Babble-On Recording Blog

3rd Times A Charm

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2008-01-21T18:56:51-06:00

Every now and again we get a crazy concept that offers creative opportunities we just love to embrace. Like this scenario:

"Hey, let's throw some wimpy little guy in an elevator. Some mousy hand-wringer who needs to talk through a bullhorn to feel less impotent"

Hmmmm.... Voxagra? Elevitra?

The only thing better than an opportunity like this would be if the radio spot in question were written to allow for elaborate sound design, awkward pauses, and funky spatial placements. I mean, that would be like hitting the freakin' lottery.

Hey, guess we did.

A few weeks ago we got the chance to work with Joel Stacy, a writer at Minneapolis ad agency Colle+McVoy, on some really different radio for the Minnesota State Lottery. Not only was this spot unique in concept, but it was equally so in execution.

For us to get this peculiar scene to play the right way, we were going to have to approach how we recorded it in a creative and non-traditional manner: we'd need a multiple mic array for our "bullhorn guy", separate rooms, and some way to neutralize the occasional ear auguring feedback that can occur when recording a bullhorn.

Thankfully, we were going to be working with one of our favorite studio affiliates in the world to do this, Nutmeg Audio Post in New York. Asa Somers and Bryan Fenkart, our voice-over talent for this radio ad, were setup in separate rooms (which gave us perfect isolation), and then their voices were sent to us discreetly here in Minneapolis on individual tracks via ISDN Digital Patch.

1st approach - Due to the extreme differences in volume between a megaphone and a normal voice, Asa, "The Wimp" had two mics to work - one for his regular voice and one for the bullhorn. Since his character moved freely between these two modes, there was a lot of trickery in trying to have the right mic live at the right time. We got a few passes this way to see how the overall flow of the spot worked, but we quickly realized that, a cool as it was, - it was difficult to keep up with the actors.

2nd approach - Knowing that the concept worked, we decided to have the guys concentrate on just their interaction - with Asa simply aping how he might be saying his lines if he were on the bullhorn but, all the while, staying on the mic for his regular voice. This kept the timings pretty dead on - (whew).

3rd approach - we had Asa record all his bullhorn dialogue with Brian - letting the two really riff off of each other and go to town. The results were pretty hilarious since they were given pretty free reign to bring to the scene whatever came to mind.

In the end, we edited, mixed and matched elements from all three approaches to arrive at our hero take. From there, we created the illusion of our guy Bryan walking into the elevator and then hearing him dialogue, loudly, with Asa in the trapped confines of a small metal cabin riding all the way up to "36". Then, we handed the keys off to Masasa Moyo, our announcer, whom we recorded via ISDN from L.A. Studios.

Three cities, Three talent, Three approaches, one pretty damned nice radio spot.

Here's "Three Times"

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January Babblings

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2008-01-17T17:34:17-06:00

January 17th - The annual Radio Mercury Awards are gearing up again and, for the fifth year-in-a-row, we here at Babble-On Recording are quite privileged to be involved in the judging of the entries. As first round gavel jockeys it'll be our job to try and separate the tasty wheat from the run-of-the-mill chaff that spreads endlessly across the plains of radio land. Once we're done, we truck it off to the expertly honed shredding blades of the Final Judges. Entries are due as of February 22nd, '08, so, if you need us to get your award winning radio spots compiled - please give us a shout.

January 15th- The "Who's Going To Replace Amelia?" sweepstakes are over and we're proud to announce that the winner is.. the lovely and talented, Becky Carlson, who comes to us from CBS-TV. Becky is our new studio coordinator and, as such, she'll be that first voice on the phone, the smile at the front door, and the one who'll keep the whir and buzz of the studio humming along - all while minimizing the ho-humming that can come with waiting around in our lobby for your next recording session to start.

Trust us, she's far more interesting than last months People Magazine. Hey, just, ask her about film - She. Knows.

Stars align at Babble-On

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2008-01-14T19:54:21-06:00

Over the past month or so, we've had a number opportunities to work with a few celebrities (and celebrities to be) who've been in town for some interesting projects.

First off, we had the distinct pleasure to help "local-boy-done-good" , Joey Pollari with his first ADR session. He's playing the lead role in the pilot of a brand new series for The Disney Channel called, Skyrunners.

Joey plays Tyler Burns, a 14 year old curly-haired genius, - a loveable geek who's glib, bright, and verbal. The show hinges on the fact that he and his older brother, Nick, have discovered a UFO - and, of course, against their better judgment, have decided to keep it for their own amusement, benefit and edification.

Hey....wouldn't you?

Tyler, who (unlike his brother) struggles with the idea of keeping the UFO - is kept in a constant state of worry and stress, which poops out in comical dialog - especially when trying (desperately) to talk to girls.

We've seen the pilot, and can only hope that it gets picked up - it's got all the mark of programming you'd like to see aimed at teen boys of this generation - a touch of Sci-Fi, some brotherly love, good humor, and a nice storyline mixed with just enough awkward adolescent moments to give the stories the kind of "street cred" a series like this would need.

We're crossing our fingers.

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2008-01-14T19:46:10-06:00

Although the NFL Network is involved in an enduring battle with cable networks around the country (trying to get their channel included into everyone's basic cable package), we can tell you that scrum has zero to do with how good the content is - a few minutes spent with Michelle Beisner will tell you that.

Michele, a former Denver Broncos cheerleader, is now a reporter for a show called, NFL Network Now. She was in town to visit relatives over the holidays, and while doing so, the network had her pop on by to record some voice-over via phone patch for a piece on the Cleveland Browns.

Without question, she delivered the goods much better than Romeo Crennel's squad did.

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2008-01-14T19:32:23-06:00

With the continuing writer's strike rolling along, plenty of programming has been cancelled, condensed, destroyed or demurred.

Last time there was a notable strike - at that time an actor's impasse roughly eight years ago - the airwaves came alive with a whole new genre of programming, The Reality Show.

One of the benefactors of that new style of entertainment was former 'N Sync member, Joey Fatone - who has been one of the stars of the show, Dancing With The Stars.

Joey was in town working with the show at Target Center when the folks at TV Guide asked him to come in and record some voice-over via phone-patch for their Golden Globe preview show.

While the Golden Globe Awards didn't go as everyone had hoped, Joey did a nice job here in the booth. And, we love to say this,....

... he's one helluva nice and self-effacing guy too.

Good luck with the show, Joey

The Weight Is Over - 8 talent squeeze into a "one size fits all" radio ad for General Mills

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2008-01-10T17:50:05-06:00

If you listen to the radio as we do, you often hear a lot of "Talking Head" radio spots filling the doorway of the dial; a steady diet of fatuous blather that is unable to get out of the way of your favorite programming. You know the noise we're talking about - one peal after another from shrill, shouting, shills who, for all intents and purposes are talking at you - not to you.

It's the type of stuff that give all of us who work in media production a black eye.

It's pretty sad really because, so often, that stuff isn't crafted by advertising agencies who understand the medium or who have the know-how to direct great voice-over talent - yet, they are the very ones who take the body blows of criticism. Instead, much of the real dreck is produced in-house, at local radio stations or by the purveyors of the businesses themselves.

