Audio Branding

“It was one of those like 'this is what I wanted, wow, this is Johnny Fever, this is radio, and then it, kind of honestly, it quickly declined after that, because of, you know, changes and Napster recording things, stealing things, and the DJ really, um, for the companies I worked with, lost their importance to the corporate creative team, which was a real disappointment. I mean, there’s nothing worse than getting into something that you love to do your creative part and then, like, ‘oh yeah, welcome aboard! We don’t do creative anymore.’” -- Van Gunter

My next guest has spent over twenty years as a voice actor, eight years as a radio DJ, and, for the last sixteen years, has been an audio engineer. He works with his best friends and is part owner of the studio where he began as an intern, Boutwell Studios. His name is Van Gunter.

We were introduced by Kelley Buttrick many years back when he attended his first FaffCon, and I've been trying to get him on this podcast for a long time, so I'm very excited that he was able to join me for this interview. His understanding of how things work both in front of and behind the glass is bound to make for some very interesting observations and golden nuggets. And, of course, sound has been a big part of his life for a long long time. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

As always, if you have questions for my guests, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.

Being Johnny Fever

As the interview starts, Van tells us about his first memories of sound, from his parents sneaking into his room to check on him as a toddler to the terrifying first impression a birthday party made on him. “And it was the sound of all these kids screaming,” he says, “and like thirty balloons popping.” We talk about how WKRP in Cincinnati helped inspire his career in radio, and how school systems at the time didn’t have a good answer for future voice artists like him. “I didn’t have a clear direction of what to do with being a disrupter,” Van tells us. “I just knew that I was loud and talked and tried to be nice.”

Like a Rock Star

Next, we discuss his early career as a radio DJ and the ups and downs that the 21st century has brought to the industry.  “When they say that ‘we’re not gonna do contracts this year,’” Van warns us, “[that] it ‘doesn’t matter,’ you’re next.” He recalls being a disc jockey for an alternative music station just before the switch to digital audio, and how, for a time, his dream of being WKRP’s Johnny Fever came true. “It was a brief amazing period of my life when I felt like I got treated like a rock star.”

Making You Move

Van tells us how the changing industry led him to Boutwell Studios and how his role quickly expanded from a DJ to a voiceover artist and audio engineer, a success he attributes to "a lot of anxiety and a lot of kindness from the people that I worked with." He shares his vocal warm-up routine and the important role hip-hop and jazz play. "It makes you move and it gets your blood flowing," he says, "and you're excited, and all of a sudden you're smiling and you can't remember why."

Because You’re Awesome

“Before I go into the booth,” Van says, “I always say I am about to kill it. I am about to kill it because I’m awesome.” He tells us the advice he gives younger voice talent on how to perform with confidence and how his audio analysis of the famous Yanny/Laurel audio meme from a few years back gave him fresh insight into how our perceptions of sound can influence the way we think about the world around us. “It was just such a weird phenomenon and I totally bought into it too,” he recalls, “I thought people were messing with me.... but it really did change the way that I do my VO life.”

Episode Summary

• Van’s early memories of sound, from nursery footsteps to popping balloons
• How Johnny Fever helped inspire Van to become a radio DJ
• The changes digital and streaming audio have brought to the industry
• Van’s vocal warm-up routine and the importance of keeping a positive attitude
• The impact our assumptions about sound can have on our daily lives

Tune in next week as Van and I talk about the power of teamwork and comradery in the voice industry, as we take a look at some of Boutwell's latest projects, including for Birmingham's Sidewalk Film Festival and the TV show DIY Science Time, and how his superpower is speaking canine.

Connect with the Guest: 

Website: https://boutwellstudios.com

Connect with Van Gunter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/van-gunter-4bb4048/

Follow Van Gunter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vansayword/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“Think about the young college student, first year in college. Most people have to stay in the dormitory, and whenever they do, right next to their bed is their nightstand, which actually, probably, is a mini fridge. And so, as they're leaning up against their pillow with a nightlight on from their nightstand, there is a compressor and a motor that causes this hum and vibration which the body not only feels but hears. And so you're taken away from the optimized learning environment of the person who's trying to gather in more data because you have all this stuff going on around them.” -- Alan R. Brunton

This episode’s the second half of my interview with software developer, cymatics researcher, and Cymatrax CEO Alan R. Brunton, as we talk about how sound takes up a surprisingly large amount of our neural bandwidth, how our sonic environment can influence both our mental and physical health, and how cutting-edge audio treatments might revolutionize the field of medicine.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

Feeling the Difference

As the second half of our interview starts, Alan and I talk about how much mental real estate sound takes up without our realizing it, and he provides several practical examples of how this affects us in our everyday lives. “There is so much there,” he sums it up, “that is interfering with the cognition of the brain.” We talk about noise pollution and its effects on our health, and the benefits his clients have reported from his cymatic remastering of their audio files. As he quotes one client, a professional musician who specializes in sound therapy, “’I could feel this difference in twenty seconds.’”

