On behalf of the entire team at Munck Studios, i’d like to present the new Munck Studios sound logo, created by none other than electronic music pioneer, Suzanne Ciani! I’ve been working in the world of sound, audio, radio and podcasts since 2010, this is when I became more aware of the influence sound can have on our everyday lives. Having worked with the field recorders, sound designers and engineers, radio producers, storytellers, documentary makers, audio book producers and publishers, comedians, narrators, podcasters and so on, I realised how the sound you use can communicate just as much as a manuscript and a voice can.
By Ben Fawkes, Munck Studios Berlin
In the business world, good sonic branding can help amplify the experience you have with a brand - it helps to differentiate it from other companies, gives you a better image of the brand and even creates an emotional connection - music and sound can do that to you, it works directly with your subconscious. Which is why we at Munck Studios, being an audio production company, decided it was high time we created a sonic identity with our very own sound logo.
Sound logos are nothing new - they’ve been around for decades. I think my earliest memory of a sound logo was Windows 95 which was created by one of my musical heroes, Brian Eno. Another one of my musical heroes, and a legend in both the electronic music space AND the sound logo space is Suzanne Ciani. We were honoured and lucky enough to have her make the sound logo for Munck Studios, after some back and forth conversations we had with her over the course of the COVID era.
Suzanne Ciani is an American Italian musician, sound designer and composer, most popularly known for her mastery of the Buchla Synthesiser. During the 1970s she was a prominent figure in the sound effect industry for films and commercials. Her portfolio includes commissions for the Xenon classic pinball machine, the sounds for the Meco Star Wars theme, the Atari TV commercials and jingles for advertisements for companies such as Coca-Cola, Merrill Lynch, AT&T and General Electric. The sound of an opening and pouring Coca-Cola bottle was one of Suzanne’s most known pieces and was used in radio and television commercials in the late 1970s.
We are very lucky to have such a prominent figure to create Munck Studio’s sound logo. We asked Suzanne to explain the creative process.
Suzanne Ciani at 2016 RBMA Buchla Concert. Photo by Maria Jose Govea.
Munck approached me about designing a sonic logo for them. I’ve had a long history of sound logo design that has included clients like Atari, Coca-Cola and Columbia Pictures. Munck had done some corporate soul-searching to help define their brand, but they were still in an exploratory stage. The sound was to occur within the context of the radio stream as a transitional and identifying logo. I decided to take my cue from the visual logo that they had already defined, a lettering design of the word Munck in a dynamic upward-moving shape.
I explored that approach using digital sound design, especially a new instrument called “Generate” from Eventide. And then I went in a very different direction to feel out their boundaries. The second approach was a much lighter Moog One approach and inspired by the sound of the lilting Swedish language. This “champagne” approach proved to be too light for them.
We returned to my original approach and elaborated that to reach a final solution. I expect that if they animate their logo, an accent or punctuation might be in order. It was wonderful to be able to work closely with Jakob Munck and I hope that the sound I designed for them wears well over the years.
So without further ado, here is the Munck Studios sound logo in three various lengths. You’ll be sure to hear this logo at the end of our productions as move forward!