Based on materials from blog.htc.com
And again, welcome to visit the designers of the company HTC who talk about their work. This time with us is Andrew Champlin, one of the company's sound designers HTC. And we will talk about themes – from the point of view of sound, and not aesthetics or user experience, as, for example, in other materials.
Let's start, perhaps. Andrew, what is sound design?
Andrew Champlin: Sound design is, so to speak, the last line of defense in multimedia, such as a movie or game, and also in mobile devices. Everything should be ready already, and then the sound breathes life into the product. As a sound designer HTC I am responsible for creating all the necessary ringtones, notification sounds and alarms, paying attention to both their recognition and so that they are perceived as a whole, as a single audio 'utterance'.
What do you mean by recognizability?
Andrew: Recognition is one of the main characteristics for measuring the effectiveness of sound. It should be perceived above the noise in the room, and indeed stand out in our sound-filled world. A recognizable sound attracts attention and instantly speaks of what it is associated with. He communicates something before you have time to think about it, communicates with the brain before you reach into your pocket for your phone. If we are talking about our devices, these are notification sounds, ringtones. You also need to think about how they relate to the sounds emitted by third-party applications like Facebook and Hangouts.
Clear. However, the 'Themes' project made it possible to customize these sounds. Can you tell us a little about this?
Andrew: The idea was to create a series of sounds that an algorithm would generate from colors. I needed 30 'blue' sounds, 30 'orange', 30 'yellow' and so on. It was required that they be associated with the design to which they corresponded. When you create sound, you always look back at the buyer, but at the same time you want to bring your own judgment, your artistic vision of how blue or yellow 'sounds'.
For example?
Andrew: For me, blue is associated with the light from a CRT monitor. This is such a futuristic, cold, 'German', 'technicolor' feeling. I wanted to offer something beyond a superficial analysis of what this color could be. A kind of synesthesia. Sense of color.
Class! And yellow?
Andrew: I like yellow because of the vagueness of the sound. This is something in between. Something pale. Something shock. Something very much like the sound of a toy piano. This is yellow for me.
How is Mbira?
Andrew: Yes, like any kind of auxiliary percussion that is supposed to be pounded. For me it's a question like 'What key is this thing playing in, what scale is it playing?' And often these are non-standard sounds. Much from modern harmony, much from the east, something like that.
And purple?
Andrew: Purple is synthetic. And the sound for him is synthetic, different. Purple was as old-school, modular to me as the shiny 70s. This is what you could play on a blinking modular synthesizer.
How many individual sounds are included in themes?
Andrew: Themes developed by HTC like Numero and Tilt include 3 sounds (ringtone, notification and alarm), 30 in total. And for the online Theme Maker where you see color-bound sounds, it is suggested 5 sounds generated for your color palette. 120 sounds to choose from. In total, there are 150 sounds we created.
Did you have any visual references before developing the sounds?
Andrew: Pretty quickly we got a preview of a series of themes that included keywords for the titles – Freestyle, Tilt, Cascadia and so on. On this basis, we launched a fast 3-day development cycle. We needed to look into the designer's idea, see the image, what it is associated with, and start from this. Freestyle was reminiscent of reggae combined with rocksteady rhythms. I put a drum and bass song into a device intended to be sold all over the world, this was my personal goal.
And what kind of feedback do you get from buyers?
Andrew: We get a lot of feedback in Polish. I use google translate with all my might! The comment that touched me the most was about the purple sound, the person gave a 5 out of 5 and said that the sound is great for Iran. But he was no pretense, something like Canadian hip-hop without any high-end sounds. I don't know, maybe it was about tonality or harmony that is used there. And I didn't pretend to be making a mainstream pop hit. And this became a watershed for me. I created something without implying the context in which it resonated. At least one representative of a culture that I knew nothing about! It was something.
What's your favorite sound, if any?
Andrew: Probably one of the first ones I created, called Cerulean.
This is one of those futuristic 'blue' sounds. I created it using only the built-in capabilities of my Mac. Its creation was easy, but it turned out to be very rich in associations.
It looks like a game, right? It seems to me that this business requires great use of intuition.
Andrew: Yes. The sounds are as different as the people who choose them along with the design. That was the idea. I hope that from this variety, out of 120 sounds, they will be able to choose something in tune with them.
Where do you expect to get sounds for themes in the future?
Andrew: I would like to further develop the color concept. Find a way to synthesize palette and sounds in a more subtle way, maybe even using the principle of playing a little to make the sound selection process more dynamic.
Now let's talk a little about you personally. Where did you grow up?
Andrew: I spent my childhood in Kansas, and my youth in Arkansas, and do not confuse one and the other, the books have rules on how to pronounce it. And gradually, from one place to another, my accent almost disappeared – very useful for debates in college. I also played the tenth flute out of twelve in a symphony orchestra. I liked it – we were sort of anti-successful conspirators in the second row.
How did you get interested in sound design?
Andrew: One fateful Christmas I ended up with a guitar and recording software. The guitar very quickly went to the corner to collect dust, but the availability of software led to the creation of five albums over the following year. I had no desire to write ordinary music without fail. I started looking for university courses in synthesizer programming and sound design. Some of them were found in Georgia, at the Savannah College of Art and Design, which was part of the film school. That's where I entered.
How do you describe your work to friends who don't know what you are doing?
Andrew: At first I said that I write songs for money because people imagined what it was. Then it became easier to explain: 'I write ringtones'. When I became closer to the high-tech world, I could already answer 'I am a sound designer', adding 'as a graphic designer, only sound', and then the people understood.
Imagine that a magic genie is ready to fulfill one of your wishes, which will change your life forever. What will it be?
Andrew: Unwashable tureen. Remove the base of Maslow's pyramid, quench your hunger and thirst, and you have complete freedom to do anything else.
Do you have any superpowers?
Andrew: I can drink any coffee, no matter how crappy. I have a whole hierarchy of lousy coffee, like 'church lobby coffee' – very weak, very thin, always in a plastic cup. And then there is the super-light fried espresso from Seattle, also rubbish. And then put this in front of me – I'll drink, why not a superpower?
Weirdest food you've ever tasted?
Andrew: Well, if you want to portray Andrew Zimmern, I'll tell you: chicken leg. I mean, obviously I ate a chicken leg, which is how it is.
Sound, synesthesia and our daily bread. We talked about everything. Andrew, thank you very much!