Producing winning sound: SA's radio advertising success plays on

Enslin.

“It’s great for us to be recognised internationally. We have a lot of local award ceremonies which is great, but to be recognised internationally is… another level.” That’s Enslin’s response to my congratulations on Produce Sound coming out tops in the 2016 Loeries Rankings for TV, film and video recording studio as well as radio recording studio, with Enslin also taking top honours in the ‘music and sound composition 2016’ table, all for the last three year’s running. Add to that a 2016 SAMA nomination for ‘best produced album’ and you’ll realise why the name sounds familiar.

But wait, there’s more. In addition to these local accolades, Produce Sound took the title of TMT’s ‘best audio production company - SA’ and was recently announced as Radio & Audio Company of the Year at the 2016 London International Awards (LIAs) – the only SA winner in the “Of the Year” category, which shows they “went above and beyond to produce work that excels in creativity, innovation and execution.” Of that work, Produce Sound was responsible for five gold statues for Ogilvy Johannesburg’s KFC 'Man Meals' work, as well as two bronze awards stemming from DDB South Africa's Skittles spot and Ogilvy's Finalist-recognised Vodacom campaign.

Listen to Man Meals below for an idea of this quality audio work:

Enslin confirms all the titles and awards mean a lot, not only to the Produce Sound team, but also to prospective clients as it shows bit of peace of mind knowing that they’ve achieved something.

Team Produce Sound in celebratory mode.

Little wonder then that Enslin – also a composer and engineer at Produce Sound as well as a founder of multi-awarded Produce Sound, collaborator of Produce/Kwazi Mojo, co-founder of Three D Radio and SamMoosa.co.za – is referred to as “the audio industry's go-to person for creative post-production, music and composition”. Here, he talks us through the win and his resulting pride on the Produce Sound team and clients that gave them the opportunity to work on award-winning projects, all of which had great entertainment value and exceptional scriptwriting and more.

1. What makes Produce Sound a ‘cream of the crop’ recording facility?

Enslin: Wow, that’s a tough one! Firstly there’s a lot of great studio out there. We have a unique business model that basically means you work with owner/operators, not employees that just want to get a pay check at month end. We are four highly dedicated creative engineers and composers who go the extra mile, with amazing support from our production team.

2. Talk us through a day of advertising music and sound composition and what goes into ‘producing sound’?

Enslin: I love my job, there’s so much to it. The best is doing something different daily with new clients, new projects and new challenges. I love finding new ways to make things work. The worst is putting on my business and chasing unpaid accounts!

3 How does the local audio production scene differ from what you’ve seen of the global set?

Enslin: We’re not we far behind from a skill point of view, can definitely compete on quality, and due to our economic state, we are actually a lot cheaper than most international facilities based in the UK and USA. Sadly the state of the nation means many agencies are adopting an ‘in-house’ production company model meaning independents are in real danger of not surviving.

The big difference is this: Locally, a lot of creatives want to work with younger guys, whereas internationally they seem to prefer the older, more experienced guys, so I don’t think many older engineers stay around. Many great South African creatives are being snapped up internationally and going on to become those global creatives.

4. On that note, how can youngsters hoping to crack into the industry follow in your footsteps?

Enslin: It takes time and sacrifice. Don’t turn your nose up at the seemingly mundane. There’s a road to walk and gold to discover on the way!

Here’s to SA’s continued radio advertising success. Click here for more on Produce Sound’s LIA win and be sure to follow them on Twitter for all the latest updates.