In last year's wrap up, I said it was very rewarding to take a look at 2010. To be honest, I thought it would be a tough year to top. Well, it's now the first month of 2012 and I can safely say that 2011 has somehow been exponentially busier and that much more rewarding (now that I can finally take a breath and look back). I'm going to do my best to keep this short, but forgive me. There's a lot to get to!
After the ANNIE awards, director Jason Carpenter took The Renter on the road. It is currently still making its way around the world, but on my last check, there were too many awards to count. This film remains one of my most proud accomplishments for original score and it gives me great pride to see it so well received all over the world. You can see a full list of festival selections and awards for the film at therenter.net but I would like to mention that the film won the GRAND PRIX at Cinanima and The Ottowa International Film Festival last year (both very highly regarded) in addition to qualifying for the 2012 Academy Awards. Jason is such a talented director and animator and I'm just thrilled this film has been seen by so many people all over the world.
A good bulk of the year was spent on a new sound design challenge, the all new Thundercats series. The show is produced by Warner Animation and airs on Cartoon Network. It didn't take long for me to realize the sound for the show was something very unique and special which inspired me to start a blog about my work. Covering various topics from oddball sound design techniques to unsolicited advice, Sounds Like Jeff has been a really great creative outlet for me. You can catch up on the blog by visiting soundslikejeff.com. The blog is still in its infancy, but in 2011 I posted 26 entries and had a great response. Sound samples are all posted to soundcloud.com and are available to download for free.
2011 also brought to a close another project I am very proud of. The film PIG is a feature length film that Sound Underground provided full post sound services on. This story of a man who has lost his identity unfolds as a complicated mystery and a lot of clues were given through the sound design. The film called for some strange and inventive soundscapes and I was thrilled to lend a hand. PIG just finished up its festival run where it was also very well received, winning BEST FEATURE at numerous times. It was such a blast to work with the very talented filmmaking team of director Henry Barrial and producer Mark Stolaroff and pretty soon you should be able to see this fantastic film as well. To learn more about PIG, check out the film's website at thepigpicture.com.
The past year also brought the first eBook project for Sound Underground. The tireless genius' as JibJab launched an entirely new product line in 2011, JibJab Jr. These customizable, fully animated children's books are so beautiful and so creative, I was very excited to play my small part in the production. In 2011 alone, Sound Underground produced sound for 10 books!! These projects were a HUGE undertaking and we basically invented the system of adding sound to these books to suit our needs. Ultimately, we went with an approach similar to video game design in which some sounds are in sync with the action of the book's animation and some are longer ambient loops. The final product is awesome! If you have an iPad, head over to JibJab Jr. on iTunes to download the App. The first book is free.
Finally, a project I really want to talk more in depth about is a song I wrote and recorded for my good friend Devin Bell. Keeping the instrumentation relatively simple, the band is comprised of Eukelele, upright Bass, Jazz drums and violin. Devin is a Professor of animation at DePaul Univerisity and his class project was to spend the semester animating a short film set to the song. The lyrics are Devin's own creation pulled from a children's book he authored. I'll save any more details until the project is finished, but I have seen the rough cuts and I know this one is going to be something very different and VERY cool when it is finished. For now, I'll leave the rest of the details for the 2012 year in review.
PHEW! That's a lot of stuff. Once again, to keep things (relatively) short, below are some other notable accomplishments of 2011:
Sound editorial on the final season of Kick Buttowski
Original score for a series of 3 animated shorts
Sound for 9 JibJab videos including a Major League Baseball campaign and the Year in Review
Sound design on a handful of episodes of The Looney Tunes Show
Sound design on 4 great pilots which hopefully you'll hear more about soon!
Musical composition in the style of the Real Men of Genius campaign for Deloitte University
It was a great year, filled with amazing projects, creative challenges and hard work. Thanks for reading and a very happy belated New Year! Here's to a great 2012!
12.29.10_YEAR-END WRAP UP
Taking a look back at 2010 is very rewarding. It's been a BIG year for Sound Underground, keeping busy with a whole slew of projects which, as it turns out, have all been really well received. Lets dive in!
