0:00

He. Listeners. We have a very rare

0:03

opening for an associate sound designer

0:05

mixer here at De Facto Sound.

0:07

That's my sound design studio and

0:09

the studio behind Twenty Thousand hurts

0:11

to learn more. Visit Jobs.de Facto

0:13

sound.com. This. Application window closes on

0:15

May twenty second. Now onto the

0:17

show. Your.

0:21

Listening to Twenty Thousand Hertz?

0:23

I'm Dallas Taylor. How

0:26

the everyone talk dances?

0:28

Let. Me show you my lol checkpoints

0:30

I think read the new tip Top Five.

0:33

Ha ha ha ha ha. Tix

0:36

Arc is the first social media

0:38

platform that makes me feel very

0:40

old. Chapter Five Season Two fortnight

0:42

teaser trailer reaction. I agree with

0:45

me at eighteen and I'm like

0:47

blue on their like. Now.

0:51

I do have a tick tock account but whenever

0:53

I go on it I feel a bit like

0:55

how do you do fellow kids. But.

0:59

While I might not be great at. The

1:02

Renegade or The Wednesday Dance which to be

1:04

honest, I have no idea what I'm even

1:06

reading right now. I do know a good

1:08

Sonic brand when I hear it, and tic

1:11

toc Sonic brand caught my attention way before

1:13

the app did. A while back

1:15

I was watching this video on Instagram is

1:17

a secret sound design trick no one is

1:19

talking about. Start with some white noise. When

1:22

the video ended a tick tock logo appeared

1:24

and I heard this little sound. Tic.

1:27

Toc had added a Sonic logo to the

1:29

end of the video and pretty soon I

1:31

started to hear the sound everywhere. Now.

1:39

Why? That

1:43

is Not. Agree we need a similar

1:45

role. That.

1:48

Sound made me realize I was already

1:50

watching plenty of Tic Toc videos just

1:52

not on Tic Toc. View

1:55

on Reddit or Instagram for example. There's loads

1:57

of tickle films that he may come on.

2:00

right? That's Roscoe Williamson for Mass

2:02

of Music. the company that created.

2:06

And people would really true beating

2:08

his consent to sex. Okay so

2:11

that biggest challenge was attribution on

2:13

other platforms and time it takes

2:15

up selling off of platform, you're

2:17

gonna hear it. So as he

2:19

said read his Instagram and that's

2:21

African Minute who worked alongside Roscoe

2:23

at Mass of Music today. The

2:25

Sonic logo they created is all

2:28

over the place is also be

2:30

rolled out across the oldest sucks

2:32

marketing so they tv advertising radio

2:34

advertising in just over a year.

2:36

This sound has become one of

2:38

the most prolific sonic logos ever

2:40

you think is under and million

2:42

a week? Around

2:49

twenty twenty Tic Toc with already Huge

2:51

with over seven hundred million users and

2:53

one of the things that made Tic

2:55

Toc so popular with how easy it

2:57

was to add music to your videos.

2:59

But for a platform that so heavily

3:01

built around music they didn't have a

3:03

sonic identity at the time, Massive Music

3:05

was already consulting with tech stocks and

3:07

when Tic Toc in that a cynic.

3:09

Know, go African ruff new the thing.

3:13

Is I see a six month it's process

3:15

for the grueling Off to say culminating with

3:17

the final tits by Nasa Christmas. So immense

3:19

lot of the team working through the Christmas

3:22

holidays least we were pretty proud of the

3:24

pitch that we did and. Then we won

3:26

the product friends. Creating.

3:30

The perfect sound for a giant global

3:32

tech company. Comes with a ton of

3:34

pressure. Super important that you're

3:36

gonna have a Sonic logo didn't

3:38

really can become an air, were

3:40

easily remembers, potentially even sung or

3:42

or hummed. Sunny branding has become

3:44

more and more popular in the

3:46

last decade. I would say from

3:49

smart speakers, the rise of streaming.

