While Tom Jucarone of Sound Lounge, New York, observed that his role as an audio post mixer hasn’t changed over the years, the marketplace certainly has. “The constant,” says the veteran artisan, “is that I am part of a creative team, providing an additional creative viewpoint that contributes to and helps realize the team’s vision. Every job–no matter what number of different ways we deploy and approach audio–affirms how sound can change the commercial experience.”
Yet the economy has made an indelible imprint as of late. “There are a lot simpler executions because of budget, the new media landscape, computers, YouTube. Unfortunately, for some, this has lowered expectations for some of what sound adds to a spot. With challenged budgets and the proliferation of cheap software and hardware that claims to do what we do, the bar is kind of being lowered in some respects. Yet that shouldn’t change our role. No matter what the sound quality is on a small screen, for example, a talented mixer can add to the production value of the content, advance a concept and help to tell a story.”
Jucarone has been helping to advance and tell stories through audio for years. His reputation and body of work (Wendy’s, AT&T, Mercedes-Benz, Gillette, Starburst and Monster.com, including the lauded “Daybreak” spot) have enabled him to continue to garner major campaigns even during budget-strapped times, among the latest examples being Microsoft Bing’s launch out of JWT, New York. His track record even includes an occasional foray into long-form fare, such as the feature Red Doors, which gained recognition back in 2005 at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Jucarone’s roots are as a musician, specifically playing the violin and viola. He attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., which fortuitously at the time had just launched a music business program which allowed students to shape their curriculum. Jucarone was the lone student who formulated a program geared towards the recording of music. After graduating, his passion for sound led him to New York where he enrolled at the Institute of Audio Research, which was at the time one of the few schools for recording in the U.S.
Jucarone got his foot in the door as a go-fer for the venerable National Recording in New York. He moved up the ranks and eventually started mixing for radio, then television. A National principal then became partnered in a new venture, East Side Audio, which is where Jucarone made his mark over a span from 1983 to ’98. He mixed the Pepsi stuff going back to Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Michael J. Fox, Diet Pepsi with Ray Charles, Tina Turner, David Bowie and Robert Palmer. (That Pepsi tradition continued into Jucarone’s current Sound Lounge tenure with, for example, the Justin Timberlake spot that debuted on the Super Bowl last year.)
Indeed Jucarone has a Super Bowl pedigree, which includes his having mixed seven spots that finished in the number one slot on the annual USA Today post-Big Game Ad Meter. Jucarone mixed the AmEx commercial “Jon And Dana Go To The Super Bowl” in ’89, which topped the very first USA Today Super Bowl chart. And he mixed Pepsi’s “Security Camera” which was voted the best spot in the 20 years of the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter.
Jucarone co-founded and partnered in Sound Lounge, which opened 11 years ago. “It is a company run by mixers with strong ideas as to the way things should be. We built our place as a creative studio and the young engineers we’ve brought up here treat sound with the same passion and dedication as we have throughout our careers.”
Hillary Martell “Most people come into this end of the business as a failed rock star. I was a failed classical musician,” quipped mixer Hillary Martell of audioEngine, which maintains shops in New York and Phoenix. Studying at the music conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Martell got “distracted” in the recording arts program. “It started out as a side project in my studies and then took over my life when I found I wanted to do more than just playing [cello]. Between my final semesters, I got an internship at [New York audio house] Nutmeg and that led to a job at Photomag where I was an assistant to mixer Bob Giammarco.
When Giammarco teamed with three other partners to launch audioEngine, Martell came over to the then new shop where she eventually ascended to full fledged mixer some five-plus years ago. Among her latest projects are the Liberty Mutual Responsibility Project campaign in which families face personal struggles and decisions (directed by Harmony Korine via MJZ for Hill Holliday, Boston), and Mercedes-Benz’s “Museum,” the number three entry on our Summer Top Ten Tracks Chart in this issue (directed by Dom & Nic of Oil Factory, Los Angeles, for Merkley+Partners, New York).
For the latter, Martell not only served as mixer but contributed to sound design which also entailed work by Finger Music and by editor/sound designer Andrea MacArthur of Peepshow Post Productions, New York.
Also among Martell’s most notable career mixing credits is the acclaimed Coca-Cola spot “Happiness Factory,” which earned a primetime spot Emmy nomination last year for Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam. (“Happiness Factory” was directed by Kylie Matulick and Todd Mueller of Psyop.)
Martell feels her background as a classical musician has been helpful to mixing endeavors. “I think it leads me to appreciate the nuances and subtleties in sound and rhythm, the power of soft and medium in addition to the higher decibel range.
“A mixer in many respects acts as a filter,” she continued. “Sometimes we have to add things into the piece, other times we have to take things out to make it the most effective and impactful. We also act as psychologists. Whenever people walk into my room, I try to assess their needs individually, to figure out how I can help them bring their vision to fruition. Sometimes they look for my direction to lead and create. Other times they have everything well defined and need me to help execute what they envision. You listen to their ideas, take them in and explore. The trick sometimes is knowing when to explore and when to rein things in. It can be a balancing act.”