Hey, it's called "Dollar-A-Holler" for a reason.

That's why we so look forward to working on good ideas, with good talent. When those two are in lock-step, it allows us to execute what we do in a way that defies what most people perceive as "just another radio ad". Such was the case when we got to record, edit and mix a radio spot for General Mills' "Best Life Diet" - a client of Minneapolis advertising agency, OLSON.

Normally, getting eight voice-over talent to record can be a nightmare - from scheduling, to performance, to timing - everything has to click seamlessly or the whole session can get wobbly in a hurry. For this particular spot, the way we got around that was to record all the voiceover actors individually at separate times, and then allowed each to hear what the other had recorded for reference - a "see 'n say" if you will with a sync track; not exactly a be-bop jam, but the approach allowed for a lot of individual expression to come out while still maintaining the necessary rhythm, pace and framework needed to get everything into sixty seconds. As regards the sound-design, when producing a radio ad with this many talent, one needs to be mindful and spare with the approach - otherwise it can overshadow the message - so, in this instance, only a simple music track was necessary to fill the scene nicely.

On another note, it's nice to get behind an idea that at least has its head in reality, too. In a day and age when people seriously consider things like the Cabbage Soup Diet, Fen-Phen, or even Atkins (the latter of which is guilty of turning the word "carb" into something analogous to uttering the epithet, "Liberal" - gimme a break) it's nice to see something like the Best Life Diet. It's a diet that isn't a diet - it helps those who are willing to embrace its ideals to understand that weight management is a lifestyle change that is not borne of deprivation or fear. Refreshing.

Thanks to Scott Dahl, Joel Bratsch and Joel Dodson of OLSON for bringing the work our way, plus kudos to all the talent who participated - a very long list that includes, of all people, Tempestt Bledsoe, whom you may remember from The Cosby Show, oh so many years ago.

Here's the radio spot, "Thousands"

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Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-12-12T16:49:28-06:00

When talking to an audience that completely eschews anything it sniffs as being girly or pretentious...

...words like "eschew", for example...

ya really gotta know the lingo.

Walk the walk.

Talk the talk.

And, if you manage to drop in the phrase "power tools" while doing said walking and talking - you've successfully drilled down to content that connects like Justin Morneau on a lame-ass hanging curveball (sports references work well too).

Such was the case the other week when we got to work on a holiday radio ad with Minneapolis advertising agency Hunt Adkins and their client, Northern Tool and Equipment. Brian Hucek, the writer, put the stated goal of the spot succinctly (of course, - we're "walking the walk" here, after all) -"...driving customers to Northern Tool + Equipment during the holiday season. Given [that] the typical Northern Tool customer scoffs at the thought of Christmas sweaters and caroling, the spot needed some attitude to offset the tinsel. The solution? One pissed off Santa. Stuck in a chimney".

This was gonna be cool. 'Course, to do this well, you need the right voice-over talent - which, we did. Local hero Mark Benninghofen was our guy at the fictitious call center while Jeff Winter, aka Pissed Off Santa In The Chimney, was brought in via ISDN Digital Patch from Studio Center in Virginia Beach. Simple.

The sound-design was going to be the tricky part - putting Santa in a chimney on his phone would be an interesting wrench to turn. Or, so we thought. In the end however, what helped sell the effect for which we were going really wasn't even an effect - we simply asked Jeff to affect trying to break free of the chimney at certain points in the copy. Ka-ching. We were able to enhance his struggling with some falling debris, a little small space reverb, a phone filter, some distortion, yada, yada, yada - effectively wrapping it up nicely and putting a glittery little bow on it - which is odd, because, y'know... we're all guys. Who knew?

Here's the radio spot, "Chimney"

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Mark Benninghofen can be booked through his Minneapolis talent agent, Wehmann, or can be hired to write and produce radio spots through his production company, SHOUT!

Y's Campaign. Don't Sweat The Spandex, Just... Sweat.

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-12-11T10:46:44-06:00

If you've ever signed up for a Fitness Club membership as part of some über sincere New Years resolution, chances are the following scenario isn't all that unfamiliar...

You showed up, felt "showed up", and then wryly observed that Webster's was missing at least one alternate definition for the term "flex time".

Punishing workout, indeed.

Our friends at Kerker, who have worked with the YMCA for years, have created a refreshing new TV and radio campaign (on which we did the radio ads) that goes after the well baby-oiled machine that is the low carb bread and tanning butter of most other fitness clubs - the beautiful people scene.

Beth Kinney, the writer for the spots offered that "All/most clubs have nice equipment, nice facilities and so on. The YMCA has worked really hard to update their branches... so, in essence, with all things being equal (in terms of fitness options), they offer an environment that other places can't; one that is open, accepting, and comfortable--where "wellness" is the goal, not just fitting into size 0. In other words, while some places make you feel like you need to get in shape before you can get in shape, the Y simply takes you as you are and helps you reach your fitness goals."

Can you feel the love? Sure you can.

The ads center around "Staycie", a character who is truly as plastic as they come - vain, vacuous, primped up, pushed out and, although she may be pink, - as transparent as can be. This delicious role fell to voice-over talent Heidi Fellner who's affectations in both the TV and radio were so spot on - you'd swear she were method acting or...perhaps related? (Wink, wink. See above). The announcer was Kim Kivens who, thankfully, lends an air of sensibility to alleviate the histrionics of, "Staycie". To fill out the sound design, we made "Staycie's" voice as thin as her waistline, added a touch of reverb for that "in your head" sound, and then mixed in a tune that aped the classic Village People hit from the 70's.

"Whateevvvvvvvvver"

Here's the radio spot, "Goodnight"

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And with full credit to our friends over at Fischer Edit (they did everything on this) here's the TV spot

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Both Heidi Fellner and Kim Kivens can be booked through their Minneapolis voice-over representative, N.U.T.S.

Sometimes You Take On A Just Cause... Just Cuz

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-12-10T11:14:52-06:00

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot

This cautionary tale from Joni Mitchell has just as solid a footing in the 21st century as it did when it first appeared on the radio in 1970. And the lyrics speak clearly to us as Minnesotans as well (seeing as we have the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area on our northern crest). Truly, it would be fair to say that, here, we have a natural proclivity towards all things natural. So, with this in mind, we recently lent a hand recording a very special radio PSA with Minneapolis Advertising Agency Martin|Williams.

Art Director Melissa Johnson spearheaded the project that's designed to raise awareness for the Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island. The island, just off the Georgia coast, holds a special place in her heart due to vacations and visits there that go back to her early childhood and continue on through to this day. If you take a look at the brief montage we put together (below) of photos from the island - you'll understand its allure.

Rivers, woodlands, marshlands, and ten miles of unspoiled beaches are all a part of the island’s natural beauty and are the very elements that fulfill its reputation as “the people’s park”. The Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island seeks to maintain this natural wonder through, among other things, “the continued protection of the south end of Jekyll from further development or redevelopment.”

