Perfectly Adequate Sound Design
Gloriously fine, beautifully decent, impressively passable, and astonishingly acceptable
Video Breakdown
A video version of today’s Sound Byte, where I walk through my Pro Tools session and break down everything discussed in today’s newsletter.
Welllllllllllll I was originally planning for the next newsletter to be a denser deep dive into a build I did on Computer Freaks season 2, but between work deadlines, sick kids, and keeping Sound Bytes treading water, I was ready to push the newsletter off another week.
Then something happened.
You see, I was working on a show called By Design for Fast Company. I turned in the draft on Monday evening, thought nothing of it, and then got this message from the head of podcasting at Fast Company / Inc Magazine (with my attached emoji response because I still don’t know how to respond to kindness).
And I’m NOT trying to show off here, at least not as much as you think (and probably not as little as I think). I know some might also be thinking wow, great Nick, womp, your boss, womp, likes your work, so happy, womp for you, womp womp.
But here is the thing. I will occasionally get a compliment on a specific build from a coworker, but never something this broad as a blanket statement about my work. And here is the other thing. The cold open that prompted this message was a sound build with four sound effects and one song. The most bare bones setup you can imagine.
That message stuck with me all night. Why now? I have done dozens of creative opens for FC/Inc over the years. Some were way more complex, with layered effects, more complicated mixes, denser builds, AWARD WINNERS! Yet it was this stripped down build that tipped the scale.
I had the thought that this might make an interesting (and quicker) newsletter, but I debated whether it was even worthy of a Sound Bytes breakdown. If you’re new here, you might hear it and think, that’s it? That’s the extent of your sound design chops?
Had I not gotten that message, this episode would probably have just published into the void of podcasting, gone through the algorithmic listener gauntlet until it settled into the digital graveyard, where it will live and chew up energy resources until the earth crashes into the sun. Maaaaaybe I would have posted it to the Snacks feed. I thought it was good, or maybe just fine, but not spectacular.
And that is ultimately why I wanted to share it today.
Is “just fine” ok in sound design?
The conclusion I came to was yes, absolutely. He wasn’t really talking about this specific sound design. It was the consistency of the craft. Some were bangers, some were just fine, none were bad. Together they averaged out to a steady, high quality zone that kept the ball rolling, the episodes churning, and my employment, um, secure? What I think I’m trying to say is you do not always need to smash grand slams. Consistently hitting singles go much further. And the right people notice.
I wish I could say that this minimalist build was my genius at work, but the truth is, I was strapped for time.
I had a sick kid at home,
AND the episode files came in late Monday morning
AND it was publishing the next day.
AND it was on the long side being about an hour of material.
AND the producer cut a cold open, usually meaning a little razzle dazzle is expected.
Normally, my workflow is to finish dialogue and music cues first, intros, outros, ad tosses, etc. while marking spots I can jazz up if I have time. With this episode, I pushed the cold open to the very end of the day. If I had time, great. If not, at least I would slap a song on it.
But this was also not just any episode. It was the new Starbucks CEO’s first….sorry let me continue the dramatic list,
AND it was the the new Starbucks CEOs first interview since starting that job
AND it was recorded at the 2025 Fast Company Innovation Festival, the huge annual event that takes over the company for months.
I was set on adding some extra juice to the intro. And with the deadline looming, I pulled together a build as quickly as possible, mapped it in my head while cutting dialogue and hoped it landed.
Here is how it was delivered to me. If you are new here I like to do this to give people new to the craft a chance to think about how they would paint their audio around this.
And with all this build up, I hope you’re sitting down, because what you’re about to hear is gloriously fine, beautifully decent, impressively adequate, and astonishingly acceptable. Not a home run, not a triple off the wall but a single up the middle. The kind of play that doesn’t make the highlight reel but keeps the inning alive. And again, that’s the point. Consistently solid is what wins in the long run.
Today’s Sound Byte
After sitting with it, I think the reason it resonated with him and tipped the scale to comment territory was partly minute details sprinkled throughout. And because it had a simple, 3 act structure following the origin story of this heroic beverage.
I also think part of it is that the sound was inspired by the host’s VO but it isn’t reacting to them. . Yes, it’s about coffee but no they aren’t in this coffee shop. The sound is off on its own, doing its own thing, telling a parallel story that lives outside the dialogue. Maybe it’s just my style, or maybe it’s the kinds of productions I’ve worked on, but I usually shy away from being too on the nose with sound design, like I’m scoring a movie soundtrack. I don’t find that interesting to listen to, personally.
Everything ties together without being overdone. It feels warm and inviting, like a coffee shop, even if that coffee shop might be Starbucks.
But that laid back feel didn’t just happen on its own. Yes, it was only a few sound elements, but each was carefully chosen and deliberately edited. It’s that game of inches I keep coming back to.
Let’s talk about the sound effects.
Since I was crunched for time, every effect had to count. The trick is you can actually save time by spending more of it up front, digging for the exact right effect. If you find something that already sits in the right frequency range, you don’t need to carve out space later with EQ or go hunting for more effects to stack just to make it work.