Rohan Young
Growing up on the East Coast, Rohan Young, now a noted mixer at Lime Studios, Santa Monica, moved to London at the age of 18 to pursue a career in sound. He sent his resume (C.V. in Brit parlance) to any and every studio he could find, eventually landing a tea boy (runner in stateside vernacular) gig at audio post house The Bridge where he met chief mixer Bill Gautier. Young worked his way up the proverbial ladder, handling cassette transfers at Bridge sister studio Silk Sound, then becoming a junior mixer at London house Videosonics, and hitting the road for Fleetwood Mobile, recording audio on tour for artists in concert throughout Europe.
Young then returned to audio post, joining The Tape Gallery, a London shop which proved to be a spawning round for sound talent. Honing his skills there, Young then reunited with Gautier to launch Scramble Sound in London in ’95. By that time, Young was a full fledged mixer and one of the first jobs Gautier and he landed at the new venture was Nike’s now classic “Good Vs. Evil” directed by Tarsem of @radical.media. This began a long and fruitful collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy in Europe on Nike, in particular the soccer-themed fare, including “Airport” directed by feature filmmaker John Woo.
During his eight-year run at Scramble, Young established himself as a go-to mixer as well as sound designer. “Back in those days in London, if you were a good mixer, you were a good sound designer,” he recalled.
In ’93, though, Young left London after 20 years. He had gotten married, had a couple of kids and Los Angeles beckoned for family and lifestyle reasons. Young sold his stake in Scramble and initially had a hand in opening an L.A. office for Amber Music. When that office shuttered less than a year later, Young found himself in demand as a mixer, first as a freelancer and then eventually at Lime where he was drawing the lion’s share of his work. Young’s London following followed him stateside where editors from the U.K. who relocated to the U.S. sought him out, including such cutters as Rick Lawley, Russell Icke and David Brixton at The Whitehouse, Rick Russell at Final Cut and Andrea MacArthur of Peepshow. Also key creatives from Wieden in Europe–including creative director Glenn Cole of agency 72andSunny, El Segundo, Calif.–gravitated to Young. This led to Young audio mixing such spots out of 72andSunny as Nike’s “Next Level” and Discovery Channel’s “I Love The World/Boom Dee Ya Da,” which both scored honors at the AICP Show earlier this year. “I Love The World” earned AICP Show distinction in the Musical Arrangement category (arrangers were Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau of Beacon Street Studios, Venice, Calif.). And “Next Level” (directed by Guy Ritchie via Anonymous Content) copped honors in the Production and Cinematography (DP David Higgs) categories.
Young also mixed Comcast Powerboost’s “Rabbit,” which earned AICP Show honors in Agency Art Direction and Copywriting for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. Young has enjoyed an ongoing collaborative relationship with Goodby, both mixing and sound designing the agency’s lauded NBA split-screen work as well as this year’s “Elevated Moments” campaigns revisiting classic plays in big playoff games, including the “Kobe to Shaq Alley Oop” spot.
Earlier this year, Young mixed eight Super Bowl spots, including the comedic Pedigree “Crazy Pets” ad directed by Traktor of Partizan for TBWAChiatDay, L.A. Young served as both mixer and sound designer. on the job.
Young conjectured that some of his combo mixing/sound design gigs stem from “tighter budgets translating into artists being asked to cover more bases in order to get clients what they need.” While he enjoys diversifying into sound design, Young affirmed that he also likes very much just mixing while working with other sound designers. “Those collaborations have been gratifying.”
Tony Rapaccioli Defining sound design can be an elusive pursuit yet at times it seems somehow within grasp when discussing the right project. Consider Audi’s “Gymnast” directed by Paul Hunter of Prettybird for BBH London with sound design by Tony Rapaccioli of Wave Studios, London. The spot–which was honored in the Sound Design category at this year’s AICP Show–features an ensemble of gymnasts whose twisting, twirling and precision movements parallel the Audi RS6’s powerful engineering that demands “performance from every part.”
Wave’s Warren Hamilton served as sound director on the job which also tapped into composers Nick Rapaccioli (Tony’s brother) and Neil Barnes. The latter two’s soundtrack was completed up front and helped to drive and establish the tempo, pulse, rhythm and pace of the subsequent filming. Later, with the properly synched images and soundtrack, Hamilton and Tony Rapaccioli orchestrated the process of deconstructing that musical track and blending in original sound design elements.
Wave’s sound department Harvest recorded the RS6 being put through its paces on a racetrack. Microphones were placed near the engine and in the exhaust pipe. “We created a morph of the music and the car noises, building a soundtrack while being careful to maintain the right balance,” related Tony Rapaccioli.
Special care had to be taken in that U.K. advertising restrictions make it a “no-no” to show the power and speed of a car. “We thus had to convey that power in an understated way, through the power of gymnasts and the music and sound design score, which was totally in sync with their performance,” explained Rapaccioli.
“Gymnast” showcases the fact, said Rapaccioli, that “sound has always been and will always be 50 percent of the final product. I can’t believe that anyone would watch anything mute and say that’s great. Sound is such a part of the experience, of telling the story, and that fuels my passion for audio.”
