So the day started off pretty smooth. In the morning I was working on a music demo for Colgate and I got call from Jerry Krenach [McGarry Bowen] and Patrick Oliver [Driver] to come to the agency with my mobile rig and help them with some music editing for a new Verizon Spot. I arrive around 1:30pm to be greeted by Patrick Oliver. He led me to this big conference room to set up my gear. In comes Jeremy Fox and Mark Abellera with their lunch as we were getting organized. WOW, That lunch smelled good! As I look over to see Mark is face deep in some fried chicken. Around 1:50pm we feel something moving. I was not sure what to make of it and it kind of felt like being on a subway platform while it shifts as a train is coming. Jeremy picked up on it very quickly and says, “Wait, guys, do feel the building moving?” We all stop to feel whats going on. Well, I actually kept working since I was still trying to get up to speed on what we were doing. Mark was still face deep and I think Patrick was on him computer doing a google earthquake search. Bam! we found out we were hit with a 5.2 earthquake. CRAZY! Short after the announcements came on over the intercom advising everyone to evacuate the building. The smart People started to exit as the others (me) decided to stick it out. I decided to stay and keep working as we only had a little time before the team were to arrive and hear where we were at. I had never experienced an earthquake before. The whole thing didn’t sink in until later on of what actually could have happened had it shaken the place to ruble. Luckily the building help up well and we all continued to work. We assembled a bunch of edits, then mixed it for the team to go over. Next I then grabbed my gear to go into Mr Gordon Bowen’s office and play it down for him. It’s nice to be that portable as well as convenient for people who are extremely busy and don’t have the time to leave their office. It was my first time working with Mr Bowen and it was nice as he listened down to everything, expressed his feedback, and talked strategy amongst his team. I then pulled the gear and went back to work in the big conference room to mix out options for their Verizon client. Even though we got shook up at the start we ended up completing the gig on time. Keep a look out for a Verizon NFL Mobile spot with a lot of footballs in it, and then you will know what we went thought to get it to you.

It took a while, but I’m are happy to share with you Audible Playgrounds new website. It’s a hell of a lot better then the old IWEB thingy we limped along with. But thanks to a great first year with an incredible clientele who believe in us, we’re excited we have a place to explain and share what we are about. Using all of our experiences and strengths, we decided to try something different in the world of Audio Production, and since we don’t have an actual space you would expect us to have, we needed a “Store Front” to explain the details. To get that message across we got cozy with a great company called Lounge Lizard. In the process I looked at tons of Web designer websites across the country and I have to tell you, many of them have great work under their belts, but oddly their own site lacked in appeal to me. So in the mist of it all I found Lounge Lizard’s work and site to have all of what I was looking for. I met with Paul Principato [CD], Rich Kern [Designer] and Tatyana Piskareva [PM] so I could explain (in person) this crazy idea of what we are about. Luckily Designer Rich Kern got it. Being that we had some things in common like.. we both went to Berklee College of Music, the dedicated love of classic heavy metal, and he is a incredible guitar player, He understood what I was looking for. It didn’t take long for Lounge Lizard to come up with a couple of interesting designs for me to choose from. Happily surprised it was hard to decide on which way to go. Ultimately I went with my gut and they brought it to life. I am not going to say this was all easy breezy and whip bam boom this thing was up and running in a week, cause that is not the case. Luckily I understand production and wanted a good result in the end. Tatyana Piskareva made sure that happened. Every step of the way she was incredible and very helpful. Now I understand why having a good project manager can really make things go smoothly. So here it is. We hope you all enjoy it. If you need a site for yourself, Feel free to reach out to Lounge Lizard. I highly recommend them and I think there is a button on the bottom of the page if you are in the mood to peruse. We’re hoping they liked us enough to feature us in their work of cool projects. 🙂

    
Get ready, cause Jen is back and looking even better! A new round of Weight Watchers spots featuring Jennifer Hudson signing ‘Feeling Good’ is about to hit the air soon. And I’m happy to a part of it once again. As she sheds off the pounds, we shed off the arrangement too. With a new approach to the song, Jennifer is improving over a Jazz Duo of Upright Bass, and Acoustic Guitar. Originally produced by Salaam Remi had worked with Jennifer and supplied a great vocal for the full length song to work with. Audible Playground was then brought in to cut it down and arrange all the TV spots. From here we wanted to make it as sexy as she is and called in Upright Bassist Bob Hart to accompany her. So we packed up mobile gear ran over to Verbatim Sound to record the boy. WOW it is nice to have a great player on hand to play an instrument like that around the vocal. It’s been a while since I have seen Bob. Years ago we played in a band together and had a chance to go on the road playing a various locations in the south. Well, those crazy times led us to this point to work again. What a good call he was too. Days later we decided we wanted to take it just a little further and add some guitar. This time Bob packed up the car and came out to AP’s studio in Westchester to lay in some acoustic guitar and simplify the bass a little to fit it all nicely. As we neared the end of the back and forth arrangements and client sign off’s. I was back ‘Goin’ Mobile’ again and off to Union Editorial in SOHO with my suitcase full of audio gear. This session was just to make sure we had all the lip sync together. I set up my rig right next to editor Andrew Doga and with the agency behind us we went though each spot to ensure it was lip tight. Unfortunately with all this diligent prep work we did, I wasn’t needed to attend the final mix with Tom Goldblatt at Audio Engine. Bummer cause I really dig hangin’ with him while he makes everything sound awesome.  We hope to release the full version at some point, but in the mean time look out for the new spots to get a taste. It’s Fat Free!

Well, we weren’t actually there but, since mid January 2011 you may have been acquainted with the beautiful (much thinner) Jennifer Hudson singing, “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone for Weight Watchers Points Plus System. Audible Playground surely had an extensive workout music editing and arranging a series of TV spots for the advertiser. Music Producer Michael Boris of McCann Erickson NY brought in Casey Chester [AP] to be part of the team. “Along with the many different arrangements we put together, this gig really put our mobile capabilities to good use” say’s Chester. Audible Playground’s role was an integral part early on in the process for Sharon Ehrlich (Writer/GCD) and Danny Rodriguez’s (AD/GCD) vision. Chester brought his fancy mobile studio and went to work with them right at the agency. Chester explains “It sometimes helps for me to go to them so they can throw out ideas and multitask while I am working away. We started with a demo of the full song (produced and arranged by renowned producer Saalam Remi), and began cutting various spots to present to the client. It was tricky because they wanted to use certain lyrics and needed room for dialog to fit in between, so arranging them was a challenge at times”. Throughout production Chester was working remotely in his full up studio outside of NYC, editing and fine-tuning to the final produced song. “It was great to hear Jennifer’s final vocal on the song, she really sang the hell out of it!” says Chester. After the music video was shot, it went to Union Editorial for the video editing. As the first round of production was nearing the end and some of the spots were ready to ship, Audible Playground was back on the road again with its fancy mobile rig to work out of the editorial. “I was like BAM, here I am… lets knock this thing out!.. ” And they did explained Chester jokingly. “It was great to go directly where they all were working to make efficient time” I see this being a great asset for agencies and editorials when needing music editing, sound design, or someone audibly creative by their side. Therefore I can continue to be part of the full audio production and see it though to the end” says Chester. You can see Jennifer Hudson and the entire Weight Watchers campaign just by turning on the TV. She is everywhere