This point stood as the main topic of the radio spot, which leads the listener along the path of what the island is now, to what it would become - noisy, crowded, over-developed; a Georgia peach pitted by big money and special interests. Copywriter Julie Kucinski and Martin|Williams’ own Jan Pettit (as announcer) came together with Melissa to help carefully craft the message. We’re proud to have contributed. Even prouder to know that the organization loves it. Here's the spot called, "Traffic".

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This a 30 second montage of photos of Jekyll Island - some from Melissa and others we found while trolling the web.

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Wanna get involved? Visit the Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island.

Bird. Brains. - Getting the right sound design for Jennie-O's viral campaign

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-12-02T15:09:32-06:00

Over the past few years, BBDO Minneapolis and their client, Jennie-O, have conducted a successful viral video campaign about the issues that come with thawing, cooking, preparing and just, y'know, dealing with our national holiday meal - the turkey.

How could this not be successful? - let's face it, turkeys just seem like a natural comedic foil (speaking of which, be sure to tent your bird with foil for 20 minutes after roasting - and make sure the juices run clear - don't want to get grandma sick)

So, we were excited to have the opportunity to create and execute the sound-design on the next round of spots for the website jennio.com. The 2 new spots "Dryer" and "Turkey Drop" were done in collaboration with Caviar Los Angeles and director/editor Keith Schofield.

We spent the better part of an afternoon with Jamie Novak (creative) and Alicia Calderon (producer) creating sound design, first, to give the impression of a generous sized Turkey thawing in a dryer, and later, fabricating the sounds of a turkey falling heavily through the floors of several apartment units. Good times, great project!

Here's "Turkey Drop"

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and "Dryer"

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A Wonderful Tail - Reading "The Labrador Pact"

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-12-02T13:01:10-06:00

While so much of what we do here at Babble-On is related to radio and television advertising, we've been having more and more fun of late working on projects that stroll a different neighborhood - storytelling - as in October, when we paired with Cygnus Storytelling to create a CD of stories for children (see the last part of the October Babble-Blog)

This time out, it was to record a wonderful book on tape called, The Labrador Pact - a tale penned by author Matt Haig. The tale, a Labrador's eye view, covers the endless dilemmas that our hero, Prince, must face in managing the errant behaviors of his masters, the Hunter family. Prince takes this job seriously, struggling to adhere to a stringent code of ethics called, The Labrador Pact. This is no kid's book - the themes are adult and explore even broader issues of resurrection, redemption and the powers of faith and love. Heavy? At times, yes, but there is an artful hand behind the pen and there's plenty of humor to move things along.

And, hearing a story of this nature told to you by master storyteller and Guthrie actor Simon Jones is compelling - it was all we could do not to grab a hot chocolate, park our arses on the couch and gaze out the window as Simon knitted himself around each phrase - seamlessly shifting from character to character, narrator to wry observer.

Frankly, there was concern that during the course of two sessions - each requiring six hours in the booth, that Simon might present us with a Marie Osmond moment - requiring the waving of a ham on rye sandwich under his nose just to revive him. But, that was not to happen - the word, "tank" comes to mind - armored, and with a full complement of shells in the breach - he was truly inexhaustible and, mercifully, handled the long spells in "the terrarium" with a sense of humor.

If you're interested in scoring your own copy of this wonderful book, produced by Paul Ruben Productions, it will be available through Highbridge Audio soon. Here's a small sample of the fine work of Simon Jones....

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From A (Amelia) to Z (as in, Channel Z)

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-11-22T13:46:34-06:00

Autumn is the season of change, - The air is fresh and crisp, the colors are ripe, and there's a distinctive crunch you only hear this time of year when you're out bagging leaves amongst the long shadows of a sunny Saturday afternoon.

There are changes happening here at Babble-On as well. A truly distinctive sound that we've been so proud to call our own for the better part of seven years will no longer be laughingly pinging its way down the hallways here at Babble-On.

Yes, we're sad to say, Amelia Ruth, the sunny, saucy, serendipitous and helpful voice that has answered our phones, managed impossible scheduling duties and handled client lunch requests, cocktail orders and special bubble-gum queries all with humor and a hollywood star smile....is moving on.

While we're unbelievably saddened to see a member of our family (and I don't use that term loosely) leave the nest, we're so happy that she's going to work with a great group of people at Channel Z, an offline editorial facility less than a block away from us.

Her new job will be to act as the producer for our friends there and, we can only say, that we can think of no one better to do the job, or of anyone else who has so assiduously "put in their time" in order to get such an opportunity.

So, when you call us after this Friday November 9th, it's a little unlikely you'll be greeted on the phone with the same swinging, "how can I help you, sugar?" or "what's happenin' hot stuff?" . You might, (for awhile anyway) need to gently remind us what you're typical, "Hey, I'm a regular here" lunch order is. And, unless one of the guys here starts wearing stiletto heels - that happy clickity clack of someone coming down the hall to see if you need " a special coffee" - will need to wait for a bit.

You see Amelia always was, always is, and forever will be the quintessential "Maître d'" (Master Of The Hall) in the truest and most revered sense of that timeless phrase - 'cuz nothing ever got by her and she always made you feel special.

So, as "A" goes to "Z" , we wish her well, knowing that she'll be great at what she'll be doing, all the way down to the letter.

We love you, Amelia. - But... you'd better bring your butt by for coffee every now and then! See ya hot stuff.

Tabling The Argument - "Can't We All Just Get Along For Thanksgiving?"

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-11-21T10:11:56-06:00

With politics dominating the headlines, and the odor of presidential stumping just to the south of us in nearby Iowa, it should have come as no surprise to anyone here this week when we were inadvertently drawn into a "Fisticuffs Of The Feast" imbroglio.

Ya see, Turkey is big business here in our fair state of Minnesota. And being sensible, practical and ever logical Midwesterners, we believe that eating leaner and healthier is a smart thing to do. Seriously, if you'll pardon the observation - when we talk turkey, we put our money where our mouth is - especially at Thanksgiving.

Well as you can imagine, in a state with so many turkeys, and more than a few lawyers who have nothing to do (anybody put a call into Rachel Paulose?) somebody would hatch a turkey lobby. The movement, E.A.T.H.A.M. (Every American Turkey Has A Mother) is dedicated to raising awareness about the plight of turkeys and their preference that you consider ham for your holiday table (or any table, for that matter - but the movement is still young).

We were quick to realize that recording a turkey isn't the easiest thing to do. If you put the copy stand right in front of them - they can't see it, their snood gets tangled in the headphones, and the mere mention of using a shotgun mic just freaks 'em out like you wouldn't believe.

(we were picking up feathers and droppings for days - and there's a certain"funk" still in the air that's...indescribable).

However, in the end, with the right sound design and much fussy editing (to get out all the occasional noises of ruffling feathers) the radio spot came out as well as one could expect. Here's the radio spot, - Wattle We Do?

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Now, in the interest of fair play we will also share with you the angry rebuttal work of S.N.O.U.T. (Slaughter Not Our Underlings, Turkeys). This session was so filled with mud slinging, that we are unable to say much other than - have a listen for yourself....

