“Does that sound like a robot or does that sound like AI? Does that sound synthetic? Does that sound human? When we think about it, we can’t tell. But when we rely more on those primal, very basic human responses, we can tell. And what’s fascinating to me is even after we told people which voice was which, they still couldn’t tell the difference between two voices. Um, but again, on a subconscious basis, they could. And so it’s just a fascinating piece of research that, uh, is definitely time-boxed, right? I think these voice generators will get better in quality.” – Joe Sauer

This episode’s guest is a man who proves you don’t need to be a rock star to master sonic branding. How does a self-described guy with no musical talent become an expert on all things audio? The answer, he says, is data, data, and more data. He’s devoted his career to understanding the impact of emotion on consumer decision-making, and, for the last decade or so, he’s focused specifically on optimizing the impact of sound and music in branding, advertising, and UX design. His award-winning neuro-based research approach has become the gold standard for audio measurement, partnering with top sound studios globally to ensure that brands don’t just sound good but actually resonate with their audiences. His name is Joe Sauer, and in this episode’s discussion, we’ll be entering the world of beats, brands, and brainwaves to understand some of the hard science behind audio branding.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available and what the newest audio chats will be about. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts.

(0:00:00) - Impact of Music on Emotional Response

Our conversation starts with Joe’s early memories of sound, which include learning all about the power of music as a nervous teen on the dance floor. “That very visceral anxiety and fear of embarrassment and then relief that floods in,” he recalls, “when you find yourself with a partner on the dance floor. It was all triggered by music, not even a full song, just the first couple of bars of music.” We talk about neuromarketing techniques and the role they play in everything from movie trailers to music albums, and how they’ve changed since the early days of brain scans and electrodes. “The techniques that we’ve evolved are much less intimidating,” he explains. “They’re actually very, very sophisticated psychology experiments but they’re gamified. They’re hidden in a word or an image sorting game.”

(0:15:21) - The Impact of Sonic Logos

We talk more about how neuro-based research is offering new insights into audio branding, and what Joe’s studies on the impact of sound have uncovered. “One of the great parts about using techniques like this,” he says, “is that it puts the focus on the consumer’s attitudes and perceptions of the brand as opposed to their attitudes and perceptions of the music itself.” The discussion turns to how our conscious biases can get in the way of polling and survey results, and the role our subconscious impressions play in shaping our impressions. “You really start to understand what impact the audio is having,” he tells us, “not just on the quality of the narrative, the storytelling aspects of the ad itself, but really, more importantly for...

“What I did is also in the beginning with my prototypes, I did those science-fiction sounds. I watched all the science-fiction shows and I was like, yeah, let’s get those spaceships in there, I need to do spaceships. And it was fun, I’ll be honest. My wife hated it. When she was in the car with me, she was like, ‘Hey, everybody’s looking, please. No, no, everybody’s looking at us.’ But then when I really started releasing the product to the market, giving the first MVPs or prototypes to testers, to influencers, and had the first customers, paying customers, I got the feedback, like, all these futuristic alien noises, it’s all fun, but could we have some real car sounds?” – Johannes Luckemeier

This episode is the second half of my interview with audio inventor and founder of Glydsphere Johannes Luckemeier as we discuss the process of creating custom vehicle sounds, how audio design helps set high-end vehicles apart, and whether a sound, all by itself, can be copyrighted.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available and what the newest audio chats will be about. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts.

(0:00:00) - The Power of Audio Branding

As our discussion continues, Johannes tells us just how different each car company’s sonic branding can be, and how much more room electric vehicles have given them to make a distinctive impression. “For a Tesla, you only hear, like, white noise. You can barely, actually, you don’t hear it. If you don’t know about it, you don’t hear it, but it fulfills the law,” he explains. “But if you look at BMW, Mercedes, AMG, Porsche, they have, like, this sporty, sci-fi sound because they had the feeling this is the way to go.” We talk about his process for developing custom engine sounds that are inspired by everything from Star Wars to The Jetsons, and how he’s working to give drivers the tools to modify and even create their own vehicle sound profiles. “The idea, really, is to give the user, the customer, whatever you want to call it, the driver, freedom of choice,” he tells us, “freedom that he or she can have any sound he or she wants. And hey, if you want silence, you just turn it off. If it’s too loud, you turn the volume down. If you don’t like the spaceships, you use a different sound.”

