Giving Rocks.

We've seen a lot of great cards this holiday season, but the spirit of this one from the international creative agency Mother London takes the cake:

We are living in the future.

It's official. We are now living in a sci-fi movie. Check out the new online application we did sound design for with Crispin Porter + Bogusky for Coke Zero. It's a facial profiler that matches you with your doppelganger. See, because Coke Zero has Coke's taste; maybe someone out there has your face. Get it?
It's downright scary. Check out the app here, and read the write up in today's Creativity Online.

Gadzukes!

One of the most unique and enjoyable music projects we've worked on this year was an album for longtime Friends Of Coupe Nancy Thorwardson and Patrick Cullie. Their collaboration (engineered by our own John McVey) finds them playing ukuleles - bringing new life to some classic songs and to two of Nancy's originals. Here's a review of Nancy's solo album and the Gadzukes! project from Dirty Linen Magazine:

"When you’re involved with two groups and tight-knit with several others, why not leverage that when making a record? Colorado singer/songwriter Nancy Thorwardson did just that, enlisting various groups and pals (approximately 22 musicians) for a helluva panoramic, all-original platter. With Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams, it’s zippity-slick Western swing and honky-tonk shuffles; with the Idaho-based bluegrass aggregation Brother Mule, there are Western tunes suitable for riding the range.
With Swing State, it’s acoustic swing featuring Greg Schochet’s jazzy guitar riffs and Bill Pontarelli’s stylish Dixieland clarinet solos. But wait, there’s more — lush, gospel harmonies with the Wagon Tongues; piano-tinkling, loungy jazz with Sorrento Connection; and more acoustic swing, albeit ukulele style, with the play-on-words christened uke band Gadzukes! In addition to her warm vocals, Thorwardson’s sonic craft shines brightly on “Jingle Bobs” and “Easy Love.” Both feature counterparts in which Thorwardson and a duet partner (Patty Clayton and Ben Winship, respectively) simultaneously sing two distinct melody lines for a good portion of the tune. Not an easy feat to pull off, but when it works, the results are truly breathtaking, as they are here.
Apparently, Thorwardson and Gadzukes! had a grand time in the studio, because it didn’t take the ukulele swing ensemble long to knock out its debut recording. The group is centered on two ukulele players: Thorwardson, who strums and sings in a pleasant, full voice, and Patrick Cullie, who handles the tasteful, nimble-fingered leads. Also featured are steel guitarist Bret Billings (Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams) and the aforementioned Pontarelli. Though two songs from Thorwardson’s solo CD appear here, the other 14 tracks range from pop and vintage jazz to cowboy Western and Westernswing standards, a wonderfully sunny assortment. Undoubtedly the dreamiest of all is “Till There Was You,” from the 1957 motion picture The Music Man. Interestingly, a few years later (1964), it was also George Harrison’s first recorded ukulele solo as a Beatle. Considering that the ukulele is indigenous to Hawaiian music, Gadzukes! doesn’t overplay the aloha card, but in the rare moment that is showcases the connection, as in the case of the perky original “Hapa Hoele Swing,” it trumps everything."
— Dan Willging (Denver, CO) Dirty Linen Magazine #145

History of The Beatles Copyright 3026

VW Soccer Web Trailer

Trailer for the upcoming Under 12 Soccer documentary from Volkswagen - the documentary charts the progress of a dozen youth teams in the US fighting for the chance to represent their country at the World Cup in South Africa. This trailer features a new song from Meniskus called "The Equalizer" recorded right here in Coupe's Studio A.

Worst Video Game Voice Acting EVER

Glad to see none of our work appeared here.

CU's Band Battle Winners!

The Daily Camera summed it all up:
"Hip-hop/rock. Cumbia/reggae. Bluegrass/Americana.
First place. Second place. Third place."
You've got to love that kind of diversity in this music scene. Air Dubai took first place, while Quilombo and Fast Cash rounded out the top three. We look forward to welcoming them all to Coupe and having them join the ranks of other notable locals like Rose Hill Drive, Flobots, Devotchka, The Fray, and Yonder Mountain who have rocked this place out over the years. Air Dubai is due into Coupe later this year to work on a new track.
Read the Camera article here.

Happy Halloween!

Despite the snow, let's not forget the real reason for the season:

Outdoor Dining, Anyone?

Probably not today.
Well over a foot and showing no signs of stopping. Skiers and snowplowers rejoice!

Race Across The Sky

We start 5.1 surround mixing this week on Race Across The Sky - a film by our friends at Citizen Pictures documenting the Leadville 100 and featuring Lance Armstrong among other elite, and not-so-elite riders.

