San Jose Sharks- "Sharks For Life"

It's September and that means NHL hockey is just around the corner, plus it also marks that it's time for some San Jose Sharks work at Hands on Sound.  Recently I did the location sound for some TV & Web commercials with the Sharks and their creative agency, Division of Labor.  Once they had their picture edits locked I moved onto the sound mix to creative the final deliverables.

Here is the first of the new series...The Spelling Bee. Two variations on this spot are currently airing.   Enjoy....and GO SHARKS!!!

Applied Weather Technology

This past week Hands on Sound provided location sound recording at Applied Weather Technology (AWT) in Sunnyvale, CA for a marketing & trade show video shoot produced by Pete Geer and Moto Agency.  DP on this job was Roy Kurtluyan from New Circuit Films.  Once again our work gave us a glimpse into yet another interesting world....that of worldwide shipping...and in particular... weather routing services and fleet management.

Applied Weather Technology, Inc. (AWT) leads the industry with 50,000 ship voyages routed annually, award winning fleet management tools and more than 5,000 ships using its BVS onboard route optimization system. Its weather routing, marine weather forecasts and other products are designed to help ship owners, charterers, operators, fleet managers and captains identify the safest, most fuel-efficient routes for their fleets. Our goal is to make shipping smarter, safer and more profitable while reducing environmental impact.

The Wok from Albuquerque to San Francisco Chinatown

So often I find that answering the call for a gig, brings more often than not a fascinating adventure and opportunity to experience something unique and memorable.  One such job was location sound with filmmaker Maxwell Duryea on his short The Wok from Albuquerque to San Francisco Chinatown.

In this piece, Tane Chan, the owner of the Wok Shop in San Francisco Chinatown, shares how an act of kindness done by her parents in Albuquerque was paid forward to her many years later. This is the true story of how Tane was able to get her store because of an act of kindness performed many years earlier by her parents; the second Chinese family to arrive in Albuquerque.

Watch The Wok Shop here

Earth-Neil Young + Promise Of The Real

Neil Young's new live album hits the streets today, entitled Earth.  Taking songs recorded during the Rebel Content Tour in 2015, Neil went into the studio with producer John Hanlon to add a choir and an assortment of sound effects to the concert mix. The sounds of the natural environment as well as the manmade world blend themselves into this song cycle to form a cohesive tale.  I'm honored to once again be part of a Neil Young release and to have some of my field recordings used on Earth...all captured at high resolution 24 bit 192kHz.  Quality ...whether you want it....or not.   Enjoy.

Earth is available at the Pono Music Store  and the usual online retailers such as Amazon.

 

Tracking The Treacherous French

I'm really enjoying bringing recording artists into Hillside Recorders in Hayward, CA these days.  Such a great sounding room and the staff lead by Bob Nunes and Jim Hawthorne make for smooth and productive sessions,

A few weeks ago we had the Bay Area indie group The Treacherous French in for a day and they walked away that evening with 5 songs tracked, overdubbed and and mixed.  One nice surprise was a twist on Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", to which they lent the band's signature swampy, Cajun, folky Celtic sound to… this time including accordion and glockenspiel.     Treacherous indeed!

 

Patreon & The Art Revolution

Being based out of the San Francisco Bay Area allows me the opportunity to be exposed to many great creative people, production groups and energetic businesses thru the work I do.  One booking recently was with Eva Luna Marini on her short piece that looks at Patreon, an innovative start up venture in San Francisco.

Wikipedia tells us this about Patreon- Patreon is a crowd-funding platform popular with YouTube content creators, musicians, and webcomic artists. It allows artists to obtain funding from their fans or patrons, on a recurring basis, or per work of art.  This San Francisco based company was started by musician Jack Conte and developer Sam Yamin 2013. Patreon has been featured in Forbes, Billboard, and Time magazine.  

Patreon was founded in May 2013 by artist Jack Conte, who was looking for a way to make a living from his popular YouTube videos. Together with Sam Yam he developed a platform that allows patrons to donate a set amount of money every time an artist creates a work of art. The company raised 2.1 million dollars in August 2013 from a group of venture capitalists and angel investors. In June 2014 the company raised a further $15,000,000 in a series A round led by Danny Rimer of Index Ventures.

The company has signed up more than 125,000 "patrons" in its first 18 months. In late 2014, the website announced that patrons were sending over $1,000,000 per month to the site's content creators.

Spoiled To Perfection- Episode 5

Update to the April 19th post on my location sound work with the web food series Spoiled To Perfection.  Episode 5 is now complete and takes a look at Sonoma Brothers Distillers and their grain to glass handcrafted spirits.  To find recipes and more depth looks at these craftsmen at work, go to the Spoiled To Perfection website.  Kudos to Shoot Blue Productions, Steve Rustad and Alan Campbell for their ongoing fine work on the series.

 

Instaply- "Reimagining The Way We Connect"

Recently Hands on Sound was called upon to provide Location Sound Recording for a video shoot that was promoting the Instaply App and in particular it's use by local retailer, Cole Hardware.  This handy App allows customers to interact directly with businesses rather than calling or sending e-mail inquiries.  One takeaway for me in this case study was learning that a customer wanting to know if a product was in stock/ on order or not gets an immediate text reply and notification instead of the frustration of being placed on hold…perhaps indefinitely.  In toddy's fast paced and competitive world, Instaply IS transforming the customer experience.