2020 IN REVIEW
At this point it’s hardly novel to point out what a stressful year 2020 has been, in so many ways. Still, I’ve been heartened by the people I’ve seen around me struggling to make things better— also in many ways, large and small. And looking back, I’m kind of amazed at what Junior Birdman Audio was able to pull off this year. I’m looking forward to a 2021 full of renewal and rejuvenation. Here’s to the new year!
In 2020, three corporate video projects I worked on won high-profile awards. I released two albums, and brought another one back from the Great Beyond. I stewarded my first intern, and got to play on an album by one of my favorite local musicians. I created sound cues for a puppet show. Music I’d written appeared in TV shows around the world. And-- as ever-- I provided sound effects, Foley, custom music, and final mix for a wide variety of visual media.
GRITSTONE VIDEO WINS GOLD AWARD AT FOURTEENERS COLORADO MARKETING AWARDS
Above: A medical video I sound edited and mixed won big at this year’s Fourteener Colorado Marketing Awards. The piece above won the Gold Award for Long-Form Video, and was nominated for Best in Show. Congrats to all involved! More info
ORIGINAL MUSIC PLACEMENTS
Early in 2020 I released “Moving Forward”, an album of production library music. This year, these tracks and other original music by yours truly appeared in pieces like a documentary about Big Bang Theory, a reality show on the Netherlands’ Net 5 network, a daytime program on Germany’s RTL Television, a British app for pet owners, and of course a Dutch vlogger’s golf excursion.
KEEP DULUTH CLEAN: CUSTOM MUSIC, SOUND EDIT + MIX FOR PSA
Above: Duluth-based animator Brian Barber brought me aboard to compose original music, edit sound and mix this PSA for the Keep Duluth Clean project, a collaboration between Loll Designs and Flint Group. I cooked up a kitschy music track and augmented Brian’s sound effects with some of my own— for the pop cans thrown into the waste can, I eventually wound up recording an aluminum can bouncing off the two-wheel cart in my storage space, since (surprisingly) I couldn’t find the right kind of metal-on-metal impact in my library. Oh, and the guy yelling “Ain’t that the truth!” toward the beginning is me.
AD FED 2020 "THE SHOW" AWARDS: 3M "BUILT TO PERFORM" MARKETING VIDEO
Shinebox Creative won the awards in Branded Content and Cinematography for this piece at AdFed’s The Show 2020. I’m happy to have contributed FX edit, Foley, and final mix to this marketing video for 3M. Tailored to the needs of pro contractors, the aesthetic centers dedication, durability, and reliability in the face of demanding circumstances. More info
CUSTOM MUSIC, SOUND DESIGN, AND MIX FOR FILM IN 2020
In roles varying from consultant to composer to sound editor to mixer, I got to work with a wide variety of filmmakers this year-- ranging from old friends like John Akre and Matthew Anderson to new collaborators like experimental documentarian Amy Scatliff, auteur Vanessa Horrocks, and animator Michael Van Swearingen. Film festival showings included a Minneapolis-St Paul International Film Festival screening for “Happily Married After”, a film directed by Allison Guessou for which I provided an original musical score, sound edit, and final mix.
2020 also saw the release of “Uganda Gold”, a documentary by J.D. O’Brien about rural Ugandans’ struggle to obtain clean drinking water. I served as composer, sound designer, and mixer. You can see clips of my original musical score here and here, and watch the complete film here.
10 ITEMS OR FEWER
As the stay-at-home order descended over Minnesota, I fought cabin fever by resurrecting a music project I’d abandoned almost 20 years ago. I’ve been painstakingly rebuilding sessions from ancient CD-Rs, hard drives, and even minidiscs, unlocking just the right combo of recombinant computer, DAW, and dongle. I also commissioned remote session performances from friends like Ben Glaros. The current “band name”: 10 Items or Fewer, a choice made easier by the fact that the dot-com was available, and that I now own it. You’ll hear more about this in 2021. Sleep in fear!
MN STAR AWARD
Walk the Moon Media won in the Event Filmmaking (Videography) category at the International Live Events Association’s 2020 virtual MN Star Awards ceremony! Junior Birdman Audio was pleased to provide music editing, sound design and mix on Walk the Moon’s video content for The One Forum, an annual meeting produced by Be The Match for the bone and marrow transplant community. See/ hear some of the pieces we created here.
CHARLIE MCCARRON’S “2020” ALBUM
Charlie McCarron’s dreamy new album “2020” is out, and I’m honored to have helped out a tiny bit with it. The record reminds me a lot of Arthur Russell, and the “Morning Phase” corner of the Beck multiverse. Lovely stuff!
I played a whole bunch of percussion and found objects on the track “Creatures Large and Small”— overdubbing a ton of tracks where I plunked along on a variety of percussion instruments and found objects, leaving the heavy lifting to mixer Andy Thompson to weave a more tasteful tapestry from the bag of yarn I tossed his way.
Oh, and there’s a video for the track I played on, and somebody’s covered it already! Plus, there’s an instrumental version of the whole album!
I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with Charlie in an artisinal capacity several times, and it’s a real treat to be a part of his art as well. Congrats, Charlie! Excellent work.
THE BEAST
Released from the depths of quarantine, “The Beast” is collection of soundtrack work compiled from my original music and sound design for “Nowhere Left to Run”-- a dreamlike, post-apocalyptic experimental film by Felipe Mafasoli. See clips featuring my score here and here. This collection reconstitutes the raw materials I generated and documented for the film, layering them into a new configuration for an experience facilitated exclusively by listening. More info
2021: NEW PROJECTS AFOOT
Goodness gracious! What new shenanigans could this image portend? All I can tell you is that it’s a quirky one, and that there’s all sorts of newness cooking in preparation for 2021. Stay tuned, and stay frosty! Thanks so much for your time and attention. Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and take care.
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