To the general public, mixing is an unknown art. To the producers of commercials, however, it is a crucial skill. The mixer comes in last, and often helps make key decisions as to what an ad sounds like to a viewer’s ear.
"The mixer brings a fresh perspective to the audio elements," notes mixing engineer Robert Feist, a partner at RavensWork, Venice, Calif., who worked on the Emmy-nominated spot "Freestyle," directed by Paul Hunter of bicoastal HSI Productions, out of Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), Portland, Ore. "[The mixer] is among the last to come in. He has never heard any of the elements before, so he has no emotional attachments to a particular sound effect or guitar lick. He is looking at the music as a whole, and looks at what works best. For me, one of the most exciting parts of sound mixing is that all comes together in my room."
Equally exciting is industry recognition. "Photo Booth," a spot for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) via Fallon Minneapolis, and directed by Errol Morris of bicoastal/international @radical.media, won the Emmy Award for best primetime commercial, and the mixing played a crucial role in the win. Dale Goulett, VP/producer/mixer at Wow & Flutter, Minneapolis, was the mixer on the ad, and was pleased with the honor. Told by SHOOT that the spot had won the award, Goulett noted, "I am lucky to be able to work on such good stuff."
In addition to the winning "Photo Booth," another PBS ad, "Light," also through Fallon, was nominated. The other nominees were: the aforementioned "Freestyle," and a pair of Mercedes-Benz USA spots—"Aaooga" and "Modern Ark," out of Merkley Newman Harty & Partners (MNH), New York. Here’s a look at the mixers behind the winning spots as well as the nominees.
"LIGHT" AND "PHOTO BOOTH"
Morris helmed both "Photo Booth" and "Light." Goulett mixed both spots, along with three others in the campaign. "Photo Booth" shows a man in a photo booth, mugging and gesturing dramatically as the camera flashes. The spot cuts to the man’s home, where he is listening to Enrico Caruso sing "Di Quella Pira" from Guiuseppe Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore. The listener has compiled his pictures into a flipbook, which he quickly flips as the record plays in the background. It then seems as though the photos are singing in the rich tenor of the LP.
"Light" finds a young girl waking up at two in the morning. She walks across a dark farmyard and, using a lantern, simulates sunrise through the barn window, causing a rooster to start crowing. The tag: "Stay curious. PBS."
Goulett was brought in for about two days of mixing on the spots. He had worked with Fallon in the past and says he "loved" the pieces. But, he adds that his work was "pretty simple stuff.
"It very straight ahead," he continues. "I don’t want to claim any great creative credit for them. They had a sound designer [the spot’s editor Randy Kramer of The Assembly Line, the in-house editorial arm of Fallon; Kramer is set to join Fischer Edit, Minneapolis, next month] and he had done great work. My job was to make them sound good."
Of the nominated pair, Goulett prefers the winning "Photo Booth," noting, "It made me smile. I think it was the more unique of the two."
As for the nominations, and the win for "Photo Booth," Goulett is pleased. "You know, I won Star Search in 1985 and got one-hundred grand," he relates. "There’s no money involved in this one. But it would still be a nice trophy to have."
"AAOOGA"
Victor Garcia of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander directed Mercedes-Benz USA’s "Aaooga," out of MNH. Ross Gregory, at Amber Music, New York and London, served as both mixer and sound designer on the spot. "Aaooga" features elegant live action imagery that breaks into CGI-devised madness. Scored with a rerecording of Charles Trenet’s "Tombe de Cielm," the ad shows elegantly dressed people as they take note of a Mercedes-Benz C-Class driving by. The gimmick comes from their reactions: in classic cartoon style, people’s eyes pop out of heads, steam blows out of a man’s ears, and the dots on a woman’s polka dot dress turn into hearts. Teapots in a store react with glee while a parking meter swoons, spewing forth a collection of coins. The tag: "The new C. Live. A lot."
