MUSIC FOR ANIMATION: WORK IN PROGRESS

Some recent music composition for an experimental animation piece. The film is all about imagery that shifts, drifts, and dissolves. The visual presentation is somewhat lo-fi, yet expansive and abstract.

After watching and thinking about the animation, what seemed appropriate was to put together some conventional music— something jazzy and “vintage” made sense (made 100% with virtual instruments)— and then, as I often do, use the individual tracks as source material for audio collage. As ever, it’s like crafting a stained glass window, shattering it, and then reassembling the shards in some new configuration.

At this point I’ve “futzed” the sound of the music to make it resemble something coming out of an antique radio. Eventually I’ll probably add some vinyl pops to make it sound more like an old record player. I’ve already started scrambling the elements to pull a score together. It’s been a lot of fun so far.

= = = = =

BEN AND DOPEY: SOUND + MUSIC CONSULTING

Lately I’ve been serving as a sound and music consultant on the feature film “Ben and Dopey” by animator John Akre. It’s a lot of fun listening to the original songs John’s been writing and making arrangement recommendations, plus suggesting areas where his homespun sound effects work might come in handy. I’m enjoying helping an artist realize an aesthetic through sound and music, using his own visual sensibility as a style guide.

The film tells the 1987 story of a Minneapolis street musician and his relationship with an animated duck created by his mother, an underground animator who seems to have disappeared. The movie takes place in the neighborhood that used to be where the Minneapolis Convention Center is now, as well as the original Nicollet Mall.

More work by Mike Hallenbeck for animation

= = = = =

GRITSTONE VIDEO WINS GOLD AWARD AT FOURTEENERS COLORADO MARKETING AWARDS

A fulfilling win the other night-- a 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!

The Gritstone Oncology T cell project was created by animation and design house Gravitation, under creative director Matt Faye. I worked with executive producer Glenn Kesner of the digital agency Equisolve to craft sound FX edit and mix with the right amount of whimsy and vintage sci-fi cheekiness to keep it fresh without undermining the seriousness of the subject. Given that the anatomical goings-on are portrayed as flat, hand-rendered paper shapes in motion, I deployed a variety of subtle shuffles and swipes. The occasional retro sci-fi visuals summoned sonar pings, synthy ambience and classic Star Trek-esque chirps and warbles. I made sure to tune many of the tonal library FX so they were in tune with the music. And this project also offered ample opportunity to harvest samples of the music itself as tonal SFX that blended with the musical score in a consonant, though barely noticeable way.

This promo aims to educate patients and cancer therapy professionals about Gritstone's pioneering T cell therapy Artificial Intelligence platform, Gritstone Edge. The objective was to both familiarize patients about T cell therapy, and introduce a promising new development that increases the efficacy of current T cell therapies. The challenge in communicating bio-science to a wide audience is always in keeping the story at a level that is complex enough to be authentic, and simple enough to be understood. The solution also has to be appealing in tone and visual design, a particular challenge on the subject of cancer and the realm of cellular biology. Secondary objectives included creating an animation that stood out amongst the crowd of 3D animated cellular animations.

= = = = =