On April 1, more than 200 music notables (including Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, 3 Balvin and Jon Bon Jovi) of the Artists Rights Alliance issued an open letter warning against the “predatory use of AI” in the music industry. The letter cites AI’s capability to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights and “destroy the music ecosystem.” The letter further calls on tech companies, AI developers and digital music services to pledge that they won’t develop or use AI-powered technology the undermines songwriters and artists or prevents them from earning compensation for their art. What are your views and/or concerns relative to artificial intelligence and its impact on music and sound?
With Midnight Snack at Heard City, we avoid sound creation products that are related to AI as we do not know where the sounds are being sourced. The ambiguity around those sounds can lead to liability issues for everyone involved in the project, and our clients appreciate our looking out for them.
How do new technologies, markets and platforms figure in your creative/business plans. For example, with NFTs gaining momentum, do you foresee related music and sound work resulting? Same for VR/AR? Will increased content spurred on by the emergence of additional streaming platforms open up music and sound opportunities for you? Any growth prospects in the advertising and/or entertainment industry?
We love working on non-traditional projects that typically live on streaming platforms or are experiential, and so long as brands and agencies put their full support and budgets behind the creation of the work, we think there will be significant growth.
How has your role–or that of your business or company–evolved in recent years? What do you like most about that evolution? What do you like least?
Portions of our role as a company have remained the same for over a decade, while others have shifted significantly. With Midnight Snack at Heard City, we have been asked to create the most comprehensive, creative, unique, and memorable sound design possible for our clients. Our creative palette has dramatically expanded with new software and hardware, including proprietary tools designed in-house, which allow our entire team to create together at once. Together, we can accomplish in a day what used to take a week. However, in some cases, the role of production has shifted away from a primarily scheduling and concepting function to the roles of budgeting, sfx clearance, and trafficking.
What was the biggest creative challenge posed to you by a recent project? Tell us about that project, why the challenge was particularly noteworthy or gratifying to overcome, or what valuable lesson you learned from it.
There have been many over the past few months that have been challenging from a sound design perspective (Paramount +, CerVe, Carl’s Jr, Sir Kensington’s…). We have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with amazing creatives on great projects! My partner, Evan Mangiamele, adds “for the “Hey Arnold” Paramount Plus Superbowl spot, it was a fun creative challenge designing the sound of Arnold slamming against the rock wall. We wanted it to sound heavy, and impactful, but not so much that it implied Arnold was injured too badly!”
What recent work are you most proud of and why? Or what recent work (advertising or entertainment)–your own or that of others–has struck a responsive chord with you?
I am proud of all of our work, and that we work together as a team to make wonderful sounds for our clients! With Midnight Snack at Heard City, whether you are a highly experienced Sound Designer or a brand-new Assistant, your creative input is valued and ultimately incorporated into the final product.
