Archives for January 2020

Interview With Hip Hop Culture Coach, Josuel Rogers – Part 1

January 29, 2020 by Jodi Krangle

This is the first part of my discussion with Josuël Rogers, a coach who uses music – specifically Hip Hop – to help his students and clients develop self-awareness and confidence. We talked about how music influences our moods and what got him into the Hip Hop culture in the first place (among other things). You can find him at Hip Hop Culture Coaching (https://www.hiphopculturecoaching.com), if you’d like to learn more about the services he offers and the information he has to share.

In this first part of our conversation, we talked about:

His introduction to Hip Hop music and its culture and why it drew him in as a teen (hint: think rebellion! 🙂 )
How he uses the philosophy, the mindset and the sounds behind it to influence moods.
How building a playlist of music like a DJ can make your day better
An article he wrote about music influencing how people see the emotions on other people’s faces. (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-motivation-mood-headphones-josu%C3%ABl-rogers-/)
How a smile is contagious – and audible in your voice
Neuro Linguistic Programming – how the words you use influence yourself and the person you’re speaking to
How he applies it in his own coaching
How he builds his workshops for students
The tone of your voice and connecting with others in both voice over and music
The tempo of music and whether or not faster means “happier” or something else
How music can change the “feel” of a scene in a film (I also spoke about this extensively with John McClain in our interview, if that subject interests you – https://voiceoversandvocals.com/blog/casinos/interview-with-john-mcclain-part-1/ )

You can find more information on Josuël by locating him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/josuelrogers/, on Instagram and Facebook as JosuelRogers & HipHopCultureCoaching, and you can find out about his own podcast by looking up The HipHop Minded Professional on any podcasting app you have available.

This episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco (http://www.humbertofranco.com/).

Would you consider reviewing the Audio Branding Podcast? If so, here’s the Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/audio-branding/id1489042453 And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!

The Architecture of Sound

January 22, 2020 by Jodi Krangle

So apparently, a low frequency sound is responsible for the creation of our universe. That’s the low tone of a plasma cloud as it creates order out of chaos. And really, all sound is just a vibration. Like our existence is filled with “energy”, it’s also filled with “vibration”. And our biological, carbon-based and limited meat suits, translate this as SOUND.

It turns out, our ears enjoy three times more neural connections to the brain than our eyes do. That means we can hear a much broader spectrum of sound, than we can see a spectrum of colors. And as I’ve already mentioned previously, sound is one of the quickest ways to our emotions – and our brains. (The other sense that’s like this, is the sense of smell.)

I’ve also spoken previously about how music can influence our moods. I have an upcoming interview with a fellow who uses HipHop music to help his clients embrace a more positive outlook on life. People create “playlists” to keep them energized when they’re exercising or to allow them to wallow in sadness. Music can change the way we look at the scenes in a movie, making them more impactful. (Just try watching a movie – ANY movie – without the sound. It loses a lot of its meaning and your engagement goes WAY down.)

We create lots of pieces of media that include sound as an element. But what about actual, physical, spaces? This is where architecture and sound vibrations, meet. There are actually buildings crafted specifically to allow us to hear tones that feel uplifting or inspiring to us. Shea Trahan (https://www.sheatrahan.com/), an architect intrigued by how sound works through his chosen instrument of creation, studied this in detail. He talks about Resonance – sound as “sympathetic vibration” – and relates that to buildings that seem to exist to amplify this. Then he adds information about Reverberation – how long a sound lingers once the source sound has stopped. The combination in a building, makes it the idea place for a concert.

His TEDx talk is fascinating. I’ll link to it hear so you can have a look (and listen) for yourself. And while he admits that the applications of this kind of study have a lot to do with entertainment, he also acknowledges that it could be used for health care.

Sonic therapy is useful for the treatment of PTSD, depression, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Imagine how useful a space could be if it had built in healing resonances and reverberations. The applications are endless. And I’ll talk more about sound for health care in future blogs. For now, have a look at his TEDx presentation, and see what you think:

Interview With Sound Designer & Studio Owner, John McClain – Part 2

January 15, 2020 by Jodi Krangle

John McClain knows a thing or two about sound. For one thing, he’s the owner and lead sound designer/mixer at The Dog and Pony Show in Las Vegas, Nevada (https://www.dogandponystudios.net/). For another, he won a Grammy for his work with the late, great George Carlin, and an Emmy for his work with HBO on the series 24/7, his work with PBS on the show Outdoor Nevada and his mix of the documentary African Americans: The Las Vegas Experience. If that’s not enough, he teaches a class in Tech for voice talent through the Voice Actors Studio – https://www.thevoiceactorstudio.com/ – owned by Melissa Moats (https://www.ladyluckvoiceovers.com/ – another fantastic voice talent in Vegas) and another course on Sound for Film at UNLV.