(0:06:00) - The Psychology of Audio Branding

“Look at podcasts,” Johannes continues, “users making their own content, people recording, like we talked about before, people record their own records at home. The technology is there, so why can they not have their own engine sounds? That’s really the idea and what we’re also doing.” We discuss how he hopes Glydsphere will empower drivers to build their own automotive soundscapes and the design philosophy that sets high-end cars apart when it comes to custom audio. “If I have a car,” he notes, “especially a fast car or something which moves fast... I like to have some acoustic feedback, some sound which fits, because, again, it just makes the whole experience more interesting.”

(0:11:09) - Personalized Sound Experience for Car Enthusiasts

As our conversation comes to a close, Johannes tells us more about the Glydsphere’s latest prototype and equity...

“There are a few perspectives from which you can see this. One would be you pay a premium price for a premium car or premium product in general. So basically, if you just look at the numbers, you pay for people like me at BMW, now doing this. But then also what you mentioned, you’re buying a premium product, you’re expecting a premium experience. And obviously sound, it can be, you can relate this to every field or to every part of the car. You want a premium experience. Means every part, every piece of the experience or of the car, so to say, somebody needs to put some brain into it.” – Johannes Luckemeier

My guest for this episode was born and raised in Germany, where he learned the guitar as a teenager and later took piano lessons. He received his Master’s in Music Technology from Ireland before going into the car industry in Germany as a sound designer, applying and developing sound designs and audio algorithms for premium car manufacturers. During that time he bought a Tesla, and he was unsatisfied with the nonexistent engine sound experience – so he developed a system from scratch to create personalized engine sound for electric vehicles. Now he’s selling the system directly to consumers from his company, based in Texas.

His name is Johannes Luckemeier and I’ve been waiting for the chance to talk with him about the sounds of cars inside and out, something that electric cars are going to have to master. Whether you’re a car or sound enthusiast, I think you’ll really enjoy this conversation. We still have so much to learn about sound’s influence in the places we spend the most time, including our cars.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available and what the newest audio chats will be about. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts.

(0:00:00) - The Role of Sound in Cars

We start things off with Johannes’ earliest memories of sound, such as listening to Chuck Berry on the radio and dreaming of becoming a rock star. “I started with an acoustic guitar,” he recalls, “picked up an electric guitar later on, and I also had like a keyboard as a kid which, I’ll be honest, I mainly used for prank calls.” We discuss how the recession changed the direction of his studies and career path, and his work in the auto industry as he helped develop a unique sound for each brand. “There was a short time,” Johannes explains, “when you bought a Rolls-Royce – we’re talking half a million with all the extras, fully loaded – and you’d get the same sounds as a BMW. Obviously, that can’t be happening.”

(0:11:31) - The Influence of Sound in Cars

Our conversation focuses on a behind-the-scenes look at how luxury car manufacturers work to create a premium sound experience, and how surprisingly similar Johannes’ work with a high-end toy company turned out to be. “The kind of funny thing about this is the customers,” he says. “They’re even more crazy, more about the details, even more than about the people who bought the BMWs or Rolls Royce.” We discuss how engines, particularly in electric vehicles, have become quieter in recent years, and some of the surprising steps automakers are taking to retain their distinctive sound. “They’re still fast,” he tells us, “they still have...

