V6 MUSIC + POST

08/23/2024

Mix anywhere...

06/06/2024

05/24/2024

Remote editing and mixing works just fine. Studios without walls!

12/14/2023

My view for the next 12 hours!

11/01/2023

Everything needs love once in a while, some things more than others. Tech day. Hopefully, there will be music again.

07/11/2023

Tracking in a small space, tight and punchy!

03/13/2023

Something new in the oven.

08/24/2022

Creating music for the masses.

07/19/2022

The Sound of Ketchup. The story of creating the SFX for the Heinz Field Ketchup Bottles.

http://v6post.com/the-sound-of-ketchup/

V6 is a boutique music studio creating and developing music and sound strategies for brands and the arts.

07/18/2022

The Sound of Ketchup: the story of the Heinz Field Ketchup Bottles sound-design.

It was late summer 2001. I was contacted by my friend Michael Dougherty of The HJ Heinz company and asked to create sound effects for these huge ketchup bottles that were being installed on the scoreboard of the newly built Heinz Field.

From my studio just off Grandview Ave on top of Mt Washington, The Music House, I could see the new stadium and had watched the old one come down. I was excited at the challenge. I was supplied with several animated videos of the different sections of movements and animations. They would be triggering these depending where in the red zone the action on the field would be. These bottles were going to be huge, and the award-winning sound system they created for the stadium was ridiculously powerful, so I knew that these sounds must be immense and aggressive. It was the Steelers after all!

I created and used large generator sounds, hydraulic and heavy machinery sounds, and synthesizer generated sounds layered to create the various movement of the bottles. For the Ketchup pouring slowly from the bottles down through the scoreboard I used and created layers of molten lava, pitched-down earthquake rumble and several more synthesis layers to create that motion. I wanted to rattle the seats so I made sure there was lots of low frequency in the mixes I was providing. There may have been 30 or so layers for each segment. After a few approval rounds with their team as is standard we had final elements.

The next thing was to test this live in the stadium. The first event was a Steeler pre-season Monday night game. So, on the Sunday evening prior we gathered in the new stadium while last minute final preparations for all technical aspects were underway. After a little time visiting the control room where all the stadium media systems were manned, I went back down to the platform at the endzone underneath the scoreboard. I was discussing some detail of this on the cell phone with Dan Ferraro, my partner at the studio, when without warning they fired up the bottles. The stadium system engineers understandingly hadn’t had much experience with their systems yet nor did they preview just how loud my sound mixes were. They must have had the volume near to full-on when the blast from the bottles opening and lifting almost blew me from the deck and onto the field. My phone fell from my hand.

It was glorious! I’d never heard anything that loud and expansive before, except once when I saw a space shuttle launch in Florida. It really was almost like that, but closer. I was directly below them.

I’ve been to many games since that time and sadly they don’t play them that loud, and the crowd noise can make them harder to hear. I wish you could have heard them as we did that first night. I see today that the iconic bottles are being removed. It's a bit sad, like losing an old friend. However, 21 years is a pretty good run. Many thanks to Heinz for the good times!

And here's to, ah, um, what's the name going to be now? I wonder what kind of sound that will make?


ps. Market Street Sound/Contagious Music was in downtown Pittsburgh for about 20 years.

03/30/2022

Heart transplant. The heart of the studio gets a big dose of custom-made power for mixing in Dolby Atmos!

03/23/2022

Some offices are more fun than others!

03/07/2022

Even made the cover. Thanks again for taking the time to tell our story.

03/03/2022

Here is a new single by The FMs that we created music/arrangement for. Video by Matt Mahurin! Check it out.

Our new song "T/riangle" is a love story. It's a real story, and it's a different kind of love story. We hope it can inspire people already living in polyamorous dynamics and open others' minds to the possibilities that this type of love can accomplish. Listen here: ffm.to/triangle.ofp

02/23/2022

Guitar overdubs for metal band Skell with Mike Palone. What a sound, make it loud!

12/31/2021

Happy New Year!

We're grateful to all who helped make this year special. We're very excited for what 2022 is going to bring. We're ready!

12/23/2021

Hearing your mix immersively in Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 is simply glorious. You must.

12/13/2021

Final mix tweaks from the car streaming in real-time from the studio.

10/08/2021

Mixing

09/28/2021

Here's a spot from a project I just worked on for the talented folks at Brunner. I created the music, and edited and mixed the spots. This is is of many in the campaign.

09/28/2021

A thing I worked on, original music and audio post production/mix. A fun project from Dan Magdich, Jackie Murray Roble, and the fine folks at Brunner! Watch for this campaign where ever you get your media. We're proud to have been a part of this creative project!

08/04/2021

A little something in the works...

08/03/2021

Here's a new release that was created and mixed here at v6 (at The Vault) for The FMs (thefmsmusic.com). It was produced by David Werner. The video was produced Matt Mahurin (U2, Peter Gabriel, Metallica, etc). Check it out!

"Record Store" by The FMs. Listen here: http://ffm.to/recordstore.oydVideo by Matt MahurinSubscribe to The FMs YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/chan...

07/29/2021

Drum day, it feels great to be back at it. It's been a minute.

07/27/2021

One of the scripts on the stand today. Zoom in for details!

'arcycarden