Gregory had worked with MNH in the past, and spent about four days working with Amber’s Mike Hewer, who served as arranger, to coordinate music and sound design elements. "We spent a lot of time deciding where there would be music, and where there would be sound design," Gregory recalls, noting that he created alternative sounds for every moment of the spot. "The most complicated [sound] was probably the parking meter. There was always going to be a metallic sound to it, but it had to be convincing as a meter and still have a character. I had to put in five or six layers of sound."
While creating the sound for the parking meter was a delicate balancing act, Gregory says the spot was fairly uncomplicated. "The final result in ‘Aaooga’ was not that complex," he notes. "[The spot] had to come across as simple. Everything in the spot is very slow and very relaxed and has a spacious feel to it. The sound design had to be very clear."
Gregory, who is currently working on two pieces for EA Sports, out of Maverick Media, London,, is pleased with the nomination, but also surprised. " ‘Aaooga’ is a lovely spot," he says. "One doesn’t immediately think of it as an award-winner—an edgy spot. The effects are subtle. But it’s a brilliant spot."
"MODERN ARK"
Gerard de Thame directed Mercedes-Benz USA’s "Modern Ark," also out MNH, in a co-production of bicoastal HSI Productions and Gerard de Thame Films, London. The mixer was Tom Jucarone, mixing engineer/owner at Sound Lounge, New York. "Modern Ark" is an updated version of the Biblical tale of Noah’s Ark, as pairs of animals—giraffes, elephants, horses, zebras—are seen walking in a desert setting, under an ominous, cloud-covered sky. They enter a huge ark and are followed by people carrying various objects: Van Gogh’s "Sunflowers," Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool, a freezer filled with Häagen Dazs, a Macintosh. Then, as thunder crashes and raindrops begin to fall, a Mercedes-Benz E430 sedan and an E-wagon ascend together as the voiceover asks, "What would you bring if you were loading the ark today?"
Jucarone, a frequent collaborator with MNH, says he worked on the piece for "a few hours." He recalls that the team considered several creative options, including using sound design, but everyone agreed that the music by composer Robert Miller, who is with Amber Music, was more "elegant. The big, lush orchestral score seemed more appropriate."
Jucarone agreed with the choice. "As a mixer, it’s important to be aware of the essence of the commercial and what audio elements are important to tell the story," he relates. "You always have to ask, ‘Does this tell the story? Does this help or hurt?’ A good mixer gives you that extra creative viewpoint. This one may not seem like an incredibly complicated mix, but getting another point of view is helpful in getting down to the essence of the story. It’s not just about making something louder or softer. It’s about combining elements to help move the story along."
"FREESTYLE"
The mixer on "Freestyle" was Feist of RavensWork. The :60 features shots of professional and amateur basketball players "jamming" on a starkly lit court. Each player is seen solo, dribbling the ball in a fancy way before passing it on. In one scene, the men form a traditional breakdance circle around a breakdancer who spins on his head. The soundtrack, of bouncing balls and squeaking sneakers, is mixed to a beat and sounds almost like hip-hop music. It builds to a crescendo as one of the players leaps up and makes a toss for the hoop. The final soundtrack is a combination of tunes, one by Afrika Bambaataa (inspired by his electro-funk tune, "Planet Rock"), the other by Jeff Elmassian, creative director of music and sound design company Digihearit? (now Endless Noise), Los Angeles; Steven Brown of Breathru Productions, New York, also contributed to the score. Feist, who has mixed a number of Nike spots for W+K in the past, worked very closely with Elmassian to coordinate the sounds and the music.
"This was more like a percussive music track than simple sounds," notes Feist. "The way I put the whole thing together was like a song: you have the intro, it has a build, then it has a climax and an ending. It’s really composed liked a percussive piece of music."
The initial mix took three or four hours, notes Feist, but there was a great deal of experimentation. "You have to experiment," he relates. "You have to go down different roads to uncover things. Sometimes you may be skeptical of an idea and are surprised at how well it worked. Experimentation and keeping an open mind is very important."
He is flattered by the nomination, noting: "You do a thousand little things on a spot like this, and many are very subtle. It’s nice that it was noticed."