3:52

The rise of podcasting record than

3:54

listening to radio last. So how

3:56

do you stand out in amongst

3:58

and increasingly cluttered. Sonic Landscape.

4:03

To talk knew that they already captured the

4:05

gym the market but they wanted to broaden

4:07

their appeal city want to ski too young

4:09

and some to the how this Sunday like

4:12

I should appeal to people because of the

4:14

time there was a big tries to engage

4:16

older eases. They also one of the sound

4:19

to be as joyful and inviting as possible

4:21

and are stakeholder. Into the is that

4:23

The Brand. Somebody described Six Up as

4:25

the Last Sunday Corner of The Influence

4:27

as the last place we can read

4:29

it for sexually and see city and

4:31

think citizens. That was really important that

4:33

The Sound express welcoming. Nature and a

4:36

sense of almost safety on the

4:38

platform. But of course there's a

4:40

fine line between sunny and irritating.

4:42

We. Also needed to be a

4:44

sound that could survive huge amount

4:46

of exposure and not fire and

4:48

not become annoying retiring. Finally, they

4:50

wanted to sound that tix talkers

4:52

could engage with themselves. We want.

4:54

To create something that to become

4:57

known, loved, and embrace and even

4:59

remix by the community. To.

5:03

Meet all of that criteria. Roscoe in

5:05

Africa went through thousands of it or

5:07

reasons it's gonna be the two thousand

5:10

plus. Early on they focused on the

5:12

autumn on up here of the name

5:14

Tic Toc. Assault not thrilled to think

5:16

about the sound logo as this kind of to

5:18

beat. Structure. So

5:21

we did some really early experiments with

5:23

like looking at what we could use

5:26

around the house, in the office, everyday

5:28

objects that might give you that. I'm

5:31

an evening with your mouth and gonna go. Here's.

5:34

An early version. And.

5:37

Again, For.

5:39

The sake on the from which is this because

5:41

it sounds. And on the back.

5:44

this is we will go for a

5:46

phase where we were trying to integrate

5:48

you t c sounds you d c

5:50

stands for user generated content in this

5:53

case it was sounds from people's tic

5:55

toc videos that they cleared for use

5:57

to me this on sounds a bit

5:59

like someone saying, ow. Ow!

6:02

Ow! And that led them to an idea

6:04

that was even more out there, a logo that would

6:06

actually change depending on where and when you heard it.

6:09

We did think at one stage of this

6:11

kind of like ever-evolving sonic logo. I think

6:13

we called it Never the Same twice,

6:15

and it was this idea that how

6:18

were we going to define the sound of a brand

6:20

that's constantly leaning into changing

6:22

trends and musical trends, and that was why we'd

6:24

ended on that. Each version of the

6:26

logo would use a different user-generated sound. But as

6:28

long as there was a tick and there was

6:31

a tock, you would always know it's tick-tock. For

6:33

the initial tick sound, they liked the idea of

6:35

using a kick drum from the iconic 808

6:37

drum machine. It's

6:39

a homage to a lot of the

6:41

hip-hop music and bass music that became

6:43

synonymous with the platform early on. In

6:45

this Never the Same twice idea, the

6:48

808 would stay fixed. But on

6:50

the back end, you have different

6:52

UGC sounds coming through and changing.

6:55

For instance, maybe something like this. But

7:02

quite quickly, we realized that we needed

7:04

something a little bit more consistent. What

7:06

tick-tock really needed was something that could

7:08

really be more of a fixed asset

7:11

and become this iconic association with the

7:13

brand. So the idea of a

7:15

constantly changing logo was cut, but they kept

7:17

rolling with the 808 kick drum. Here's

7:20

another early version. This

7:23

is a very blown-out 808 on the

7:25

front and then sounds like another UGC

7:27

on the back end, which probably didn't

7:30

make the cut. I think it might

7:32

be like a hyper-processed UGC dog bark.

