Composer Robert Miller has teamed with Reinhard Denke (owner of music/sound house stimmüng) to launch RNDM ORDR, a global music/sound house that features the talent of several notable shops–including Miller’s own ScreenSound Alliance and Denke’s stimmüng (featuring sound designer Gus Koven and West Coast creative director Rory Doggett), along with sound designer Bill Chesley’s Henryboy, and Berlin-based Supreme Music. While Supreme Music–founded in 2008 by Maximilian Olowinsky, Felix Müeller and Florian Lakenmacher–will retain its moniker and identity, the other houses will be united as one and operate as RNDM ORDR.
Additionally RNDM ORDR’s roster includes such acclaimed individuals as film/TV composer Samuel Sim; multi-platinum record producer Marc McClusky; recording artist Cosmo Sheldrake; and composer Carlos Villalobos. Miller and Denke are principals in RNDM ORDR with the former serving as global creative director. Coming aboard as executive creative advisor is Rani Vaz, an industry mainstay who late last year stepped down as director of music at BBDO New York. Guin Frehling, who had most recently been freelancing, joins RNDM ORDR as executive producer and Kate Gibson of Henryboy becomes RNDM ORDR’s New York-based producer.
With studios in NYC, Santa Monica, Calif., Chicago, London, Hamburg and Berlin, RNDM ORDR is currently working on projects for such brands as IBM, Kia, Home Depot, Fisher Investments and Dana-Farber. Vaz is working as music supervisor on a short film for Snap Inc. being directed by Harmony Korine. Assorted other projects are in the RNDM ORDR pipeline at various stages.
Miller said that a prime motivation helping to bring RNDM ORDR to fruition was his longing for the major music/sound houses he grew up with, that had deep resources, were involved in varied projects, disciplines and genres, and above all were “communities” where artists could share insights and experiences, act as sounding boards for one another and collaborate officially or unofficially to the benefit of any given project. Miller recalled enjoying that dynamic business model first-hand with shop affiliations early on in his career and more recently during a seven-year tenure at stimmüng.
While virtual studios and freelance vehicles have become more prevalent in recent years, Miller clamored for a broad-based studio akin to the all encompassing roosts he remembered and experienced. He mentioned that vision and desire to his colleagues, including Denke. Many of them embraced that aspiration and the spirit of a larger multi-faceted entity, which led to what has now become RNDM ORDR.
Miller sees RNDM ORDR as a place where talent can be mobilized for an assignment. “If I’m doing a TV show and need a team–including sound designers or music supervision–then I can assemble exactly who’s needed,” said Miller, who additionally cited the golden opportunity to tap into the expertise of Vaz, long regarded as a leading agency music producer. “To bring someone like her into any project, including my own film work, would clearly prove advantageous,” assessed Miller whose recent feature film fare includes Coup 53, a documentary edited and co-written by Walter Murch, a revered artist who won Best Sound Oscars for Apocalypse Now and The English Patient. The latter also earned Murch a Best Film Editing Oscar. Among Miller’s other recent endeavors are Worlds Beyond Earth, celebrating the 150th year anniversary of the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium, ESPN’s “Football is Us,” varied installments of Google’s Power On short film series, and spots for IBM, Corteva and Mercedes-Benz. Miller is also writing a composition for the 2020 NYC Ballet Gala (having done the same for the ballet back in 2017).
Meanwhile artists coming into the RNDM ORDR ensemble bring with them such credits as: AICP Show-winning Monster.com’s “Opportunity Knocks” from sound designer Koven (part of a string of four consecutive years he earned an AICP honor for sound design, contributing to his being a leading award winner among sound designers; Koven has also served as a supervising sound editor on the IMAX film Pandas, and Netflix's The Chef Show); a long track record (since 2012) of spots for Home Depot from composer/sound designer Doggett, a multiple Emmy nominee and five-time SESAC advertising performance award winner; Walmart’s “Famous Cars” and Nike’s “Field Generals” by sound designer Chesley; Edeka’s “Homecoming” (a spot from German agency Jung von Matt) which generated 61 million YouTube views, with music composed and supervised by Lakenmacher; multiple episodes of such series as The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix) and Home Fires (ITV, Best Music, Original Score and Titles from the U.K.’s Royal Television Society) for U.K. composer Sim; the TV series Empire from composer Villalobos; collaborations with Weezer and Everclear for record producer McClusky who writes for and runs the Chicago office of RNDM ORDR; and Fanta’s “13th Floor” and titles for the feature Hannibal from U.K. composer Nick Smith.
RNDM ORDR is also continuing stimmüng's strategic alliance with The Formosa Group for final mix, VO and ADR recording, providing the option of jointly providing full service postproduction sound services.
RNDM ORDR is repped by Tim Merjos and Kylie Petti on the East Coast, Samuel/Guthrie in the Midwest, In House Reps on the West Coast, and Toby Tobin in the U.K.
