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In Industrial Design, Sound Is the Undiscovered Country

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:48:56 -0800

“There’s gotta be a way to make bikes more visible — or maybe more hear-able.”

“Sound felt like an undiscovered country.”

These are among the thoughts expressed by the industrial designer Tory Orzeck about his Orp, a next-generation bike horn/light. Orzeck is based in Portland, Oregon. It’s currently in Kickstarter mode: kickstarter.com. As of this writing, it’s about 50% of the way to its 90k goal. Orzeck calls it a “smart horn” — or a “smorn.”

Site Maintenance: Tags + Post Summary

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:32:00 -0700

Two quick updates.

1. There is now a tag cloud on the site, thanks to the handy code made available via rive.rs.

2. I’m planning on summarizing these posts on a regular basis — somewhere between once a week and twice a month — over at the disquiet.com mothership. Click through for an example.

No Muting Gas Station Commercials (thedailysound.com)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:22:48 -0700

No Muting Gas Station Commercials (thedailysound.com):

In Santa Barbara, Chevron stations have videos displaying advertisements at pumps while customers fill their cars up with gas. The videos have accompanying sound. A lawyer successfully stopped a city ordinance that would have required the installation of a mute button so that customers could opt out of hearing the ads.

One funny side note is the name of the Santa Barbara publication in which story appears. It is the Daily Sound.

The "Ad Hit" (theglobeandmail.com)

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 23:38:00 -0700

The "Ad Hit" (theglobeandmail.com):

Charting the changing impression by independent musicians of having their music included in advertising. The result is a sort of feedback loop of mutual promotion: band advertises product advertises brand.

Beat Boutique (believermag.com)

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 15:02:00 -0700

Beat Boutique (believermag.com):

In her essay in the July/August 2012 issue of The Believer, Lindsay Zoladz makes a solid connection between the diminishing meaning in pop music of the phrase “selling out” and the legacy of the “music library.” In her definition: “Library music (sometimes referred to as ‘production music’ or ‘stock music’) generally refers to music that has been composed and recorded for commercial purposes and which is licensed not through the composer but the library for which it has been recorded.” (Via andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com.)

A Brief History of Library Music (bbc.co.uk)

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:57:00 -0700

A Brief History of Library Music (bbc.co.uk):

The link goes to a half-hour documentary: a survey of the varieties of source music, and background music, and theme songs, and all manner of music that was recorded or archived with the intent that it serve a functional purpose: “Never commercially available to the general public, this music was pressed onto vinyl from the 1950s onwards in short, limited quantities and then sent directly to TV production houses and radio stations for use when necessary.” (Via andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com.)

The club CBGB had a name that stood for “Country,...

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:34:00 -0700

The club CBGB had a name that stood for “Country, BlueGrass, and Blues,” but it is better known as CBGBs, and it is better known for punk rock, the development of which in the U.S. took place to a great extent on its premises.

Those premises, in Manhattan, were shuttered in 2006, and the location was taken over by the fashion brand John Varvatos. Varvatos has managed the transition in various ways, notably via its extensive association with musicians (including the Roots and Green Day). In this video, shot May 17, 2012, mod icon Paul Weller of the Jam performs a song at the Varvatos store that he first played at CBGB(s) 35 years prior. A current ad campaign for Varvatos features Weller and musician Miles Kane, who was -9 years old at the time of that first concert.

As a side note, I’d long associated Weller with Ben Sherman clothing. I have no idea if that association was in any way a formal business one, or simply a matter of style.

More on the Varvatos-Weller event at examiner.com.

Is the Playlist the New Jingle?

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:22:00 -0700

Details at adage.com on plan by Spotify, the music-streaming service, to aid brands in collating playlists for its reported 10 million listeners. Brings to mind not only the playlist as the new jingle (i.e., the in-flux cloud formation of associative music in place of a single sound object), as well as such classic cultural sponsorships as Texaco’s relationship with the Metropolitan Opera. It also clarifies, a little, Spotify’s position among the major music-streaming services. Will a Nike playlist on Pandora be far behind?

Condom brand Durex develops a Facebook app to help couples...

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:55:42 -0700

Condom brand Durex develops a Facebook app to help couples determine their “perfect song.” It’s called a “song generator.” I want to see if it’s in fact making a song or selecting one from a pre-existing set. Check it out at facebook.com. (Via adage.com.)

Report on Audi’s attempts to lend sounds to electric cars....

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 10:02:29 -0700

Report on Audi’s attempts to lend sounds to electric cars. The “car does not broadcast prerecorded engine noises but instead generates sound in realtime to the millisecond, calculated based on data including the electric motor’s rotational speed, vehicle speed, loads, and other parameters.” This is a significant iteration on the sound-addition idea, the concept of noises being determined by context. It has parallels to the evolution of sound in video games, from Hollywood-style scores of fixed sounds, to collections of sounds triggered by specific mid-play action, to algorithms that influence the very sounds themselves. (Via designboom.com)

Reportedly, via adweek.com, this ad involves high-pitch sounds...

