Notes on brand sound
Notes on how brands sound, from the people who actually make the sound. Sorted by what you're trying to figure out.
Music for advertising
Making a spot? Here's what it costs, what you get, and how to brief it.
What does music for an ad cost?
The five things that set the price, per format.
Music that survives the cutdown
One track, four lengths: 60, 30, 15 and 6 seconds.
Audio delivery specs for TV, radio and online
−23 LUFS, −1 dBTP, −16 LUFS. The numbers, and where they come from.
What an ad music project delivers
The ten files a national spot ships with, and why.
Stock music or custom music?
Price, exclusivity, cutdowns, Content ID and rights compared.
Briefing template for ad music
One page, ten fields, free PDF.
What does a music supervisor do?
Finding the right existing song, and clearing it.
The basics, explained
New to this? Start here. What an audio identity is, and which bits your brand actually needs.
Briefing a sonic identity for a museum association
Who it speaks for, where you'll hear it, who gets to use it. Plus a one-page brief template.
Sonic branding for NGOs and charities
How sound helps people trust you. With our NHS and Doctors Without Borders projects as examples.
Sonic branding on public money
Four budget lines, what to ask the studio, and how to explain it to a board.
Audio identity for an exhibition
Why gallery sound follows different rules from campaign sound, and why the invigilator is your most important test audience.
How to run a sonic brand audit yourself
Five steps, about three hours, and the two technical checks anyone can hear on a laptop speaker.
Sonic branding: the complete guide
What sonic branding is, the parts of an audio identity, what it costs and where to start. The pillar page this article was merged into.
UX sound design: the brand asset most companies forget
Notification tones, the little ping when a payment goes through, loading sounds. UX sound is growing fast.
Budget, rights and picking a supplier
The money side. What it costs, who owns what, and how you tell one studio from another.
What does a sonic identity for a museum cost?
Price ranges, what pushes them up, and how to spread the cost over several campaigns.
Audio logo, jingle or brand anthem: what your brand actually needs
Twelve demos in three categories, why nine out of ten clients say Netflix, and how an anthem becomes a six second cutdown.
Who owns your sonic identity?
Master or composition? Licence or buyout? And what happens to your rights if you switch agency.
How much does sonic branding cost? A 2026 pricing guide
What really decides the price of a sonic identity (hint: usage rights, more than studio hours) and five things every quote should have in it.
How to choose a sonic branding agency
Eight questions to ask, five kinds of supplier, and a few red flags that mean you should walk away.
Music licensing 101: why rerecording can save your campaign
Fell for a track you can't get the rights to? A rerecording gets you the same vibe, minus the legal headache.
From the studio
Short notes from the work, the kind we also share on LinkedIn.
The three seconds at the end of your video
Silence, a track cut mid-bar, or a fade that trips over itself. Why the end of your video matters most.
What Museumweek 2020 taught me about sonic identity
The plan was finished, then every museum closed. Why the sound didn't need to be reinvented.
How to give feedback on music when you're not a musician
No music theory needed. Six habits that make the feedback round faster and the music better.
Your employees hear your brand more than your customers do
Hold music, webinar intros, the office playlist. Why internal sound decides what your brand becomes.
Why I test everything on a phone speaker first
Bass and detail disappear on a phone. Why every mix gets its first real test there.
Start with how it must never sound
No military drums, no mournful strings. How half an hour of "never" saved two revision rounds.
Bring the music in at the rough cut
Music after picture lock is a repair job. Why the rough cut is the cheapest moment to start.
A campaign that ends quieter than it starts
No build-up, no drums, and a spot that fades out. Why quiet was the right call for Museumkaart.
Your podcast intro is the most played sound you own
Heard more often than any ad you paid for. What a good podcast intro does, and how to fix yours.
Inside the work
How a project actually runs, from brief to broadcast.