The Human Potential

The topic shifts to some very cutting-edge studies on using sound to treat neurological disorders and even brain cancer. Alan tells us about the famous YouTube videos of cymatic sand vibrations and how they offer a metaphor for the unseen effects sound might have on a cellular level. “That is, in a way,” he says, “solidifying our understanding then of how the neurotransmitters could be formed also into a shape and be pushed forward to be able to move through the entire central nervous system much more efficiently.” As he puts it with his company’s motto, “we are here to raise the human potential.”

Letting People Evolve

“The CDC,” Alan says as our interview comes to a close, “is reporting that 85% of all disease is caused by stress.” He explains how stress weakens the immune system and how improving our soundscape, including eliminating white noise and boosting healing frequencies, could have dramatic benefits for both individuals and companies. “Over five billion people listen to digital audio every day,” he says, “I’m here to clean it up for them and let people evolve into their own potential.”

Episode Summary

• How sound frequencies can both interfere with and boost our concentration
• Recent studies on using the power of sound to treat illnesses
• The hidden connection between sound waves, movement, and brain activity
• How cymatic frequencies can lower stress and transform health care

Connect with the Guest:

Website: https://www.cymatrax.com/ (Anyone who creates a new account gets an entire week of processing new, healthier auditory files for free.)

Follow Alan Brunton on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cymatrax/

Connect with Alan Brunton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-brunton-5ba46715/

Follow Alan Brunton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoCymatrax/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“And so many people don’t pay attention to the sound that they are exposing themselves to. And, like, whenever you go to, I want to say, a large restaurant, high action, high volume, and you have to yell at the person next to you, and you have to yell your order to the server. And then finally, whenever you walk outside of the restaurant, you're finished, grab hold of yourself, you feel better because all that noise is gone. But you're thinking ‘oh, I just came out of the restaurant, so the food must have been good. We must have had a good time.’” -- Alan R. Brunton

My next guest is the founder of Cymatrax Inc. He's been immersed in music for a long time and has owned and operated Allegro Data Systems, a company that archived magnetic tape recordings and remastered recordings for such clients as Southern Methodist University and Scripps Institute of Oceanography. His diverse background also includes producing a television program, being a restaurant consultant, and business administration. Now he studies epigenetics, consciousness, and quantum physics. He's focused on sound and the use of cymatics and has developed a software application to reduce stress in people's lives and raise the human potential. His name is Alan R. Brunton, and you won't want to miss all the twists and turns in this discussion.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

Christmas Melodies

As the episode starts, Alan tells us about his earliest memory of sound and shares a heartwarming Christmas story with a surprise twist that ended up being thirty years in the making. We go on to talk about how his father's life as an inventor helped guide his own path. "I just decided," Alan says, "that I needed to challenge myself to look at and do the hardest thing that had to do with music." He credits his family's reputation for ingenuity and determination for inspiring him to find new ways of seeing the world and new uses for some of the things in our lives that we might take for granted. "That's the way I was raised," he explains, "into 'okay this is made for this, but how else can you use it?'"

Music of the Mind

Alan tells us about cymatics and the relationship between audio frequencies, neurochemistry, and the human mind. “We understand in epigenetics,” he says, “that every single cell has receptors, and those receptors are influenced by four environmental influences: chemical, heat, light, and sound.” He explains how reducing noise pollution and adjusting the audio frequencies of a given sound can have dramatic effects on the brain, and the research he’s done with the University of New England on audio treatments for PTSD and autism. “Their head of research,” he says, “is going to be helping us with so many more grant proposals and submissions so that we can actually do clinical trials.”

