Founded in February 2001, Human Music & Sound Design, New York and Paris, has sounded off to a prosperous start. In September, the company moved into a brand-new space in New York’s Flatiron district. That part of town might also be called "commercial music and sound design alley": More than two dozen music houses are in the area.
Human’s new space is self designed—a collaborative effort for the company’s principals. The five-partner New York nucleus consists of executive producer Marc Altshuler and composers/sound designers Andrew Bloch, Drazen Bosnjak, Morgan Visconti and Gareth Williams. The 4,000-square-foot loft-style accommodation sports five soundproof composer rooms, a live recording studio and a client lounge/ reception area complete with full kitchen and a striking view of Fifth Avenue.
But hardwood floors and high ceilings are no substitute for solid credits and innovative scoring, and Human, nearing the completion of its first year in business, has compiled a respectable record for a new music house. Despite the inconvenience of waiting out extensive renovations, Human managed to complete a healthy amount of work between February and September ’01, when the firm officially moved into its new digs. Credits from that time period include music and sound design for the American Express spots "Believe" and "Practice," featuring Tiger Woods, and directed by Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA, out of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), New York; and for Steve Madden’s "Chick Walker" via Hampel Stefanides, also New York. Da-vid Kelley of Curious Pictures, New York, helmed "Chick Walker."
Williams took the lead on "Chick Walker," which features images of models distorted into melon-headed monstrosities. "I had composed a few tracks for the spot," recalls Williams, "and had taken a break to watch the Aliens DVD … It had a special feature that explained how Ridley Scott had drawn storyboards for nearly every scene in the movie, and I was blown away by his attention to detail … ‘Now that’s work,’ I said to myself. Then I sat down and wrote another track, and that was the one [we used]."
While working from its temporary quarters Human also completed an extensive project for British Petroleum (BP). O&M made exclusive use of Human-composed music for BP’s first new advertising campaign in over a decade. The package comprised 18 commercials, directed by Mark Benjamin of London Plane Films, New York and London; several Internet promotions; and in-store music. Human also composed the track for BP’s phone-hold music. Williams cited this project as representative of the highly collaborative habits of the Human collective. "If you singled out one guy as the sound design specialist, that would probably be me," he relates, "but often I try to kick over a sound design assignment to the others, and then maybe I’ll score a big-band track instead—just to see what we come up with."
Most recently, the Human staff collaborated on the score and sound design for a two-spot Toyota Matrix package, out of Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Torrance, Calif. The ads—"Spies" and "Cyborg"—which were directed by Doug Nichol of bicoastal/international Partizan, aired during the Super Bowl.
Intl. Appeal
Human maintains an affiliation with guitarist David Torn, a veteran film composer whose credits include Traffic, Three Kings and The Heist. Also affiliated with Human is Simon Cloquet, the owner/operator of Human’s Paris office. Cloquet has scored several films and spots for director Luc Besson, including Besson’s upcoming feature Wasabi. Plans are in the works to open a Human office in Sydney, Australia.
With the exception of Bosnjak, each partner at Human previously worked for JSM, New York. Bosnjak was formerly with bicoastal tomandandy. He came to the U.S. in 1996, after studying physics, math and architecture at The Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bloch is a classically trained guitarist with a degree from the New School’s Mannes College of Music, New York. In ’81, Bloch helped found Acme Recording Studio, New York, along with partners Peter Denenberg and Rory Young. Bloch worked with Acme for six years, prior to joining the band Atlantic Starr for a four-year touring stint. He had been on staff at JSM for four years before leaving to form Human.
Visconti grew up in London, where "he listened to his father produce David Bowie albums," according to Altshuler. Visconti was on staff at Crushing Music, New York, from ’92 to ’99; he then shifted to JSM for close to year, before moving on to Human.
Williams is a native of New Zealand, where his father was principal bassist in the Auckland Philharmonic. The younger Williams dabbled in music while growing up, playing in various Auckland bands. Having eventually earned a degree in advertising, he scored an Australian television spot for a friend and immediately became enchanted with advertising’s musical element. Williams came to the U.S. in the mid ’90s, signing on in ’97 at JSM, where he remained until the spring of last year.
Altshuler got his start working for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), Los Angeles. In ’95, he met Jon Silberman, a founding partner of JSM, and soon after became the west coast sales rep for JSM’s now defunct Los Angeles office. In ’96, Altshuler left JSM, along with composer David Livingston, to start the now closed music company DV8.
At the beginning of ’01, Altshuler and his partners in Human felt the time was right to start their own shop. Human rented its current facility in February, but the space required a complete overhaul and redesign—a project that ended up taking nearly seven months to complete. Thus, the company initially worked out of audio mixing house Lower East Side, New York. "For a while," Altshuler remembers, "we were running everything with cell phones out of what was basically a garbage room. I’d be talking with a client and guys would come in and slam down their trash bags."
Altshuler notes that his composers prefer to get involved with the creative process as early as possible, and he indicated the BP project involved a high degree of collaboration with the agency. "The most rewarding experience is when the storyboard actually changes because of the music," states Altshuler. "I would much rather talk to someone about our work … if the music actually made a difference in a spot. Why trumpet work for a [very high-profile client] when all you did is one or two pieces of sound design?"
Each partner at Human seems genuinely enthusiastic about creating sound for the advertising picture—particularly Williams. "We have a unique way to reach a mass audience," he says. "We have an opportunity to get people thinking about different types of music that they normally wouldn’t encounter." Altshuler agrees: "I always end up thinking that I have to impress this one creative director named Chris. And then I realize that millions of people are hearing this."
Could this ability of commercial music tracks to reach mankind en masse be the reason for the company’s anthropocentric nomenclature? "Actually," Altshuler explains, the name ‘Human’ refers to the fact that even as music becomes more and more an electronic medium, "humans still write the notes and perform on the instruments. We’re still at the controls."
