Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/559853
www.postmagazine.com 29 POST AUGUST 2015 ules to remember when creating commercials — number one: the copy is king; number two: you must entertain. If your spot is excelling at the first rule, but is breaking rule number two, chances are you're working on a pharmaceutical ad. And if that's not the case, then taking steps to improve your adherence to rule number two may help to create a more effective commercial. Want to be more entertaining? Unless you're a Tina Fey or Seth MacFarlane, who can kill it with comedy, then you probably need to mix it up with some great music and sound design. Post spoke with a number of audio pros who offer good examples to follow: MR. BRONX: DENNY'S FANTASTIC FOUR CAMPAIGN Despite what you might guess by their name, audio post facility Mr. Bronx is not, in fact, in the Bronx. They're actually located on Broadway in Manhattan (www. bronxaudio.com), nestled next to post production company Fluid, with whom they share several clients, a chef, and other supporting staff. It's a close relation- ship, but an open one; as an independent company, Mr. Bronx is free to hook up with other editing facilities. "Our clients can come off the elevator and reach us without ever having to interact with Fluid. As an audio post house, we get our clients from all of the agencies and edito- rial companies around the city," says Mr. Bronx co-founder and head mixer David Wolfe. "If an edit facility wants to work with us, they don't have to worry about their clients crossing into another facility." Mr. Bronx, named after the studio's resident dog, recently added a new mix- ing suite, manned by mixer Eric Hoffman, a new addition to the team. "Eric brings tons of sound design experience and a top-notch client list that includes Beyonce," says Wolfe. Recently, Wolfe has been busy dishing out sound design and mix for the Denny's Fantastic Four campaign created by agency Erwin Penland. Working closely with producer Sam Helfer and creative director Craig Melchiano, Wolfe says the campaign was a melding of the minds when it came to balancing bombastic sound design, fit for the Fantastic Four franchise, with the tamer, more mass-mar- ket flavor of Denny's. "Denny's doesn't want it to be violent or scary, but the Fantastic Four movie is so fun and intense that you want to pay homage to what is going to be on the screen in August," says Wolfe. "In the world of commercials, the copy is king. In product-driven spots, you have to sell something. So balancing the sales with the art was tough. It was an in- tense process, trying to fit everything into :15 and make everybody happy." Based on conversations with Erwin Penland, Wolfe and sound designer Cody Twitchell were able to build the sound design in unsupervised sessions before review with the agency. All the spots in the campaign start with being inside a Denny's restaurant when an explosion outside interrupts the meal of Fantastic Four members. Sonically, a bass drop happens in the beginning signifying that everything is slowed down and then it ramps back up, leading into an explo- sion outside. Custom recordings of dog barks were pitched and slowed down with Serato's Pitch n' Time Pro, and sub harmonics were added using the Waves R Bass, to create the bass drop and ramp- up to the explosion. The Doppler plug-in helped to add a sense of movement. "Doppler was a big thing for all the air passes leading up to the explosion. With only :15, you have a short amount of time to make everything whoosh by," explains Wolfe. The explosion is part sci-fi synth sounds, created in Native Instruments Kontakt, and part library explosion effects. Wolfe recorded Foley of plates rattling and keys being thrown on the ground "to add a really aggressive, high-end sound, as if everything is breaking apart," he says. "It was really important that there was an aftershock, and that it still felt like you are in this world that's being attacked." The sound design also features field record- ings of authentic Denny's ambience, captured at a local Denny's using a Zoom H4N portable digital recorder, as well as car alarms recorded from the street below the Mr. Bronx studio. For the mix, Wolfe needed the explo- sion to sound huge, like a blockbuster action film, while still keeping the spot CALM Act compliant. With only :15 to R Mr. Bronx's David Wolfe sound designed this Denny's campaign, which has a Fantastic Four tie-in.