Thinking In Sound: Clemens Lockner and Bogdan Dück on Bringing People Together with Music
Clemens is a passionate and invested producer for music in media. His love for music began learning piano as a child before switching to bass, and then spending countless hours both on stage as a bass player and in the studio recording with various rock, stoner and pop punk bands. A stopover in music publishing while studying at university furthered his interest in the whole spectrum of the music business. As a musician himself, Clemens remains passionate about how music can be incorporated into different mediums in new ways, especially in gaming. It’s with his combined background and interests that Clemens can translate and seamlessly manage the production process for Supreme’s clients to deliver unique and powerful sounds.
Bogdan is a Hamburg-based composer and producer. A formally trained pianist, Bogdan grew up in and around orchestras, opera, and theatre, absorbing a love of music from an early age thanks to his mother, a trained conductor and music teacher, and father, a professional accordionist. Switching gears from his classical training, he dove into music production at University, amassing studio time making electronic music. He now combines his two loves.
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?
Clemens> Typically, I gather all information regarding a project and share the fundamental details with our Creative Team. From there, we like to hop on a quick Zoom meeting with the creatives involved in the project to collect more verbal information, sort of listening between the lines. After that, we share initial ideas, soundscapes, and moods internally before creating the first deck as a delivery for our clients.
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?
Clemens> The most impressive thing for me is that music and sound can drastically change a film, making scenes that are meant to feel intense and suspenseful instead feel light and even humorous. Personally, I love working together with our team. We do a pretty good job of dividing certain aspects of a project, with several people working on the producing side as well as several people on the creative side.
A couple of years ago, we worked on a Porsche project, and I remember that we brought together awesome musicians, recorded a string ensemble, and had the chance to collaborate with the US female artist Vaneese Thomas, who had previously worked with Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, and Joe Cocker.
LBB> What’s the most satisfying part of your job and why?
Clemens> Honestly? Bringing musicians together and experiencing (mostly hearing) wonderful music that brings a film to life is incredibly rewarding. Comparing the ideas shared during the first briefing to finally seeing the finished product is something special that I can't get enough of.
LBB> As the advertising industry changes, how do you think the role of music and sound is changing with it?
Clemens> Short formats capable of capturing consumers' attention are becoming increasingly important a sour attention spans decrease. I feel like there is almost no build-up in these formats, and we're at the peak right from the start of the spot. Especially for interactive social media content, engaging with the audience is super important, and the viewer needs to be drawn into the content as quickly as possible. It's challenging but also super exciting at the same time.
LBB> Who are your musical or audio heroes and why?
Bogdan> I grew up listening to lots of classical music since my parents are also musicians, and they always took me to these kinds of concerts and operas. So, my musical heroes are mostly dead, but I love S.Rachmaninoff, and I deeply connect to his music. I would say he is a big influence and therefore somehow kind of a musical hero.
Clemens> Actually, I grew up listening to Deep Purple a lot before my musical taste changed. I came across Nirvana, and shortly after that, I fell in love with US hip hop while listening to Eminem, Nas, and Biggie. Being interested in the production side of music, I followed the work of their producers at the time. That's why I appreciate the work of Martin Birch, Butch Vig, and Rick Rubin so much. Especially Rick Rubin's ability to make everything sound great across different genres is something I really admire.
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?
Bogdan> There are many great minds throughout the history of music who I find extremely inspiring. If I had to pick someone from our time, I think it would be Jacob Collier. Listening to his music and especially how he talks about music is always incredibly inspiring and wise. It seems like music is truly a language he speaks fluently.
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?
Clemens> I used to work with music playing in the background all the time while doing the non-musical stuff that comes along with a project. However, my brain is always distracted by sound and music. There is no song I don’t want to sing along to, and that makes reading briefings or writing emails very hard. Therefore, I changed to a strictly quiet environment. I guess the quality of the listening experience and the context that audiences listen to music/sound in has changed over the years.
LBB> 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?
Bogdan> For me personally, there is no difference in how I approach my music making. Of course, you want to make your mix sound great and make it work on all devices. But you can’t influence how people listen to it. I’m fully aware that many people listen to it on their phone or laptop, and it's sometimes frustrating because you invest so much in your equipment and studio, because you want to give your audience the best possible listening experience.
But I guess it's the same as in cinema. You shoot for a big screen, and in the end, people are watching it on their phone. It's the same with audio.
LBB> On a typical day, what does your ‘listening diet’ look like?
Bogdan> Since it’s often the case that you have to listen to music with all your attention while you’re producing or composing, it's often hard for me to enjoy listening to other music after a stressful workday because my ears are tired. Mostly, I listen to the same 4-5 songs I always listen to, just to calm myself down. If I'm on vacation or have some more free time, it's a bit different, and I like to listen to music more closely.
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…)?
Bogdan> Haha, that's a nice inspiration for me to record some birds! I would say I’m the complete opposite of a 'hyper-organized' Spotify user. It's either the same 4-5 songs I always listen to or just randomly listening to a song or a random artist's radio. Otherwise, I don’t have any specific collection of music. However, I do like to collect sheet music. Sadly, most of the time they just lie around and don’t get the attention they deserve. But I'll work on it
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!!)
Clemens> I’m interested in so many things; it’s almost hard to think of one thing in particular. As a kind of gamer, I love to see and hear the 3D world evolve into futuristic and innovative forms. Testing a new game is always exciting to me. Even before hearing what the sounds and music within a game might be, I always wonder how the creators behind new e-sport titles approached new and unheard sounds.
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?
Bogdan> I live in a big city where there are so many distractions and constant noise surrounds you at any given moment. When I travel, I like to visit places that are more quiet. It's fascinating because the moments of silence during my travels or during a hike in the mountains are the ones that inspire me the most. It's a strange thing, but you feel the contrast to your normal surroundings, and that's quite inspiring.
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?
Bogdan> It might sound cheesy, but I guess my personal relationship with music has become more intense over the years. With music, there's always something new to explore and something new to learn. It's like a long-term relationship where, with time, you understand each other more and more.
Clemens> I’ve become much more sound-sensitive, that’s for sure. Streaming services have made access to music way easier and, therefore, sometimes not as valuable as before. However, that’s given me the opportunity to fall in love with new music much more easily and I come back to listening to songs of my youth, also falling in love with them again.
