Will Burns interviewed Joel Beckerman for Forbes about sonic branding. Check out an excerpt below:
The musical truth is that we must create identities as emotional stories, but also modular constructions. It’s somewhat similar to film scores where a tiny phrase or iconic sound can act as a memory trigger which is also an emotional trigger that can exist in a tiny time frame—sometimes as small as two seconds. And we are constantly reinventing our process of getting there for every different project. It’s challenging but very satisfying when we get it right!
This week, Man Made Music is making an appearance at C2 Montréal — and in true MMM fashion, we went all in for this experience.
Founder Joel Beckerman will be giving a fireside chat — an experiential, sound-driven exploration of space, death, stillness and memory in the big top on the first day of the conference. Joel will explore these personal stories by combining performance and presentation, illustrating how sound scores every moment of our lives. This was of course a big team effort — notably, the work of MMM sound designer, editor, and composer Alex Siesse, whose original sound and music brings every moment of the performance to life.
We don’t stop there! Man Made Music will also be leading a masterclass, The Surprising Way to Rev Your Brand’s Emotional Engine, on driving creativity and business impact through the strategic use of sound. Participants in the masterclass will unlock a brand’s potential through the MMM process of building an emotional brief, learning to create a common sensory language, and how to bring emotion to the forefront of every project.
MMM’s own work will also be audible throughout the conference. To further enhance the theme of Ecosystems for C2 Montréal, we developed five cinematic soundscapes to play between sessions in the big top throughout the conference. These immersive takeover moments interpret the theme of Ecosystems in a surprising and powerful way. Exploring Marketing, Entertainment, Talent, Cities and Moonshots through the power of sound and tapping into the collective subconscious of what these systems sound like beneath the surface. There are gentle and fluid visuals to highlight the soundscapes, generated from the frequencies of the pieces composed by Man Made Music’s Creative Director, VR and Technology, Joel Douek.
Check us out on Facebook and Twitter to follow along.
See Dr. Manny Alvarez’s interview with Joel Beckerman on Fox Extra below.
Check out the comprehensive biography of our studio, MIX Magazine’s cover feature this month.
Though Beckerman had already been growing Man Made for more than 10 years at that point, he changed direction, taking his cue from an inspiring project. “I had worked on Anthony Bourdain’s [Travel Channel program] No Reservations. For that, there was time and budget to bring in artists like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and we produced them to create the show theme, while we created episodic themes and underscores for each episode. Each episode for that show was like a little movie, and we used music and sound to make it feel like a movie score. They also needed indigenous music from different countries around the world, and we didn’t want to fake that…
Man Made Music partnered with ustwo to brainstorm what electric vehicles of the future might sound like. Thanks to Wired for the feature!
The trick, says Man Made founder Joel Beckerman, lies in creating a sound distinctive for people to recognize but not ignore. (This is the problem with car alarms—no one even pays attention to them.) The sound can’t be too melodic, either, because that does not convey urgency. “We want a sound that elicits the quickest reaction time,” Beckman says.
Check out PromaxBDA Brief’s feature about Imaginary Forces’ reimagining of HBO’s Feature Presentation open, featuring music from us at Man Made Music:
The premium cable network turned to Man Made Music to adapt the original score, which was re-recorded with a full orchestra.
“Everyone knows the iconic HBO theme, and it was such a pleasure to have the opportunity to transform it once again, this time with the IF team,” said Man Made Music’s Joel Beckerman. “We knew that we had to help bring IF’s stunning visual reimagining to life, while also creating something that would stand on its own musically. This led us to augment the orchestra with many layers of organic and synthetic texture to help sonically bring the theme into the future, while keeping one foot grounded in HBO’s legacy.”
Check out KC Ifeanyi’s feature at Fast Company, featuring insight and advice from Joel Beckerman, and a playlist from us at Man Made Music:
It’s not about the Christmas music, per se, it’s about the Christmas experience. Does it help enhance that experience or does it distract from that experience? Think about music and sound as part of the entirety of a holiday experience and not just as a layer or an add-on or something that you need to have.
Check out Len Stein’s interview with Joel Beckerman over at Branding Magazine:
Over time, sonic design has spread throughout the media and now stands at the forefront of aural marketing memes as “sonic interaction design.” Here we explore the role of sonic design in branding with one of the field’s leaders, Joel Beckerman of Man Made Music, whose iconic brand sounds span across telecoms, film, and even network television.
Read more at Branding Magazine…
Check out the latest interview with Joel Beckerman on Coaster 101:
Joel Beckerman and his Man Made Music company are responsible for some of the most recognizable brand themes and sonic identities for big names in the entertainment world including ESPN, HBO, Hulu, just to name a few.
Now, he and his team have ventured into a new frontier: using sound to give life to the Cartoon Network area at the new IMG Worlds of Adventure theme park in Dubai. Opened in August of this year, IMG Worlds of Adventure is the largest indoor theme park in the world at 1.5 million square feet. It features three roller coasters and five different themed zones, including the Cartoon Network area, which comprises 200,000 square feet of space alone.
Candy canes, yule logs, gingerbread – what’s not to love? Well, maybe having to hear the same music on repeat for a month. We’ve got you covered with sweet tunes to match your sweet tooth. So grab your mug of cocoa and curl up by the fire with our 2016 Holiday Playlist. No sugar added.