In the summer ofr 2009, Director, Jason Carpenter approached me with some concept artwork and a treatment for his short film The Renter. Jason had some great ideas for the direction of the score and overall sound of the film but he also put a lot of trust in me and my ideas, letting me run with the score and effects, which is always a pleasure. Needless to say, we immediately clicked on the project. After a great brainstorming session, Jason left me with a collection of inspiration tracks. I immediately started experimenting with different soundscapes and moods, feeling very inspired by the cold, empty environment depicted in his beautiful still landscape imagery. Flash forward to July 2010 when I received the call that the film was ready for post. I was so excited to finally put some of my ideas to picture. After a few weeks of intensive scoring as well as a very detailed sound design and foley record process, the film was handed off to long-time collaborator Carlos Sanches for the final mix (we opted for 5.1 surround). We had a lot of fun finaling the film and were all thrilled with the result. However, the best seems yet to come for this film. Just a few weeks ago I got the word that the film has been nominated for an ANNIE award for BEST ANIMATED SHORT . For a grass-roots film like this to be up against shorts from giants like PIXAR, and WARNER ANIMATION as well as other heavy hitting industry vets and animation studios is truly an incredible accomplishment. It certainly speaks to the artistry and vision Jason has poured into his film. I strongly urge you to check out the trailer and, if at all possible, help be a champion for this film. As for me, I am certainly very proud of the small part I had to play in providing the score and sound design. Check it out at therenter.net
Speaking of animated shorts, one of the films going up against "The Renter" at the ANNIE awards I also happened to work on. As mentioned in the previous entry, Coyote Falls is a Road Runner vs Coyote short produced by Warner Animation that I had the pleasure of cutting sound effects for. Images and downloads from the shorts can now be found online here.
Having previously written tracks for the JibJab/OfficeMax Christmas campaign "Elf Yourself," this year I was again approached to provide music for JibJab's own original 'Starring You' piece Disco Christmas. The track, in vintage disco style, has gone on to become a huge holiday hit for the website which continues to grow its web presence to dominate the holiday E-Card market. It was a pleasure to be a part of their biggest holiday release period of the year. Check it out here.
In addition to the holiday release, this year, the guys from JibJab approached me to help with sound design work on their 2010 year in review, aptly titled So Long To Ya' 2010. The short was created entirely with puppets and is hilarious! It's not every day as a sound designer you get to make the President tap-dance. Thanks again to the crew over at JibJab for letting me have a hand in such a fun project! Check it out at here
The Yogihead album is about to celebrate its one year Birthday and it's important to mention what a great source of joy it has been for me all year long. The album has garnered such fantastic reviews from bloggers, websites, teachers and everyday Yogis! As a result, the sales have been stellar both of both physical and digital copies and only seem to be gaining in momentum. I'd like to thank everyone who has helped spread the word through blogging, reviewing and simple word of mouth. It is such a wonderful community we have and I am honored to have played my small part. Your help is much appreciated. Thank you!!
Again collaborating with Carlos Sanches, we finished post sound on an the upcoming Age of the Dragons. A LOT of work went into the ground up sound design for dragons and medieval machinery for this story of dragon hunters based on the novel Moby Dick. The film is directed by Ryan Little (director of a previous film we provided post sound for, "House of Fears") and stars Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones. For more info, here's the page on IMDB
Other notable accomplishments of 2010 include (details for some of which can be read in previous entries):
Sound Design for the upcoming release Scooby Doo: Attack of the Phantasaur.
Sound design for Season 1 of Kick Buttowski.
The beginning of work on the new Looney Tunes series for Warner Animation.
The official release of Lucinda the Ladybug (available for purchase at CDBaby.com).
It truly was a busy and ultimately, very rewarding year of work. I feel so lucky to hav worked with so many talented people on such a high quality of work. The 2011 slate for Sound Underground is already starting to rapidly fill up and I'm excited to be telling you about it all in the coming months. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
08.10.10_A BUSY 8 MONTHS
It's been quite a hectic 2010 at the Underground thus far! With tons of projects in the bag and a chance to take a breath before the next big wave, here are some updates for you:
Yogihead, my album of music for Yoga Practice and Meditation, was released by Sound Underground in January. Originally released through CDBaby, the album quickly moved on to iTunes as well and has been selling steadily to customers worldwide. A quick google search shows the album to be carried by a number of other digital retailers as well. Advanced copies were sent out for review and the response has been overwhelmingly positive! Most recently, in addition to their extremely positive write up, DailyOm featured the album in it's 'Gift of the Week' series, sending out an email to their over 1 million readers recommending the album. You can read the reviews, learn more about Yogihead and join our Facebook and Twitter communities by visiting yogihead.com The online promotion of the album continues to pick up steam and I'm beginning a push to get them into retail locations throughout Los Angeles.