When I do have time for bigger builds, Ill grab boatloads of effects to try out, download a million of them and then pick the winners in the session. Try different combinations of effects, go nuts.
But with this one, I chose only the right effects and music. What I ended up with was a simple build that felt natural, polished, calm, and inviting.
Sound Effect 1 — Background
The first effect that comes in is the background. I’d call this single effect soft, dreamy, warm, and pleasant. It plays very flat dynamically with nothing poking out too far.
And no, I didn’t just drop the effect in and call it a day. I cut out the moments where the voices got too present, the dishes too loud, or anything that would distract from the hosts.
What’s left is a steady, pleasant bed with occasional clinks cutting through. One of the double-edged swords of sound editing is that you don’t get credit for the things you remove, but that’s often what makes the difference.
The walla itself is purposefully hard to understand, which is what walla should be. I’m often surprised how often I hear background tracks where you can clearly make out words and phrases. This walla especially needed to be unintelligible because the effect I chose was had “French” in the title.
I chose this effect for a few reasons, and in hindsight it makes sense that a European cafe track worked best. European cafes just sound livelier. People gather to actually sit, talk, and linger (while drinking infinitely better coffee, Eurowaves knows what I’m talkin bout). And when food comes with the coffee, it is not in a paper bag for you to walk to work with while eating. It comes on dishes meant to be sat with, dishes that clink and ring out into the space. This track had all the right ingredients, distant, unintelligible voices, clinking plates, a bit of room tone, and cozy vibes all around.
One detail I want to point out is that I clipped in a piece of the background right at the start, just to catch that first mug clink as it fades in. It sets the scene instantly, within the very first second.
I automated some bass rolloff so the bg started at full frequency and then slowly inched out the bass to make more frequency room for the song and hosts. I also put a stereo widener on it with decent results, nothing too drastic. I show this a bit in the video if you are interested.
Sound Effect 2 — Frothing Milk
I had plenty of milk frothing sounds to choose from. Most were whiny and squealy. I went with the one that sounded the most pleasant.
It’s not only about what effect you choose but what effects you don’t choose. There is purpose in what you leave behind. Game of inches.
This would not have fit the vibe.
Sound Effects 3 & 4 — Crispy Milk Pour and Sip
The build ends with that crisp frothing milk pour.
Again, this was purposeful effect searching. I wanted that crinkly crispness to live in the higher frequencies and cut through the music. It also made it unmistakable that this was a coffee drink being poured, tying it back to the earlier milk steaming. And yes, I know it was already obvious because we’re clearly in a cafe and we heard the milk steaming. But game of inches, the right effect matters.
The wrong choice, like a plain water pour, just would not have landed the same way.
Not even going to say what I think that sound effect actually sounds like.
The sip finishes it off as the song fades out. I originally tried an ‘aaaahhhhh’ but was just too over the top and silly for my taste. I think that was my only ‘didnt work out’ moment of the entire build.
Music
For music, I went back to my barista days (RIP Bean Town Sierra Madre)
The live sets there were always comfortable and inviting. This track stuck out as soon as I heard it, it took me back. I literally just searched for “Coffee Shop” in Epidemic and this was only about the 20th song I sampled. Fast find.
And it ends on this gorgeous tail, which just leaves you feeling good right?
Final Thoughts
Sometimes being pressed for time feels like pure anxiety, but here it might have actually helped. I’ll probably be thinking about this one for a while.
I can list a dozen ways I could have dressed it up if I had more time. A coffee pot brewing in the background, an espresso machine grinding, maybe reverb on the music to make it feel like a live band in the cafe instead of just a track. But would any of that have made it better? Probably not.
Anyway, I just love when simple things go so far. I think I did this in 30ish minutes so that’s a blitz in my book.
In the end I think the reason it resonated with the head of podcasting was threefold. First, it stood as its own little sound story, independent of what the hosts were saying. Second, it felt relaxing and inviting. And third, all those little details I walked through here turned something simple into something memorable. Those small inches add up, and I hope that came through.
BONUS BYTE WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
Before I go, I want to share one more thing that I worked on the same day as this. I was actually double booked that day. I had been talking to my daughter the day before about what dad did for a living, and naturally, she asked, wait, can I make a podcast?
So on Monday morning, while waiting for these files, we made a little podcast. I asked her what she wanted the topic to be and she said, the future.
Questions? Comments? Want to get a virtual coffee? Real coffee? You can get a hold of me here, LinkedIn or podsoundbytes@gmail.com.
Still Hungry? Want More Bytes?
Sonic Flush! Spinning Down with Vari-Fi - Last October I demonstrated a Halloween Mode I made for Pro Tools, then showed a fun way to use Vari-Fi on music tracks, and more importantly, when to use it.
Side B
Eurowaves now has an events page! - For our European friends or anyone interested in the European scene, I checked it out this week and it looks pretty snazzy. Great resource for anyone over there looking for events, classes, awards and more.
Needed this reminder!
An incomparable post from the inimitable Nick Torres