Actor Omar Miller records for Old Navy via ISDN at Uptempo

Omar Miller known for his roles in "8 Mile", "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", "Homefront" and the upcoming HBO's "Ballers" visited our studio to record via ISDN an upcoming read spot for Old Navy.

Mexican Star Kate Del Castillo records an ADR session at Uptempo

Kate Del Castillo, one of the most popular mexican artist in the last decade came to Uptempo to record an ADR session for her most recent film "Visitantes" where she has the lead role. "Visitantes" premiered in Mexico with a huge success in the Box Office.
This is the 4th time that Uptempo works with Del Castillo who had previously recorded sessions via ISDN as a spokesperson Time Warner Cable.

Actor Ben Mendelsohn records at Uptempo

Australian Award winning actor Ben Mendelsohn (Dark Knight Rises, Killing Them Softly, The Place Beyond the Pines, etc.) recording ADR in Miami for one of his upcoming films.

Actor Tony Dalton records ADR for HBO's Sr. Avila at Uptempo

Sr. Avila, one of the best produced series in Spanish for HBO is already in its second season. Tony Dalton (Sr. Avila) came to our studios to record the ADR for the full season.

Sportscaster Ahmad Rashad records at Uptempo during NBA Finals

Former NFL Star and Emmy Award winning Sportscaster Ahmad Rashad visited Uptempo to record the voice over for a series of spots for NBA Cares during the recent NBA Finals. 

Click here to view one of the videos 

Award winning actress Geraldine Chaplin records with Uptempo

As part of her upcoming role in the movie "Panda Eyes", award winning actress Geraldine Chaplin came to our studios to record an ADR session via ISDN.

In the movie directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sophie Turner (aka Sanja in Game of Thrones) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors, MIssion Impossible III), Chaplin plays the character of Mrs. Brennan.

The movie is estimated to be released this year.

Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan records and ISDN session @ Uptempo in Miami

Another high profile ISDN recording session in Miami was performed by Uptempo with actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Morgan is actually starring the Starz series Magic City which is being produced in Miami.

Disneyland's newest attraction Luigi's Flying Tires gets narrated by Tony Shalhoub at Uptempo

Disneyland's Carsland recently opened in California and one of its main attractions is the new Luigi's Flying Tires ride.
In this state of the art ride, families will get to enjoy giant floating tires as well as the narration of award winning actor Tony Shalhoub (Luigi's character in the movie "Cars").
Uptempo had the priviledge of recording all the narration of Mr. Shalhoub with the direction of top creatives from Pixar Studios in California.
To have a virtual tour of the ride click here 

BBC Radio interviews Cedella Marley via ISDN from Miami @ Uptempo

In an ISDN interview from Miami, Jo Fidgen from the BBC, meets Cedella Marley, the eldest child of Jamaican musician Bob Marley. She talks about why he was the ultimate competitive dad, how he wrote a song for her and about her own recent achievements designing the kit for the Jamaican Olympic team. An interesting interview that you can't miss. Click here to listen the stream.

 

New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey talks about his new book via ISDN recording in Miami

New York Mets Pitcher R.A. Dickey came to our studio to record for Public Radio International and we were expecting a sports talk. Then we found out a very interesting and inspirational story of a man with a very difficult past who overcame everything to be very successful. You can listen to the full interview in this link

 

Bruce Campbell, Producer, Writer and B-Movie Icon: Interview for Public Radio International recorded at Uptempo

Bruce Campbell is best known as a B movie icon and one of the stars of the Evil Dead films. He's also a writer and producer who's continued to have a DIY aesthetic and feeling infuse his work (including his own film, My Name Is Bruce). He talks to PRI's The Sound of Young America about finding a niche in horror and black humor, obsessive fans, and more.

You can see him on Thursdays at 9/8c on USA's Burn Notice as covert operative Sam Axe and in his own spin-off TV movie Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, now on DVD.

Burn Notice's actor Jeffrey Donovan records at Uptempo

Music Should Challenge, Not Compliment

Just imagine for a second that we changed the musical anthem of Jaws-a movie where we watch about 90% of the action without it’s biggest star. All we get is a fin and a whole bunch of water. What if we gave it something more like a car chase scene type of music or a full symphony building drama with every string? Wouldn’t that be expected? Wouldn't you anticipate such a music for people running feverishly for their lives from a giant killer shark? Instead, we go a much simpler and stronger piece, one that still makes us all think twice every time we decide to put a toe in the ocean. And that’s the emotional power of music that dares to challenge our senses rather than complimenting what we anticipate it to be. And for commercial production, the senses need to be challenged the same way.

You see, music is the bond that connects visuals to audiences. But the right music, the music that is remembered by audiences shouldn’t always be what is expected. If we cue up 100 chase scenes in commercials or even movies, we can quickly identify the same theme among each and every spot. However, in a spot for Windows (click to see the spot) , we see a chase scene that uses a more dramatic and emotional musical tone-escaping the traditional chase scene music. With this piece, our character is so emotionally distraught with what she’s loosing, she will do whatever it takes to get it back. And we only get this understanding though the music. Remove it and replace with a high-energy chase scene score, and we get what we expect, a chase scene. Boring because we know what's coming-there's no need to pay attention. And in doing so, we loose the emotional tie and audience investment as to why she is chasing after the apps and why she is so compelled to do so.