The children's radioplay Lucinda The Ladybug, produced by JabberBug Media is finished and on sale now at CDBaby. I wrote an entirely orchestral score for this five part audio-only series. Rounding out the sound team were superstar sound designer Kate Marciniak and master mixer Carlos Sanches. The three of us really fell in love with these characters and I believe the work truly speaks for itself. The project is fresh off the presses and any word of mouth is much appreciated! Hear some clips and purchase the album digitally at CDBaby.com.
Sound design for Season 1 of Kick Buttowski took up a great deal of my time over the past 8 months. The show is so well written and produced, it was truly a pleasure to design sound for it. Special shout out to Director Chris Savino whom I worked with for almost a year. We worked very hard at giving the show it's own feel through sound design. Kick has since become the highest rated show on Disney XD and I'm told kids can't get enough of his crazy stunts. Chimichanga!
Another very exciting sound design project are the Coyote vs. RoadRunner shorts for Warner Bros. These animations, preceding 3 feature releases this summer are BEAUTIFUL and in 3D! I worked on the first two releases and I must say, they are fantastic. I am very proud of the work we did and so far, the public seems to really enjoy them as well. Reviews have been very positive. It's great to see everyone excited to see the Coyote get flattened on the big screen again!
Last but not least, JibJab continues to push the envelope, inventing new ways to integrate you into their ever-expanding library of hilarious web content and Sound Underground has been there to help out with music and sound once again in 2010. I've been lucky enough to work on a number of their projects this year, most recently wrapping the Matrix spoof "The Latex" and a track for a big Christmas release coming late this year.
Many more films, shorts and shows are underway. Thanks for tuning in and I'll be back with more details later on this year. Happy August!
12.22.09_'THE '09 WRAP UP
2009 is coming to a close and it was a great year for Sound Underground! I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some projects.
First off, we finished over 20 projects for JibJab alone in 2009, including the JibJab original He's Barack Obama, the CNR music video for Weird Al and most notably, the new music for this year's Elf Yourself campaign. I'd like to extend a huge thank you to the Spiridellis brothers as well as the amazing production team over at JibJab for all of the incredible projects we were able to collaborate on. What a fun year!
On the short film front, sound design work was completed for the amazing animated short Second Wind by Ian Worrel (see post below) and original score was completed for Nadia Hamzeh's film Fiasco, which won the Best Comedy Award at the International Student Film Festival this year.
Earlier in the year, with the help of superstar mixer Carlos Sanches, the sound design and mix were completed for the feature film Quitting by director Chuck Meré. The soundtrack (mixed in 5.1 surround) was a shining example of remote client interaction. The tech we now have at our fingertips allows for very low overhead in long-distance collaborations, keeping costs low for the client without sacrificing the quality of work. I hope to be see a lot more of this in the coming years.
2010 is looking up as well with a very busy slate already in place for the first half of the year. Currently in production is the scoring of Lucinda the Ladybug for clients Mira Vasiljevic and Ellie Martinez. I'm having a blast working up all kinds of fun and quirky cues to support the characters in this very creative children's radioplay. Stay tuned for more on this one for sure! In addition, Sound Underground has a string of spots for talented director/animator Phil Rynda to be completed shortly as well as the score and soundtrack work for an amazing animated film by writer/director/animator Jason Carpenter.
Lastly, the original music album for Yoga practice and meditation, Yogihead is currently being pressed and will arrive shortly for a release at the beginning of 2010. This album was truly a labor of love. Ultimately, I set out to make a collection that would play well in a Yoga or meditative setting. What I ended up with was a through-composed album of very visual and unique tracks that can stand on their own as well. This is the first album produced by Sound Underground, and I am very excited to share this music with you. The album will be available through CD Baby and linked through the
Yogihead website. In addition, there are T-shirts, tote bags and other great
Yogihead merchandise available right now. All products feature amazing graphic designs by artist JJ Paredes.
