The Static Angel: How HBO perfected its sonic identity

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Design, Music, Music Commentary, Arts

4.9 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In part 2 of our series on HBO, we explore the tough questions that the company faced in the digital era: Are people still willing to sit through a 90-second theme song before they watch a movie? Does the sound of analog TV static even make sense to younger viewers? Could the company change with the times without losing the nostalgia they had built around their key sounds? Featuring composer Ferdinand Jay Smith, former HBO Executive Vice President Bruce Richmond, HBO and HBO Max Head of Brand Marketing Jason Mulderig, and Made Music Studio Creative Director Mickey Alexander. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by ⁠Defacto Sound⁠. Subscribe on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see our video series. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mystery.20k.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Support the show and get ad-free episodes at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠20k.org/plus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Dallas on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠⁠, and⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our community on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reddit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get 10% off your first month of BetterHelp at betterhelp.com/20k. Get your donation of up to $250 matched at givewell.org. Just select "Podcast" at checkout, then enter “Twenty Thousand Hertz.” Check out SONOS at sonos.com. Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/hbo20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:20.0	That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash H-E-R-T-Z.
0:24.3	Zocdoch.com slash Hertz.
0:31.9	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.
0:39.5	In our last episode, we talked about how HBO created not one, but two iconic pieces of Sonic
0:45.9	branding. First, there was this epic theme that would play before a movie came on. It was written
0:51.0	in 1983, and as far as I'm concerned, it still slaps.
1:07.8	When HBO plays that theme, as everybody says to me, it sounds like something important is about to happen.
1:12.6	Ferdinand J. Smith composed this theme song.
1:15.6	And I think that's a fair estimate. That's exactly what it is. There's something important from HBO coming on.
1:26.6	Ten years later, HBO made an audio logo for their original shows.
1:31.0	Essentially, it was TV static transforming into an angelic choir.
1:35.4	Some people call this sound the static angel.
1:48.6	For years, these two sounds defined HBO.
1:53.4	But as the internet took over the world, HBO eventually found that they had a big problem.
1:58.4	Sitting down for a movie was no longer a special event that only happened once or twice a month.
2:02.1	It was something that people could now do anytime they want it. And they probably didn't want to hear a bombastic 90-second intro
2:05.9	every time they did.
2:07.3	As for the Static Angel, well, that was built around the static
	...

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