MUSIC FOR BRANDING, MARKETING, AND CORPORATE VIDEO
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MIKE HALLENBECK ORIGINAL MUSIC REEL 2020: BRANDING/ PSA/ BROADCAST PLACEMENT
(0:00- 0:14) Music placement on “Making It”, Amy Poehler’s NBC reality show. Contestants compete by creating decorative objects; on this episode, the challenge was to design wreaths. This episode featured a track from the album “Simple & Playful: Quirky Electro Pop”, which I wrote for the production music library Primary (distributed by APM in the U.S., and EMI Play internationally).
(0:14- :23) Original music for a “Keep Duluth Clean” PSA. The creative direction asked for bossa nova— Esquivel came up— but the reference tracks provided were things like Henry Mancini’s “The Baby Elephant Walk” and “Why Wait” by Perez Prado, so I figured we wanted something kitschy that would match the whimsy of the characters and settings, but a bit more “square” than Esquivel per se. More info on the creative process for this piece.
(0:23- :52) Original musical score for a video by Allina Health promoting the pain management technology Burst DR. I sculpted samples of the tonal musical elements into ambient washes, underscoring various emotions throughout the piece. Various sci-fi synth accents acknowledge tech events here and there as well.
(:53- 1:04) A low-key ambient swell for 3M’s “Built to Perform” campaign. (I did the sound design for a lot of these too; this one was fun, for example.) The music cue had to evoke solidity, reliability, and integrity, while maintaining a hard edge to empathize with the harshness of contractor life.
(1:05 - 1:30) Original music for a banded Halloween greeting collaboration between my company and Squawk Productions. I laid on the lurid details as thickly as I could— an evil circus meter, theremin, chimes, trombone, Hammond organ— and intentionally truncated the low end to subliminally place us in the realm of vintage Universal horror films. See the whole piece (for which I also performed voiceover, designed sound, and mixed).
PRODUCTION LIBRARY MUSIC
“SIMPLE & PLAYFUL: QUIRKY ELECTRO-POP”
An album by Mike Hallenbeck for the Primary library (dist. APM in U.S./ EMI Play globally). “Simple, fun and quirky electronic pop tracks perfect for kid's, daytime and lifestyle programming and fun, family-friendly advertising.” Placements include NBC, Cartoon Network, MLB, + broadcast TV in Spain, UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Australia. Hear tracks
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"MOVING FORWARD": FOLK-ROCK PRODUCTION LIBRARY MUSIC ALBUM
A collection of original production music by Mike Hallenbeck, available from Opening Line Music Group and such sub-publishers as BMG.
Entitled “Moving Forward”, the album proceeds from a rootsy folk-rock approach featuring chunky rhythms that drive strummed acoustic guitar, wistful piano melodies, and chiming pedal steel counterpoint. The tracks call to mind late 70s folk rock and contemporary Americana, with a dash of the Feelies and perhaps “Reckoning”-era R.E.M. sprinkled in. Hear tracks
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MORE MUSIC FOR OPENING LINE MUSIC GROUP
Co-writes with Dan Luedke have appeared on the OLMG releases “Elimination” (tracks: “Vertigo” and “Teetering Tower”) and “Happy And Cheerful Three” (“Glee”). All three tracks have placed more than once, including German and Dutch TV network appearances (ZDF, SBS6).
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ASCHE & SPENCER
Above: cues by Mike Hallenbeck for the Minneapolis music house that’s created original music for countless ads, as well as the scores for the films “Monster’s Ball” and “Machine Gun Preacher”.
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CUSTOM MUSIC FOR CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
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“COFFEE CRUSH”: ORIGINAL MUSIC FOR ANIMATED BRANDING PROMO
Above: Made in collaboration with the animation studio Crash + Sues, this brief animation tells the story of a saucer-flying alien who falls in love with a cup of coffee. I created a whimsical musical score and assembled highly detailed sound design, as well as performing the voice of the alien, meshing score and FX to achieve a whimsical sensibility. The piece was featured on the C+S blog for Valentine's Day, and screened as part of the local SIGGRAPH's Minnesota Electronic Theater showcase later in the year.
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SPARKHOUSE BRANDING STINGER: MUSICAL ACCENTS
Above: Custom musical elements on a branding piece for the educational publishing company Sparkhouse. I also served as sound editor and mixer on this piece. Creative direction expressed that classic 70s PBS-syle promos were an influence on the desired outcome.
For a while we had a variety of fire-oriented sound effect options in use, but all were discarded in favor of articulating the flame musically. I think this was a wise decision; music underscores the imagery in a much more imaginative way.
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WATCHMAN: ORIGINAL MUSIC FOR MEDICAL DEVICE PRODUCT EXPLAINER
Above: Original music, some very subtle sound design and final mix on an implantation device product video for Boston Scientific Cardiology.
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“GIVE IT A WHIRL”: ORIGINAL MUSIC FOR MARKETING VIDEO
I composed this theme music and its variations heard throughout for “Whirl”, an animated liturgical education series produced by Sparkhouse in conjunction with print media materials for a young audience. I also mixed this video. Here’s a reel of more music I composed for the series, for which I also served as sound editor and mixer.
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GXnext: ORIGINAL MUSIC AND MUSCIAL ACCENTS FOR PRODUCT VIDEO
Above: Custom music and musical sound design on this explainer for the medical technology firm Cepheid, promoting a data mangement system called GXnext. This is another project where I was able to extrapolate sound design elements from the music, creating a bespoke soundscape where all sonic elements were consonant with each other. I also executed the final mix on this project.
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ENKE FILMS: MUSICAL ACCENTS FOR LOGO ANIMATION
Above: Some musical sound design I created for a logo animation promoting Enke Films. The visual forms derive from notions of light and lenses to evoke the process of filmmaking. I responded with some crystalline, delicate lines underscored by a low orchestral drone to add drama.
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SONIC SCOOP: MUSICAL ACCENTS FOR “INSIDE SESSIONS” SERIES
Above: Brief samples of original music, audio accents and sound design for an episode of the "Inside Sessions" series produced by NYC's SonicScoop.com, featuring an in-studio performance by the band Beirut.
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