Again, thank you so much to all of our clients. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year from Sound Underground!
12.14.09_AN EARLY LOOK AT 'KICK BUTTOWSKI'
Disney XD has posted a sneak peak into the new show I'm working on, Kick Buttowski. The show is about Kick, a suburban daredevil, and all the crazy hijinks he gets himself into. Check out the scene below, where a passed out Kick attempts to jump a nuclear reactor, with a little help from his friend Gunther.
10.29.09_WEIRD AL PERFORMS 'CNR' LIVE
Check out this live performance of 'CNR' by Weird Al Yankovic on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I had the pleasure of cutting sound effects for this very funny new track from Al's 'Internet Leaks' collection. Typically, with a complicated performance like this one (tracking along live with visuals) I don't expect the effects to cut through very much, but I was very surpised. The mix sounded fantastic! Also, the folks at JibJab deserve a huge shoutout for producing the awesome video you see playing behind him.
10.19.09_HOLIDAY PROJECTS
The Christmas season came early this year at Sound Underground thanks to JibJab.com and their new batch of fantastic holiday material. For starters, the new music tracks for the 2009 'Elf Yourself' campaign were composed and recorded here at Sound Underground. I don't want to spoil any of the surprises, but I'll just say keep your eye out for these new and very fun videos this Holiday Season.
In addition, Sound Underground has created the soundtrack for a new Facebook gift to be found in the JibJab facebook store. This is a great new medium and I'm really excited to see the kind of reaction these get from all the great Facebook/JibJab users.
8.17.09_SECOND WIND (Animated Short)
Filmmaker and Animator Ian Worrel brought his animated short to me in need of sound design and a final mix. His incredible character design and story made this an inspiring project to work on. My main goal with the soundtrack of the film was to create custom 'outside the box' sound design elements. The windmill and small blue creature in particular benefitted from a great deal of ground-up design and experimentation. I Used Native Instruments KORE FX for it's unique hands-on processing abilities as well as KONTAKT to control the speed and pitch of the various windmill elements. I think the film's soundtrack now supports these beautiful and unique images. Foley record and dialog were both recorded in studio (I personally provided the few vocal reactions of the bearded character, which was a lot of fun). The mix was done with Pro Tools 8.
6.19.09_HE'S BARACK OBAMA
The guys at Jib Jab have created a new original short and I was lucky enough to be able to help out with the sound design. The piece features a superhero version of Obama fixing all of our nation's problems. They found the sound design process to be a lot of fun and blogged about our collaboration. Check out the video below and then take a look at the blog entry for some behind the scenes info and a 'sound effects only' render of the short!
click for to read the blog entry
I've recently finished a bunch of shorts for the website jibjab.com and wanted to point you to the site since they do a ton of REALLY funny videos and ecards. Below is one of my favorites that I provided both music and sound design for. More projects on the way!
Jeff's latest project, Yogihead, an album of original music for yoga practice and meditation, is officially off the ground. The new website is up and 6 'audio snippets' are available for preview. Look for the release of the Yogihead album some time in November of this year. For now, sign up for the mailing list and recieve a free download from the album.
click for Yogihead
5.11.08_PKP KAST
Jeff's great friends and fellow musicians Mike Kwapisz and Scott Post of PKP have been kind enough to feature the music of Sound Underground on their electronic music podcast. Check out Episode 13 for the latest feature, with discussions of the music making process as well as an insider look into Creation Inc. Make sure and go through some of the archives to see all of the great music they're putting out, or search iTunes for "PKP Kast" and download some of the episodes they have already produced!
click for the kast
2.10.08_CREATION INC.
In addition to providing music and sound design for this animated pilot, Jeff also co-wrote and co-produced it. This is a grass roots effort and we highly encourage everyone to check it out and leave us your comments.
click to view it
1.4.08_FREE TONES FOR YOUR PHONE
Over 1500 downloads and counting!! Sound Underground has created some original ringtones and message tones which are available for free from myxertones.com.
click for tones
11.29.07_INTERVIEW
I recently did an interviewed with Transformers fansite tformers.com about my work on the new Animated Transformers series. In it, I discuss the process of establishing a show for sound as well as the challenge of bringing a classic series back for a modern audience.
click to read it