Everything Slows Down

“The brain is much more capable and competent,” Alan reminds us as the interview continues, “than what we give it credit for.” He explains how what we call white noise in digital audio is actually filled with random audio frequencies, and how, just like a computer, the brain can struggle with trying to handle too much data at once. “And that's exactly what is in digital audio,” he explains, “with all of these white noise characteristics. It slows everything down.” We can see this happening for ourselves, Alan says, when people try to listen to digital audio and quickly find themselves becoming distracted: “So many people listening lose their focus after fifteen to twenty minutes.”

Changing the World

As we wrap up the first half of our interview, Alan tells us about his website's service and how his software removes white noise and readjusts the audio frequency of an uploaded sound file to maximize its impact on the brain. We also talk about a study he's conducting with the University of Alabama that users can participate in through his website, and how he's working with businesses and schools to bring cymatics to a wider audience.  "We're just here to change the world," he adds, "that's all."

Episode Summary

• Alan’s story of a musical Christmas memory thirty years in the making
• How his father’s inventions helped inspire him as an audio pioneer
• What white noise means, and the effects noise pollution has on the brain
• Cymatrax’s research into optimal audio frequencies for attentive listening
• How Alan’s working with university researchers on cymatic therapy

Tune in next week as Alan and I talk about some of Cymatrax’s most memorable success stories, the science behind cymatics therapy, and what the future of audio healing might hold.

Connect with the Guest:

Website: https://www.cymatrax.com/ (Anyone who creates a new account gets an entire week of processing new, healthier auditory files for free.)

Follow Alan Brunton on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cymatrax/

Connect with Alan Brunton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-brunton-5ba46715/

Follow Alan Brunton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoCymatrax/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“Audio has this very interesting quality of embedding itself in your head. We all know about those earworms: 'oh gosh I can't stop singing this song.' Imagine you have a nice jingle, it's a way for the brand to get into the heads of folks, I'm not saying that's a good thing necessarily, but that's an indication of the power of audio, where it just goes in. Now, let's not forget all of us, all human beings, the first nine months of our lives we're in the dark and we're just listening." -- Ahmed Bouzid

This episode’s the second half of my discussion with Ahmed Bouzid and Jenn Dudley in The Power of Sound Club on Clubhouse about Easy Options for Marketing with Digital Audio, as we discuss sound’s psychological potential, the surprising audio spaces Ahmed and Jenn have helped their clients discover, and how artificial intelligence is changing the audio landscape in a variety of ways.

As always, if you have questions for my guests, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

Listening Creatures

As the second half of the discussion starts, we talk about how sound sets the mood for visuals, and how some surprising movie trailer edits help demonstrate that. As Jenn describes it, it's "the idea that you can take a different track of music and put it under the same visuals and you can end up with a very different result.” Ahmed observes that our connection sound goes all the way back to before we were born, and that “we started as listening creatures more than seeing creatures.” “And I think that manifests itself,” he adds, “in many ways in our lives.” They both go on to describe how audio opens up new elements of SEO and algorithmic content and new channels of communication. “You can start with a podcast,” Jenn says, “and you can use that audio in other places, you can run a transcript, and then you have text and collect things from your audience. And there are easy ways of doing that."

Delivering the Message

Ahmed continues his list of top ten ways that audio is more engaging than video, and shares the story of one new audio strategy a client helped him discover. “Here's one that the customer dropped on me,” he says, “and that is an audiobook. We were talking and they were brainstorming with me an audiobook for their company." Jenn agrees with him and adds that “at the end of the day, I think anywhere that you’re sharing your message, almost always there’s an opportunity to either deliver that message in an audio format or in a companion piece so you’re giving your audience a different way to consume it.”

Getting the Most Value

“People tend to be really focused,” Jenn recounts from her own work with business clients, “and, again, they come to us to do a podcast, but they’ve started to branch out.” We take a look at how audio can strengthen written and visual marketing strategies, giving customers more opportunities for engagement. “It’s getting the most value out of the effort you’re putting into any of your marketing efforts,” Jenn explains. As the Clubhouse chat comes to a close, we also talk about how artificial intelligence has revolutionized audio’s ease of use, whether it’s automated translations, synthetic audio text on demand, or even summarizing written content. “Everybody’s become a commodity,” Ahmed says. “Audio is where folks can now innovate and differentiate themselves.”

