Iberdrola | Music & Sound

•

Follow Following Unfollow

An empowering classical melody

A vibrant trance pushing the spectator into a rough wall of sound

CLIENT | IBERDROLA

WORK | MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN

CASE STUDY

Brief

Blur Films + Marc Corominas + Sra Rushmore

This story needed a soundtrack and music that would accentuate the additive and sustained character of the visual piece, but without any fancy tricks or musical pirouettes. We needed a

simple and delicate sound design that emanated an attitude of determination, pertinence,

and effort before a specific objective.

Initially we created a very blunt Foley track, which fit with the wide shots and immense spaces

at the beginning of the piece. However, the sounds – steps, breathing – had to be closer, more textured and organic. For the music, we composed a classical and minimalist melody that

conveyed resolve and power. We use a cyclical arpeggio, adding a note to the one before it.

This closed in on a vibrant trance that pushes the spectator into a rough wall of sound. We also wanted the music to emerge from the Foley; from the sound that they generated, from their push, until they reached a point of tension where the music dropped off and abruptly stopped playing.

The string and organ chords give the piece a ritual, sacred, and transcendent feeling.

Technical observations

/Shepard Tone

To strengthen the ascending sense of the piece we drew inspiration from the psychoacoustic effects of the Shepard tone. The Shepard tone is an auditory illusion of a sound that continually seems to ascend or descend.

/Foley

We put special dedication in the most aerobic aspect of the piece: human breathing, to convey effort, tenacity, and the human quality of the images.

/Piano

To get the desired combination of hardness and cleansing, we came to try three different pianos: a grand piano in a large space, a baby grand in a smaller space, and an upright — a Schimmel — in a domestic space, which was recorded with eight microphones.