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Happy Thanksgiving from the gang here at Babble-On Recording.

Class Act - Brainco Visits Babble-On Recording

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-11-18T16:16:10-06:00

One of the many nice things about working in the biz of advertising and communications is that we get to see, directly, how our field attracts young, fresh, hungry minds who are curious about how to speak to the masses, creatively.

Additionally, it's nice for us to support a local school, Brainco, that for years has churned out some of the finest creative talent that you now see dotting the ad landscape across the country.

Casey Brewer, the teacher of this radio class (who is also a superbeast blogger and a brand new hire at Minneapolis Ad Agency Carmichael Lynch) brought in his charges to produce a radio ad for, if this isn't a masterful show of efficiency, Brainco.

The difficulty in writing or producing a radio ad like this is that the school has become so much more than just, quote unquote, "another ad school". So with many masters and interests to serve, the class was given the assignment to write an ad that would speak to the broad audience that the school is looking to attract. The winning ad, written by student Michelle Swanson (see photo), was distinct from the others that were submitted in that it had a higher concept to it - picking on and successfully skewering the illimitable purveyance of pharmaceutical ads that saturate the broadcast media these days. Plus, y'know, in the final analysis - the spot's funny.

A significant part of the credit for making the spot humorous is that Minneapolis voice-over talent David Allen (from Talent Poole) completely got the concept from the beginning - dripping with über sincerity when it was needed, and then sliding into feigned detached indifference when delivering the tongue-in-cheek-disclaimer. Along with the completely euro-trash music - the combo just felt "right". Or, "perfectly wrong" (depending on your perspective).

Casey offered this to say about the experience -

Being able to record a spot as a student is not only an important learning process, but it's a great opportunity to show prospective employers that you have the experience necessary to dive in to radio assignments right out of the gate. It was a good experience for me while I was in school, and I'm very appreciative of Babble-On for offering the same experience to my students.

Michelle's script had both a nice, solid concept and the kind of messaging Brainco wanted to get across to listeners. That, and it turned out really funny. Which is nice.

Kudos should be given to all the students - Max Bayram, Theresa LaGuardia, Kelli Wilkerson, Chris Yocum and Nick Nelson who asked good questions, made helpful observations, and tolerated a studio owner with a penchant for excessive chattiness.

Heres the spot entitled, "Creative Edge". If you'd like to listen to more radio ads - please check out our samples page.

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"It's that Time Warner Cable Of The Year"

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-11-15T16:43:31-06:00

Of the questions mankind faces on a daily basis, certainly one of the most pervasive (along with “WTF, Britney?!”) is “Have I been naughty or nice?”

Which may be followed up with -

"Great....now what do I get?"

Or, after a time spent with too many special egg nogs -

"Officer, I think you misunderstood"

Twin Cities ad agency FAME sought to help answer the "Naughty vs. Nice" nut with a recent Time Warner Cable radio spot that we recorded here in Studio C at Babble-On.

No need to draw straws, or vote anyone off the ice berg by convening a special Elfen Council - nope, this would be a simple “Naughty-or-Nice Quiz” that would tie in nicely to the Fred Claus movie that is hitting theaters. FAME copywriter Julie Feyerer and freelance producer Lynda Crotty, along with engineer Greg Geitzenauer kept the sleigh on the road and filled the spot chock full of cheekiness and holiday cheer.

What's a bit different in the spot is that often times elves sound so "pitched up" that they are either too difficult to understand or carry the audio equivalent of being pixelated - grainy, edgy and lacking definition. Thankfully, since we had, y'know, real elves (see photo) we didn't need to worry about artificially creating their unique sound.

Our Announcer (who has quite the pedigree for these kinds of things) was Jim Cummings of Danis, Panaro & Nist (whom we recorded via ISDN digital patch). He, as is his usual, did a nice job adding the familial and welcome Holiday Magic tonality that helps hold together a spoof like this.

Feel free to take a listen...

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"For all your (insert product or service), needs"

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-10-30T11:54:41-05:00

One of the great things about working in the field of audio production, recording, sound-design, etc. is the exposure we get to writers, producers, directors and even clients who have really great ideas and a strong sense of how best to execute them. If that's the Yin, then the Yang is that we also get to see the dregs of formulaic jargon that seeps it's way into the cracks of scripts with even the strongest foundation due, almost exclusively, to client mandates.

Phrases like, "for all your banking needs"- y'know last time we checked we didn't have a "banking need" other than perhaps needing one nearby that has...money.

Another great one is, "In the Twin Cities area see..." - that's a classic faux attempt to sound local, which only gets worse when some big voiced announcer from L.A. trumpets out (with great confidence), "Uh-deena" or "Whey-Zeta" for Edina or Wayzata.

"You ain't from around these here parts are ye, fella?"

Think about it - it's a local radio ad. We know where we live - if we don't know by now that we live in the "Twin Cities Metro Area", we either have an education system resembling that of Arkansas, or we've been kidnapped from points beyond and are wedged in the trunk of a late model Buick somewhere in the P2 East parking lot of Mall Of America. So, if you're trying to save lives of the kidnapped by telling them where to by a Lexus - we can only applaud your creativity.

There are many more examples of this, but the point in sharing these clichés is that we've seen some great methods of getting these things out of scripts while we're in session. Writers on occasion have said to clients, "I can appreciate that you'd like that in there, but the script is already long and do you really believe it will help you sell more of your widgets?" Another great one was, "what is the particular benefit to the listener of that phrase - are we talking to them?, or just to ourselves? - we can do either, but with only sixty seconds, it seems we would benefit most by talking to your customers". In both those instances, the client realized that the script was better left as is - leaving time in the spot for their important messages.

Line up for the two point conversion.

If you're looking for more insight into this issue and how some really savvy people are successfully committing "clichéicide" - read this blog entry from the folks at radioloungeusa.com -smart guys.

October Babblings

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-10-29T14:41:28-05:00

10-29-07 - "Attention Fellow Award Sluts" - Well, although our local Ad Awards show (cleverly called "The Show" - see entry below) just wrapped up the other week, we would be remiss not to remind you about a few things going on with one of our favorite shows, - The Radio Mercury Awards.

We've been first round judges here for the past four years and have enjoyed the chance to preview the work before it goes past the hallowed fire hydrants of the panel's top dogs.

If you're looking to get your own CD containing 84, yes 84, of 2007's most brilliant radio ads - hang tight, it'll be sent to you within a few weeks - but, only if you were one of the throngs of wannabes who entered your best radio spots into this cage match of ad contests.

If you didn't enter, but still want to hear some great radio chops, just call the folks at the Mercury's and see if you can wheedle one out of them - 212-681-7207.

Another radiocentric event that the Mercury's are into is the upcoming Pirate New York Creative Radio Seminar. If you're interested, you'll get to hear Terry O'Reilly, the award winning writer, director, and partner at Pirate New York as he lays out a half-day Creative Radio Seminar at - (man, do we love the twisted irony in this) - the Art Directors Club (you can't make this stuff up) on November 7th. If you want to go, give a call to 212.253.2920

10-29-07 - From the "we're a bit bummed for us, but happy for him" department, we'd like to wish safe travels and good luck to Jesse Kuntz, who's been darkening our door over the past few years doing voice-over work on a variety of radio ads and assorted projects that would be too numerous to mention.