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 07:51:42 -0700

Reportedly, via adweek.com, this ad involves high-pitch sounds that only a dog — the perceived actual customer for the product, Bakers brand dog food — can hear. It’s an approach, according to adweek.com, that Nestlé Purina PetCare took previously. The question is whether this is a situation where knowledge of the consideration of including sounds for the dog is enough to convince the actual customer — the dog owner/guardian, who purchases the food — to have a positive association with the brand.

The advertising firm Y&R in Brazil produced these...

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 07:45:00 -0700

The advertising firm Y&R in Brazil produced these advertisements to promote a 3-D sound system from LG. The tagline, ”Every side of the sound,” gets a smart visualization — a great example of how something non-sonic can be used to suggest the sonic. (Via adsoftheworld.com and adweek.com)

Mnemonic Sound Opportunity (indabamusic.com)

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 07:38:00 -0700

Mnemonic Sound Opportunity (indabamusic.com):

The indabamusic.com site is a steady stream of open-call music-making contests, often in the form of remixes. This latest contest, with a due date of July 24, 2012, takes a different approach. Titled “Mnemonic Sound Opportunity,” the goal of it is to produce an original and memorable sound to serve as a “unique acoustical snippet that is associated with a brand.” The contest doesn’t name the client, but provides this description: “We succeed when our customers and communities succeed. Through experience, hard work and understanding what’s important to our customers, we give them the help and guidance they need to achieve their financial goals.” And it asks that the following “attributes” are incorporated: Hope, Optimism, Trust, Friendliness, Positivity, Understanding, and Progressiveness.

Steven Heller + John Carlin on Sound + Design

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:27:00 -0700

Steven Heller interviews John Carlin on the SVA “Sound of Design” course that took place in 2012. This is one of the interview’s four questions:

Heller: Sound is obviously a medium to be reckoned with. How do you plan on introducing sound that is different from other programs?

Carlin: Sound is so ubiquitous that we often don’t stop to notice what is good bad or indifferent about it. This program is designed to focus on the aesthetics of sound design—from the music we choose to hear to the bleeps and barks we tolerate. The goal is to get creative people from various disciplines to understand how sound is a critical component of their work. And and why it must evolve to create new work in the multimedia digital era.

This is a sidebar that appeared in Becoming a Digital Designer:...

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:20:00 -0700

This is a sidebar that appeared in Becoming a Digital Designer: A Guide to Careers in Web, Video, Broadcast, Game, + Animation Design by Steven Heller and David Womack (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). I don’t know if Heller or Womack wrote this bit. Click on the image for more legible version. (Via books.google.com.)

The London Design Festival has, since 2003, been a catalyst and...

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:40:00 -0700

The London Design Festival has, since 2003, been a catalyst and promoter of visual design — from fashion to architecture to graphic design.

This year there will be a focus on sound design, in the form of the BE OPEN Sound Portal. (“The BE OPEN Sound Portal is designed by ARUP, world leaders in the area of acoustic engineering, with content commissioned by contemporary music organisation Sound and Music.”)

Performance Dates: Wed 19 Sept: Ivan Pavlov; Thurs 20 Sept: Nathaniel Robin Mann; Friday 21 Sept: Jo Thomas; Saturday 22 Sept: Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher); Sunday 23 Sept: Jana Winderen.

The Tesla Electric Sedan: I Am Silent, Hear Me Roar (wsj.com)

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:32:25 -0700

The Tesla Electric Sedan: I Am Silent, Hear Me Roar (wsj.com):

This coverage of a 2012 Tesla electric car is worth noting as it provides evidence of shifting sensibilities about the perceived benefits and deficits of loud cars.

Writes the author of pre-Tesla high-end cars, such as the Lamborghini: “At full tilt, those cars are like civil-defense sirens, if civil-defense sirens alerted you to the presence of awful men in gold watches and track suits. It’s embarrassing.”

Toward Silent Computing (theatlantic.com)

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:16:48 -0700

Toward Silent Computing (theatlantic.com):

Piece I wrote in late 2011 for The Atlantic’s website about the more rudimentary and practical aspects of sound design in OS X Lion.

5 Songs That Musicians Sued to Keep Out of Ads (adweek.com)

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:02:39 -0700

5 Songs That Musicians Sued to Keep Out of Ads (adweek.com):

Brief overview of complaints from Tom Waits, Eminem, the Beatles, the Band, and the Black Keys about advertising encroaching on their work. The Eminem was for a sound-alike. The others were for uses that the acts said they hadn’t approved.

How the Attitude About Licensing Has Changed the Landscape for Indie Artists (forbes.com)

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:57:16 -0700

How the Attitude About Licensing Has Changed the Landscape for Indie Artists (forbes.com):

Overview of the several-decade transition of audience and musician perspective on the licensing of songs for commercial use, from the Beatle’s complaints against Nike, to David Bowie’s catalog bond, the Moby’s Play, to contemporary independent artists.