The National Association of Broadcasters, DeVito/Verdi and 38 Greene Studios in New York City have teamed up to produce two celebrity-filled campaigns to recognize the role radio plays in building artists’ careers. Numerous multi-platinum award-winning recording artists including Nelly, Alisha Keys, Ludacris, Avril Lavigne, Ashanti, Leann Rimes and Hoobastank provided the voiceovers for the 30-second spots while up-and-coming artists such as John Legend, The Ditty
Bops, Brook Valentine and The Bravery voiced the 60-second announcements.
The celebrity spots were sound-designed at 38 Greene by engineers Casey Chester and Adam Charity after being recorded on the road by the artists. Chester and Charity then scored the music tracks under the voiceovers, providing different moods for each spot, from Avril Levigne’s taking place in a small club to other artists’ surroundings which sounded more produced.
The up-and-coming artist spots gave the performers 40 seconds to do and say whatever they wanted. For example, John Legend’s features a call from him to a Chicago radio director thanking her, followed by the mixing of sounds and a song of his being played.
The campaign will continue to feature testimonials from artists of different genres ranging from Rap and R&B to Country, paying tribute to the value of radio. Charity comments, “We were able to put these artists in a setting that we wanted. To be placed in a position with the freedom to do that was great.” Chester agrees, “The freedom we were given to collaborate freely with the writers was somewhat unique – not only did we have our hand on engineering and the musical composition, but on the entire production process.”
Barbara Goldman produced for DeVito/Verdi; DeVito ‘s Carlos Figueiredo and Larissa Kirschner wrote the celebrity scripts; Dan Angiachetti and John Clement wrote up-and-coming artist scripts; Casey Chester and Adam Charity of 38 Greene handled all production, sound design and original composition.
To hear samples of the campaigh, log on to www.38greene.com and click on FTP Access User: 38greenpr; Passoword: radio