“It’s just the way music is consumed. My kids went to summer camp, and they wanted to, like, bring music with them. But they’re not allowed to have electronic devices, like, they can’t bring a phone. And my son was, like, ‘Oh, I’ll just take my phone.’ And I’m like, ‘No, you don’t understand, like, you’re not going to have internet.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, how do I get the music from, like, Spotify, like, on my phone?’ I’m like, ‘You can’t without internet.’ And just the whole concept, like, you used to carry a record or even a cassette or a CD, and it was physical, and you had it.” – Sherene Strausberg

This episode is the second half of my conversation with Emmy-nominated art director, sound engineer, and founder and creative director of 87th Street Creative Sherene Strausberg as we talk about her work to bring diversity to sound, how streaming audio is creating a generation gap and what that might mean for marketers, and whether the days of going to the movie theater have come and gone.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available and what the newest audio chats will be about. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts.

(0:00:00) - Creating Audio for Visuals

Our conversation picks up as Sherene shares her approach to combining visual and sonic elements for an effective branding strategy, and her recent work on a particularly compelling, and challenging, animation project. “It was for a nonprofit named Womankind, the opening part of this animated video I did for them was about, you know, these really devastating statistics,” she tells us. “But then it kind of changed tone... and so we needed a real shift, and no track was able to really do that in the timing that we needed. So I ended up using two different tracks and through the power of music editing we were able to very smoothly change that tone.” She tells us more about her work with diverse composers and voices, and partnering with such groups as One Percent for the Planet. “I make animated videos,” she explains, “I can’t clean the carbon out of the air with my business, right? That’s not what I do… but it’s finally getting me to put sort of, like, you know, my money where my mouth is.”

(0:08:24) - Evolution of Audio Technology

We look at how sound technology has moved from big and loud to small and private, and how sound has shifted from a communal to a personal experience. “You know, go back to the ‘80s when suddenly there were Walkmans and you were listening on these tiny headphones,” she says, “but then it became the tiny music file that went into the tiny headphones.” The discussion turns to where such a trend might lead, and she wonders if a theatrical experience like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice could ever be replaced by streaming media. “Sure, yeah, it fills your peripheral vision,” she says about virtual and augmented reality. “It’s bigger in scope but smaller in experience, you’re obviously not experiencing it communally... I feel like I’ll be saying to my kids, ‘In my day we went to movie theaters.’"

(0:17:02) - Power of Sound in Media

We discuss

“I can go back to when I was sixteen, and I was at a movie theater and I was watching a really great scene in a movie where the violinist was, like, moving his bows, you know, the camera was like panning around him. And I got to the end of that scene, and, like, he lifts his bow up, and I started clapping in the theater. And I realized that that film had just totally taken me out of the movie theater and put me in, like, a concert hall. And I was like, ooh, I want to do that. I want to basically use sound to bring people to another world, and I pretty much at sixteen decided I wanted to be a film composer.” – Sherene Strausberg

This episode’s guest is an Emmy-nominated art director and a unique creative, combining her experience in film, music, and sound engineering with graphic design and illustration. She creates animated videos for her clients at the company she founded almost ten years ago, 87th Street Creative. She knew at the age of sixteen that she wanted to be a film composer, and, after ten years of pursuing that while also working as a broadcast engineer at National Public Radio, she changed careers, first to graphic design and then to motion design. Motion graphics returned her to her true passion of how sound and moving images together can immerse the viewer and listener. Combining this with her desire to work with clients who believe in sustainability and social justice, 87th Street Creative has worked with nonprofits and businesses that help make the world a better place.

Her name is Sherene Strausberg, and our conversation covers a range of topics, from how sound enhances visuals to the role sound plays in helping her clients promote their brands. Whether you’re an ad creative, have a company that’s looking for an innovative way to reach your clients, or you’re just interested in the power of sound, we could all learn a thing or two from her experiences.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available and what the newest audio chats will be about. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts.