Episode Summary

• How audio influences our emotions and sets the mood for visual content
• Digital audio’s potential to reshape SEO and user-generated content
• Using digital audio to expand the reach of traditional marketing
• How OpenAI, Google, and other services are transforming online audio

Connect with the Guests:

Dante32 Website: https://dante32.com

Witlingo Website: https://witlingo.com/digitalaudio/

Ahmed Bouzid’s The Elements of Voice First Style: A Practical Guide to Voice User Interface Design: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Voice-First-Style-Practical/dp/1098119592

Connect with Ahmed Bouzid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmedbouzid

Follow Ahmed Bouzid on Twitter: https://twitter.com/didou/

Connect with Jenn Dudley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenndudley

Follow Jenn Dudley on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JennADudley

 Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“But often, and this is fairly universal when I talk to people, whether they’re individuals or businesses, is, on one hand, anyone with an iPhone can pick up and start a podcast. There's a very low barrier to entry, which is fantastic. And, like most things when you get into it, it’s a little more complicated than you originally thought.” -- Jenn Dudley

For those of you that may not know, I host regular weekly Clubhouse rooms on Wednesdays at 2 PM Eastern Time. If you’re interested, you can check the schedule in my club, The Power of Sound, to see what’s coming up. We talk about all sorts of things related to sound, including voice overs, public speaking, podcasting, music, audio branding, voice AI, sound in social media, and of course, digital audio. This particular discussion (and everyone here knew that the room was being recorded so I do have permission), was called Easy Options for Marketing with Digital Audio, since we talk a lot about marketing and advertising through sound.

My fellow panelists in this episode are Ahmed Bouzid of Witlingo, who has been interviewed on this podcast before, and the highly knowledgeable Jenn Dudley of Dante32.  We asked a lot of questions, including “what is digital audio” so we had our baseline understanding of what we meant, “why should I care about digital audio,” and “what actions can I take to begin engaging through digital audio?”  They share ten specific facts about the rapid rise of digital audio along with ten specific things that we can do to incorporate it into our engagement mix.  It’s a really interesting discussion, so settle back and listen in. I think you’ll learn a thing or two: I know I did!

As always, if you have questions for my guests, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

Giving Them the Facts

As the Clubhouse chat begins, we talk about the definition of digital audio and its presence in every aspect of our modern lives, from podcasts and music apps to teleconferences and user interfaces. “Media in general is such a shift,” Jenn says. “You see the patterns kind of across the space with streaming versus cable and I think you see similar patterns in the audio world.” Ahmed shares ten facts about the rise of digital audio, and how valuable they are in explaining the importance of audio branding and strategies in the corporate world. “What do you need to do to convince your CMO or CEO to give you a budget?” he explains. “First, you need to give them facts.”

The Way We Live

The chat continues with a look at the growing numbers of online listeners, and just how widespread the audience has become over the past few years. "Seventy percent of the population have listened to online audio for the past month," Ahmed tells us. "It's on the rise and it's substantial." Jenn agrees and adds that "we're just starting to see all of the different use cases for how audio is really embedded in the way that we live and the way that we interact with the world around us."

Doing Things Mobile

The internet's come a long way since its early days, and Ahmed talks about how mobile technology has transformed the way we think about it and use it. "The shift that mobile brought," he says, "is you're able to do things in a lot more places than simply in your home, in the lab if you're at the university, or in the office. Those were the three places where you could do things that had to do with the internet, right? With mobile, you could do them anywhere." We talk about how smartphones let us take our work anywhere, and how efficient sound can be as an interface. "Since we human beings are greedy," he jokes, "we just want to be able to do things in as many situations as possible."

The Benefits of Audio

Sound also possesses an emotional component, a human element and authenticity that visuals alone still can’t match. “It just brings the humanity to life,” Ahmed notes, “when you hear someone talk.” We discuss his top ten list of things that makes audio more compelling than video, and Jenn adds that there are some important differences when it comes to audio branding versus other forms of marketing. “There’s a low barrier to entry,” she says, “but in order to maximize the benefits of audio, it’s really having to think about the message, and how you're delivering it a little bit differently.”

Episode Summary

• What digital audio really means and how it fits into our everyday lives
• Ahmed’s top ten facts about the rise of digital audio
• How much digital audio’s audience has grown over the past year alone
• The mobile age and its transformation of how we use online services
• Ahmed’s list of ten things that make audio more compelling than video

Tune in next week as we talk about earworms and audio jingles, the emerging potential of AI when it comes to sound, and how sound can connect us with our most essential selves.

