Brand Brief to Big Screen: The Composer Bringing Cinematic Depth to Commercial Sound

When HBO’s The Dark Money Game unveils its two-part documentary series - OHIO CONFIDENTIAL and WEALTH OF THE WICKED, directed by Oscar winner Alex Gibney - viewers will encounter not just a gripping investigation into political secrecy, but a score that feels like part of the conspiracy.

That sonic tension comes courtesy of Peter Nashel, whose work as a composer has spanned everything from I, Tonya to Totally Under Control - and whose impact on the world of commercial audio runs just as deep. Peter is not just a composer - he’s the founder and creative engine behind duotone audio group, a boutique sound company that’s become a go-to for brands like Nike, Apple, Rolex, Prada, Google, and Dell. With duotone, Peter brings his cinematic instincts into advertising, creating scores that don’t sell - they speak, challenge, and transform.

“Film scoring taught me how to listen,” says Peter. “At duotone, we bring that same depth to every brand we touch. We don’t write jingles. We design emotion.”

The Dark Money Game: A Sonic Study in Power and Paranoia

For The Dark Money Game, Peter reteamed with composer Brian Deming to create a brooding, live-recorded jazz noir score. But the session wasn’t just music - it was method. A handpicked jazz quartet was brought into the studio not to rehearse, but to improvise.

The result: a palette of angular piano voicings, sinewy trumpet lines, and modular synths that swirl like corrupted surveillance footage. The score doesn’t sit beneath the story. It conspires with it - whispering the unease of a system designed to conceal.

This precise, layered world of sound is also what duotone brings to commercial work. “Every project is a scene,” Peter says. “Every client is a character. We just find the right way to let them speak.”

duotone: The Underdog with the Big Sound

Despite its global client list, duotone is small by design. Just 14 people. No floor-to-floor office tower. No assembly line of anonymous engineers. Instead, a tight-knit team of obsessive listeners and makers, devoted to treating every campaign with the same respect and craft as a film score.

Whether it’s scoring a 50-piece orchestra behind Jessica Alba and Zac Efron for a mock Hollywood trailer campaign, or reshaping Coldplay’s Fix You for an award-winning PSA (The World’s Biggest Asshole), duotone approaches commercial work with heart, curiosity, and a deep belief in music’s power to move people - not manipulate them.

“We’re not here to push product,” says duotone head of music production Ross Hopman. “We’re here to tell emotional truths. And when brands let us do that, the results are unforgettable.”

A Studio with a Soul—and a Philosophy

At its core, duotone operates less like a studio and more like a musical ecosystem. Their in-house team includes lifelong musicians, composers, indie artists, and sound designers who think in stories and tones - not categories and trends. Clients aren’t customers—they’re collaborators. And every note, texture, and silence is crafted with intention. “The industry used to reflect culture,” says Peter. “Now it helps create it. That’s a responsibility.”

duotone’s Signature: Intimacy, Craft, and the Unexpected

In an era where every brand is looking for authenticity, duotone delivers something rarer: genuine artistry. Their work, shaped by Peter Nashel’s cinematic lineage, doesn’t just sound good - it feels real. Because it is. As The Dark Money Game hits HBO and Max this April 15–16th, audiences will hear that philosophy in action: a score that slips through the shadows, suggests more than it says, and transforms silence into signal. Just like duotone does every day.

THE DARK MONEY GAME is a Jigsaw Production. Written and directed by Alex Gibney; produced by Trevor Davidoski, Alex Gibney, and John Jordan. Original score by Peter Nashel. For HBO: executive producers Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Sara Rodriguez.

Streaming on Max beginning April 15th.

Learn more about duotone audio group​