Celebrating Crapvertising!

Why didn't anyone think of this sooner?
Finally, an awards show celebrating the worst in advertising. Their press release says it all:
"Ever see advertising that's so horrendous, you wish you could somehow get back at whoever made it by burning down their house and nominating them for an award of some sort for bad advertising?"
Check it out at thetracyawards.com/crap/

RHD Track on New Guitar Hero

Coupe's favorite sons, Rose Hill Drive, have landed a spot in the new Guitar Hero game alongside tracks from Nirvana, The Stones, The White Stripes and some other heavy hitters.
The song "Sneak Out" was recorded, mixed and produced here at Coupe. Check out the video, and the writeup in the Daily Camera here. Watch carefully for a familiar face in the video. You know, besides the band.

"Solved" for Discovery Channel

Our friends at Impossible did a bang up job with the visuals, while we had a great time putting together the music, VO and effects for this promo:

Gold Medals = Gold Record?

We'll see! Olympic and X Games Snowboarding medalist JJ Thomas and his collaborator Jeff Cormack wrapped up mixing here at Coupe just last week, and today released their debut EP under the name MileHi. Check out the writeup on ESPN here, and listen to the tunes on milehisound.com

Photo: JJ with Shaun White and Keir Dillon at the X Games.

Naudio Spinning in NYC

Our own Chris McNaughton AKA Naudio returns home to NYC this weekend to DJ at Brooklyn's legendary Bunker. Joining him will be a lineup of international heavy-hitter DJs that will be keeping the party going all night long.
We hate to be without him, but we're glad he's taking a week off to recuperate. Odds are he'll need it.

All the details at: beyondbooking.com/thebunker

Solid.

Here's how you know your studio is well built:
There is serious heavy demolition going on next door, and it's still absolutely silent inside the studio.
Until you open the door. Then it sounds like World War III. It's like that scene in Ace Ventura, where he yells and opens and closes the balcony door:

The Ultimate Rick Roll

No comment needed:

FOMA* CD Release Event

FOMA*

If you haven't seen this band live yet or heard them on Denver area radio, you're in for a treat. These guys won the "Almost Famous" band battle this year, with a prize package that included a weekend of recording here at Coupe and a co-bill show at The Fox Theatre with Colorado favorites Meniskus.
Alice 105.9 Presents: FOMA* CD Release

Friday July 24th 2009 @ Herman's Hideaway

Foma* w/ Vonnegut & Sweetmo 7:30 PM to 1:45 AM (21+) $8 ($4 with a ticket)

Foma will officially be releasing their album "Songs for the Surgeon General" (4 songs recorded at Coupe with Greg McRae) on July 22nd

Available for purchase July 22nd at Independent Records

Foma will be performing an in-store acoustic performance and holding a meet and greet at Independent Records in Denver on July 22nd from 5-7PM.

For more information visit http://myspace.com/fomafomafoma or www.hermanshideaway.com

Side by Side

New campaign for Dish Network - we composed and produced the music, recorded the VO and mixed it - and had a darn good time doing it.

...And that was the last we saw of him.

Our friends from The Integer Group were up here today working on a multitude of projects; one of which was a TV spot for Victory Motorcycles.

With the exception of our work for Discovery Channel's "The Human Body," we always like to get hands on with the product.

Scott Roche, our Fearless Leader, is pictured here leaving our parking lot on one of the finest two-wheelers we've ever had the opportunity to ride. If you see him, tell him Victory called, and it turns out they are NOT willing to trade this bike for our sound design services after all.

Science Channel

A fun little promo for the new show "The Science of The Movies" - an entertaining look at how they make magic on the big screen.

Transformers!

More than meets the ear...
The sounds of explosions and robots have been filling the halls here as of late. Here's the result:
www.bktransformers.com/
A tie-in cross promotion site for Burger King and the new Transformers movie. We had an absolute blast doing the sound design for this bad boy...

Ad Music...

Check out the link from Cactus's blog (purethinking.typepad.com) to an interesting article on AdAge about songs in advertising. Now, bear in mind that the piece doesn't cover any original music - only pop songs that have been licensed or re-recorded for the ads. There's certainly a time and a place for that - (Like the remake of The Carpenters "Come On Get Happy" we recently did for a national TV campaign), but for our money, there's something to be said for having an original song scored just for your ad.
Peep a couple of these we've done:

McDonalds Radio - Break for Breakfast

Victory Motorcycles

While you're on a roll - cruise over to our website for some mo!

