Why Joe Philips Is Optimistic and Excited About the Future of Sound
Having served as creative director of sonic branding and composer for Another Country Detroit since 2013, Joe masterfully pairs music and sound with moving images and essential brand sensibilities for a dazzling array of clients, including Pokémon, Pepsi, GMC, Buick, Ford, the Detroit Lions, and the AICP, to name but a few. Fusing his vast expertise in music composition, sound design, sonic branding, composition and supervision, his astute approach to generating sublime audio content helps Another Country’s global clientele unleash their full sonic potential.
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?
Joe> It’s a little bit different each time, but I try to find an inspiring snippet of sound I can build upon – a loop, a mood, a sample, a beat, a melody. I want a raw element that carries within it a key, a rhythm, or any other inherent information that helps point the way forward. If the project calls for an orchestral flavour, I tend to lean into the strings first. If it leans into a pop or EDM vibe, I’ll dial in the BPM and get the kick, snare and percussion backbone working. If it heads toward acoustic or a band, it’s often a guitar riff that sparks that fire. Personally, I have the most fun when I get to create without restrictions (for example the ‘23 & ‘24 AICP awards show music packages), where I have time to truly play and explore, allowing the images and feeling to guide me.
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?
Joe> I love true collaboration. When things click with a partner(s), there’s really nothing better than that feeling. It can be infectious and extraordinary. When I was cutting my teeth in this industry, I was fortunate enough to get to watch Elegant Too work. Chris Maxwell and Phil Hernandez have a strong shared musical language and a magical ability to volley sonic ideas back and forth. They both trust that each can add the right thing, or one can hear what the other can’t. I also find the way they balance commercial composition projects with artistically fulfilling personal endeavours ultimately inspiring. I see them as musically holistic and un-siloed in their pursuits.
I’ve worked with many amazing musicians and creative minds over the years – Chris Langrill, Derik Lee, Jeremy Schemm, and many others - and I’m grateful to be a part of a beautiful, boundaryless tapestry of musicians and creators.
All that said, due to time and budgetary reductions, I find myself working solo more and more in the past five years. I have a lot of good ears and minds around me that provide great feedback, but I take on the bulk of the “white paper blues” when it comes to composition.
LBB> What’s the most satisfying part of your job and why?
Joe> My day to day is rarely the same, and that’s one of the things I really enjoy. Some days I’m mixing and sound designing, some day’s writing original music, and others I’ve got my creative director hat on and I’m ideating on a pitch deck. You might find me recording a vehicle or something seemingly weird or unnecessary that I’ll shoehorn into a project in an unexpected way. My job allows me to find opportunities to unify my diverse skill set.
LBB> As the advertising industry changes, how do you think the role of music and sound is changing with it?
Joe> As George Lucas has famously said, sound is 50% of the movie-going experience. I think that remains true for the advertising experience, too. The role of music and sound design paired with visual content will remain just as important as ever, but I expect the way that audio is created or obtained and integrated will change rapidly in the next five years. There’s a huge, globally available catalog of digitised music, samples and sound effects that anyone can access. Additionally, real, tangible AI-assisted capability for someone who knows little-to-nothing about the craft is on the horizon.
This dovetails perfectly into clients’ desire to evaluate seemingly infinite options before committing to a direction, at a supply rate that’s faster than humanly possible. But in our everything-is-available-all-the-time world, it’s easy to understand where we’re heading. You can try to fight it, but in many ways the change is already at our doorstep.
I think humans’ role in music and sound design will ultimately become closer to curators and sonic quilters, if you will, with less focus on traditional compositional or performance abilities. Things are changing everywhere you look, and it’s interesting to watch and fun to navigate.
Even with so much industrial uncertainty and consistent novelty, I remain optimistic and excited about the future of sound.
LBB> Who are your musical or audio heroes and why?
Joe> If I really think about who made the biggest musical impact on me and my pursuits, it starts with my family.
My mum has always loved singing, and she passed that right onto me. I got to collaborate with her on a piece I composed for the 2018 D Show open; it was a real joy. My Dad has always listened to albums and shared that love with me early; I have fond memories of Bob Seger’s ‘Beautiful Loser’ lighting up the four-corner track indicator on the eight-track and listening to the American versions of The Beatles records. My grandmother was a fantastic piano player and I used to really enjoy hearing her play. I’ve since inherited her early 1900’s, made-in-Detroit, Grinnell Bros. upright piano that I’m sure has seen more cocktail party action than I can imagine. My Uncle Ken taught me about listening for nuance in recorded music and playback systems, sharing Thomas Dolby, Talking Heads, and more with me through headphones. I still remember the red strobe light of his Technics turntable. Watching my Uncle Mark practice with his band in the early ‘80s instantly hooked me and made me want to play guitar and start writing songs.