He became aware of that passion in his childhood. “I loved being able to play with noise, to experiment with sounds. As soon as I was legally able to leave high school, I wasn’t interested in any further formal education. At age 16, I started writing to various studios in London.”
A high school career liaison officer put Rapaccioli in touch with Malcolm Bristow who ran an audio studio for commercials. Fresh out of high school in ’87, Rapaccioli began working for Bristow whom he described as being “an amazing guy and mentor.” From tea boy to projectionist to assistant mixer, Rapaccioli progressed. “I learned from Malcolm the core basics of getting the best recording possible. Today you open a laptop computer and can get a lot of what you need to get on air. But a lot of those core values get lost today with all the speed and immediacy. I learned at Malcolm Bristow Studios to set up the microphones correctly, to create a mix, to take the time to sweeten sounds, to use compression correctly, to take the time to have a chat with the voiceover person to get him or her in the right frame of mind.”
Bristow moved on to The Tape Gallery and took Rapaccioli with him, where their new boss was Lloyd Billing who helped usher in digital sound. Rapaccioli was thrust into the limelight, taking on new technological tools, running mixing and moving into sound design. “We grew from mixing existing sound to creating sounds and jumping into a more immersive audio experience,” recalled Rapaccioli.
During his Tape Gallery tenure, Rapaccioli met a couple of other up-and-coming artists, Johnnie Burn and Warren Hamilton, who grew at the company and then went on to launch Wave in ’99. Three years later, Rapaccioli joined them at Wave, advancing his sound design career on leading projects, including collaborations with creatives Tom Carty and Walter Campbell at AMV BBDO, London. In this body of ongoing work was Guinness’ classic “Swim Black” directed by Jonathan Glazer of Academy, which pitted an elderly Italian man swimming in a race against time–specifically the time it takes to pour a perfect pint of Guinness. Designing sound for that was a challenge which Rapaccioli met, creaing an audio tour de force that meshed perfectly with Glazer’s visuals.
Bill Chesley Sound designer Bill Chesley founded New York-based Henryboy in Sept. ’08, partnering with executive producer Kate Gibson. Chesley, who had been sound designer/creative director at Amber Music, New York, decided to go entrepreneurial for one overriding reason. “I asked myself, ‘Why not a sound design-only shop?” he said. “There are sound design and music companies, editorial with sound design, mix and sound design. On a philosophical level, sound design is important enough to have its own shop and be its own entity. A lot of people are savvy and understand that sound design is essential. But I still think it can get a bit overlooked.”
Chesley is bringing along young sound design talent at Henryboy–Andy Brannan who works in conjunction with him on projects, and an intern who’s moving up the ladder, Matt Hedge.
Independence is key to the business model. “I didn’t want Henry Boy to be doing music or connected with one music house or one editorial or mix house, thus cutting off collaborative opportunities. We want to work globally with other music, editorial and mixing companies.”
Among Chesley’s recent sound design credits are spots for Sprint and Cheetos out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and Wi via Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Earlier this year the Jordan Brand “Field Generals” :60 out of Wieden, N.Y.–with sound design by Chesley at Henryboy, and editor Neil Smith of Spot Welders–copped an AICP Show honor in Sound Design.
Chesley is no stranger to the awards show circuit, having done the sound design on the original Coke “Happiness Factory” spot for Wieden, Amsterdam, while at Amber. He then did the second year of the “Happiness Factory” work via Amber, and the third installment via Henryboy. His other notable Amber credits include the Sprite “Subliminal” campaign.
Chesley’s self-described sound design “epiphany” came with a reference to Martin Scorsese’s Good Fellas, specifically a scene at the end of the film in which a car drives through suburbia, passing mailboxes at the end of a driveway. “There was a little wind swoosh, and I remember it being referenced by [director] Tamara Jenkins as a sound she wanted to recreate in a film she did while at NYU, back when I was a partner in Giant Lizard Company. Suddenly my eyes were opened to the potential of sound design.”
Giant Lizard Company, N.Y., opened in the mid-’90s and started out doing a lot of music for such MTV series as Liquid Television and The Head. Giant Lizard broadened into sound design, and Chesley decided to expand his horizons in that discipline when he moved onto pioneering sound design house Machine Head in Venice, Calif. He set up Machine Head’s New York operation, working out of Mad River Post at the time, collaborating with editors there like Michael Elliot and Emily Dennis on high profile projects. For example Chesley did sound design on the classic Jonathan Glazer-directed, Dennis-edited “Frozen Moment” commercial for Nike.
Chesley later moved over to Amber where he had a successful 10-year run.
Now at Henryboy he’s looking to diversify the shop into longer-form fare while maintaining its core spot base. And he’s already diversified within the ad industry arena beyond broadcast, an example being an entertainingly offbeat viral spot, “Microwave,” for Net 10 cell phones and Droga5, N.Y., which earned a Bronze Clio. “There are opportunities emerging across all kinds of platforms for sound design,” he affirmed.