7:36

Oh yeah, the dog bark. From

7:38

what I remember. If

7:40

it sounds like they're being a little coy right

7:42

now, just don't forget that dog bark. After

7:46

Hundreds of iterations, they started to hone in

7:48

on something a bit more melodic. Sounds

8:00

like a toy piano some brands different

8:02

ahead I think that might be like

8:04

and a to eight reverse. But.

8:07

For whatever reason we did, I feel like that had the

8:09

right cut through in the front end in the back in

8:11

wasn't bright enough. Remember,

8:14

these are only a few of the

8:16

thousands of sounds that African Roscoe went

8:18

through. Each of these examples represents hundreds

8:20

of slight variations on the same logo

8:23

says appointed as prices were You literally

8:25

go inside. Consistency? swiftly, disease? That would.

8:27

Yeah, and you know your mind is

8:29

gonna come here. Is there was this

8:32

point and we're in this sort of

8:34

pit of despair. Like are we ever

8:36

get. it finds the rice sounds and

8:38

then suddenly it just kind of popped

8:41

out. And.

8:43

It was like every what are you on that cool

8:45

from our side was like hey, this is that again.

8:50

That. Version featured a monstrous, overblown

8:52

eight away tech. We

8:55

have to take the first piece, which

8:57

is this iconic sub bass sound. Which.

9:00

For us is a nod to the musicality

9:02

of the platform, but it. Also. Function the

9:04

acts as a divided between music on Consent

9:06

right? What we found when we were stress

9:09

testing. This is when we putting at the

9:11

end of last. Music

9:13

is it really nicely access kind

9:15

of divided between weapons proceeds and

9:18

then accord at the end. After

9:31

that a to a tech there's a

9:34

bright ascending cord. This

9:36

tied back to the idea of the last

9:38

sunny corner on the internet. The second

9:40

half of the Sanogo we want to

9:42

instill the census julie which is where

9:45

the senate ascending. Melody came from.

9:48

The Tumbler The sound is a

9:50

lie as sign wave and a

9:52

marimba. Layered. Now.

9:55

A marimba isn't a shocking choice because

9:57

for the past couple of decades, brand.

10:00

Have been in love with them. We all

10:02

know the marimba. Some music and media commercial

10:04

his far as successful for good reason. It's

10:06

warm, it cuts right right. Paula

10:11

by. The.

10:16

Court date shows was also very

10:18

intentional. The cord is the

10:20

major seventh cause. A

10:23

major seven cord is made up of

10:25

the route. A major third. Perfect.

10:27

Fast. And a major seventh.

10:33

The. Seventh Night. He adds

10:35

unusual flavor to the court.

10:38

And kind of used in jazz and arm be

10:40

and sometimes and hip hop upon. It

10:52

just gives that six said see accord the

10:54

kind of his sense of wonder. African

10:59

Roscoe were convinced that he major seven

11:02

with the perfect court but they got

11:04

some pushback. There was a prominent stakeholder

11:06

in the project that was like it's

11:08

gonna be a major. He made his

11:10

a bright happy code. Here's an

11:12

E. Major. The

11:15

difference between these two cores is the

11:17

fourth note in a major that jazzy

11:19

seven. Is. Swapped out for

11:21

a higher octave of the root note. Here.

11:24

They are back to back He

11:27

major seven he major. And

11:30

here they are in a full logo He major

11:32

seven. He major.

11:35

And again. African

11:39

Roscoe felt really strongly that the a major

11:42

seven was the way to go to prove

11:44

that they did some consumer testing and compared

11:46

the two versions. We. Put them into

11:48

testing and. A number of key markets

11:50

for tix suck, but actually. The

11:53

results for really interesting pieces that resolves

11:55

a major. Came

11:57

true is actually a little bit more. It's hello.

