Music and Sound Awards

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 Zelig Sound were our big winners this year of Best Sound Design In Online, Social + Digital Advertising (Sponsored by Sound Canvas) with their work on the Aston Martin Vantage ‘Engineered for Real Drivers’ spot. Harry Smith + Matthew James’ ground-breaking sound design creates a sonic experience that perfectly complements the car’s power and elegance. Discover below how the team managed to create an award-worthy, truly immersive, audio experience… “Created entirely in CGI, the film creates an authentic portrayal of the thrill of driving an Aston Martin, engineered for real drivers. Our sound design and music are designed to articulate the power of the car as the Vantage comes together before our eyes, balancing the purity and precision of the car forming. First out of glass, then transmogrifying into the full, powerful, weighted luxury of the Vantage. The sound highlights the car’s stability, speed, and precision engineering, reaching a crescendo of explosive energy when, finally, the car has been fully built and driven off by Alonso. The task was to depart from the traditional regal British Bond-esque vibe. The result is a more modern, electronic interpretation of the brand, using distorted synths and driving percussion to represent the car’s story, its power, engineering prowess and driving experience. The pure CGI film necessitated sound design to ground the concept in reality, suspending the viewer’s disbelief, while maintaining authenticity and power. This gave us a lot of freedom and expression but simultaneously, the engine RPMs, tire peels and vibrations all had to feel very real, correct and, on the limit.” CREDITS: Aston Martin Vantage ‘Engineered for Real Drivers’ Sound Production Company: Zelig Sound, London Sound Designers: Harry Smith + Matthew James Sound Producer: Breda Canning Agency: Design Bridge and Partners Production Company: Bipolar LA #MASAwards #sounddesign #adsound #mediasound

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 Zelig Sound were our big winners this year of Best Sound Design In Online, Social + Digital Advertising (Sponsored by Sound Canvas) with their work on the Aston Martin Vantage ‘Engineered for Real Drivers’ spot. Harry Smith + Matthew James’ ground-breaking sound design creates a sonic experience that perfectly complements the car's power and elegance. Discover below how the team managed to create an award-worthy, truly immersive, audio experience… “Created entirely in CGI, the film creates an authentic portrayal of the thrill of driving an Aston Martin, engineered for real drivers. Our sound design and music are designed to articulate the power of the car as the Vantage comes together before our eyes, balancing the purity and precision of the car forming. First out of glass, then transmogrifying into the full, powerful, weighted luxury of the Vantage. The sound highlights the car’s stability, speed, and precision engineering, reaching a crescendo of explosive energy when, finally, the car has been fully built and driven off by Alonso. The task was to depart from the traditional regal British Bond-esque vibe. The result is a more modern, electronic interpretation of the brand, using distorted synths and driving percussion to represent the car’s story, its power, engineering prowess and driving experience. The pure CGI film necessitated sound design to ground the concept in reality, suspending the viewer’s disbelief, while maintaining authenticity and power. This gave us a lot of freedom and expression but simultaneously, the engine RPMs, tire peels and vibrations all had to feel very real, correct and, on the limit.” CREDITS: Aston Martin Vantage ‘Engineered for Real Drivers’ Sound Production Company: Zelig Sound, London Sound Designers: Harry Smith + Matthew James Sound Producer: Breda Canning Agency: Design Bridge and Partners Production Company: Bipolar LA #MASAwards #sounddesign #adsound #mediasound #aud

