June 22, 2023  

We’re 10 years old!

We launched A-MNEMONIC Music at Cannes Lions exactly 10 years ago.  Founder and MD Toby Jarvis looks back at the summer of 2013.
“I had left my previous job the day before and was due in Cannes the next day. With no phone or business cards.  Just passion and enthusiasm. I knew what A-MNEMONIC could become. However, less certain how to achieve it.
The only place I knew that could design and print business cards overnight was ProntaPrint, just off Trafalgar Square. I pitched up at around 10 pm and thought of a company name in about 3 seconds.  They ran off a batch of purple cards so I could take them to Cannes the next day.
I had built a recording studio 6 months before, at a huge expense, and only needed a final injection of cash to get it all up and running properly. I didn’t know how to start a business. I had no idea if we’d win any clients. It seemed like the most terrifying gamble you could take.
Within a few days from our return from Cannes, we had a company registration number, a VAT number, a lawyer, an accountant, – and a tiny office, at the very top of the Windmill Theatre in Archer St. Our little space had previously been used as the ‘exotic dancer’s’ dressing room. The decor hadn’t been touched since Paul Raymond’s days in the 60s. Very seedy.
That week, we had our first job. ITV were updating their ‘This Morning’ show and we were called in to ‘refresh and update’ the theme music.
Amazing how time has whizzed by so quickly.
In the 10 years since, we’ve worked with many smart and talented clients, brands, agencies, marketeers, producers, directors, animators, musicians, voices, singers and composers. From all over the world. We’ve had our share of challenges and setbacks too. No train wrecks. Yet. In addition to the 2,432 music tracks we’ve produced, our team have chalked up 5 marriages, and 6 babies.
We have the same enthusiasm and passion now. The biggest buzz for us is collaborating with amazing people – experts in their craft and producing great work. Technology continues to evolve around us. It has always been an integral and exciting part of our journey, and will undoubtedly continue to shape our future.
Unfortunately, we’re not in Cannes this year, too much going on here. Happy birthday to us!”
June 5, 2023  

A-MNEMONIC produce sonic logo as part of the new brand positioning for the organisation Which?

A-MNEMONIC was approached by advertising agency Brave Spark to develop a sonic logo for the renowned organisation Which?, as part of their brand repositioning efforts.

The core of the campaign revolved around the compelling message: “Get Answers.”  The aim was to inspire individuals to seek the answers they needed for all of life’s questions.  In line with this brand refresh, Brave Spark engaged A-MNEMONIC to create a sonic logo that could be seamlessly integrated across various platforms.  The sonic logo was intended to convey a moment of realisation, akin to a lightbulb moment, evoking a sense of optimism and instantly recognizable as Which?.

Result

After an extensive period of development and workshops, A-MNEMONIC successfully crafted a sound that embodied a moment of clarity—a resounding “AHA” that reflects the overwhelming relief customers experience upon finding the answers to pressing life questions.  This sonic logo effectively represents the immense relief associated with finding the answer using Which?

The Launch

With a comprehensive range of over 130 campaign deliverables spanning ATL and digital placements, the new Which? sonic logo serves as a distinctive audio signature at the end of all their original content, including podcasts, video materials, and advertisements featuring audio elements.

May 31, 2023  

National Television Awards Nominations

We are delighted to announce that three TV shows, for which A-MNEMONIC has produced the theme music, have received nominations at this year’s National Television Awards! These outstanding shows include Love Island, The Martin Lewis Money Show, and our very own arrangement of the Never Mind The Buzzcocks theme.

This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our talented team who have worked tirelessly to create captivating and memorable theme music for these shows. We are incredibly proud to be associated with such acclaimed television programs.

To vote for your favourite TV shows, please visit the following link: https://lnkd.in/dnekRHG

February 7, 2023  1

The A-MNEMONIC sonic branding report 2023.

We’ve now released our first-ever Sonic Branding Report.
An academic analysis of the latest thinking, ideas, stats and arguments.
This is only available for advertisers, brands, and broadcasters.

We break dense, often-inaccessible scholarship down into manageable chunks and discuss them informally. Second, we build on existing scholarship alongside recent data in order to make our own suggestions about where sonic branding may be heading next…

This report is aimed at anyone working for brands, their advertisers, marketers and strategists alike. Particularly those who find talking about, or quantifying their use of music perplexing. It doesn’t need to be that way!

Register your interest on our Audio Branding page here

October 18, 2022  1

Can You Generate a Completely AI Produced Song?

A-MNEMONIC’s Toby Jarvis explores whether artificial intelligence can truly create music that emotes, and has personality and believability.

Having watched the rise of artificial intelligence – both during the creative process and, with the listener or consumer, things are getting interesting.

Is it possible to generate an utterly AI-produced song? Not only the lyrics but the chord structure, the melody, all the band member’s instruments – and the lead singer?

Alan Turing experimented with computer-generated melodies in 1951, David Bowie with randomised lyric writing and many, many others since have used AI to augment their creative/ recording process.

There are a plethora of artificial intelligence, prose, lyric and songwriting tools out there. Some are unnervingly clever. There are chord progression, and melodic generators too. They suggest any number of chord sequences and musicologically solid routes forward.

I’ve been using a ‘virtual drummer’ for ages. It obediently plays along while you’re working out ideas, it’ll follow your tempo perfectly, and even decide on where to correctly play any fills.

There are hundreds of programmes like Riffer, which will endlessly generate melodies or arpeggios or rhythms. Given you dictate the key/tempo and sound, these many programs are still very much under the creative control of the composer.

The only AI programme we found to generate anything near 100% original was ‘Melobytes AI Song’. However, scoring high with creative originality it scored very low in how it sounded. Terrible!