11:59

this. It's something that takes

12:01

up with actually trying to move away

12:03

from they wanted to age of their

12:05

brand sand and so interesting. Neither unresolved

12:08

to the major seventh chord. Actually

12:11

came through is more appealing and

12:13

more recall. Of have any and every one

12:15

a tick tock was on board have an object

12:17

his audience data really helped to come to get

12:19

it over the line and convince some of the

12:22

stakeholders. After

12:27

thousands of adoration, consumer research and a

12:29

final debate about a single node, African

12:31

Roscoe finally had their perfect the logo

12:33

behind the scenes. They started calling it

12:35

the Boom Blink. He was made up

12:37

of a base hit and in ascending

12:40

court. But.

12:42

There's actually one other sound in their

12:44

underneath the cord. It's.

12:47

Really easy to mess, but here it is on it's

12:49

own. Does.

12:51

That ring any bells, but it is

12:53

actually a dog bark. Yep, that's the

12:56

same dog bark from one of the

12:58

earlier versions. That.

13:00

Is a mistake. That

13:03

is something that we left in by

13:05

accident. you know, Two thousand logos late

13:07

size your minds jelly and so was

13:10

baked in there. I wasn't till authors

13:12

were like oh, that's in there somehow

13:14

And then the logo signed off and.

13:18

And we will can lucky we should be take

13:20

this hour and then when we ticket out the luggage

13:22

didn't have the character. So.

13:25

They left it in. And

13:28

that dog bark became the accidental

13:30

final ingredient. Finally,

13:33

Take Stock had their sound, so

13:36

that's the end of the story,

13:38

right? Not even close, because that

13:40

logo was just one part of

13:42

a much larger Sonic strategy, a

13:44

strategy that involved some highly unusual

13:47

covert tactics. We actually started doing

13:49

this before the launch of the

13:51

Sonic brands, and we sided, seeding

13:53

them onto the platform kind of

13:55

like incognito. That's. Coming up

13:58

after the break. The

14:05

hardest part of starting a business is

14:07

coming up with a great idea for

14:10

every Air Friar, video, doorbell or smart

14:12

speaker that sold in huge numbers. There

14:14

thousands of others that never made us.

14:16

So that's the hard part. Now here's

14:19

the easy part. Selling online with Shopify

14:21

Shopify is the global commerce platform that

14:23

helps you sell at every stage of

14:25

your business. You don't need to know

14:27

how to code or understand anything about

14:30

design, and you definitely don't need a

14:32

degree in accounting. Just choose the Templars

14:34

Like upload. Some descriptions and images

14:36

and you're ready to start selling.

14:38

You're probably already using Shopify and

14:40

don't even realize it. That's because,

14:42

according to their own data, Shopify

14:45

powers ten percent of all ecommerce

14:47

in the Us. Huge companies like

14:49

All Birds, Rothys and Brooklinen. You

14:51

shopify, along with millions of other

14:53

entrepreneurs from one hundred and seventy

14:55

five countries around the world. Here's

14:57

how you can get started: Sign

14:59

up for a one dollar per

15:01

month trial period at shopify.com/twenty K

15:03

all lowercase. So to shopify.com/tuesday. Or okay

15:06

now to grow your business no matter what

15:08

did your and. Congratulations.

15:16

To Brady Ashcroft for getting last episodes

15:18

mystery sound right. Those.

15:26

Strange sounds were made by a willow

15:28

ptarmigan, which is a type of pheasant

15:30

found across the Northern hemisphere. These.

