Sacred Noise Scores McCoy's Spots
By Katie Makal
April 10, 2002 09:09 AM PDT

With the goal of pushing creative boundaries, composers David Gennero and Peter Rundquist of music/sound design house Sacred Noise chose to score the new campaign for Texas-based home improvement store chain McCoy's without ever seeing the footage, something that is rarely done. The three :30 spots -- "Aisles," "Employee" and "Truck" -- were created by agency McGarrah Jessee and directed by David McNamara of Maysles Shorts. The spots debuted in February.

According to Sacred Noise executive producer Jeff Rosner, the musical direction was to compose three different down-and-dirty-style blues tracks that felt like they came right off a CD. "We got involved early in the project, two weeks before the actual shoot," said Rosner. "We gave them several tracks; the agency picked three and then went off on location. When they began editing, the agency had some slight changes they wanted us to make to the music and asked if we wanted to see the picture, but we declined knowing how easily we might be influenced by the film. We knew the commercials would work better if there were no scoring points. It was an unusual moment when we finally saw the visuals and how well it all worked together. At that point, we realized that we had just been involved in a truly unique creative experience."

With the goal creating the sound of an old blues record, Rundquist and Gennero recorded the music onto tape rather then digital, and intentionally used bad microphone placement to re-create the raw spirit of a down-and-dirty Mississippi blues jam.

"The idea behind this project was to conjure up the spirit of old record making," Gennaro explained. "We did this by opening up the microphones to create leakage. When we did the vocal overdubs, we pumped the music through the studio speakers so that the sound would leak onto the vocal tracks. It created a much more open sound, similar to what you hear on old blues recordings."

That rough-and-tumble sound perfectly fits the gritty visuals of the spots, which feature a montage of tough guys working up a sweat. In each spot, images of men and women working hard are juxtaposed with a tongue-in-cheek graphics. For example, in "Aisles," we see shots of rugged workers pounding wood posts into the ground with sledgehammers. After each sequence, a graphic tell us the aisle a particular tool or material can be found. The spot ends with the copy "Cutesy Artichoke-Shaped Cabinet Knobs. Not in Stock" and a tight shot of a mean-looking guy with a goatee.

"Our goal was to create a live, mean blues jam that was filled with attitude," Rundquist explained. "We did just about anything to make it sound nasty -- like some old dusty record that you might find in someone's attic."

Added Rosner, "The creatives wanted a 'workin man's blues' type track, something raw and powerful. The consistent theme was a sense of imperfection, as if it were a bunch of guys sitting on the back porch jamming and having a great time, and I think we captured that vibe."