If we replace the current music in the Windows commercial with a chase scene score we are left wondering and constructing the story on our own. Did the apps rob her? Perhaps, she was a crazy glue-sniffing app stalker and they were trying to get away? Or just maybe, the apps were trying out to be the new Yankee’s mascot and shot a t-shirt cannon into the stands which caused the woman to spill her jumbo coke and hot dog all down her shirt and she was trying to get them to pay for dry cleaning? We could construct a hundred scenarios, but the music as it stands does a great job of conveying the feeling it wants us to, more so than if they would have used music typically expected by the audience in this type of scene.

The goal, a lot of times for music is to do what’s the audience will expect-to compliment the visuals. And when we get what we expect, it tends to blend in and not be remembered. But as we dive in closer to the purpose of music in commercials, we can see that music which challenges what the audience expects has a greater opportunity to build stronger emotional bonds. To do this, we must get out of our comfort zones when it comes to selecting music and pick or create music to relate the emotion or reason for the action rather than the action itself. When music is used to compliment what is expected, the visuals becomes what is expected. There is a familiarity but no breakthrough. But when music challenges the visuals, it has a way of transforming the visuals and creating a more powerful experience than either piece could do alone.

WWE's Paul "The Big Show" Wight records for USA Network at Uptempo

Five time wrestling's World Champion Paul "The Big Show" Wight visited Uptempo to record an ADR session for USA Network's "Royal Pains".

The episode named "Keeping the Faith" aired last week and can be seen on USA's website.

The Importance of Music Selection

So it appears music has come out from just lining the shells of corporate jingles to being the driver of commercial recognition and why shouldn’t it be? In Uptempo Music & Audio Post (our recording studio in Miami) , we have recently seen a trend in commercial production where song selection is becoming the instrumental elements of great brand commercials. One, reason for this shift in the industry could be attributed to Apple’s initial iPod campaign-simple in graphics but bold in music. It was their calling card, and as Apple’s success grew, so did other national advertisers attention to how it was creating its messages.

To date, Apple continues to travel down the same creative lines that thrust its brand back into national prominence-simple graphics driven by catchy melodies. Often times kick starting the career of the musical artists chosen by Apple, as iTunes sales go through the stratosphere when a new campaign is released. Now just because we’re music people it doesn’t mean we don’t love great special effects, humor and big visual productions in commercials as the next person. But you can’t deny the use and importance of song creation and selection in commercials these days. Often times, artists are sough out and held exclusively as their sound becomes synonymous with the brand. It’s the battle of brands finding the next big musical star before anyone else can. It even means scavenging artists who’s sound align themselves with your brand and making them a hit along with your brand, and not as much as, choosing songs from highly over-priced rights held by the top Billboard artists. So, to recap: big brands find unknown artists, little money is spent to obtain rights, music becomes definition of brand=huge success.

In fact, the formula has been so successful, international brands are seeking to such musical connections made for exclusively for them. Take a look at the new Gatorade Commercial http://bit.ly/dmG0ba in which, you think you are listening to a retro track that you’re grandpappy once listened to, transformed for and refurbished for a new commercial. Well actually, it was made just months ago as Gatorade sought out a company to produce the song from scratch for them. And it goes both ways, AT&T sought out Gene Wilder’s, “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in it’s newest Imagination campaign http://bit.ly/clGmlf . Now, while both commercials dazzle with a carousel of visual images and effects it is the songs that resonate with consumers and really separate the commercials from the daily noise. What’s great is that all genres are using music as the universal connection to audiences. Even the hack em’ and shoot em’ Xbox title, Gears of War has built it’s brand on commercials that feature riveting and emotionally binding music titles. The first game trailer featured the song, “Mad World.” The newest trailer, “Ashes to Ashes” for Gears of War 3, http://bit.ly/8X8pqN features the weary and worn sound of "Heron Blue" by folk group Sun Kil Moon led by Mark Kozelek.

So, what does this mean for brands? It means that music selection is as important as ever. It means more time developing a sincere sound for your campaigns that evolve beyond the top 100. It means searching the internet for that next big star waiting to be discovered but currently under the radar. Or it means hiring a production company to start fresh. Give them the parameters of the campaign and allowing them to build an emotional musical connection for your audiences. It means building an integrated approach to your campaigns by releasing commercials then giving consumers the tools to access the details, find the song and even buy it. You can take it a step further; make it your on-hold or elevator music. Make it part of your culture and in return, it will turn audiences into advocates as they resonate at a deeper level with your brand then just being targeted with a message. Because music is one medium we can all relate to and escape with and we will. We will take it and run so fast you’ll never get it back. We’ll share it with friends and family, we’ll even make it our ringtone for strangers to hear. So, when that opportunity presents itself, make sure it is something we would willingly escape with.

British singer Simon Webbe supports Think! campaign broadcasting live to the UK from Uptempo

Simon Webbe famous for being part of the band Blue as well as singing themes for "Batman The Dark Night" and "The Fantastic Four" visited Uptempo for a live broadcast via ISDN with radio stations all across the United Kingdom in support of the THINK! campaign which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries amongst motorcyclists by humanising them in the eyes of car drivers.

A TV spot for the campaign has been recently launched in the UK Media.

To listen to one of those interviews with the BBC radio, click here.

Nascar's Juan Pablo Montoya records at Uptempo

The race car driver known internationally for participating and winning in Formula One and CART race competitions and currently competing in NASCAR was recording a voice over for one of his sponsors.