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 2024’s Composer Rising Star: Aleksandra Vilcinska Aleksandra is a Latvian composer, singer-songwriter + pianist. Influenced by her background as a vocalist, her music often incorporates voice into its instrumentation. Her compositions are frequently synth-based, hybrid, modern + experimental. Check out the reel that won her #MASAwards 2024 COMPOSER RISING STAR! 👏🏻 Here she shares a little about what went into each project… Snowbunny - the score for this film was recorded at the renowned Air Studios using the NFTS orchestra. The music function of this film is to bring the viewer’s attention into the protagonist’s head + to show the full palette of feelings he’s experiencing towards his suddenly re-appeared love-interest + towards his place in society. Us Four - for this animated documentary it was essential to reflect on + musically emphasise the playful, fun relationship between the sisters, as well as the cherished memories they share. The ‘Nanana’ song serves as a thematic anchor with each sister’s voice representing a distinct perspective, led by the main voice of the oldest sister. In a personal touch the final credits of the film feature the voices of my two daughters, aged 4+5, lending an intimate+relatable quality to the film. By incorporating the voices of the next generation of sisters, I sought to highlight the universality of sibling relationships+the ever-changing nature of childhood memories. Just as the ‘Nanana’ song evolves with each stage of life, so too will the bonds between these sisters as they grow+mature. Harvest - award-winning documentary exploring the theme of motherhood+societal pressure for women to have children. Conflicted about Motherhood, the director addresses the taboo subject of not wanting children with others at her local swimming pool. All whilst undergoing the gruelling emotional process of freezing her eggs to insure against the risk of changing her mind. Being a

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 2024’s Composer Rising Star: Aleksandra Vilcinska Aleksandra (Sasha) is a Latvian composer, multi-award-winning singer-songwriter, and pianist. Influenced by her background as a vocalist, her music often incorporates voice into its instrumentation. Her compositions are frequently synth-based, hybrid, modern, and experimental. Check out the reel that won her #MASAwards 2024 COMPOSER RISING STAR! Here Aleksandra shares a little about what went into each project… Snowbunny (directed by Daniel Rands) - the score for this film was recorded at the renowned Air Studios, using the NFTS orchestra. The music function of this film is to bring the viewer's attention into the protagonist’s head and to show the full palette of feelings he is experiencing towards his suddenly re-appeared love interest and towards his place in the society. Us Four (directed / animated by Alex Peake) - For this animated documentary project, it was essential to reflect on and musically emphasize the playful, girly and fun relationship between the four sisters, as well as the cherished memories they share. The ‘Nanana’ song serves as a thematic anchor, with each sister's voice representing a distinct perspective, led by the main voice of the oldest sister. In a personal touch, the final credits of the film feature the voices of my two daughters, aged 4 and 5, lending an intimate and relatable quality to the film. By incorporating the voices of the next generation of sisters, I sought to highlight the universality of sibling relationships and the ever-changing nature of childhood memories. Just as the ‘Nanana’ song evolves with each stage of life, so too will the bonds between these sisters as they grow and mature. Harvest (directed by Sophia Seymour) - award winning documentary short film exploring the theme of motherhood and societal pressure for women to have children. Conflicted about Motherhood, the director addresses the taboo subject of not wan

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 Isaac Matus from Wave Studios was named the 2024 Sound Designer Rising Star by the Music+Sound Awards jury. Starting at Wave New York as a runner at the end of 2018, Bogotá-born Isaac quickly moved his way up to Transfer Engineer, and now Sound Designer and Mixer. He’s since worked with major brands such as Budweiser, New York Life, Nissan, Bubly and Icy Hot to name a few, plus multiple short films and music videos. It was his work on a campaign for Toronto’s major paediatric teaching hospital, SickKids, though that convinced the jury. This milestone work in his portfolio involved intricate sound design, paired with otherworldly VFX, a touching message, along with a Billie Eilish song he had to edit. The film demonstrates the power of Precision Child Health, and early diagnosis, in transforming the outcomes in paediatric healthcare. Isaac and the team leveraged sound as storytelling shorthand to propel the narrative and create an enticing, sonic world of PCH that illustrated how it enabled SickKids doctors and researchers to search the past, analyse the present, and heal the future of SickKids patients. They used sound design to serve as an auditory indication of what was happening in the story, such as preempting visuals with tell-tale sounds — like rattling wheels of a gurney and the urgent voices in the hospital corridors. They also made the sound of PCH a key element of the soundscape, giving it an unexpected and very specific sonic character. Heavily treated vocals were utilised that felt synthesised, while subconsciously still human, and the sound of organic elements, digitally formatted to create something new, much like the process of PCH itself. Take a look again and see how his talent shines through. We really look forward to following Isaac’s future work 👏🏻 SickKids Foundation ‘Heal the Future’ Credits: Sound Production: Wave Studios NY Sound Designer: Isaac Matus Executive Producer: Vicky Ferraro Pro

