Flavorlab’s Loud Song for Nickelodeon Wins Promax Gold

Flavorlab and Nickelodeon Win Promax Gold for The Loud Song

Nick International and Flavorlab’s trophy cabinets recently got a little more crowded. The team took home a ProMax Gold, and Cynopsis Kids Imagination Gold for the Loud House promotional short. The promo features original music by the Flavorlab Score.

“[Nickelodeon’s] Simone Smith came to us with a concrete vision, which always keeps the production on track – we got to take a nursery rhyme and turn it into a jam. That’s fun for everyone,” says Flavorlab producer and composer of The Loud Song, Dennis Dembeck.

“My favorite thing we did, from a technical perspective, was not rely on technology, like time stretching, to shape the song. We shaped it around how fast Ryan [Hobler, the vocalist hired for the demo] could actually sing.”

The Loud Song composer, Dennis Dembeck

“As musicians we set the tempo and actually played out the acceleration. This gave it a more natural feel than if we’d just taken the same backing track and sped it up every time.” Dennis and Ryan were accompanied by Flavorlab founders Erik Blicker and Glenn Schloss on bass and drums, respectively.

“Ryan’s articulation was key and he was the perfect choice on vocals. He’s a total pro and he nailed it. Generally with cut downs on television, we’re able to cut and paste the music against the grid. Everything is usually locked to a click track. In this case, we laid down all the drums in real time since there were so many varying tempos. Jamming on this rock track was a ton of fun!” said Glenn.

“Eric Valentine produced the original Loud House theme song. He’s a leader in producing that style of music. We learned a lot on this project studying his techniques and applying them to our production process.”

Erik Blicker, Flavorlab founder

The team initially created several demos in a pop punk style. They kept the genre in mind as they pulled on Valentine’s technique. One example is the team re-miked Glenn’s snare drum through a guitar amp to give it that characteristic extra pop.

When Nick International rolled out the final spot, the team was pleasantly surprised. Flavorlab’s Bumi Hidaka composed and sound designed the musical bumpers for the beginning and end. The spot’s audio involved Flavorlab on every front.

Congratulations to Simone Smith, Richard Barry, and the entire “Loud Song” team on this well-deserved accolade!