Connect with the Guests:

Dante32 Website: https://dante32.com

Witlingo Website: https://witlingo.com/digitalaudio/

Ahmed Bouzid’s The Elements of Voice First Style: A Practical Guide to Voice User Interface Design: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Voice-First-Style-Practical/dp/1098119592

Connect with Ahmed Bouzid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmedbouzid

Follow Ahmed Bouzid on Twitter: https://twitter.com/didou/

Connect with Jenn Dudley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenndudley

Follow Jenn Dudley on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JennADudley

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“We always start at the same place, you know, we do not throw color against the wall. Meaning it's a non-execution-driven process. Execution-driven is 'let's get the ten best music companies in the world and then each produces a sonic logo, and then we'll pick one and then implement that globally, and then we're done, check.' And that is completely, that's the old world. The new world is 'let's do some homework, let's understand what we want." -- Uli Reese

This episode’s the second part of my interview with author, composer, and audio branding expert Uli Reese as we discuss Amp’s process for developing a sound strategy, where Uli sees audio going and not going in the future, and the industry race to catch up in the field of sonic branding.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

For Decades to Come

As the second half of our interview starts, Uli explains Amp’s strategy for developing a sonic identity, starting with making sure that the company’s own executives have a concrete grasp of their brand. “If we fail here,” he tells us, “how can we possibly develop something that's going to be valid for decades to come?” We discuss how Mercedes-Benz shook up the IAA car show in Munich with a DNA-based sonic strategy, and how they're thinking long-term when it comes to audio branding. “They’re exchanging everything with DNA-based music that is owned by the brand,” Uli says. “They said ‘we need to outright own this identity. Think, we’re 136 years old – think about the next 136 years.’”

Sound by Design

“What I think is highly interesting,” Uli says, “is there are so many brands where one of their main equity points of the brand is the sound.” Our interview continues with a look at brands whose sounds are such a part of their image that we take them for granted, such as automobile engines – and how electric cars have forced automakers to create artificial engine sounds to preserve their branding. “They're completely artificial,” he explains. “That sound has nothing to do with the electric motor at the wheel. Let's be real, yes, it's fake. It's being designed." When it comes to keeping up with a quickly changing world, Uli’s advice is to “be consistent. Have something that you can derive things from. Also, do not design anything for an iPhone, because it will go away, I guarantee it.”

Building a Solid Future

As our interview comes to a close, Uli reflects on the rapid growth of sonic branding and how much the world’s changed in just over a decade. “Sonic grew so fast,” he says, “in the last three, four, five years, and became so dominant so quickly, that many brands feel flat-footed. They feel like we’re too late to the party, we should have dealt with this five years ago, but we did not.” As he explains, “sonic is in the top five major brands for issues right now. That would have been impossible ten years ago.” We talk about the future of audio, and how it’s easier to say what won’t change than what will, and what it’ll take to build that future. “We need innovation in terms of sonic,” Uli adds. “I don't care if it's called sonic branding, audio branding, or whatever, but where we are will not get us to a solid future.”

Episode Summary

• Mercedes-Benz’s new DNA-based sonic branding strategy
• How evolving technology is forcing companies to rethink and rework audio
• What changes and what remains constant when it comes to sonic strategies
• How companies are working to catch up in the field of audio branding

Connect with the Guest:

Website: https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/

Best Audio Brands:  https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/best-audio-brands

101 Great Minds:  https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/101-great-minds-home

Mastercard Case Study:  https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/ourwork/the-sound-of-mastercard

Other Amp Case Studies: https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/ourwork/

Follow Uli Reese on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uli.reese.5

Connect with Uli Reese on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uli-reese/

Follow Uli Reese on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ulireese

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“And what's interesting is the agency usually comes back and says 'this is amazing, how did you... this sounds, like, better than our music productions! This is, like, so authentic! This has grip! This seems like the Beatles in the garage!' And I said 'that's what every agency guy wants.' They want to find the Beatles in the garage, or Coldplay, or U2, or whatever, and be able to say 'I was the first one who heard this.'" -- Uli Reese

This week’s guest left his hometown of Stuttgart to attend university in Los Angeles and begin his career as an orchestra conductor, composer, and orchestrator in Hollywood, working on shows like Paramount’s Star Trek: The Next Generation and Disney’s DuckTales. He's an author, scholar, and co-owner of sonic-branding consultancy Amp, a five-time Cannes Lions speaker, and he's considered one of the main thought-leaders in the audio branding industry. From a Lion to an Emmy, he's won almost every industry award possible for his work, and over the last decade, Uli's book series 101 Great Minds on Music, Brands and Behavior added a significant contribution to the education and understanding of sonic branding on both the agency and brand side.