For singing voice generation, we sometimes use Emvoiceapp. You input the melody, either by picking it out with one finger on a keyboard or inputting the notes on a grid. You then type in your lyric text, then choose one of four pre-set voices. Press enter and… Bingo! Well, sort of. One of the voice options sounded like a really pissed-off Cher. One of the male voices sounded quite creepy. No character, spark or believability. We sometimes use it to work out backing vocal harmonies, in advance of the singer doing it for real.

All these creative aids have become standard use in music creation. However, all require significant human input and judgement. None of these everyday tools can create anything like original music. Yet. It’s still down to the writer.

If a particular song has been successful, machine learning can be used to scan existing models and create new versions. Lately, AI-penned (or modelled) songs have come into their own. Indeed there is a top 10! In most cases, the lyrics are written using predictive text. Artist, “Botnik” used predictive text 50% trained in Morrissey lyrics, and 50% in Amazon customer reviews!

However, aside from the lyrics, these ‘tribute’ songs are based on an existing artist’s lyric style and sound. They’re all sung by humans with human people playing. Not truly AI-generated.

So, is it possible to generate a completely AI-created song? Just input your desired mood, and the emotions you want to hear and feel.

You say to Alexa: “Make me a track in the style of the Beatles, Swedish House Mafia, Beethoven with a 10% of dubstep, oh and it’s rainy and a robot took my job today. Please create a song that fits that criteria for me.”

Some production music libraries are heading this way – Soundraw, Jukebox and Amper are a few. However, they seem to rely on vast amounts of pre-recorded (and pre-composed) audio.

Because AI has to be pre-programmed with options to create specific musical pieces, it often produces music that is predictable. Desperately bland and characterless. Because it is essentially governed by an algorithm. It doesn’t feel believable.

An audience will listen or engage with music if it emotes, and has personality and believability. As far as I can see, pure AI music creation can’t do this yet. Not by a long way.

May 9, 2022  1

‘The Games’ on ITV receive an A-MNEMONIC music makeover

A-MNEMONIC have produced the music package for the new ITV sporting show ‘The Games.’

The Games took over ITV’s 9 pm slot every night for a week in Early May 2022.

Holly Willoughby, Freddie Flintoff, and Alex Scott present The Games where twelve celebrities take on several sporting activities. One of them is crowned the competition’s winner at the end of the week.

The show originally aired for three seasons on Channel 4 from 2003 until 2006, however, ITV rebooted the show with a new line-up of famous faces.

After undergoing several weeks of intense training, the celebrities go head-to-head in athletic, swimming, gymnastic and cycling events to earn medals.

At the end of the week, the male and female contestants with the most medals will be crowned the 2022 champions

April 20, 2022  1

A-MNEMONIC create new audio branding for Getir with Neverland Agency

A-MNEMONIC have created a music branding package for Getir – the app-based home delivery service. The first time Getir has embarked on such a wide-reaching audio branding exercise.
Getir identified the need for a ‘characterful brand sound’ to be used across all their media assets worldwide. Together with agency Neverland, they commissioned A-MNEMONIC to create a sung mnemonic, ownable and unmistakably attributable to Getir, that anyone could sing, whistle, hum or mimic… and work in any language.

Getir, founded in Turkey in 2015, operates in more than 50 cities in its home market, and has expanded over the past year into eight other countries, including the UK and US.
A big player in the UK’s fast-growing rapid delivery market, Getir aims to bring groceries to customers in as little as 10 minutes.
Getir (the name means “bring” in Turkish) offers customers a selection of some 2,000 grocery items, ordered online and delivered to your door within minutes – at any time of day!

The A-MNEMONIC music team went through various stages of brainstorming and creative workshops, working with various composers, musicians and singers. The final result was a sung mnemonic using the strapline ‘You’ve Got It – Getir’.

Getir Mnemonic
January 15, 2022  

A-MNEMONIC produce music for ‘I Literally Just Told You’ on Channel 4

Richard Bacon’s new Channel 4 creation ‘I Literally Just Told You’ has literally turned the quiz show format on its head.

Hosted by Jimmy Carr, four contestants have to answer questions that have been written LIVE as the show is being filmed, from a celebrity cameo to an off the cuff joke, or even something one of the contestants has shared about themselves. 

The show ducks and dives with tension and drama, and A-MNEMONIC helped create that extra tension with the music – writing 40 minutes of music that’s used throughout the show, as well as composing the theme music.

The final two contestants hilariously have to write the questions for each other for the last round, fighting to win a cash prize of up to £25,000 

September 29, 2021  1

Never Mind The Buzzcocks gets an A-MNEMONIC music update

A-MNEMONIC have updated the Music Theme, as part of the rebranding of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

The renowned comedy show has returned to Sky with brand new host Greg Davies. Returning to the show, Noel Fielding is a team captain opposite Daisy May Cooper, with Jamali Maddix featuring as a regular guest.

Each week the host and team captains are joined by a roster of top music and comedy stars to compete against each other. Viewers can expect the unpredictability of the original series, with some of the best known and loved rounds remaining, alongside some new surprises thrown in along the way.

September 20, 2021  1

A-MNEMONIC produce the new Audio Branding for The Guardian Podcasts

Despite being the leading commercial podcast publisher in the UK, The Guardian has only recently turned their attention to the task of branding their podcast offering

Over 15 million people in the UK listened to podcasts in 2020, with the figure set to rise by a cool five million in the next four years. That’s a lot of listeners! 

For The Guardian, A-MNEMONIC worked with the idea outlined in the brief: reflecting The Guardian’s core values and the concept of ‘diverse voices in conversation’. 

Besides creating a sonic identity for the suite of podcasts, A-MNEMONIC also had to search and cast for five male and female voices that could veritably represent the sound of contemporary Britain.