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 The phenomenal success of ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ by Sophie Ellis-Bextor 20 years after it was first released, following its inclusion in the final scene of 'Saltburn' has been the biggest talking point in the sync world, and beyond, this year. It’s no surprise then that the Music Supervisor behind all of this, KIRSTEN LANE, was our incredibly worthy 2024 winner for Best Sync in a Feature Film. Lane, founder of Right Music Ltd, has been licensing music for films and TV for over 25 years. She started out at PolyGram Records, then worked for PolyGram Films, and finally Sony/ATV Music Publishing, before setting up Right Music Ltd in 2001. The tongue-in-cheek use of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s hit, with Oliver dancing through the Saltburn house at the end of the film in the buff (his modesty protected due to rating rules in below clip!), claiming the place as his own, set TikTok on fire, with memes and millions of plays and uploads of others copying the trend. The song went back into the charts in the UK at Number 2 and has enabled Sophie to finally break the US market with a recent tour there. Now everyone wants their Saltburn / Murder on the Dancefloor moment! This placement is going to be talked about for a long time yet. Congratulations once again Kirsten! Credits: Saltburn Music Supervision: Kirsten Lane at Right Music Limited, UK Track: ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ Sophie Ellis Bextor Publishers: BMG Rights Management (UK) + Concord Songs Publisher Licensing Managers: Joe Betts (BMG) + Verity Griffiths (Concord) Label: Polydor Records Label Licensing Manager: Greg Turner (Universal Music Operations Ltd) Production Company: LuckyChap Entertainment Director: Emerald Fennell #MASAwards #sync #musicsupervision #syncteams #musicpublishers #musiclicensing #musictopicture #mediamusic #filmsoundtrack #filmmusic #filmawards

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 750mph tell us about the intricate process of creating the immersive sound design that won them this year’s Best Sound Design in Broadcast Advertising with Jake Ashwell and Sam Ashwell’s audio on the Formula E ‘It’s on’ spot. Read on to hear of the job’s challenges and triumphs. You can see and hear from watching it how the unique sonic experience they created complements the thrilling visuals of the sport perfectly👌 “The goal of the spot was to create a bespoke sound design mix to complement the picture and enhance the narrative of the spot, and to build excitement for the 2024 Formula E World Championship. Our challenge was to not only create from scratch the sound of the shop shaking and rattling, but also balance that with the bespoke commentary, the unique sound of the electric race cars, and the music track which we edited to work with the picture. We needed to create a soundtrack to drive the pace of the film. Every sound was built for each specific moment, creating the environment for the space or vignette. Most of the sound you hear was created specifically for the film through either sound design, foley or manipulation of SFX. The only sounds that were not were the sounds of the car itself. We were supplied with car sounds but the brief from the client and the agency were to push the sounds on as the actual sound of the car wasn’t hugely pleasant. They wanted it to sound more techy and si-fi so we augmented the original sound and layered them with other sounds also adding sound effects.” Congratulations once again! CREDITS: Formula E ‘It’s on’ Production Company: 750 MPH, London Sound Designers: Jake Ashwell + Sam Ashwell Sound Producer: Olivia Ray Agency: Uncommon Creative Studio Agency Executive Creative Director: Caleb Al-Jorani Agency TV Producer: Tania Kane Production Company: Somesuch Director: Max Sherman #MASAwards #sounddesign #adsound #adaudio #mediasound #audiopostproduction #s