Jesse got the chance to get into the Chicago market and decided that the "2nd City" would become his first home for awhile. Even with this move though, he'll still partially be here as he'll stay involved with The Actors Theater Of Minnesota and their production of "A Christmas Carol". Plus he'll maintain his local representation through N.U.T.S and Wehmann Models and Talent - so, if you need'em, we can always get him for you with an ISDN Digital Patch or Source-Connect voice-over session. Best of luck, Jesse.

10-24-07 - Sometimes it's not what you say....it's how you say it - or, in the case of these particular advertising faux pas - where and when you say it.

The article to which we've linked is an insightful blog entry on effective copywriting that, literally, puts contextual advertising (sorry 'bout this one) - in proper context. The photos seem rather improbable - but, even if it's just masterful PhotoShop work - it makes some great and poignant observations about coincidence.

Many thanks to Steve Hendrickson from LipserviceTalent Agency for passing this along to us.

10-18-07 In this day 'n age when it's become so easy to just iChat your cube mate who's 7.2 feet away, it's nice to get in some real face time with people whom we know quite well - but never meet. On a weekly basis we do an ISDN digital patch with Nova Productions in L.A. to record Mark Comstock , the voice-over talent for biggs, a Cincinnati grocery chain. We've "known" Mark for awhile, but had never met him - welcome to the 21st century. Mark was in town to catch up with his parents who live nearby in downtown Minneapolis so he popped on in to Babble-On Recording to say hi and hang with John Lukas for a bit.

10-17-07 The big news this week, of course, is that Amelia is back from her trip to New York and Israel - so please stop by for all the fun buzz and great stories she has to tell. "L'Chaim"

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10-15-07 Every now and again a mainstream publication prints up a nugget regarding the recording and sound-design business. Most are pretty dull, but this month, there's a pretty funny and insightful article in Wired Magazine that covers the history of a particular scream sound effect that we've all heard a million times. There are a few telling examples on the site. It being the month of Halloween, you'll appreciate the particular effect.

10-12-07 Actor and Minnesota native Vincent Kartheiser paid us a visit a few weeks ago to record some ADR for an episode of the AMC original TV series "Mad Men". If you've not seen the show, it's a primetime drama about the cutthroat world that was Madison Avenue in 1960. Vincent plays Pete Campbell, a rising, young account executive (really, are there any other types?) We're hoping to see more of Vincent as the show has done very well to date. The episode we worked on here at Babble-On Recording was called "Indian Summer".

The (Colle+McVoy) Show 2007

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-10-22T17:44:06-05:00

Well, the results are in, and it's more than easy to say that the 2007 iteration of "The Show" (held on Friday October 19th at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis) was dominated by Minneapolis advertising agency, Colle+McVoy.

The victory was so all encompassing, that the hot word on the street is that Diebold is under investigation for re-using the ballot boxes they sent to Florida for the '04 election.

Or, for those of you who prefer sports aphorisms - think '86 Bears, '27 Yankees, or even this years batch of New England Patriots. And, to continue this pointless exercise further - let's call John Neerland, "The Next Tom Brady".

(Excepting, of course any notion of a hot ex-girlfriend with an "oops" new baby in tow - we're exercising at least some propriety here.)

All kidding aside, since Babble-On Recording is a sponsor of The Show, we'd like to congratulate John and (all the other winners from Colle +McVoy) as well as the other agencies who did well at the event and who continue to support this important soirée.

Additionally, we'd like to point out, a few spots that were recorded here at Babble-On did very well in the oh-so-continually-overlooked Radio category.

A Detroit Pistons radio ad that Greg worked on with Scott Dahl of OLSON ended up with the coveted Radio Golden Chalice (alright, it's just a silly gold pushpin thing. And, while you can't drink from it ...it's still pretty cool).

And, a Cell South radio spot that André did with Mark Andersen of Martin Williams took home Silver. A continuing perk to this particular spot is that it managed to thread its way into the CA's as well - where most Radio fears to tread and rarely survives.

Anyway, have a glance at the few pics on the right that we felt were worth posting and, if you'll continue down below, you can take a listen to both the Detroit Pistons radio spot called "Test " and the Cell South radio ad, aptly named "Goodbye ".

Again, congrats to all. And, yes, we're posting this on Tuesday because, y'know......

...we figured our collective hangovers might actually have subsided by now.

Here's "Test"

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and, "Goodbye"

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Bullet Points

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-10-18T13:45:06-05:00

As we mentioned earlier this month, we like to embrace causes and ideals that increase, as they say, "the social welfare of all". So when Martin Williams approached us about working with them on a radio spot campaign geared toward ending gun violence in Minnesota - we certainly welcomed the call.

First a little background: A study about ten years ago in the Journal of Trauma showed that a gun in the home is more likely to be used against a family member than against an intruder-11 times more likely to be used in a suicide, 7 times more likely to be used in a domestic assault and 4 times more likely to unintentionally injure. Peachy.

If that weren't sobering enough, here in our quaint Midwestern Metropolis there are some scary observations as well. “We’re being held hostage by the gun industry,” says Chief Tim Dolan of the Minneapolis Police Department. “Our kids are carrying guns today because they are afraid of other kids carrying guns.” Minnesota is “one of the worst” states when it comes to easy access to guns for those who shouldn’t have them. Turns out 90% of the guns used in crimes across the state of MN are also purchased right here in Minnesota.

When it came to producing the radio ads, the writer, Jake Lancaster, got right to the heart of two particularly pressing issues - easy access and accidental gun death. Normally with ads like this, there's a temptation to lay in a lot of heavy, threatening sound-design or eerie sound effect treatments to heighten the tension. But the scripts were so strong that, in this instance, less was definitely more - and the effect is chilling. The spots were anchored by Jonathan Adams, whom we recorded at VoiceTrax West in L.A. and his delivery is so even, so non-judgmental - that the sheer facts are allowed to puncture you with frightening clarity. Libby Collins, a New York talent, whom we recorded at Nutmeg Audio Post via Source-Connect rounded out the spots with the appropriate finish - not pleading or gushy, but truthful. Again, a nice instance of less definitely being more.

If you'd like to learn more about this cause, which by the way is supported by the NRA too, - go to the End Gun Violence website or visit ProtectMN.com

Here are the spots "James" and "Sarah"

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Not The Same Old Story....

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-10-04T15:42:28-05:00

As many of you know, by and large, we use this scrap of cyber real estate to share the latest radio and TV spots we've worked on, info on the comings and goings of voice-over actors, or to posit something pithy about new audio techniques we might be scoping out.

While that's our bread 'n butter, it isn't all we do...

So, occasionally we like to share some of the other things that occupy our time behind the glass here on the twelfth floor of The Plymouth Building, downtown Minneapolis.