Ad2 News

It hasn't even hit The Denver Egotist yet, but the Ad2 Board of Directors voted in the 2009-2010 Board last night in a closed-door beer and pizza fueled marathon meeting.
Melissa Reeck of Coupe Studios was unanimously elected to the Board as Chairperson of the Programs and Social Committee. Mel, along with her co-chair Corey Hayes will be responsible for the most visible events in the Denver advertising community, including the upcoming kickball tournament, speaker series, and the well-attended networking events.

Other new Board members include folks from The Onion, Henry Gill, Integer, and two from Cactus.

Also last night the charity radio spot Coupe produced for Wish for Wheels was presented to the Board - and we learned that it is being presented by Ad2 Denver reps in Washington, DC next week in the national public service competition. Denver took second place last year, thanks in part to the radio ad we produced - We'll keep you posted on how we fare this year.

$5,000. Going once! Do I hear $6,000?

CP+B continues to set the bar for inventive marketing strategies – even for themselves. This year’s CP+B interns are up for sale on ebay. Weird? Yes. Brilliant? Yes. Attention-getting? Of course!! But why do this…? Don’t interns suffer enough?

This was one way to give them a little extra cash - they'll split the proceeds. Plus, the interns gain that ever so valuable “real world” experience by putting together a marketing/branding/creative presentation for the winning bidder.

The clock is ticking. Place your bid or just rubberneck at the eBay listing here...

Lil Wayne, Look Out!

Best use of auto-tune since we used it to prank call the boss disguising our voices as Scientologist Robots From The Future:

See more funny videos and Music Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Coupe and Boulder Digital Arts team up

We're pleased as punch to be partnering with Boulder Digital Arts to offer audio services to bda members at a discount. Boulder Digital Arts is a community resource for digital artists and creative professionals working in film/video, interactive media, photography, music and the web.
Membership is incredibly affordable, and the variety of classes covers just about everything in the creative digital realm. bda members can enjoy a 15% discount on Coupe services including pre/post scoring, lock to picture sweetening, jingle packages, surround mixing, ISDN, foreign VO recording, ADR, & full-service talent casting.
Learn more at boulderdigitalarts.com

RHD on Scholars and Rogues

One of our favorite sites has nominated one of our favorite bands in their "Tournament of Rock"
Check out Scholars and Rogues and have a listen to Rose Hill Drive vs Antony and The Johnsons!

"Intellectual Darwinism" for agencies

Cool article on adage today with ideas for adjusting your thinking for these uncertain times, including concepts like:

• Ask the new guy.
• They're ambassadors, not customers.
• Take your eye off the ball.

Worth a read. Check out the full article here.

The evolution of your career in advertising:

Congrats to FOMA*!

Denver-based band "FOMA*" beat out a host of seriously heavyweight competitors including Wendy Woo, Jason Vigil and Savage Henry to take home the top prize in LAMG/Alice 105.9's Almost Famous Band Battle at Herman's Hideaway. Part of their prize package includes time at Coupe as well as a co-bill show with local favorites Meniskus.
Our own Greg McRae (Rose Hill Drive, DeVotchKa, Flobots) will be engineering their sessions - he was a guest judge the night of the semi-finals, so he's psyched to get to work with them here in our Studio A later this month.

PS - In a bizarre coincidence, FOMA*'s multi-talented Joe Apice appears in the Molson beer commercial lower on this page as "The Werewolf."

Mmm... Ribs!!

One of our very favorite VO talents, our old friend Frank Eriksen came by and treated everybody in the studio to a batch of his soon-to-be-famous ribs, chicken and cole slaw. We're planning on spending the rest of the afternoon contentedly rubbing our bellies and possibly closing down for a quick nap.
In addition to his pretty impressive culinary skills (which you can learn more about at www.roaringforkbbq.com), Frank's also an amazing VO talent whose resume includes Warren Miller Films, IBM, Miller Brewing Co, Texaco, and many, many more. Check out his website at www.frankeriksen.com

Country Music Wins in Down Times...

You know the old joke: What do you get when you play country music backwards?
You get your wife back, you get your truck back, you get your dog back...

Well, as you might expect, in tough times like the current repo boom, the popularity of country music swells. Case in point? The CMA awards netted their best ratings in 11 years!

A sign of the times indeed. Our advice? Invest heavily in Wal-Mart, Sham-Wows and booze til things start looking up again.

Stop TiVoers from Skipping Past Your Ads!

OK, so over 30% of TV households have a DVR. The majority of those people are skipping past commercials. How do you stop them, and keep them riveted to your spot?