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 750mph tell us about the intricate process of creating the immersive sound design that won them this year’s Best Sound Design in Broadcast Advertising with Jake Ashwell and Sam Ashwell’s audio on the Formula E ‘It’s on’ spot. Read on to hear of the job’s challenges and triumphs. You can see and hear from watching it how the unique sonic experience they created complements the thrilling visuals of the sport perfectly 👌 “The goal of the spot was to create a bespoke sound design mix to complement the picture and enhance the narrative of the spot, and to build excitement for the 2024 Formula E World Championship. Our challenge was to not only create from scratch the sound of the shop shaking and rattling, but also balance that with the bespoke commentary, the unique sound of the electric race cars, and the music track which we edited to work with the picture. We needed to create a soundtrack to drive the pace of the film. Every sound was built for each specific moment, creating the environment for the space or vignette. Most of the sound you hear was created specifically for the film through either sound design, foley or manipulation of SFX. The only sounds that were not were the sounds of the car itself. We were supplied with car sounds but the brief from the client and the agency were to push the sounds on as the actual sound of the car wasn't hugely pleasant. They wanted it to sound more techy and si-fi so we augmented the original sound and layered them with other sounds also adding sound effects.” Congratulations once again! CREDITS: Formula E ‘It’s on’ Production Company: 750mph, London Sound Designers: Jake Ashwell + Sam Ashwell Sound Producer: Olivia Ray Agency: Uncommon Creative Studio Agency Executive Creative Director: Caleb Al-Jorani Agency TV Producer: Tania Kane Production Company: Somesuch Director: Max Sherman #MASAwards #sounddesign #adsound #adaudio #mediasound #audiopostproduction #soundd

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 2024’s Best Composition in a Feature went to composer Stuart Hancock for his sweeping, soul-stirring ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ score. Starring the voices of Cillian Murphy, Sally Hawkins + Aaron MacGregor with Ken Watanabe as Kensuke, ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ is the new hand-drawn animated feature film from Lupus Films, based on the beloved Michael Morpurgo children’s book of the same name. After a long period of development + financing, “Kensuke’s Kingdom” was finally greenlit into pre-production in the summer of 2020 with the bulk of production + animation taking place during the challenging circumstances of the pandemic. With around 74 mins’ worth of music across the film’s 84-min run-time, Stuart Hancock’s symphonic score plays a crucial role in the unfolding of the narrative, given the minimal dialogue between castaway characters Michael + Kensuke. The visuals + music take time to breathe + gain breadth, transforming the survival of the two leads into a deeply moving human story. It’s a proper adventure score in the traditional sense full of action + excitement, but at the same time it’s extremely gentle - like the film - with a complex emotional core. The music was recorded with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra (in various ensemble sizes up to 60 players) together with the Holst Singers+various solo musicians (including the composer on piano) recorded at Air-Edel Studios in London. A central flashback sequence in the movie gives us Kensuke’s origin story + a depiction of the demise of Nagasaki for which Stuart made an epic choral arrangement of the haunting Japanese folksong “SakuraSakura”. 8-yr-old Kotoko Wertheim delivers a poignant vocal solo as part of this sequence.Other cues required a musical chant for Kensuke to summon the island’s orang-utans.The notes of the chant motif creep in subliminally in the orchestral score as soon as Michael is washed up on the beach, establishing the island set

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 2024’s Best Original Composition in a Feature Film went to composer Stuart Hancock for his sweeping, soul-stirring ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ score. Starring the voices of Cillian Murphy, Sally Hawkins and Aaron MacGregor, with Ken Watanabe as Kensuke, ‘Kensuke's Kingdom’ is the new hand-drawn animated feature film from Lupus Films, based on the beloved Michael Morpurgo children's book of the same name. Let’s hear how Hancock helped bring this project to life with his music… After a long period of development and financing, "Kensuke's Kingdom" was finally greenlit into pre-production in the summer of 2020, with the bulk of production and animation taking place during the challenging circumstances of the pandemic. With around 74 minutes' worth of music across the film's 84-minute run-time, Stuart Hancock's symphonic score plays a crucial role in the unfolding of the narrative, given the minimal dialogue between castaway characters Michael and Kensuke. The visuals and music take time to breathe and gain breadth, transforming the survival of the two leads into a deeply moving human story. It's a proper adventure score in the traditional sense, full of action and excitement, but at the same time it's extremely gentle - like the film - with a complex emotional core. The music was recorded with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra (in various ensemble sizes up to 60 players), together with the Holst Singers and various solo musicians (including the composer on piano) recorded at Air-Edel Studios in London. A central flashback sequence in the movie gives us Kensuke's origin story and a depiction of the demise of Nagasaki, for which Stuart made an epic choral arrangement of the haunting Japanese folksong "Sakura Sakura". 8-year-old Kotoko Wertheim delivers a poignant vocal solo as part of this sequence. Other cues required a musical chant for Kensuke to summon the island's orang-utans. The notes of the chant motif creep in sublimin