Good causes that benefit kids and families rank high on our list of things with which we like to associate ourselves. About a month ago we got a call from The National Institute on Media and The Family, an organization dedicated to (amongst other things) reducing "screen time" for kids. No, they're not advocating censorship, the elimination of the idiot box, or collapsing the web but, - they do believe in helping families make healthier media choices. (So, if you're 12 and reading this - go read a book or something...)

'Course, this is easier said than done. Once you pull the kids away from the screen,...great, what then? Enter something called, Alternative To Screen Time Products and a group of talented storytellers called Cygnus Storytelling. They live the mantra, "whoever tells the stories, defines the culture". Their idea, in collaboration with the National Institute on Media and The Family, was to create a CD of wholesome stories that could be listened to, repeated and played with by families with young children. So, instead of just piling one's progeny into the MiniVan, i-Pods and DVD players in tow, families could now have the opportunity to share time together listening to and interacting with each other in a creative and inspiring atmosphere.

The CD, entitled, "You Tell A Tale - Stories Told Through You", was a joy to record, produce and edit because of the different dynamics that were involved in capturing these artists, - artists who were naturally conditioned to the stylings of working live on stage - not in a voice-over booth. The final product was a collaborative effort as all the actors had to adjust to the idea of not projecting their voices as much, having to work from the frame of a basic script, and learning to meld, consistently, one performance to the next if they made a mistake from take to take. And, from our standpoint we had to leave a lot more air in the reads - which we never seem to be able to do when working on TV and radio spots.

Thanks must go to the actors, Tina Rohde, Kevin Strauss, Colleen Shaskin, Mike Mann and Jennifer Strauss for their dedication and willingness to toss familiar ways (in the booth, anyway) in favor of learning to tell their stories in a new way.

Sometimes we are all both teacher and student.

Here's, The Three Bear Rap, a sample from the disc that shows how a story can morph and become one's own with just a little ingenuity.

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The Season In Review

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-10-02T11:09:43-05:00

Yup, it's Autumn. Harvest time. Soon, the markets will fill with apples, potatoes, squash, pumpkins and things like those funky little gourds.

Sadly though, our own Gordo won't be filling the radio airwaves this October as our beloved Minnesota Twins spiraled away like so many maple leaves - getting raked up, bagged and deposited 17 games out of first in the A.L. Central. Ouch.

Despite the fact that we won't get a chance to see Johan Santana striking out Vladdy Guerrero until sometime next Spring - there's still some interesting hardball on the way. So, while you're fine tuning your "Jeter Sucks" rally, and reassuring yourself with salves like, "at least the White Sox didn't get in" we thought we might review one of the highlights of the Twins season - their radio ad campaign that we worked on with Periscope right here at Babble-On Recording.

Not only is the "This Is Twins Territory" campaign of radio spots pretty funny - consistently so, in fact - it's also unique in how it caused us to approach the production process in a different and creative way . Unlike a typical recording session (where a voice-over talent will come in and read a script they've most likely never seen) - Bill Woodson, the longtime voice for this campaign, receives a scratch VO track recorded by Tom Witkowski, the writer for these spots. So, before ever stepping into the voice-over booth, Bill has a pretty good idea of what Tom is hoping to achieve.

Here's the scratch voice-over for the spot that would become "Walleye"

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While it's not exactly a lined shot to center (more like a pop-up with the infield fly rule in play), it does communicate a rhythm, cadence, and style as well as some pronunciation guidelines. Frankly it's a pretty big cost saver. Here's what Bill gave us once he got behind the mic -

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Tells you a lot about Bill's interpretation skills, yes? But, even with that killer delivery, the final nugget that brings the spots together is finding the most bombastic, pretentious and overblown music tracks that we can. It seems that everytime we pump up the absurdity, it only heightens what we mix with Bill's illustrious voice-over style.

In general, the majority of the spots in this campaign are meant to humanize the players - making them approachable as people, characters and ambassadors of the game. Considering the reality that some salaries now equal the GDP of a few Third World Countries, and that steroids, questionable off-field behavior and tainted records have become the fools fodder filling the screens of reporters laptops - the campaign is quite refreshing.

Tom said "Baseball is all about fun...the Twins realize that, and everything they do they want it to be about fun. Someone here (at Periscope) said once, the best kind of gauge of how they look at the (radio and TV spots) is if their seven-year-old thinks they're funny and laughs. then it's good - because it really is about that kind of family fun, lightheartedness and excitement."

Here are the rest of the spots from this years season:

"Canadian"

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"Cannon"

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"Everywhere"

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"Faithful"

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"How I Roll"

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"John"

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"Mantana"

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"Mauersota"

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"Muds"

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"Smells Of The Game"

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What Happens at Babble-On...

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-08-27T12:14:34-05:00

Babble-On Bash 2007

Big fun.

No script.

And, by the looks of the photos . . . a good time was had by all!

Check out the photo booth (mug) shots online at:

thetravelingphotobooth.com

Then, click on:

8/23/2007 - Babble-On Recording Studios Party

Thanks for joining us!

Andre, Carol, Greg, Amelia and John

Babble-Blog is back!

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-07-12T11:46:46-05:00

Well, after a lengthy hiatus, the Babble-Blog is back. Our self-imposed exile to the island of no-blog oblige was partially due to the usual disturbances of life getting in the way, but also due to a major overhaul of the Babble-On web site.

With the help of our genius web site designers from lotus + lama, we’ve inundated, percolated, serrated, re-created, truncated, obviated, bifurcated, and ultimately updated our site. Yes, we are well aware that the grammar police would be all over that sentence.

Like a Ben & Jerry’s super-premium ice cream flavor, the “new & improved” Babble-On web site is chock full of . . . stuff. And, we haven’t forgotten the sprinkles either. We’ve liberally sprinkled samples of the great radio and TV spots that our clients create with the help of our engineers and sound designers. We hope you enjoy listening to our creative work.

Techies rejoice! We’ve improved our client FTP site so that it will be easier (and faster) to upload multiple files simultaneously. There’s a handy progress bar so you can see the file transfer in action.

We’d love it if you took a look around our new site and offered your comments (below).

Techno Babble - It's Fun To Know Your CD Formats

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2007-07-01T13:08:00-05:00

Thanks for joining us on the maiden voyage of this new section of the Babble-On Recording Babble-Blog. The overall moniker we're hanging on this feature is, “Technology.” Now, before you snap your “back” button 'cause you feel this is just geek fodder or simply a huge snooze, let me toss out something that might make this a more pleasant journey for both of us.

See that “comments” link at the bottom? You can use it to, get this - communicate with us. That’s right – we’re dying to know what you want to know. Things you find confusing, techno trends about which you’re trying to play catch-up, or areas where you feel we’re dragging our asses. (And yes, Windows laptop users, we’ve now deigned to let you onto our secure WiFi network without undue hoop-jumping.) So, tell us what you're curious about - we’d love to be your techno whipping boys.

Just to prime the pump a bit, here's a topic that's caused a little head-scratching for voice-over talent, writers, producers, et al. When we ask for what format the final mix, splits, voice-over recording, or ISDN Digitial Patch material should be provided in, we’ll hear something like “our client needs AIFF files on an audio CD.” Whoa! - seems simple enough, right? Well, in that simple statement there's a full-force collision of incompatible terms; an audio version of Matter meeting Anti-Matter. If you were Scotty? - You'd be freakin' too.