Basically, you've got about 3 seconds to capture their interest. Max. So says a new study by TiVo and Innerscope. Have them at "Hello," or lose them forever...
Read the study results here. ...and more at AdAge.
You can also check out TiVo's Stopwatch service to see how your ads fare at: https://stopwatch.tivo.com

Mellencamp on the State of Music

A long, but very well written and compelling article by John Mellencamp on the state of the music industry, and how the hell we wound up with the Top Ten filled with acts you and I have never heard of:
Read the article here, and then check out some of the truly original artists we're proud to work with at Coupe!

A choice excerpt from the article: "Record companies soon discovered that because of BDS, they only needed to concentrate on about 12 radio stations; there was no longer a business rationale for working secondary markets that were soon forgotten -- despite the fact that these were the very places where rock and roll was born and thrived. Why pay attention to Louisville -- worth a comparatively few potential listeners -- when the same one spin in New York, Los Angeles or Atlanta, etc., was worth so many more potential listeners? All of a sudden there were #1 records that few of us had ever heard of."

2009 Awards?? Already? Really?

Along with our friends at Leopard Communications, we've won some awards for 2009 already. It's only March! This is just silly. But we'll take it. Thanks to the Web Marketing Association for the recognition and for being so darned future-forward.
Internet Advertising Competition Awards 2009
IBM Unified Communications You're So Fired Video: Best Computer Software Rich media Online Ad
Covidien RMS Brand Story Video: Best Medical Rich Media Online Ad
IBM Mashups Video: Outstanding Rich Media Online Ad

The State of The Radio

Interesting article on radio advertising on AdAge today...
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=135324

Coupe on Facebook

In our latest move towards the 22nd Century, Coupe is now on Facebook!
Check out the site and become a fan!
If you're a musician, you can post upcoming gigs, and we hope it will become a great place to network for everyone.

Old Navy Supermodelquins

We've had a blast recording the voices and doing some sound design and mixing for the new Old Navy integrated campaign featuring another great concept from our friends at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, "The Supermodelquins." Check out this write up in Ad Age and watch for the first of the TV spots tonight on "Grey's Anatomy," "The Office" and "Survivor."

CPB producers included Annie Turlay, Paul Aaron, Rick Fleenor, Christy Carter and Melany Fehrenbach along with Allen Richardson on the creative side.

Fresh New Media

Hot off the cyber-press... This wonderfully destructive IBM web video. Produced with Leopard Communications and Ovo Films.

Check out all the latest new media work on our website: coupestudios.com

Volkswagon Radio Fun and Games

This afternoon when we needed to get some authentic VW Jetta engine sounds for a series of new radio ads, Crispin Porter + Bogusky Producer Joe DeVanon headed out back with Coupe Sound Designer Chris McNaughton and Producer Eric Singer to capture the sounds of a 2009 Jetta. Start, idle, rev, repeat. Not pictured here are the images of Joe racing up and down the parking lot with Chris running behind, mic in hand. No substitute for the real deal!

Music Survey

Our friends down at CU-Denver's Music department are conducting a survey as part of a research study to better understand how and why people acquire music. The intention is to publish the research results in order to educate artists and music industry professionals. Anyone 13 or older can voluntarily participate. Click here for more info or to take the survey!

Battle of the Bands starts tonight!

One of the prizes in the upcoming "Almost Famous" Denver Band Battle is a weekend of recording here at Coupe. The organizers have just announced the lineup, and we have never seen such an amazing group of musicians taking part in an event like this!
Check it out - the list reads like a Who's Who in Denver Music (Click for bigger version):




First place goes home with a prize package worth over $15,000 including:
• $2,500 in cash
• One Weekend of Studio Time at Coupe Studios in Boulder which includes all equipment and two engineers recording a 4 song EP. ($2500 value)
• a Co-bill headlining spot at a show with Meniskus, a national up and coming band, at a major area Venue.
• A one-year clothing sponsorship from “Kid Dangerous Grime Couture Clothing.”
• PR Package including press release, media alert, Electronic Press Kit, Professional Photo shoot and more ($1,500 value)
• $100 Sonicbids account

Second and Third place take home $500 and $300 respectively along with other valuable prizes.

Judging is based off attendance, stage presence, and crowd approval (Db meter).

VW Road to the MLS Cup

MLS - it's not just the Multiple Listing Service for Realtors anymore... It's Major League Soccer! The world's most popular sport for the last 300 years or so is finally getting its due here in the US. What was regarded until relatively recently as a kids sport here has developed into a world class league with some of the best players on the globe choosing to play here. Also some fine actors, it would seem!
Check out the first installment of the hilarious web series we got to work on:


View the whole series here.