Through over two hundred conversations with the most influential leaders in marketing, his mission is to change the conversation we’re having about sonic branding. His name is Uli Reese, and I have no doubt this conversation will be as fascinating as it is enlightening. So buckle up!

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

A Creator Economy

We start off the interview by talking about Uli's thirteenth appearance at the prestigious Cannes Lions festival and his firsthand perspective on just how much it's changed over the years. "Thirty years ago," he recalls, "it was guys getting together saying I spent five million on this commercial or I got the Beatles and it was kind of an inside club. And now it's like the creator economy." We discuss the role that a stubborn piano teacher played in helping to shape his childhood love of sound and take a closer look at this century's democratization of content creation all over the world. "If you have content that people want to see," he says, "and you're in the Amazon, you scale. You call the shots."

Two Seconds to Understand

“I knew I wanted to write for film," Uli tells us as we recount his early career, "so I did my school, finished that, and I knew I wanted to go to the U.S. because this was where things were made." He talks about how music school in America turned out to be not at all what he'd hoped until a professor's recommendation helped him find his true calling at the Dick Grove School of Music. He tells us about his work as a composer on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the lessons it taught him about audio branding and creating an immediate audience reaction. "You need," he says, "within two seconds to understand 'oh, Star Trek: The Next Generation is on,' or The Simpsons, or Star Wars."

Owning the Body

Our talk about the future of audio branding continues as he compares Mastercard's groundbreaking new Sonic Space to other pop-cultural brands we might not normally consider. “It’s like Billy Eilish writing a Bond song,” he explains, “Adele writing a Bond song, it’s based on the sonic DNA of Bond. And we do basically that but going into 35 different consumer touchpoints.” We talk about the branding perils of stock and license music, and the advantages of a more holistic approach to sound. “Most music that’s used by brands is not owned,” Uli says. “They might own the T-shirt, but they don’t own the body that’s wearing the T-shirt.... and when you don’t own your stuff, it’s difficult.”

The Entire Experience

“The reality,” Uli says as the first half of our interview comes to a close, “is that there has been no evolution in sonic branding in thirty years.” He notes the prominence of the Intel sonic logo even today as proof and points out the need for a more sophisticated strategy to keep up with the changing times. “In visual branding,” he notes, “you don’t just have a business card, you have an entire experience.” We talk about the prospect of brands becoming a platform for artists and how his work on Mastercard is helping to pave the way. “I want it to be an honor for an artist to write a Mastercard song.”

Episode Summary

• How the Cannes Lions festival has come to reflect a changing world
• Uli’s early memories of sound and childhood rebellion against musical authority
• How media franchises like Star Trek and James Bond pioneered sonic branding
• The advantages and limitations of license-free music versus in-house audio
• Evolving the field of sonic branding to catch up with 21st-century visual brands

Tune in next week as Uli and I talk about how Mercedes-Benz has been revolutionizing its approach to sonic branding, how the past ten years have changed the face of sound marketing and made audio branding more relevant than ever before, and just why Uli's superpower is Aquaman.

Connect with the Guest:

Website: https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/

Best Audio Brands:  https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/best-audio-brands

101 Great Minds:  https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/101-great-minds-home

Mastercard Case Study:  https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/ourwork/the-sound-of-mastercard

Other Amp Case Studies: https://www.ampsoundbranding.com/ourwork/

Follow Uli Reese on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uli.reese.5

Connect with Uli Reese on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uli-reese/

Follow Uli Reese on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ulireese

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“But we did a rebranding of brands that already came from a place where they actually have worked, so we work in evolutions, in rebrandings, not just like a brand from the start. So what we try to do is keep the things that are really distinctive if they’ve already made audio branding, but evolve the last bit and try to improve it. The idea is not to destroy what’s already built, the idea is to keep building up.” -- Gabriel Agüero

This episode’s the second part of my interview with Gabriel Agüero, Dalmiro Lacaze, and Mauro Gonzalez of Drop Music Branding as we talk about synthetic music, noise pollution, and the future of audio in a world where machine learning can do a surprising amount of the work for us.