(0:00:00) - From Film Scoring to Animation

Our discussion starts off with a look back at a pivotal memory in Sherene’s life, the moment when, as a teenager, she realized she wanted to work in sound. “I was watching a really great scene in a movie,” she recalls, “where the violinist was, like, moving his bows. You know, the camera was panning around him. And I got to the end of that scene and like he lifts his bow up and I started clapping in the theater and I realized that that film had just totally taken me out of the movie theater.” She shares her journey from the Indiana School of Music, where she studied music and played piano, to working in Hollywood as a film composer. “What you learn in school,” she says, “is a very small piece of the puzzle, and learning how to manage client relationships, how to find work, how to manage projects and manage the funds and fees and all the financial sides of it, I mean, none of that I got out of

“So what we found out about the Flying Dutchman, for example, they’ve been in business for forty years and they simply didn’t know how to grow. But one thing I’d found out when I went to the original Flying Dutchman store is that people like to gather there, but they didn’t have anywhere inside the store to gather and sit down. Everyone sat down on the sidewalk and hung out outside. So that’s what gave us the idea, why don’t we have it we could build the community inside and everyone did feel like family, and it was a place that everyone could actually say hi to one another, right? So, it was taking what was existing but magnifying it as an actual location for people to gather. – Howard Lim

This episode is the second half of my conversation with innovator, author, and award-winning brand architect Howard Lim as we discuss the challenges of audio-based SEO, how insurance companies have paved the way for audio branding, and figuring out your brand’s favorite music.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available and what the newest audio chats will be about. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts.

(0:00:00) - Exploring Audio Branding and SEO Trends

The second half of our conversation starts with a closer look at Howard’s book Authentic Branding and how web design has evolved since the days of Adobe Flash. “It made a big difference as far as the overall experience,” he says about those early, more audio-focused sites. “Now websites, they’re so flat as far as introducing it to your senses, because now you’re just using your visual sense.” We talk about the ongoing challenge of tying SEO and audio together, and we discuss Howard’s approach to helping companies find the right sound for their brand. “One of the questions I ask,” he explains, “when I’m in a strategy session is what if the brand listened to music? What music would listen to and why?”

(0:09:55) - The Power of Sound in Branding

Howard tells us more about his work with such companies as WSS and Flying Dutchman and shares some of the success stories in building their brands. “It expanded them,” he recalls his work with Flying Dutchman. “I think it was three years to five franchises, where [before] they couldn’t grow for forty years. So it was really capturing a brand essence.” He shares his approach to building a sense of place as well as product when it comes to branding, and how sound helps shape our environment. “When they turn on that background music,” he says, “it just shifts the energy, it shifts the environment that you feel like you’re experiencing [into] something that has a lot more richness to it.”

(0:20:17) - Creating Stronger Brands with Sound

Our discussion comes to a close as we talk about how listeners can get in touch with Howard, and an online brand assessment that he’s offering, included in the links below. He also tells us more about what first inspired him to write about branding. “The reason why I was writing a book,” he explains, “is because nobody wanted to explain how to create a brand. They would write about it, but they wouldn’t give you examples of how to create a brand. And so that’s when I said, oh my goodness, this is a perfect...

“For example, like, even commercials, there’s that one commercial for the Indian casinos. And my wife loves the song, and she knows it’s actually a singer that’s produced it. And she always thinks about that casino, you know, she doesn’t gamble, but every time she hears that song, it goes back to that feeling like, oh yeah, it’s about the good time. It’s about, you know, gambling, right? So now we’re moving to association. So, the sound has a lot of association to, um, that, to that ‘expectation’ or the actual experience itself.” – Howard Lim

This episode’s guest is an award-winning business and brand architect who designs businesses from the inside out. He’s a disruptive innovator who shifts paradigms, and his boutique, full-service firm, How Creative, partners with business owners worldwide to develop and execute world-class, leading businesses and authentic brands. He’s been a highly sought-after speaker, author, and organization advisor for over thirty-five years, and he’s represented everyone from emerging entrepreneurs to established Fortune 100 companies, including Apple, Disney, Paramount, Xerox, Oracle, Cirque du Soleil, Mattel, AT&T, and HP. His contributions have added billions to clients’ profits while increasing both brand value and company equity.