15:33

Birds are extremely vocal and make

15:35

a variety of noises when they're

15:37

courting mates, fighting off rivals, or

15:39

alerting others about nearby predators. And

15:45

here's this episodes mystery sued. if

15:55

you know that sound tell us what it is

15:57

at the web address mystery dot twenty two If

16:00

you guess it right, you'll be entered to win

16:02

one of our world famous, super soft, 20,000 hertz

16:05

t-shirts. But if you don't

16:07

know it, and you still want a t-shirt,

16:09

you can snag one of your very own

16:11

over at 20k.org/shop. When

16:15

I think about hiring, it just seems like it's

16:17

more work, more stress, and more pressure. But

16:20

here's how Indeed takes away all that worry. Indeed

16:23

is the world's number one matching and hiring platform

16:25

with over 350 million visitors

16:27

every month. Indeed cuts

16:29

out the work of hiring with smart AI technology

16:32

that helps you find the right candidate quickly. It

16:34

takes the stress out of the process with

16:37

scheduling, screening, and messaging all in one place.

16:39

So you know exactly what you're up to

16:41

in the hiring process because Indeed keeps track

16:43

of everything for you. Then

16:45

Indeed relieves the pressure of choosing the right

16:47

person. That's because their skill tests give

16:49

you the confidence that you've got the right candidate.

16:51

So now when you think of hiring, don't think

16:54

of all those negatives, just think of Indeed. To

16:56

try Indeed for yourself, with a $75 sponsored

16:59

job credit to get your jobs

17:01

more visibility, visit indeed.com/hurts. Just go

17:03

to indeed.com/hurts right now and support

17:06

our show by saying you heard

17:08

about Indeed on this podcast. indeed.com/hurts.

17:13

Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. You

17:15

need. Indeed. In

17:19

2022, Massive Music crafted a sonic logo for TikTok, which is now

17:21

being heard by the fans

17:26

millions of times every day. This

17:29

logo was just one piece of a larger

17:31

Sonic brand, an entire suite of sounds and

17:33

music that all gel together. Many

17:36

of these sounds can be heard in something called

17:38

the Sonic DNA. What you're hearing

17:40

right now is the main version of it. A

17:48

Sonic DNA is a long form

17:50

piece of brand music that is

17:52

essentially the blueprint for different types

17:54

of branded content. In

17:56

the Sonic DNA, there will be

17:58

chord progression. the melodies, the motifs,

18:01

there will be bits of sound design. So

18:03

it's an extension of a sonic brand

18:05

into music. Once

18:10

they had the main DNA established, they

18:12

adapted it into different moods and styles

18:14

that TikTok could use for ads, events,

18:16

and other kinds of content. For

18:19

instance, here's the welcoming version of the sonic

18:21

DNA. And

18:26

here's the chill version. We

18:29

wanted to sound authentic, remix, remade, just

18:31

like the content on the platform. And

18:36

here's the daring version. Along

18:46

with these sonic DNA tracks, they also

18:48

made a batch of short songs that

18:50

were around 10 to 15 seconds each,

18:52

which they called Sonic Stickers. This sticker

18:55

is named Boom. The

18:58

next sticker is called What? And

19:06

this one is named Aww. These

19:12

sonic stickers were added into the library of

19:14

sounds that TikTokers could add to their videos.

19:17

But the idea is that we would start

19:19

to seed them into the platform itself for

19:22

creators to work with. We

19:24

actually started doing this before the launch

19:27

of the sonic brand, kind of like

19:29

Incognito. Yeah, we launched them

19:31

under an alias, which is Sonic Collective. In

19:33

other words, they used these stickers as kind

19:36

of a Trojan horse to introduce people to

19:38

these new branded sounds. And

19:40

we started to see like, was people start to create content with them

19:42

and pick them up. And sure enough, people

19:44

did start to pick them up. Hi, my name

19:46

is Mike, and I'm a tracer. I'm

19:49

a sucker for graffiti art. I got what my boy Chris

19:52

did. He did a painting with my name. These are $1.25.

19:57

Then, once the Sonic brand launched,

19:59

announced that these sonic stickers were

20:01

actually official TikTok sounds. And people didn't

20:04

realize they were already kind of engaging

20:06

with the sonic identity until it was

20:08

fully launched. These sonic stickers are still

20:10

being used today. Can you do

20:12

it? I think now we're

20:15

up to about 30,000 bits of

20:17

content created using these sonic stickers.