The second part of our discussion covered a bunch more topics like:

Voice actors and editors need to pay attention to the tempo of a script
How sound that’s inconsistent or simply not good, can make a person turn away without knowing why
Information on a book John uses in his course called The Sonic Boom (https://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Boom-Sound-Transforms-Think/dp/0544570162)
How sound allows you to time travel
When he first became conscious of sound and began to love it
How architecture has its own sound
Some information on his latest sound design projects
More information on his podcast, VO Inertia (https://anchor.fm/voinertia)

Dog and Pony Show can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DogandPonyStudios/
and on Twitter at @DnPSound

This episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco (http://www.humbertofranco.com/).

Interview With Sound Designer & Studio Owner, John McClain – Part 1

January 8, 2020 by Jodi Krangle

The first part of our discussion was a fascinating trip through a bunch of topics, such as:

What he teaches students who take his Sound for Film course
How music can completely change the tone of a piece of film
Why sound needs to be paid attention to
How evolution has shaped our understanding of sound
How voice talent can use silence to their advantage
Why marketers and advertisers are starting to pay attention to good sound design
Some examples of sound design – such as casino “win tunes” for machines
The laws about manipulation using sound in casino gaming (there actually are some!)
What music notes are used more often for the sound in casino games and why
How it’s the wild west in advertising when it comes to sound
How to use compelling sound in advertising

John’s podcast, VO Inertia can be found at https://anchor.fm/voinertia
Dog and Pony Show can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DogandPonyStudios/
and on Twitter at @DnPSound

This episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco (http://www.humbertofranco.com/).

18 Minutes to Harness the Power of Sound

January 1, 2020 by Jodi Krangle

Did you know that human behavior can actually be modified with the use of sound? It works very effectively. Take the “piano stairs” experiment, for instance. The first time I see this mentioned is in 2009 – but there have since been similar installations in China and India and a whole host of other places. The experiment though – and its results – are powerful. Have a look at this video for an idea of how this works:

The sounds make taking the stairs more rewarding for people. That means a lot more people take the stairs and maybe those stairs are doing their part in helping people to get that little extra bit of exercise into their day. But if you boil it down to its essence, this kind of technology – and harnessing sound to do it – changes human behavior.

Now obviously, this kind of sound manipulation – placing it in settings where it might influence people to do one task over another – can be used quite well in advertising and marketing. And it HAS.

In an article from 2015 within the APS (The Association for Psychological Science) called Background Music Influences Buying Behavior – https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/minds-business/background-music-influences-buyer-behavior.html – mention was made specifically of studies involving background music while people were purchasing items in a store or entrees in a restaurant. This kind of sound stimulation seems to more readily call to mind our associations to products, with certain types of music. And when we more easily recall the things associated with that music, recognition helps influence what we buy.

Apparently, this also happens with the type of music listened to. While Classical music is associated with “more expensive” and “more luxurious” social identity items like perfume and jewelry, Country music seems to influence people buying every-day items like toothbrushes and disposable pens to spend more on those items. Here’s a quote that sums up the point of the article:

“While background music may not convince buyers to abandon their typical preferences, this study suggests that a little attention to detail when selecting music could help retailers make a few more sales.”

It’s amazing how our brains work, isn’t it?

Background music and soundscapes can also be used to great effect in the healthcare industry. Hospitals, for instance, are typically loud. Lots of beeping, alarms, noisy machinery and conversations happen in that environment every day – and those stuck inside it – both patients and health care professionals – suffer the consequences.

It’s stressful. But research is being done into how sound could lessen that stress. It’s also being proven that soothing sounds provide a quicker healing process. There’s a great deal of research still to be done in this area, and I’ll probably talk more about it in a future blog (episode), but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

Sound is truly the quickest way to our brains. And someone who knows a lot about this, is Steve Keller. He’s one of the world’s leading experts in the field of audio branding. And his TEDx talk in Nashville a few years back, is brilliant stuff. In fact, he was just hired by Pandora US to be their Sonic Strategy Director. That certainly sounds cutting edge to me! Way to go, Pandora!

Clearly, audio branding is powerful – and Mr. Keller has an inside track. Here’s the video of his talk – and I think after watching it, you’ll agree. Watch this space (and subscribe to the podcast!) because you’ll be hearing more from Mr. Keller in future blogs and podcast episodes! He has a LOT to say about this stuff – and it’s information we all need to understand better!

Pay attention! Because there’s no mistaking it. Harnessing the power of sound, is the wave of the future.

Jodi Krangle

Archives for January 2020

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