Thinking In Sound: Erik Widmark on Fueling His Artistic Endeavours Through Collaboration
Erik Widmark is a sound designer/mixer at Another Country, where he designs and mixes a diverse range of broadcast advertising, web, social, radio, sonic branding, and film work. An accomplished musician with a degree in Audio Production from Columbia College Chicago, Erik’s body of work includes everything from Super Bowl spots to indie darlings, and just about anything in between.
On the off chance he’s not engulfed by Finnish studio monitors, he enjoys traveling with his partner and their rescue dog, or just admiring the view from their cabin in North Carolina.
LBB> When you’re working on a new brief or project, what’s your typical starting point? How do you break it down and how do you like to generate your ideas or response?
Erik> If possible I try to have a conversation with the creative team to understand their vision and get an idea of what they’ve already tried, why it may or may not have worked, and the general tone of the piece.
Sometimes timelines are tight so that may not be possible and they are trusting me to just “do the audio” (haha), in which case identifying the core elements of the story is key. The sound treatment should always support the story without distracting from it. That doesn’t mean it’s just wallpaper, rather the sound effects, music, and overall mix need to have logic and purpose centered around the emotional themes of the narrative.
LBB> Music and sound are in some ways the most collaborative and interactive forms of creativity - what are your thoughts on this? Do you prefer to work solo or with a gang - and what are some of your most memorable professional collaborations?
Erik> Both! I’ve always been drawn to working with people, whether in team sports, bands, or designing and mixing commercials. Collaboration fuels most of my artistic endeavours, but over the years I’ve realised having some unobserved solo time to sort through my ideas and experiment is integral to my creative process.
LBB> What’s the most satisfying part of your job and why?
Erik> I love that every project is different and that I can explore many different techniques of recording, sound designing and mixing. Sometimes it’s recording ADR for talking Twix bears, designing singing Jeep animals, or layering bombastic explosions with Cap’n Crunch and a band of animated pirates. Other times it’s adding intense crunch foley to Dole fruit snacks, ASMR style sizzles for Jersey Mike’s, or mixing touching tributes to NHL moms.
Lately at Another Country we’ve been sound designing short sonic landscape scenes for our Instagram reels. For my latest effort I drew inspiration from the sense of rhythm and movement that comes with certain modes of travel, composing a musical piece with a combination of instruments and sound effects. Ultimately the diversity of the content makes every project a blank canvas for exploration and always keeps it interesting.
LBB> As the advertising industry changes, how do you think the role of music and sound is changing with it?
Erik> I believe the role of music and sound in advertising has always been and will remain to immerse the listener and drive the emotion of the story. The methods and tools to achieve that are always changing … so changing along with them is crucial to meet the demands of an ever-rising creative bar.
Obviously the emergence of AI tools for music and sound generation have become the subject of much debate within the industry. Using AI tools to sketch ideas faster, fix problematic audio, or automate mundane tasks is exciting, but things like voice cloning and generative music based on dubious model training present ethical grey areas that can make some requests awkward at times.
No one wants their voice, art, or likeness stolen. Advertising shouldn’t devolve into deepfakes. So more and more we’ll have to ask ourselves what should be done instead of just what can be done. When the novelty wears off I wonder if “human-made” creative will be a badge or hashtag the likes of “organic” or “artisanal.” Ultimately future content will likely be a hybrid of both traditional production and AI generation so keeping up with the technology as it evolves is paramount.
LBB> Who are your musical or audio heroes and why?
Erik> Before landing in post audio I studied engineering/producing for music so my most formative influences come from that medium. My tastes are pretty broad. No genre is off limits, but I always come back to Radiohead. Each song is like a fantasy novel with new discoveries after every measure. The audio engineer Tom Dowd is also a big inspiration. Such a fascinating human and career. Check out the documentary Tom Dowd: The Language of Music.
LBB> And when it comes to your particular field, whether sound design or composing, are there any particular ideas or pioneers that you go back to frequently or who really influence your thinking about the work you do?
Erik> I am fortunate to work with a uniquely talented group of audio pros at Another Country. It is an immensely collaborative environment. We hang out and chat audio whenever possible.
Getting to pool our ideas and share new insights has helped us all stay at the top of our game and been an integral part of my growth as a sound designer and mixer over the years. Not only great engineers but better people. I am truly grateful to have worked alongside John Binder, David Gerbosi, Peter Erazmus, Drew Weir, Jordan Stalling, Logan Vines, Mike Regan, and all the amazing mixers, assistants, and producers that have come through AC Chicago over the years.
