Thinking in Sound: The Emotive Power of Music with Hugo Ellingham

Hugo Ellingham is head of music at Brother Music (the sister company of Brother Film), a music and sound design studio that’s been creating bespoke soundscapes for commercial and feature work over the past five years. In this time, Hugo has composed soundtracks and crafted the sound design for a broad list of clients (Gucci, Nike & Heinz to name drop a few). He delves into the industry and how he approaches a project.

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?

Hugo> I’d struggle to pin down a ‘typical’ starting point to a project, simply because each varies so dramatically - from poignant, piano-based profile films to high-energy sportswear commercials. A suite of reference material goes a long way towards generating a workflow, but it all comes down to jumping into the process and shutting myself in the studio until the seed of an idea has formed.

The drummer in me likes to establish a tempo for the soundtrack first and foremost: A BPM that sets the pace for the film and hits key marks in the edit. From here though, it’s completely dependent on the brief as to whether I start by creating a rhythmic base to the music, or by tinkering with chord progressions on the piano.

I guess part of the allure of making commercial soundtracks is the variation and the ability to approach each project differently.

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?

Hugo> Having come from a commercial music background (making dance music for my own artist project as well as others) it was more common to collaborate at some point in the song-writing process than it was to finish a song completely solo. However, I’ve found that my time creating music for film has been a more solitary process. 

Perhaps it’s the external agency or client that is responsible for signing off a music project which pushes me to hold off from collaborating more regularly. The process can get more complicated and time consuming if each round of feedback requires going back and forth with your collaborator(s), as opposed to simply popping into the studio and keeping that responsibility to yourself.

That being said, briefs sometimes come in that cannot be completed alone and in these instances, it’s always fun and rewarding to work with freelance musicians. I have fond memories working with a Jazz drummer (and director!) Sam Johnson in his Bristol based studio. We were set the challenge of recording a set of solo drum rhythms, all at the same tempo, which I would later craft into a seamless, genre-hopping soundtrack for a Wagamama commercial.

LBB> What’s the most satisfying part of your job and why?

Hugo> There’s often a hallowed 24-48 hour period, having created the initial pass of a soundtrack, where it’ll play round and round in my head (often before any third party has offered their opinion). It’s a wonderfully satisfying time in the lifespan of a project, listening to your latest work the following day with a fresh perspective. I’ll slowly tweak, refine and improve it over the course of a day or two until the deadline is hit to send it over to the production company and await judgement.

The pipedream of my role is getting approval on that first version and going straight into the mixing process. I have faith it will happen soon!

LBB> As the advertising industry changes, how do you think the role of music and sound is changing with it?

Hugo> The medium by which we watch advertising has a huge impact on music and sound. When Facebook / Instagram introduced muted autoplay on video ads, the importance of audio took a hit with the need for subtitles becoming almost more important than a carefully created soundscape.

However today’s social media really boosts the need for sound and music with the ever growing role of TikTok and Reels in advertising. I think the opportunity for lifting the production value of a commercial or film through the sound is bigger than ever.

LBB> Who are your musical or audio heroes and why?

Hugo> I can’t imagine Top Gear is often referenced as an influential programme for a budding electronic music producer.. However an episode aired in 2009 with Brian Eno’s ‘Ascent (An Ending)’ playing out the last episode and soundtracking a review of Aston Martin’s latest V12 Vantage. It’s a soundtrack that stuck with me, introducing me to ambient music and the emotive effect that such seemingly simple music can have on a piece of film. I’ve since used the Top Gear segment as an influence for multiple soundtracks (including one that I’m working on in between writing this article) and the impact that Brian Eno has had on me as a composer is certainly noticeable!

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?

Hugo> My music technology course at university taught me the importance that audio brings to creating the emotion within a film, and it remains front and centre in my approach to soundtracks and sound design. For this reason, embracing and enhancing the emotion of a film is always the number one goal for each project.

There have been a number of occasions where the ‘power of sound’ in film has been reinforced within my own work. An offline cut may be lacking the intended emotion of the film until the added layer of music and/or sound design fills in the gaps. It’s always encouraging to witness the importance of sound.

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?

Hugo> I’m a keen background music supporter. Not so much in the sense that I ‘need’ music or noise to work, but more a case of taking inspiration and influence from all the material I can absorb.

When I’m not working on a specific project, I’ll venture next door to the Brother Film office and work on briefs or emails from there. We have a monthly office playlist that embraces a real smorgasbord of genres - a great source of inspiration! (SHAMELESS PLUG - You can find our playlist here!)

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?

Hugo> I’ve been making music on a laptop for about a decade now, so the way in which music is absorbed hasn’t shifted drastically. I’ve always referenced music on a variety of speakers, both good and bad, to gauge a mix. In my current workflow my go-to comparisons are studio speakers, Airpods, iPhone speakers and in the car. It’s crucial though to consider the output of a campaign or film and adapt your mix referencing according to what those outputs are.

LBB> On a typical day, what does your ‘listening diet’ look like?

Hugo> A typical day involves listening to a podcast on my walk to the studio. ‘Tape Notes’ is a firm favourite which has inspired my day’s work on more than one occasion.

A studio day is nothing more than listening to my current project over and over, broken up by brief visits next door to the office where there could be anything and everything playing on the speaker!

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…)?

Hugo> My music collection and organisation has taken a number of forms through the years, as I’m sure everyone’s has. From my nu-metal, pop-punk CD collection in the early years, through my beloved and treasured iTunes library (which was always a point of pride), to the current iteration of a growing vinyl collection plus carefully curated Spotify playlists.

The sources of music that I work with are virtual instruments for the most part. Digital instruments through tools like Native Instruments’ Kontakt are getting more and more convincing, with varied articulation and performance styles within individual instruments.

My sound design library is now more maintained and considered than my music collection. Tools like Soundly & Splice have significantly improved the organisation of SFX at the Brother studio. What used to be a vaguely categorised set of folders (Animals, Transport, Sci-fi etc) is now a searchable programme with metadata and editable sounds in-app. Would highly recommend.

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!!)

Hugo> Photography has been a hobby of mine for a long time now and I’ll rarely leave the house on a day out without a camera slung over my shoulder. Photography has a very different workflow to music - once the shutter has been pressed, 99% of the work has been done and there's nothing you can do about it. Maybe that's why I like it, when the rest of my time is spent working in a very different way!