Keep Building Up

As the second half of our interview begins, we talk about the challenge of consistently and effectively rebranding, whether it’s an update to one of Drop Music’s own sonic logos or a reimagining of an audio brand designed elsewhere.  “So what we try to do,” Gabriel explains, “is keep the things that are really distinctive if they’ve already made audio branding but evolve the last bit and try to improve it.” As he puts it, “the idea is not to destroy what’s already built, the idea is to keep building up.”

Bringing Sound to Life

The topic turns to synth music and machine composition, and the differences between human and synthetic musical styles. Drop Music incorporates them both into its services, as Dalmiro explains: "Sometimes we're playing on the synth, sometimes we're playing on the MIDI controller, and sometimes we're playing actual instruments" They go on to tell us how music with real instruments and human performers can convey a sense of spontaneity that digital perfection has yet to match. "In some ways," Mauro explains the subtle differences, and different uses, between an organic performance and a synth track, "you bring life to something that's lifeless – unless you want it to be lifeless."

You Can’t Be Against It

We conclude the interview with a deeper look at synth music, machine learning, and what they mean for the future of audio, and how that future's already becoming a part of Drop Music Branding's toolset. "At the end of the day," Dalmiro says, "it's going take lots of jobs. Like the DALL-E 2 thing, it's unbelievable for making mock-ups," "You need to try to learn how to use it as a tool," he concludes, and Gabriel agrees. "You can't be against it," he notes, "because there's no competition at all."

Episode Summary

• Working with existing audio brands to revamp their sonic identity
• How computers and AI software are becoming the new musical instruments
• The dangers of noise pollution and benefits of sound-based healing
• What the rise of synth music means for the future of the audio industry

Connect with the Guests:

Website: https://dropmusicbranding.com

Follow Drop Music Branding on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dropmusicbranding/

Connect with Drop Music Branding on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dropmusicbranding/

Follow Drop Music Branding on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dropmusicbrand/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“I think that we are in a wonderful time to do audio branding because this situation where we need to educate people is a very good situation, right, because it’s something that is happening that we need to be strategic about it, and not so many brands are doing it. Right, so I think it’s a great place to be.” -- Gabriel Agüero

This episode’s guests have known each other their whole lives. Two of them were classmates in elementary school in their hometown of Patagonia, and they met the third when they moved to Buenos Aires to go to music college. Since then, they've been classmates, bandmates, roommates, and eventually partners in Drop Music Branding. They are Gabriel Agüero, Dalmiro Lacaze, and Mauro Gonzalez, and their nicknames, which you’ll be hearing quite a bit, are Gabo, Dal, and Mow.

In 2009, Dal moved to Boston to study Performance at Berklee, Gabo worked at Argentina's main TV station, and Mow worked at Disney. When Dal returned from Boston, the three of them began creating audio identities for brands across four continents, and they’ve been doing that for more than a decade now. In this two-part interview, the three of them will be offering their perspectives on innovations within the audio branding industry and where they think things are heading into the future!

As always, if you have questions for my guests, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

Impressions of Sound

As the episode starts, each guest talks about his earliest memories of sound. Gabriel tells us how his older brother learned to play the guitar and enlisted him, at the age of ten, as his drummer. “From that point,” Gabriel recalls, “I understood that my calling in life was to do music and make a living out of it.” Dalmiro talks about his mother’s mix tapes and cassette books and how they inspired him to record his own music as a child while Mauro recalls the various impressions that sound and words made upon him when he was young, and how understanding their hidden connections motivated him.

Escaping the Comfort Zone

The trio goes on to tell us how, after moving to Buenos Aires, they went from musical careers to a focus on audio branding, starting with their new jobs at Argentina's largest television station. "The funny thing,” Mauro says as he remembers that first foray into sonic branding, “is that we didn't have, like, tools and BSTs and instruments.” Given just a Windows computer and a single week, they rose to the occasion and learned an important lesson that’s guided their company since. “It's not an opportunity if you know how to do it,” Gabriel explains. “It needs to take you out of your comfort zone.”

Sonic vs Audio

The Drop Music team goes on to tell us about their next project for a satellite operator whose service extends throughout South America, and how a Gary Vee article opened their eyes to both the potential of audio branding and to how much they'd already learned about the process. "We were really lucky to start working alongside images," Dalmiro says, “that was like the bridge.” We discuss the subtle differences between sonic and audio branding and where each term’s most likely to be heard, and how they help educate clients who might not be familiar with either one make sense of all the jargon.