His name is Howard Lim, and in this discussion, we’ll be getting his perspective on how the large companies he’s worked with are using sound for better brand recognition and to make deeper connections with their potential clients. We’ll also find out where he thinks companies could take this into the future. Things are changing fast these days, so keep listening so you can learn what you can do to keep ahead of the game.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available and what the newest audio chats will be about. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts.

(0:00:01) - Influencing Branding Through Sonic Sound

The first half of our conversation starts as Howard shares what a childhood crush and a memorable Bob Dylan song taught him about the power of sound. “Every time I heard that song it put me back in that space and that time and that exact location,” he says. “So music has definitely influenced my experiences and my memories.” Our discussion turns to his recent work with retailers in creating the right soundscape, and he tells us more about the subtle, almost subliminal, impressions that sound can make on shoppers. “A lot of people confuse marketing, for example, with branding, and marketing is much more tactical,” Howard explains. “It happens on a subconscious level. They might not think that they’re ready for it, but believe me, it’s happening to them. They’re just unaware of it.”

(0:15:24) - Challenges With Dialogue in Surround Sound

We talk about the recent trend toward over-mixing audio in cinema, and Howard points out the trouble with relying too much on Foley effects and post-production. “They didn’t figure to, like, edit a certain part of the dialogue,” he notes, “so some of it gets static and it’s like, why is it staticky? Obviously, someone didn’t work on that part of the dialogue, that segment of the dialogue, and you can really hear the difference.” He does share one experience with sound...

“It’s one of the rare things. I know, Jodi, you know it ‘cause you’re, you’re literally like an ambassador of Podfest, but, um, it’s unusual when you share it with people like, ‘hey, the education could be some of the best you’ve ever seen.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, okay. I hear that all the time.’ It’s like, no, no, no. People prepare all year to showcase what they’ve got at Podfest. So, it is an embarrassment of riches, which I’m really blessed that, I would say, 90%, you know, you can’t hit a hundred all the time, but I would say nine out of ten are just stellar. And then there are people we give a shot to, and then we give them feedback after. But overall, our batting average is pretty high as far as the quality of the content you’re going to get at Podfest.” – Chris Krimitsos

This episode is the second half of my conversation with producer, speaker, and Podfest founder Chris Krimitsos as we talk about Podfest’s transformation from a local community event into a worldwide convention and virtual conference, how to balance video content and audio-first audiences when it comes to podcasting, and the impact digital audio’s made on his life and his family.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available and what the newest audio chats will be about. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts.

(0:00:01) - Podfest and Public Speaking Experiences

The second half of our conversation starts as Chris recalls how the pandemic helped Podfest set a world record for virtual attendance and grow into a global phenomenon. “It’s really incredible,” he says, “to see that people will show up when Podfest is there in different countries now, and that’s because of the COVID experience, because of the virtuals that we did.” He tells us about the variety of guests and shows in attendance, and how much they have to offer. “People prepare all year to showcase what they’ve got at Podfest,” he adds. “So it’s an embarrassment of riches, which I’m really blessed that, I would say 90% - you can’t hit 100 all the time - but I would say 9 out of 10 are just stellar.”

(0:05:50) - Effective Podcasting Tips and Strategies

Chris offers his tips for a good public presentation and some advice on putting even the most unscripted podcast moments to good use. “The person went on a thirty-minute rant, and you didn’t even ask the question,” he says, “let’s say the interview is done, the person leaves right, go back and rerecord a question to a ten-minute segment of that rant. So now you have a video short that you can promote.” We talk about ways to help podcast guests look and sound their best, and the balance between creating good video and compelling audio. “Even the people that are video podcasts,” Chris notes, “they have to be very conscious when they’re talking because it’s very easy to go into a visual. And then the audio people, when you strip the audio, they’ll have no idea what you’re talking about.”

(0:15:24) - The Power of Audio Books

Our discussion comes to a close as Chris shares the importance of sound as well as some of his upcoming projects, including this year’s Podfest. “There is something that sound brings to the table that you can’t get in the other mediums,” he...