DBX Quantum to make them 'pop' out on broadcast. We delivered the tracks on DAT at 48K.
Making the time and labor intensive project all the more worthwhile, we were honored by the Broadcast Promotions Industry in June 2000 which granted us the Gold Promax award for Original Music/Sound Design for Network packaging.
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