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 We were really excited to introduce the Best Voice Performance in a Game category this year, and it did not disappoint. The response was overwhelming and our winners BRILLIANT! Congratulations once again to the sound teams at Insomniac Games + PlayStation Studios for their triumph with voice artist, Nadji Jeter’s, portrayal of Miles Morales in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2! Here they tell us a little about the development of the project… “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was a launch pad for audio experimentation + innovation. With two heroes, one alien symbiote + the power of the PS5 at our whim, we set out to deliver an emotionally charged sonic experience. (No pressure) Spider-Man 2 had an epic story arc that our team needed to support as it followed Peter’s decent into alien symbiosis, Harry’s (almost) demise + Miles’ + MJ’s collaboration - which kept everything from imploding. The tension in the narrative was reflected in the audio + inspired by the actors’ performances. We created distinct signature sounds for Miles Morales based on his physicality + animation style. Miles’ unique bio-electric powers meant using designed elements, synths, + abstract tones. He has an almost musical quality to his sound palette that reflects his character + an individual set of kinetic foley. Having a story of this scope + with this many factions + missions meant our mix was going to need time. We started mixing a year out from delivery + used 2 mix rooms in the final months. We set up systems in Wwise to streamline the process as much as possible, while still staying flexible enough to handle whatever changes came our way. Weekly mix sessions became daily sessions as our delivery date approached. It was a Rubik’s Cube of scheduling. Lastly, our sound design + mix decisions around cinematics were made with the intension of cohesiveness. We wanted the transitions in + out of cinematics to be as seamless as possible. Close collaboratio

🏆 WINNER SPOTLIGHT 🏆 We were really excited to introduce the Best Voice Performance in a Video Game category this year, and it did not disappoint. The response was overwhelming and our winners BRILLIANT! Congratulations once again to the sound teams at Insomniac Games and PlayStation Studios for their triumph with voice artist, Nadji Jeter’s, portrayal of Miles Morales in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2! Here they tell us a little about the development of the project… “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was a launch pad for audio experimentation and innovation. With two heroes, one alien symbiote, and the power of the PS5 at our whim, we set out to deliver an emotionally charged sonic experience. (No pressure) Spider-Man 2 had an epic story arc that our team needed to support as it followed Peter’s decent into alien symbiosis, Harry’s (almost) demise and Miles’ and MJ’s collaboration - which kept everything from imploding. The tension in the narrative was reflected in the audio and inspired by the actors’ performances. We created distinct signature sounds for Miles Morales based on his physicality and animation style. Miles’ unique bio-electric powers meant using designed elements, synths, and abstract tones. Miles has an almost musical quality to his sound palette that reflects his character, and an individual set of kinetic foley. Having a story of this scope and with this many factions and missions meant our mix was going to need time. We started mixing a year out from delivery and used 2 mix rooms in the final months. We set up systems in Wwise to streamline the process as much as possible, while still staying flexible enough to handle whatever changes came our way. Weekly mix sessions became daily sessions as our delivery date approached. Our audio leads and production managers kept our wellbeing in mind throughout the process as well. It was a Rubik’s Cube of scheduling. Lastly, our sound design and mix decisions around cinematics were ma