When we say “Audio CD,” we mean the type that'll play in your mama’s boombox, home theater or car stereo. It’s very specific. It's by far the most widespread, least common denominator for audio in a digital format.

However, throw the term “file” into the mix - whether it be AIF, WAV, MP3, Windows Media Player or Quicktime files - and you’ve stepped away from what'll play on a standard CD player and into the arena of audio for which you'll need a computer in order to play it: something called, (fanfare please) - A “Data CD". Also known as a CD-ROM.

This is just a disc of audio that's been converted into files. You can copy, duplicate, email, backup, and treat'em as you would any other photo, word processing, or spreadsheet file. Now, in this day and age, the vast majority of computers out there will also happily ingest a standard “Audio CD” too. They are able to play it or “rip” (copy) the audio from it. So, your computer will easily handle either an "Audio CD" or a “Data CD."

Man, I feel smarter just writing this.

Nevertheless, insert a Data CD in your '95 Buick and you’ll be fetchin' up some nasty screeches rivaling the dulcet hash that pours out of a fax machine - music to somebody, sure, but nothing Daft Punk’s going to be looking over their shoulder at. Fortunately, most modern CD players know better than to even try playing a Data CD, so this'll be one of those ripe old chestnut-types of experiences that we'll relate to our grandkids someday via our iChat implant.

So, next time your client tries to throw you off the scent of their techno-illiteracy by offering, “files on an audio CD” - you can calmly reply, “Sure, would you like to listen to that CD on your way home? - (dictating an audio CD)

Or, do you need .wmv's and MP3's of the radio spots to e-mail to the client and marketing department?" - (dictating they get a Data CD)”

No mercy, folks. Nail down what they really need ‘cause they can’t have it both ways.

Wow, you made it! (Let's do a cool down). See? Now you can rock the digital audio technobabble just a bit sweeter than you could just two minutes ago.

Please feel free to comment below or send us an e-mail to let us know what else you might like to know from the world of audio technology.

December '06 Babble-Blog

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2006-12-08T14:08:00-06:00

Ahh, The Holidays.

It's the time of year when we haul out the tree from the forest of clutter upstairs in the back room, throw another yule log on the gas fireplace and warm ourselves with a cup of Lite Egg Nog...

... all while logging in to our secondlife account.

Yup, it's how we reconnect with what's real and important in the Digital Age. Really. Just pop off a quick IM to your mom - she'll tell ya.

Here at Babble-On Recording, this'll be the month when we get you reacquainted with a feature that hasn't been here for a while, Dropping In, our monthly music sampler. We'll also have our usual assortment of Babblings under the tree and info on voice-over recording sessions, sound-design, radio ads and other audio production projects of interest.

Thanks for checking in. And, however you choose to celebrate with your family this time of year, we hope you have a great time reconnecting. Skål.

Update - 12/07/06 - This month's installment of Dropping In has been posted along with our ever tasty Sound Effect Of The Month. Unleash your creativity! Or, cripes, just click it cuz your bored. See the bottom of the page.

Update - 12/08/06 - Something we love to do this time of year is try out new gear of any and all stripes. We just played around with the sE Reflexion Filter and thought we'd pass along our results. See below.....

Shields Up Captain...

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2006-12-07T18:16:00-06:00

John, in Babble-On's Studio B, with a Reflexion Filter. In our test, it was unmatched at blocking Geordi's vision.

If you're like most Western consumers, you're probably getting your holiday shopping underway by checking out many of the cool tech gadgets that are dropping into big box stores like so many snowflakes - camcorders, MP3 players, game consoles, etc. Or, if you're more traditional in your approach to these types of things, (always looking for something practical), you've no doubt considered a cocktail robot. After all, what's the season without a perfectly made martini? - festively tricked out with a splash of red pimiento that's been gift-wrapped inside a ripe green olive. Merry Xmas.

At Babble-On Recording, we're looking at cool innovations as well. The latest thing we've been kicking the tires on is something called, The sE Reflexion Filter. This device, which we thought looked really cool, is supposed to add a lot more isolation to a microphone. Although our voice-over booths are heavily soundproofed and acoustically isolated we figured, what the heck? - might be a worthwhile addition to when we want to do location recording or if we were wanting to get a particularly "tight" sound. Besides, who wouldn't want to look as cool as Geordi LaForge while cutting a VO?

The only way to give the thing an accurate ride was to let John give it that Steve Perry, Rock n' Roll, "Singin' To The Fist" test.

Well, as cool as the thing is, it's probably overkill for us since (in a soundproofed voice-over booth) the effect was minimal. Gotta say though that for voice-over talent who have their own home recording studio setup, this device would do a really nice job of reducing the noise you may get from computers, etc. Looks like we'll be stuffing our stockings with something else.

Here's The Pitch - Buy a Gift Card, Help The Community

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2006-12-03T15:44:00-06:00

It's called the Hot Stove League for a reason.

It's damned cold outside - 12º at the time of this writing.

So why is this man smiling? Could be any number of reasons:

For starters, his 1st baseman, Justin Morneau was recently named the A.L. MVP - putting a surprising big hurt on guys like The Big Hurt, Ortiz and Jeter.

Might be because Johan Santana, his larger-than-life-top-of-the-roation-stud, just nabbed yet another A.L. Cy Young Award. His second in three years.

Skipper Ron Gardenhire in studio B at Babble-On Recording

Or perhaps it's because his team won't be coughing up 50 million, learning Japanese, and stocking the clubhouse fridge with sushi this Summer. That bit of insanity belongs to the Red Sox if they manage to sign Asian über-hurler Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Truth is, we think that Gardy is grinning because he got a chance to hang out in our Minneapolis recording studio while cutting a voice-over for a Minnesota Twins Gift Card radio spot.

The script, written by Periscope's Andrew Hanson and overseen by Tom Witkowski is about giving the right gift - one that actually improves "...the lives of kids and families in the Upper-Midwest through the love of Baseball". Works for us. Here's the spot.

Dropping In - December '06

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2006-12-03T14:38:00-06:00

Well, It's been awhile since we've shared any of the new and interesting production music that's come our way through our relationships with creative shops in L.A., New York and London (to name a few).

The good news is that, although we've been pretty lame about filling this space, our production music library has continued to expand, diversify and fill out the shelves here at Babble-On Recording in a way that's, well..... far too too similar to our holiday waistlines.

This month's mash-up is built from of a vast sampling across many of the production music libraries. From light ambient, to moving pop, to some more organic textures; even a nice latin-funk track. As always, we've got a list of all tracks used in this section, so if you hear something you like in this collage, just let us know and we can dig it up for you.

Our Sound Effect Of The Month has the potential to be used for Drive-Ups, Drive Bys, Pick-Up lines or even a Robot Arm for that matter - Hey, it's your creativity - you tell us. Give a click and listen, here.

