19 Sound Brings the Perfect Sound to the Perfect Draft for Stella

Combining subtle gestures, eye movements and interactions, Stella Artois and 19 Sound strike a balance between being both comical and classy for its latest spots. 

The client's brief was to create a music track that evoked a relaxed, sophisticated atmosphere, one that complimented the look & feel of the films.

Having been involved in various jazz ensembles as musicians, and looking at the feel and vibe of some of the recent work created for Stella, Will and Jack at 19 Sound thought the best approach would be to use traditional jazz instrumentation. After playing around with  jazz inspired combinations, the final track ended up being a somewhat simple composition, Incorporating piano, double bass and drums; played with a mid 60’s modal jazz mindset. 

The finished piece isn't harmonically demanding, but carries with it enough rhythmic and melodic intrigue to highlight the subtle movements and comical moments between the main actors. 

For the sound design, Will’s task was to subtly enhance the space. Laura Borgio, the director, requested the guys hint at the fact that there wasn’t much activity going on outside. 

The team were all ‘Living in lockdown’ during the post production on these films, so it didn’t seem appropriate to pretend that life as everyone knew it was continuing. So with this in mind the room was meant to feel quiet, and isolated (excluding the group ‘party’ scene in ‘The Work Call’). 

In addition to the music and sound, Oscar was also tasked with casting the voice. The initial brief given was very open, so Oscar put together casting demos, from a range of talent, which was ethnically diverse. That proved to be a decisive factor in the VO casting decision, and after a few more casting rounds, Corinne Delacour was chosen to be the voice over.

All that remained was to record her. Under normal circumstances that would not have been a problem, but in the middle of a pandemic, with the country under lockdown. Travel restrictions on place, that created a few hurdles. Corinne, at that time did not have her home studio fully set up, and understandably, wanted to keep any necessary travel down to a minimum, so enter Radio Facilities in Hammersmith.

Being just a short walk for Corinne from her home, it proved to be the ideal facility to partner up with on this project. Session was booked, concerned parties dialled in via Zoom, and within an hour we had our VO records done. The master records were sent onto Will, who, edited and mixed the chosen takes with the sound design and music to create the final mixes. 

The music was the driving force of the piece, but this combined with Corinne’s ‘calm’ vocal read, the dynamic foley, and soft room tones, Will and Oscar reached a place that director and client were really happy with.