Unveiling the Language of Sound: A Conversation with Andrea Cera – Part 1
“I don’t know if in Canada or in the States the sounds are different, but here, Toyota, for instance, is very abstract, high-pitched, it’s a bike or like ‘peeeeee,’ like this, for instance. The Renault is more reassuring, more warm, it’s welcoming, it’s a little bit more, you know, it’s less cold than other sounds.”
“Sure, yeah. Well, I guess maybe if it doesn’t focus specifically on the sound of the engine, but even the engine sounds have been changing over the years right, yes. They’re getting, like you said, they’re getting softer or they’re getting electric.”
“Yeah, absolutely” — Andrea Cera
My next guest is an Italian sound designer and composer, classically trained in piano and composition, along with extensive learning in computer music. Since 1998 he’s created over 40 soundtracks for contemporary dance and theatre works. He’s collaborated with the prestigious Casa Paganini – InfoMus, a research center and university in Genova, on research projects about cross-modality and human movement sonification, and a few years ago he began a collaboration with IRCAM and Renault for the design of external electric car sounds, from Renault Zoé to the new E-Tech 2022.
His name is Andrea Cera and if you’d like to know more about designing sound for a purpose, he’s definitely the right person to ask. We’ll cover both sides of the coin, from subtle soundscapes and ambiance to aggressive music and even using noise as art as we unveil the language of sound. It’s a fascinating discussion, so stay tuned!
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(0:00:01) – The Power of Sound
As the episode begins, we talk about sound’s power to move its listeners, to spark powerful emotions like excitement and fear, and even, in one case that Andrea recalls, to stop a riot. “There is one moment,” he says, recounting the infamous 1969 Altamont Free Concert, “where The Thirteenth Floor Elevators play, and the girl who sings, they see a riot, and she starts calming the people, and she has this, like, in, I don’t know, ten seconds. She talks like with your tone, like this, and the riot stops.”
He also tells us about how the power of sound first inspired him as a young man when, while working in the theater, he saw for himself the effect his music and sound design had on audiences. “And it was around that age,” Andrea explains, “that I really started to say, wow, I mean, what you learn studying composition really works in a kind of subconscious way” He also explains his philosophy when it comes to sound design, and how, when it comes to audio, less is often more: “For me, design is distillation, it’s taking away and just using the minimum necessary to convey a sensation.”
(0:12:25) – Car Sounds and Branding Evolution
Our conversation turns to Andrea’s sound design work with electric and self-driving vehicles, and the challenge of holding a driver’s attention in what might otherwise be a noiseless environment. “So the car is driving,” he explains, “you are reading your paper, but there are some sounds that help you understand what the car is doing. For instance, if there is a sudden turn, you have a little beep-beep to be sure that you don’t get surprised.” He tells us how, in the absence of engine sounds, it’s up to the manufacturer to decide how a car sounds, and the inspiration he took from science fiction while trying to decide what an electric vehicle should sound like. “We did some reviews of also the movies,” Andrea tells us, “how in cinema some designers from the past imagined sound of non-combustion vehicles, to understand if the collective imagination is ready for certain types of sounds.”
We also talk about how the automobile soundscape has evolved since the heyday of noisy muscle cars in the 1970s. As Andrea notes, that change hasn’t been entirely for the better. “Probably in the ‘70s the traffic noises were more homogeneous,” he explains, “because the cars were more or less the same. Now you can have like one minute of bliss, almost silence, an electric car passing, and after two minutes you have a super loud [sound] and that’s maybe that’s even worse than before.”
Episode Summary
- The power of sound to stir people, spark a panic, or calm a fearful crowd.
- Andrea’s firsthand experiences with seeing how sound can move an audience.
- Designing new automotive soundscapes in the age of electric vehicles.
Tune in next week as we take a closer look at Andrea’s process for designing vehicle soundscapes, what the pandemic taught him about both remote work and everyday stress, and how he’s working to transform the audio experience of everyone from urban commuters to hospital patients.
Connect with the Guest
Website: https://www.andreacera.info/
Low Intrusiveness Ringtones: https://youtu.be/NURXqMIrrpU/
Connect with Andrea Cera on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-cera-b08264b4/
Follow Andrea Cera on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.cera.sound.design/
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This interview episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco.