Santa Monica, CA, May 1, 2012 — Award winning music company Endless Noise was the winner of three 2012 Clio Awards. The company won a Gold Clio in the category “Music (Adapted)” and also a Bronze Clio in “Sound Design” for its work on behalf of client VW on the spot “The Bark Side.” Endless Noise also won a Silver Clio in the category of “Music (Licensed)” for its VW spot “Rocketman.”
ABOUT “THE BARK SIDE:”
In early 2012, Endless Noise crafted the infamous “Darth Vader Theme” as a piece of music emanating from the mouths of a dozen barking dogs for “The Bark Side,” a Volkswagen TV and viral web spot. This musical work, with over 16-million hits on YouTube to date, is just the latest in this genre of “rendered noise” TV and film projects for which Endless Noise and its founder/composer Jeff Elmassian have become renowned as pioneers.
Volkswagen and Deutsch, Los Angeles, unveiled “The Bark Side,” a 60-second 2012 Super Bowl teaser on YouTube and then on broadcast TV during an episode of “The Middle” on ABC. The spot stars a variety of dogs barking a canine rendition of “The Imperial March,” aka “Darth Vader’s Theme,” the track featured in last year’s VW Super Bowl darling, “The Force.”
The ad was directed by Keith Schofield of Caviar Content, who said the dogs were shot together and then separately on the set, barking to a temporary track created by Endless Noise’s Jeff Elmassian, who was also behind the arrangement of John William’s original Vader march for “The Force.” Prior to production, “we talked about how this should probably be handled like a music video,” said Deutsch Director of Integrated Content Vic Palumbo. “We needed to create the track first and then figure out who the dogs are, what notes they’re going to be singing.”
For the final track, Elmassian created a mix of archived dog barks and yelps recorded on set, rounded out by newly recorded woofs and howls-a number of which were later pitched to match the actual tune. One of the biggest challenges was the balancing act of using unaltered dog barks and digitally enhanced ones. The final mix featured a combination of both. “The human ear is discerning enough that even a lay person can tell when something is synthetic,” said Elmassian. “You want a certain amount of barks to not be effected. Your ear will anchor onto enough of those and start to forgive some of the sounds that do border more on the effected side.”
There was also the problem of matching yelp to snout. “We wanted the barks to sound like they were actually intoning a pitch, but it’s also important that we needed them to sound like the specific dog,” said Elmassian. “You may have a great Labrador with the right pitch, but at that moment it’s the Chihuahua barking. You can’t put a Lab’s bark into the Chihuahua voice.” Assembling it all involved a very delicate dance between sound and edit. The barks themselves start out sounding a bit cryptic and random, until they build into something really familiar.”
To View “The Bark Side,” pls visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BaHFYwIP3U&list=PL611111C9FBB5DA2C&index…
CREDITS FOR “THE BARK SIDE”:
Music and Sound Design: Endless Noise
Endless Noise composed
the all-canine chorus arrangement
of John Williams’ “The Imperial March”
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Agency: Deutsch LA
Director: Keith Schofield
Production: Caviar
Editorial: Union Editorial
Editor: Nicholas Wayman-Harris
Audio Post: Lime Studios
Mixer: Mark Meyuhaus
Special Effects: Method
ABOUT “ROCKETMAN”:
The words to Elton John‘s 1972 space bound ballad “Rocket Man,” from his album “Honky Chateau,” are hopelessly mangled by a variety of would-be singers in this Volkswagen Passat commercial from 2011, for which Endless Noise provided the sound design, helped pre-arrange the music, and even created an elevator music version of this track.
As the final line of the chorus — “Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone” – plays, supermarket clerks, exercise enthusiasts, waitresses, and a man in the shower all take their turns messing up the lyrics. Their creative if misguided interpretations include “burning out this useless telephone,” “my hair is gone” and “burning up the room with cheap cologne.”It’s not until a couple gets behind the wheel of the Volkswagen Passat that someone gets the words right.
The commercial promotes the Passat with its “crystal clear Fender premium audio,” among other impressive features, that allows drivers to hear the music they love that much better.
To view “Rocketman,” please visit:
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/elton-john-rocket-man-commercial-volkswag…
CREDITS FOR “ROCKETMAN”:
Music and Sound Design: Endless Noise
Deutsch, Los Angeles
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Hunter
Executive Creative Director: Michael Kadin
Executive Creative Director: Matt Ian
CD: Ryan Scott, Ryan Hitzel
Producer: Dave Stephenson
Director: Lance Accord
Production Company: Park Pictures
ABOUT ENDLESS NOISE:
Based in Santa Monica, CA, Endless Noise is an award-winning music and sound design company founded by renowned musician/composer Jeff Elmassian. The company specializes in Original Music, Sound Design, Remix/Mash-up, Sound FX Library, Musical Arranging, and Music Licensing. The studio composes and produces innovative music and sound design for commercials, TV programs, the web, feature films, interactive/multimedia projects and video games.
Clients of Endless Noise include Nike, Coca-Cola, Audi, Lexus, Honda, American Express, Motorola, MasterCard, Nissan and Kyocera to name a few. Building on its Grammy, Cannes Gold Lion, Clio, AICP, D&AD, London International Advertising, ANDY and One Show awards, Endless Noise continues to wow the sonic senses with its mastery of composition, versatility, and fearlessness of pushing the boundaries of music.
Recent industry recognition includes a 2007 Clio Award for Best Sound Design for its EA Games “Night Sky” spot, an AICP Award for Best Musical Arrangement for Garmin “Moose,” and Nike Russia “Ballerina” as a finalist for the Cannes Gold Lion in 2008. The company’s address is: 1825 Stanford Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404, and the phone is 310.694.8251 or 424.268.4102.
For more information, please see: www.endlessnoise.com
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