LBB> When you’re working on something that isn’t directly sound design or music (lets say going through client briefs or answering emails) - are you the sort of person who needs music and noise in the background or is that completely distracting to you? What are your thoughts on ‘background’ sound and music as you work?
Erik> I used to be a music-on-all-the-time person, but the longer I’ve been mixing the more I appreciate the quiet between sessions. I recently moved my home studio from the basement to a room upstairs and am quite enjoying the birdsong from my window as I write this.
LBB> I guess the quality of the listening experience and the context that audiences listen to music/sound in has changed over the years. There’s the switch from analogue to digital and now we seem to be divided between bad-ass surround-sound immersive experiences and on-the-go, low quality sound (often the audio is competing with a million other distractions) - how does that factor into how you approach your work?
Erik> I’ve always felt a balanced mix will translate across all mediums. Referencing on multiple formats is essential in the process but if you know your speakers/room well, getting that translation is less of an uphill battle. I’ve mixed on the same model of speakers my entire career and they will always remain a part of my studio. The sound of mobile devices has gotten better despite the inherent technical limitations, but of course immersive audio provides an unparalleled audio experience.
The best mixes will sound good on both. I am especially excited for some of the upgrades we are making in our studios at Another Country. Stay tuned!
LBB> On a typical day, what does your ‘listening diet’ look like?
Erik> When commuting it’s podcasts (Twenty Thousand Hertz, Song Exploder, various true crime, some politics) audiobooks (most recently Dune) or sports talk radio (my guilty pleasure). I prefer listening to records at home. I am a full album front to back person for sure. I think I only have like three Spotify playlists (haha)! I’ve been building out my home studio in recent years, so YouTube studio and guitar-related content has become a mainstay.
A lot of Andrew Masters studio tours, JHS Show, Loopop, Rhett Shull, and Tom Bukovac videos in my algorithm. I try to end each day with my own musical endeavours, whether that’s playing guitar, belting out high notes, clumsily pressing piano keys, or making bleeps and bloops on synths and grooveboxes.
LBB> Do you have a collection of music/sounds and what shape does it take (are you a vinyl nerd, do you have hard drives full of random bird sounds, are you a hyper-organised spotify-er…)?
Erik> My collection is all over the place. I’ve been collecting vinyl since I was a kid when my parents gave me all their classic rock records. Love the intimacy and interactive experience of vinyl! I also still have cassette mixtapes I made in middle school.
But lately I’ve been rediscovering my old iTunes collection. Streaming is great for discovering new artists but so much esoteric stuff gets lost in the shuffle when moving to streaming formats. I recently got turned on to Plex and repurposed an old computer into a media server. Now I can stream random old live shows from local bands I forgot about to my phone while on a road trip!
LBB> Outside of the music and sound world, what sort of art or topics really excite you and do you ever relate that back to music (e.g. history buffs who love music that can help you travel through time, gamers who love interactive sound design… I mean it really could be anything!!)
Erik> Stories! In all forms. Video games, TV, podcasts, movies. I took a lot of fiction writing classes when I was in college which made me deeply appreciate the ability to transport a reader/viewer/listener to another place and time. The Hero’s Journey is omnipresent. Who can resist the call to adventure? It’s such an amazing time for storytelling!
LBB> Let’s talk travel! It’s often cited as one of the most creatively inspiring things you can do - I’d love to know what are the most exciting or inspiring experiences you’ve had when it comes to sound and music on your travels?
Erik> I try to capture environmental sounds wherever I travel. Just little ambience snippets as a memento. They are kind of like smells, instant transportation back to where you were and how you felt. A café in Montreal, the desert at night in Death Valley, frogs in the mountain trees of North Carolina. Several years ago I was in Tokyo for a job and captured the sound of the cicadas in summer. I look forward to comparing those to the sounds of the upcoming Brood XIII emerging in the Chicagoland area this year.
LBB> As we age, our ears change physically and our tastes evolve too, and life changes mean we don’t get to engage in our passions in the same intensity as in our youth - how has your relationship with sound and music changed over the years?
Erik> Younger Erik wanted to play all the notes, stack all the sounds, make everything as loud as possible and be in the listener’s ears screaming “Listen! This is exciting!” The more noise I make, the more I appreciate the silences between. If everything is loud then nothing is loud. You need dynamics; balance. There is power in restraint.
