Episode 2 was actually supposed to revolve around our latest drop, Hidden Gems, but unfortunately, all of the audio from those meetings were corrupted and we lost everything. Obviously it would’ve been weird to recreate an initial meeting, so I just decided to scrap that one altogether, and move on to this episode. In this episode you’ll hear my virtual meetings with Smythe, the executive producer of Somber Soul, and Zari, our Digital Media Manager. Just remember, this audio is raw, taken directly from our meetings.Creating sample packs awards us the opportunity of drawing inspiration from multiple places. The team is able to replicate music from specific eras, different types of genres, and a plethora of moods. As a creative director, I’m also taking cues from those same places, as it pertains to conveying a message to everyone that should stumble upon our products. These eras, genres and moods often had a specific “look”, and we try to honor that as much as possible. Keying in on these subtleties, often helps people who are browsing to hear with their eyes in essence. It’s like seeing a box of crayons from afar, and your brain going into instant replay mode, recreating the smells of school from when you were a child. It’s something that will never leave you. My job is to try to recreate that same feeling through art direction and video. These were our initial talks with where we thought we were going to go visually for cover art, and marketing collateral. Over time we’ve learned the importance of going with a few ideas to flesh out where we’re eventually going to land. In the beginning we thought that maybe we could go an illustrative route, but ultimately we ended up landing on the Tokyo Night scene, and through some Photoshop & Premiere hacking, we were able to knock this one out of the park (bias intended). Changing things up from time to time helps me to stay sharp. With other labels and vendors stepping it up visually across the board, it’s been important to push the envelope for every project. Now that we have ample time to develop each drop, it’s allowed us the luxury of really processing each decision with a fine-tooth comb. I love projects like this one especially, because it really pushes us to consider the customer even more. From time to time it’s easy to double down on what we think they ultimately want. The consequences of working this way can be all over the place. Somber Soul pushed us to do a lot more research on every aspect, which I believe will yield more fruit on the back end. In the end, everyone is happy, and that’s all I want. Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode. I hope you were able to gather some inspiration, and use some of the techniques on your own projects coming out.