Crossfade - Why you've not seen the Babble-Blog for six months

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2006-11-18T14:18:00-06:00

Transitions are as much a part of our everyday lives as they are an important asset in the art of creative expression. They remind us to be aware, to be present, to pay attention and understand that change is afoot.

In theater, the curtain descends.

With film, a scene dissolves.

When dining, a table is elegantly and efficiently reset.

And in the domain of audio, we use the crossfade.

The crossfade, in particular, is unusual amongst all of those devices because it involves no visual cue. One idea begins to yield to another and, albeit for a fragment of time when the two meld and mutually coexist, the first is softly left behind to become nothing more than a memory.

Unlike the other transitions, you might miss it if you're not living in the moment.

We've been dealing with some crossfades of a different nature here at Babble-On over the past six months. Those of you who know us well know of the transitions that have befallen Carol's father and younger sister over the course of this Summer and early Fall. For those of you who don't know us as well, but who have always been curious observers of this space on the web, our absence has been due to the sad and tragic passings of Leonard Knutson in May, and Lori Ann Knutson Stewart in late September.

The time that we took to spend with them over the past few months before they moved on was a very powerful and meaningful experience for both Carol and me. That time was our crossfade; a chance to coexist, to blend, to meld, to be in the moment with them before letting them go to become the memories that they now must be. The new scene that currently plays on is void of two very essential characters that, to date, were critical to the plot lines of our lives.

In some ways, although you've never had the opportunity to meet these fine people, you know them well through the hard work, dedication, open-mindedness and willingness to serve that they exemplified, and that we've aimed to emulate with our approach here at Babble-On Recording. And, with respect to what they've meant to us and the lessons that they hoped to share, please know that we are even more fervently committed to those ideals now that we are back here on an everyday basis.

A word of thanks must be addressed to those of you who supported us, encouraged us, and stayed with us through this long, painful and awkward time. In particular, Babble-On Recording would not have remained viable without the hard work, dedication and truly loving devotion displayed by Greg, Amelia and John. Not unlike the B-17's that flew critical missions over Europe and the Pacific during WWII, they endured more than their fair share yet still managed to fly, maintain, deliver, and hold together as a unit. Nothing can be said or done to accurately repay that sacrifice.

Witnessing death is a peculiar thing - it teaches you a thing or two about how to live. If all one does is cling to the wants, needs and demands of modern life, one is stuck doing nothing more than an endless series of emotional chin-ups - feeding the notion that all this is somehow making you stronger when, in point of fact, it's wholly fatiguing and simply screws with your sense of balance. Learning to let go, live in the moment, embrace your ideals, your friends and the world of possibilities is the power that death can breathe into life. It's the "kick in the pants" that tells us to explore our creativity, to tear down the walls of convention, and to be patient with that process and each other.

We're glad to be back. We're excited about ideas. We're very grateful for everything.

Update - 11/09/06 - As we get back up to speed here you'll see more stuff pertaining to sessions, radio spots, Minneapolis voice-over talent and more. We recently worked on some very interesting radio ads for The Pistons which you'll find down below. Thanks for stopping by....

Update - 11/10/06 - Check out our Babblings for what's been going on with our good friend, Kevin Freidberg.

Update - 11/15/06 - another update to the Babblings section - Chris Preston schools the Babble-Onians

Update - 11/18/06 - We used a novel approach to sound design for some Belay Health spots. See below.

Update - 11/22/06 - More and more Babblings. Some nice Award Winning Radio Ads from The Show to share. See below.

Cliff Hanger - Creating Sound Design for Belay Health

Babble-On Recording Studios, Minneapolis — 2006-11-17T14:18:00-06:00

Bulletin: Coffee is bad for you. Wait, no, Coffee is quite good for you.

Surprise! - Chocolate is good for you. No, wait, Chocolate is actually bad for you.

Healthcare advice has become a toxic brew of contradictions lapping over the edge of a 50 gallon conundrum. No sooner does a wave of "expert advice" hit the web, then you're slammed with e-mail after e-mail of Ph*rmXy Wund#r Cyurz. Delete. Delete. Delete. A week later, 60 Minutes debunks the whole thing. It's enough to make you want to pour a "healthy" glass of red wine just to endure it all (...until research proves otherwise.)

Further complicating the health care issue for many is the high cost of access to personal health insurance. Ever suffered a COBRA bite? (a perfect acronym), you know what I'm talking about.

Good news is, at least when it comes to costs, UnitedHealthcare is making a serious effort to change it with an innovative health insurance program called, Belay.

Parachute Design, a Minneapolis design firm that works with UnitedHealthcare, enlisted local writer Brad Gilmore and his team to help create the buzz for this radical concept. Part of the hype included the creation of a few radio spots for which we here at Babble-On Recording did the sound design, while independent producer/writer/voice-talent/ferociously funny ad-libber Lynda Crotty managed the duties of producer.

(L to R) Writer Brad Gilmore "Chillaxes". Brad and Lynda review the script. Lynda getting the final edits done.

In Brad's words... "This was a from-scratch project. UnitedHealthcare gave us the magic words every team loves to hear: “Show us what you got. It’d better be good. And by the way, we’re launching in two months... We came up with a word used by rock climbers: Belay...(T)o back it up we spent a week blowing out the creative to demonstrate how the name would evolve into a concept our audience would respond to... Before we could even present our work we were issued three definitive words: “No. No. No.” Nonetheless we (boldly) proceeded to present... Fifteen minutes later, we were issued three new definitive words: “Yes. Yes. Yes.” Fifteen minutes after that, our media budget had been increased... IT WAS MAGIC."

The radio spots revolve around the idea of two rock climbers, one a novice, facing a fairly intimidating climb. The trick to getting the sound-design right was finding a way to create the illusion of space between the climbers; one near, the other far - not a huge gap, but roughly 15 feet. Well, put two guys in a typical sound booth bellowing at each other and you realize...it ain't gonna happen easily - the room size becomes apparent. So, we tricked out a couple of larger rooms we have here and placed Minneapolis voice-over talent Dan Armstrong in one of them and Patrick Coyle in the other with a couple of Sennheiser 416 shotgun mics. We adjusted their distance accordingly and hit record...
Minneapolis voice-over talents Dan Armstrong and Pat Coyle scaled the heights of our fictional Canyon Suite.

The amount of "air" this produced was dramatic - all that was needed to fill out the scene was a touch of reverb, some subtle foley work and an underlying canyon wind. Lynda, who's "an admitted perfectionist" offered... "It was one of those rare occasions when the planets aligned and everything came together seamlessly. First of all, Brad Gilmore, a consummate pro, truly wanted the spots to be the best they could be and was excited by any and all input. Refreshing. ...I usually prefer the script to the finished spot. For some reason, whatever shape the words take when committed to tape usually leaves me feeling a little underwhelmed. Not true in the case of (these) spots.

Here are the spots, "On Belay" and "Belay On".

Dan Armstrong and Pat Coyle, our Minneapolis voice-over talent for these radio spots, can both be booked through The Wehmann Agency. Our announcer, the honey-toned Tracey Maloney is also represented by The Wehmann Agency.