20:19

So it's very much the living, breathing sonic

20:21

identity. VRB being no

20:24

detour art. You're done.

20:31

Normally, it's tough to get people to

20:33

actually engage with a sonic brand. So

20:35

this sonic sticker thing is pretty brilliant.

20:38

But the real slam dunk has to

20:40

be the way that TikTok has used

20:42

that boom-bling sonic logo and integrated it

20:44

within the ecosystem of the entire Internet.

20:48

On TikTok, if a creator allows it,

20:50

you can download their videos to your

20:52

phone. And whenever you do, TikTok will

20:54

automatically add that sonic logo to the

20:56

end of the video. The

20:59

same thing happens when you repost a TikTok

21:01

video on apps like Instagram or YouTube. So

21:03

wherever it goes after that, the sonic logo

21:06

is baked in so people will know where

21:08

it came from. When I

21:10

hear the boom-bling on another app, I

21:12

feel like I'm consuming TikTok content. It's

21:14

almost like TikTok embedded a mini version

21:17

of their app inside their competitors. The

21:20

sound effects in Planet Earth

21:23

are fate. Most of them are put in

21:25

in post. Next time you watch Planet Earth,

21:27

you should picture a 1920s radio show and

21:29

a Foley guy. Now,

21:32

the other social media apps don't have a

21:34

meaningful sonic logo. YouTube does. But the only

21:37

time I hear it is when I open

21:39

YouTube on my television. But

21:43

TikTok strategy has meant that their sound

21:45

is heard all over the place, especially

21:47

by people who are not TikTokers. After

21:52

the logo launched, the results of that

21:54

strategy quickly became clear. They

21:58

did a study about three months. Post

22:00

Launch: How many people can

22:02

spontaneously recognize the signs without

22:04

any. Context of the brand and

22:07

just three months after launch Oxley

22:09

like over sixty percent the one in

22:11

two were able to recognize the sounds

22:13

witnesses pretty astronomical for a new sanogo.

22:16

normally it can take years to come

22:18

soon, and logos the most rapidly

22:20

recognize on a global time. And

22:22

so for us, we were kind of

22:24

blown away when we heard that we

22:27

were like, okay, we're gonna jobs.

22:29

Looking back, it's hard to believe that

22:31

Tic Toc with the first social media

22:33

platform to add a Sonic logo to

22:35

their videos is one of those things

22:37

that just seems so obvious in hindsight.

22:39

But that's what happens when you treat

22:41

sound as both a science and as

22:43

an art Irish. We studied chemistry university

22:46

and then I got into play and

22:48

bands and and parents like what are

22:50

you there with your license When I

22:52

found some a branding he was a

22:54

kind of perfect blend of science and

22:56

aren't really my back to those Sep

22:58

scientific. Study biomedical science and then

23:00

sliced in neuroscience of music and

23:02

sand. On: Obsessed with

23:04

understanding how music impacts. The

23:07

Mind and Behavior. But I've always been

23:09

a musician singer so Sonic running it

23:11

really is that blend of science and

23:14

art. That excites me and get the up in

23:16

the morning. And.

23:29

Sound Design Studios of the fact

23:31

you can follow the factor. Sound

23:33

on ticked off as effective and

23:35

fine or and talked and invites

23:37

I Stories about Sound at Dallas

23:39

Tailor Shop Wave This episode was

23:42

written and produced by Nicholas Harder.

23:44

It was story edited by Casey

23:46

Emirates and Under Under with help

23:48

from Grace. It was some designed

23:50

and mixed by Brandon Press thanks

23:52

to our guests Roscoe Williamson and

23:54

Africa When and to learn more

23:56

about their. work with a massive

23:59

music.com I'm Dallas Taylor.

24:01

Thanks for the thing.