Everybody’s Doing It

As the first half of our interview comes to a close, we talk about audio branding strategies and how every company creates a sonic impression, whether it's carefully planned or left to chance. Gabriel remarks that, with the opportunities that sonic branding creates in a market that doesn't always take full advantage of it, and how Drop Music Branding recognizes a job well done when it comes to branding and sonic strategies. "You know you've done it right when,” Gabriel explains, “you see the client using it and really implementing it well – that's when you know you did it right.”

Episode Summary

• Drop Music Branding’s early musical influences and memories
• Their first trial-by-fire audio branding project as students in Buenos Aires
• How opportunity’s usually found outside of our comfort zones
• Drop Music Branding’s early transition from music to audio branding
• How sonic impressions are created even when we aren’t thinking about them

Tune in next week as the Drop Music team and I discuss the differences between human and “synth” music, the hidden dangers of audio pollution, and the benefits of sound-based healing.

Connect with the Guests:

Website: https://dropmusicbranding.com

Follow Drop Music Branding on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dropmusicbranding/

Connect with Drop Music Branding on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dropmusicbranding/

Follow Drop Music Branding on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dropmusicbrand/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“We really believe that everybody out there has an X-factor to them. Everybody has something that’s unique, that stands out, and now is the time, like, one of our mottos is ‘you have a voice and it deserves to be heard.’ And you’re a storyteller and it’s time for people to share their stories, to feel really good about what they’re doing. To make more money, of course, because it’s a business, but to really enjoy life. And we’ve gotta stop following trends, we’ve gotta stop worrying about what everyone thinks, this idea of what this company is or something. If you find your passion, your ‘why,’ right, you just do it and it resonates.”-- G. Wright

This episode's the second half of my interview with producer, sound engineer, and rock star media trainer G. Wright as we talk about the differences between introverts and extroverts, the importance of knowing your worth, and how streaming sound fatigue has led to what G calls "Zoom ear."

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

That Rock Star Mode

As our interview continues, G and I talk about introverts and extroverts, and how we all have different ways of building up our energy each day. “We each need different ways to recharge,” he says. “We each need to find ways to get into our inner Zen, into that pre-show, into that rock star mode.” We go on to discuss how devaluing ourselves as creators and setting too low a price point can undermine our efforts and, ironically, lead to fewer sales. “If you’re offering things for free or very cheap,” G tells us, “Their attention span isn’t there, they’re not as committed.” There’s real value in art and creative work, even if it seems intangible: as he puts it, “people will pay to see the Rolling Stones or any of those bands that have been around for a while because there’s value associated with them.”

The New Business Card

We continue to talk about creative entrepreneurs and the importance of properly valuing the service that they provide. "If the car needs to be fixed,” G explains, “I take it to the mechanic, I don’t take it around to five different mechanics and find one who says ‘I'll do it for free.’” As he says, “hire professionals who do this every day and you get more out of it than putting a dollar amount on it.” The topic shifts to podcast marketing, and how, as he puts it, podcasts are becoming the new business card. “When you’re going on a podcast,” he says, “this is the best way for people to get to know you.”

Connecting One-on-One

“I think with all the technology we have," G says as we talk about podcasting and social audio, "it really is going to come down to people connecting one-on-one with people through sound." As the episode wraps up, we talk about "Zoom ear" and how streaming apps have left people accustomed to a subpar, even unhealthy, sound quality. "There are frequencies that are going into the ears," he says, "that are not good frequencies." It all comes down to the importance of sound, and G notes that this is a lesson he regularly finds himself teaching his clients. "People were spending so much money on cameras and lights and how they look on camera," he notes, "and I was like 'the sound is just as important, not just how you sound to the audience but protecting your own ears.'"

Episode Summary

• The different strategies introverts and extroverts can use to recharge
• How underpricing content as a creator can impact the creative industry
• Podcasting’s growing value as a personal connection with your audience
• Overcoming “Zoom ear” and presenting your X-factor through sound

Connect with the Guest

Website: https://www.allthingsrelaxstudios.com/

Follow G. Wright on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllThingsRelaxStudios/

Connect with G. Wright on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorygwright/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/