Heckler Sound Reimagines Iconic Tracks for Trio of Major Campaigns
Heckler Sound has recently worked across three high-profile Aussie campaigns that have all implemented the use of iconic licensed tracks, supervised and licensed through Trailer Media.
Getting under the musical hood of campaigns Belong ‘More of the Good Stuff’, UNICEF Australia ‘Climate Change Is Changing Childhood’ and Optus ‘Why Optus?’, Heckler Sound partner and creative director Johnny Green admits there is an art to music editing on well-known licensed tracks.
For Belong ‘More of the Good Stuff’, Green was tasked with reworking Dean Martin’s infamous track ‘That’s Amore’ to suit a whimsical underwater world created by animation directors Zombie via creative agency Howatson+Company. Green says: “I took Zombie’s lead on what their vision for placement sounded like and helped it along with tightening the sync to visuals. Filtering and effects were applied to the beginning of the song to make it feel like it was emerging from the ocean depths and the song also features a key shift, which I had to attenuate for the purpose of continuity and resolve.”
He explains that lyrically it had to be sympathetic to what the audience was seeing.
“For example, when our hero eel’s eyes open, the lyric ‘Moon hits your eyes’ matches sync and lyric ‘Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay’ syncs with our starfish’s dance, and so on. Getting the music edit to work meant slightly modifying the end to be in the same key signature, and thankfully, it was only a semitone difference and worked seamlessly without compromising authenticity or audio quality.”
In the UNICEF Australia campaign, the idea focuses on how the experience of childhood has altered over the years, due to the effects of climate change, and was set to Radiohead’s ‘No Surprises’, which the band generously donated. Working with Howatson+Company and Trailer Media director, Anton Trailer, Green was briefed to marry the track’s powerful lyrics to the campaign’s urgent message.
Assisting in editing track ‘Like Wow – Wipeout!’
In the UNICEF Australia campaign, the idea focuses on how the experience of childhood has altered over the years, due to the effects of climate change, and was set to Radiohead’s ‘No Surprises’, which the band generously donated. Working with Howatson+Company and Trailer Media director, Anton Trailer, Green was briefed to marry the track’s powerful lyrics to the campaign’s urgent message.
Assisting in editing track ‘Like Wow – Wipeout!’ for Emotive’s Optus campaign, Green worked closely with the track’s original creator, Dave Faulkner of the Hoodoo Gurus. It became obvious quickly that he needed a version of the track without lyrics for it to work with a voice over. A non-lyrical version didn’t exist, or would have taken too long to procure, so Trailer Media put Green in direct contact with Sony/ATV Music head of creative licensing Dan Palm and Dave Faulkner to use an approved Sony instrumental version.
Green says: “I worked closely with Dave to edit and place the best parts of the instrumental to the spots and cut it in and out with the master with lyrics. It was great to have direct comms with Dave to make sure he felt good about how the instrumental represented the iconic moments of that song. Cutting the instrumental in and out of the master containing lyrics meant a bit of EQ and level matching to keep them both consistent, sonically.”
Commenting on the experience, Faulkner says: “It was a pleasure working with Johnny as he adapted our recording for the Optus campaign. Johnny was very professional, as one would expect, but also sympathetic to the artistic values of the underlying song.
“Condensing an entire song into a soundbite can turn it into something resembling Frankenstein’s monster: bits and pieces stitched together haphazardly. However, Johnny was creative and flexible, and he captured the spirit of our song perfectly while also meeting the brief required by his client. A good job all round.”
