5 Minutes With Karla Henwood of Nylon Studios Sydney

Immersed in the music and advertising industry for 17 years, executive producer of Nylon Studios, Karla Henwood, began her career in dispatch at an advertising agency before working her way into the creative department. However, it was a love of music that saw her pursue her chosen field.

Playing piano and saxophone at an early age and growing up in a household that nurtured her appetite for music, Henwood naturally gravitated towards a career in sound, starting at Tiger Sound and later landing a job at Australia's largest independent music publishing company Albert Music – home of AC/DC, where she became general manager of its recording studio, Albert Studios.

With a masters degree in Arts Management under her belt, the call came to pair together her passion for music and background in advertising when she secured a position at award-winning commercial sound house Nylon Studios, Sydney.

Since then, Henwood has had a hand in producing sound design and music composition for international campaigns led by big name brands including Nike, Lynx, Nintendo, Qantas, VW and Smirnoff.

LBB online catches up with Henwood to get her take on what's to come in sound and music this year…

LBB> You've produced some very memorable campaigns in your time at Nylon Studios. Have there been any standouts?

KH> They’re all memorable for different reasons. As a producer the ones you’re most proud of are the job where you’ve managed to make the impossible possible or you’ve quietly moved mountains to make job go smoothly. I’m fortunate to work with some incredible agency creatives and directors so while the job can be challenging it’s also heaps of fun.

LBB> Nylon Studios also has a music licensing division. What is the benefit of bringing on board ex-EMI Music Publishing licensing manager Elise Lindsay to head this division?

KH> Elise has been a great asset to Nylon. With her experience working with artists, mangers and labels we’ve been able to offer music ideas and placements that benefit both the artist or band’s career and the interests of the clients that we service. Everyone is happy and Elise is incredible to work with.

LBB> Nylon Studios has recently invested in a state of the art recording studio to support local talent. How has this paid off so far?

KH> It’s great having our own in-house live room, vintage gear and a wall of guitars. Our clients love it and we’re able to bring back some traditional recording techniques to our original compositions.

Also with Elise’s connection to the music industry we’ve been able to utilise the space to stage Nylon's Coachhouse Sessions that showcase incredible bands and artists to a select group of our advertising clients. It’s been a very successful way for us to help connect agencies with the music industry.

LBB> You recently worked with Australian songstress Tina Arena on a campaign for David Jones. How does star power help extend the reach of a campaign?

KH> That was an incredibly successful campaign, and a great example of how the star factor can really work for your brand. It has to be the right synergy between the two, so for David Jones and Tina Arena this was perfect. As a result, and through Tina’s massive fan base of 200k likes, the campaign had fantastic PR value. Our licensing manager Elise was again instrumental in the talent and agency negotiations and the music arrangement was crafted here in Nylon’s new live room.

LBB> You are also the founder of Chicks In Advertising (CIA), a group that helps women in advertising connect and support each other in the local market. What kind of industry feedback have you received thus far?

KH> The feedback has been fantastic! I think there was a need for women in the industry to have an informal way to connect, share ideas and build strong creative alliances. The structure of agencies has been changing too, as producers and creative teams are now often freelance, so maintaining connections and establishing new relationships outside of the agency structure is becoming more important.

LBB> Are there any foreseeable trends in the sound space that we should be looking out for in 2015?

KH> A lot of our work follows innovation in technology, film and social trends, which is very exciting for us. Most people listen to music and watch TV shows with their Beats headphones on, connected to a device so sound is even more important that it was before. The images might be smaller to watch but the sound has to be bigger and tailored to the environment. Currently we’re experimenting with 3D sound using bin aural recording techniques that will hopefully put us at the forefront of innovation in the sound space.