“I think that we are in a wonderful time to do audio branding because this situation where we need to educate people is a very good situation, right, because it’s something that is happening that we need to be strategic about it, and not so many brands are doing it. Right, so I think it’s a great place to be.” -- Gabriel Agüero

This episode’s guests have known each other their whole lives. Two of them were classmates in elementary school in their hometown of Patagonia, and they met the third when they moved to Buenos Aires to go to music college. Since then, they've been classmates, bandmates, roommates, and eventually partners in Drop Music Branding. They are Gabriel Agüero, Dalmiro Lacaze, and Mauro Gonzalez, and their nicknames, which you’ll be hearing quite a bit, are Gabo, Dal, and Mow.

In 2009, Dal moved to Boston to study Performance at Berklee, Gabo worked at Argentina's main TV station, and Mow worked at Disney. When Dal returned from Boston, the three of them began creating audio identities for brands across four continents, and they’ve been doing that for more than a decade now. In this two-part interview, the three of them will be offering their perspectives on innovations within the audio branding industry and where they think things are heading into the future!

As always, if you have questions for my guests, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  And if you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’d consider it, I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast! You can leave a review (that I’d love to feature on future podcasts!), either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page.

Impressions of Sound

As the episode starts, each guest talks about his earliest memories of sound. Gabriel tells us how his older brother learned to play the guitar and enlisted him, at the age of ten, as his drummer. “From that point,” Gabriel recalls, “I understood that my calling in life was to do music and make a living out of it.” Dalmiro talks about his mother’s mix tapes and cassette books and how they inspired him to record his own music as a child while Mauro recalls the various impressions that sound and words made upon him when he was young, and how understanding their hidden connections motivated him.

Escaping the Comfort Zone

The trio goes on to tell us how, after moving to Buenos Aires, they went from musical careers to a focus on audio branding, starting with their new jobs at Argentina's largest television station. "The funny thing,” Mauro says as he remembers that first foray into sonic branding, “is that we didn't have, like, tools and BSTs and instruments.” Given just a Windows computer and a single week, they rose to the occasion and learned an important lesson that’s guided their company since. “It's not an opportunity if you know how to do it,” Gabriel explains. “It needs to take you out of your comfort zone.”

Sonic vs Audio

The Drop Music team goes on to tell us about their next project for a satellite operator whose service extends throughout South America, and how a Gary Vee article opened their eyes to both the potential of audio branding and to how much they'd already learned about the process. "We were really lucky to start working alongside images," Dalmiro says, “that was like the bridge.” We discuss the subtle differences between sonic and audio branding and where each term’s most likely to be heard, and how they help educate clients who might not be familiar with either one make sense of all the jargon.

Everybody’s Doing It

As the first half of our interview comes to a close, we talk about audio branding strategies and how every company creates a sonic impression, whether it's carefully planned or left to chance. Gabriel remarks that, with the opportunities that sonic branding creates in a market that doesn't always take full advantage of it, and how Drop Music Branding recognizes a job well done when it comes to branding and sonic strategies. "You know you've done it right when,” Gabriel explains, “you see the client using it and really implementing it well – that's when you know you did it right.”

Episode Summary

• Drop Music Branding’s early musical influences and memories
• Their first trial-by-fire audio branding project as students in Buenos Aires
• How opportunity’s usually found outside of our comfort zones
• Drop Music Branding’s early transition from music to audio branding
• How sonic impressions are created even when we aren’t thinking about them

Tune in next week as the Drop Music team and I discuss the differences between human and “synth” music, the hidden dangers of audio pollution, and the benefits of sound-based healing.

Connect with the Guests:

Website: https://dropmusicbranding.com

Follow Drop Music Branding on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dropmusicbranding/

Connect with Drop Music Branding on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dropmusicbranding/

Follow Drop Music Branding on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dropmusicbrand/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/