Intentional | Audio Identity Blog

Go ahead, smear our MP3 player all over your face. It’s good for your skin, says the makers of the new, ion-emotting mpion, available only in Japan.

Good times. Well if you accept the premise, then surely you’re wondering what music suits the mood…what’s the ideal playlist for a good facial audio-scrape? Allow me.

Now That’s What I Call Music, Acne Removal Volume 1

1. Push It, Salt N Pepa
2. Under Pressure, ZZ Top
3. Shine Halleluiah Shine, Bill Monroe
4. Skin Deep, The Stranglers
5. Perfect Skin, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
6. Dirty Boogie, Roy Hall & His Cohutta Mountain Boys
7. Angels with Dirty Faces, Los Lobos
8. Back in Black, AC/DC
9. Rub Me Raw, Warren Zevon
10. Chess Piece Face, They Might Be Giants

(Via boing-boing.)

Photo by Muffet.

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Ruth Simmons has an excellent piece on emotions and music at Brandchannel.com.

I’ve always defined the practice of audio identity and sonic branding as “the intentional use of music, sound, voice and silence to create a cognitive and emotional connection between people and organizations.”

Sure, I think that definition covers it, but Simmons’ piece expands on this in graceful, grokkable form. It’s valuable thinking as we grow this practice, this market, this business of choreographing brand perceptions through the strategic use of sound.

– Noel Franus

I was flipping through Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia — a must-read for anyone interested in the relationship between who we are and what we hear — and noticed an entire chapter devoted to the power of earworms, those catchy audio mnemonics that we sometimes can’t get out of our heads.

The chapter, and much of the book, focuses on rare, intriguing neurological conditions. But with respect to earworms, Sacks touches on something that affects just about everyone: our inherent need for structure, form, and repetition in our music. In a way, we practically invite the earworm into our lives.

Here’s an excerpt:

There are, of course, inherent tendencies to repetition in music itself. Our poetry, our ballads, our songs are full of repetition. Every piece of classical music has its repeat marks or variations on a theme, and our greatest composers are masters of repetition; nursery rhymes and the little chants and songs we use to teach young children have choruses and refrains. We are attracted to the repetition, even as adults; we want the stimulus and the reward again and again and again, and in music we get it. Perhaps, therefore, we should not be surprised, should not complain if the balance sometimes shifts too far and our musical sensitivity becomes a vulnerability.

You read vulnerability; some among us (ahem) understand that as an “opportunity.” And others, still, (ahem again) see this as a “challenge.” It’s both. And the art and science of leveraging this awareness of sound — for commercial and social purposes — is something we’ll hear about with increasing frequency in the near future.

– Noel Franus

Julian Treasure has penned a thought-provoking piece at Sound Business: Where Has Sonic Architecture Gone? Required reading. Here’s a snippet:

Since Pythagoras (and surely long before that) building designers considered sound as at least the equal of visual design in the making of buildings. The sound of water (representing life) has been used for millennia, especially in hot places, to create pleasing ambient soundscapes, with many homes designed around a central fountain. Clever architecture has deliberately utilised echo, reverberation, focusing, diffusion and absorption to manipulate sound waves for spiritual, artistic and practical reasons….

When and why did the skill to design like this get lost? With modern architects and urban planners investigating the leading edges of interactivity, technology and all forms of light, it seems sad that the ancient wisdom about how to make buildings that sound appropriate and nourish the activities inside them is gone. I wonder if we can ever recover it?

I’m so glad Julian’s asked this as it’s been on my mind lately. I agree that the skills are lacking, but it’s without blame — most architects and designers simply lack the sound-related playbook or best practices necessary to ensure successful projects. Understandably so; for many architectural engagements, budgets and time become first priority and clients often give their attention to that which is familiar (and negotiable): walls, floors, heating and air conditioning, materials, colors and furniture. It’s no surprise that fuzzy intangibles like sound drop to the bottom of a priority list.

I’m encouraged, however, by my own conversations with architects who compensate for any lack of expertise with an abundance of enthusiasm. Architects who see themselves as facilitators of choreographed experiences are clearly eager to acknowledge and leverage our relationship with sound. They’re waiting for inspiration.

So, consider this a call to action: if you’re reading this, show me your inspiration. Where have you experienced successful sound in the built environment? If you think that sound affects our thoughts, actions, spending patterns and habits; if it can direct our physical movements and alert us to danger or guide us to safety; and/or if it can transform our sense of being in ways that are conscious, subconscious and even physiological — then where are you seeing it happen?

I’ll share my hit list with you next week, and I may also dive into some of the guiding principles for designers that I provided at the Experience Architecture Forum at Harvard last month. For what it’s worth. Meanwhile, let’s keep the ball rolling — let’s hear your thoughts.

AT&T will soon shut down its free time-by-phone service. We’re on the scene with the Sacramento Bee:

As of Sept. 19, dialing to get the correct time in California will no longer work, the service a victim of outdated modes, advancing technology and declining use. No one could be sadder than the precisely toned Atlanta woman who’s known to millions only by her voice.

“I’m sorry that it’s fading away,” said Joanne Daniels, who began intoning the time recordings 25 years ago. “It makes me feel old.”

In 1929, the forerunner of AT&T initiated time service in California. An operator read the time off wall clocks to callers. Soon after, equipment came along that automatically answered and dispensed the time and, in some locations, the temperature. Basically, a light scanned film strips in revolving “drums” that read the correct synchronized segments of the recording.

“I was known as the lady in the drum,” she said.

Thanks, Sam, for the pointer!

Well, there you have it. As much as I promised myself I’d stay away from writing about today’s Apple coverage — there’s more than enough coverage out there besides this li’l blog — I just can’t help it. Here’s why:

Today a computer company and a coffee company agreed on a deal sell music together. Or, put another way, two significant lifestyle brands extended their reach beyond their core businesses to provide more of what people want, in the easiest possible delivery system.

Under the new deal, wi-fi enabled iPods will sense when a Starbucks is in range, and provide instant access to that store’s playlist via the iTunes music store. Like that Feist with your latte? It’s yours now — but it at the counter or download instantly with just a few clicks.

Personally, I don’t think this particular deal is incredible, nor do I think this will affect my life in any significant way. (I’m a tad more hyped about the “low-tech” 80g iPod classique.) But this isn’t about me — what this signals from a branding perspective is interesting when you peel back the onion.

I mention the “computer company” and “coffee company” because most of us have a very hard time envisioning our brands being successful at something so far away from primary core offerings. IBM is still in the PC business, McDonald’s is still about food (for the most part) and AT&T is (still) in the telco business. For the little computer company from Cupertino and the original Pike’s Place Market Starbucks coffeeshop to be where they are today takes a visionary understanding and management of one’s brand and its trajectory and an ultra-keen sense of our relationship with music and sound…we’re people with ears and money to burn.

Oh, and it takes a boatload of cahones to pull it all off as successfully as these brands have. Kudos to them for seeing what others don’t see, and for building what others can’t or don’t. Reminds me of a little commercial we scored for Apple a while back. You may know it:

Enough with the hyperbole. Next question for another time: what on God’s green earth is holding Apple up from offering contactless payments via iPhone? You buy your coffee, you wave your iPod, your payment is done. Suddenly, my life is affected in a very significant way. C’mon, it can’t be that far off, can it?