Jul 18, 2005
Posted by Mike in Advertising,Audio Production
0 Comments
The Responsive Chord
One of my favorite pages in Tony Schwartz’ “The Responsive Chord” has a black & white picture of a factory with smokestacks billowing out smoke. On the page previous the explanation is as follows:
“In the 1930′s, a picture of a factory with smoke billowing from several smokestacks meant “prosperity.” Today, the same picture means “pollution.”
Why would the man who the New York Times called the “King of Sound” even touch this? For advertising folks, it says “Know thy audience”. For audio professionals it says “Know thy audience”. Why would an audio genius claim to know anything at all about the similiarity between audio production and advertising. He understood the basis for good communication and its simple…You’ve got to know your audience. Remember, he was the guy that first put the “fizz” in soft drink commercials, he certainly understood.
If you were advertising a weight loss product, where would you advertise it, in Fitness Magazine or in Guitar Player ? Hopefully you picked Fitness Magazine. Similiarly, if you’re an audio engineer, shouldn’t you test your mixes in places like the car, on a boom box or in headphones before you call the mix complete? Once again…”Know thy audience”.
I’ve heard too many mixes where it sounds like the engineer didn’t take the time to “Know thy audience”. Maybe the bass sounds boomy in your car but not at home or perhaps your headphones bring out the highs that you just don’t hear in your living room. Its not your speakers, its the quality of the mix.
Which is just my point: Predict where your audience will hear your recordings (Read: Just about anywhere) and check your mixes on multiple speakers in multiple places. Your recordings will sound better overall and you will serve your music well. Maybe we as audio professionals can learn a thing or two from the advertising profession.
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