“One of the wonderful things about music is that it’s by and large pretty universal, you know, when almost any culture will perceive a minor chord as something that feels sad. Even my 4-year-old son can identify that as ‘oh that’s sad.’ But there are more subtleties too, you know, and that may affect instrument choice, it might affect tempo, and it might affect chord progression.” — Eric Singer
This episode is part two of my interview with audio producer and creative director Eric Singer as we discuss the advantages of virtual audio presentations, the challenges independent artists face in an increasingly online industry, and some surprising new advances in advertising technology.
As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.
Creating Music and Sound
We start the second half of the interview with a discussion of how the industry has changed over the past few years, and how virtual conferences and Zoom meetings have all but replaced direct presentations. Eric tells us some of the limitations, as well as a few unexpected advantages, of online audio demonstrations, and how Coupe Studios is rising to the challenge of bringing authenticity to audio branding and marketing. “We discovered along the way,” he says, “that we really, really enjoy applying that authentic creativity, that art form of creating music and sound, to advertising.”
A Whole New World
The topic turns to the indie bands that Coupe Studios also supports, and how social media and the new sonic landscape have impacted smaller bands and artists. “It’s a whole new world out there,” Eric notes, “but I think the plus side of that is that there’s so much content, not just advertising, podcasts, streaming video… there is so much content that needs music. There are infinitely more opportunities to get your music heard.” He also tells us about Coupe’s strategy for localizing jingles for companies all over the world, and how collaboration is the key to a successful sound design. “We try to make it a pretty big party where we get input from anybody who has something valuable to bring to the table.”
For Your Ears Only
As the episode comes to a close, we look at the new technologies that might change the advertising industry in the near future. “One thing that I believe we’re going to see much more of,” Eric tells us, “in probably the fairly near future, is hyper-targeted, out-of-home advertising,” such as directional sound technology that can send targeted audio messages to a single individual within a crowd, and new ultrasound systems that can expand its reach to cover each and every customer in a store. “Now that the cost is starting to come down,” as he puts it, “advertising is the obvious application.”
Episode Summary
- How virtual presentations have changed Eric’s approach to audio
- Coupe Studios’ journey from classic rock studio to brand compositions
- The challenge indie artists face in the digital music industry
- Directional sound technology and the future of audio advertising
Connect with the Guest
Website: https://coupestudios.com/
Connect with Eric Singer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-singer-audio/
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This interview episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco.
My guest’s first love in this episode was audio, but it took him a while to get back to it. He’s been with Coupe Studios for sixteen years, and before that he spent time as a magazine editor, a photographer, and even a semi-pro football player. Now a partner at Coupe, he’s focusing specifically on sonic branding and music for advertising and film. His name is Eric Singer, and I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say about where audio branding is now and where it’s heading into the future.
Flying Below the Radar