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?
Joe> Professionally, I’m inspired by so many. Hans Zimmer, Diego Stocco, Max Richter, Csaba Wagner, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Brian Eno, Rick Rubin, Dr. Dre, Pharrell Williams, Mark Ronson, Derik Lee come to mind off the top of my head, but the list is really a mile long. All masters of their craft and inspirational artists in their own right.
Also, I often reflect on my brief, yet very impactful time working for Joel Beckerman at what’s now Made Music in NYC. I’m forever grateful for the time I spent working there, the people I met, and the lessons I learned. I knew music before I got there, but that experience really opened up my compositional and sonic branding knowledge and abilities.
LBB> When you’re working on something that isn’t directly sound design or music - 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?
Joe> If I’m hanging out with friends, cleaning, or working in the yard, I’m blasting music that moves and inspires me, from any genre. I don’t really have favourites; I love a lot of styles.
But, the longer I work in sound, the more I tend to lean into silence, or ambient music when I need to do administrative or clerical tasks. I can get easily distracted with tunes, and I find my mind drifts right toward jamming along with them and nothing gets done.
Oddly enough, I’ve noticed that when I’m silent and not actively listening to music, my mind is still playing songs in my head. I’m in my third year of cataloguing my “Subconscious Radio” playlists. I’m really surprised by the songs that bubble up from the abyss. I think everybody should try it out and see what’s lurking in their head - you might be surprised.
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?
Joe> Even with all of the amazing gear and fantastic Genelec speakers at work, I know in today’s advertising world I’m most likely mixing for the person watching on their phone, tablet or laptop. It’s foolish to not consider those playback devices and streaming platforms. I love high quality audio and know that there’s no better experience, but the general population doesn’t have access to the best sonic reproduction. I saw an interview with Will.I.Am where he pontificated on how recording artists have always created music to help sell a product, from wax cylinders to Beats by Dre headphones. I wish we lived in an audiophile world, and we should always be designing for things to sound their best and translate everywhere – that is the job of a good mixing engineer, after all. But like it or not, we’ve got to make it pop on the portable devices.
LBB> On a typical day, what does your ‘listening diet’ look like?
Joe> As my boys get older, they’ve commandeered a lot of my listening sessions. They’ve been bringing a lot of fun artists to the table, and it’s fun to see them starting to explore and express themselves through music. They are helping me stay afloat in the ocean of evergreen pop culture.
LBB> Do you have a collection of music/sounds and what shape does it take?
Joe> I have all of the above (yes, including random bird sounds) and I used to have a beautifully organised CD collection, but I’ve been steadily losing the organisation battle for years, especially in the digital domain. Residential moves, dwindling personal space, and the overall battle for my attention is to blame for the physical disorganisation, but I never realised how insane the number of digital files would become (with no signs of stopping). I’m very thankful for the search bar! Yet, you can speak into the air and have your exact musical desire beamed directly into your ears almost instantaneously, so it feels less and less like an issue if I really need to hear something immediately. I’m confident AI will clean up my mess soon. 😆
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?
Joe> I recently saw a clip of Johnny Cash talking about how he can’t write on a schedule or on demand. But if he goes on a walk or spends time in a fulfilling way, it’s a good bet that he’ll come up with a song that evening. His point was that he needs to be full in order to pour it back out.
I ascribe to that philosophy. I like abstract painters and enjoy going to art museums for inspiration. I’m inspired by philosophy and inspired thought. I love getting out in nature. In some way, all of that folds into my understanding of music and sound. Relationships, frequency, intervals, structure, it’s all there. You just got to be curious and uncover the connections.
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?
Joe> That’s a great question. (I’m going to steal that to help break the ice with students in my next Sound Design class. 😃) I really like taking in the sounds of places and structures. The rhythmic rattle of the cars and how sound bounces off the tiled walls of NYC’s subway system; the subtle breeze through the open fields of Anse; the solitary silence of uninhabited lakes and ponds in the deep wilderness of Canada’s Georgian Bay; the amazingly reverberant churches and corridors of Venice; the buzz buzz of Joshua Tree. I like when you can hear the earth speak.
For a while, I had a job that allowed me to travel all over the US, and I was outside a lot. I began recording “echo tests” on my phone wherever I went – basically a quick, transient shout into the air and listening to how it interacted with the environment. It started as a joke, but it quickly became really interesting and very fun.
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?
Joe> I’m sorry, what did you say? 🤣 In all honesty, I’m painfully aware of the ephemeral nature of our hearing prowess. I have family and friends that struggle with hearing loss issues and I’m thankful for every day that I can hear with depth and clarity. I wear earplugs when I go out to shows or I’m in loud situations, I try to not fatigue my ears, and keep my fingers crossed.
