Stockholm's Mic Studio is a music/sound design house catering to features, TV and commercials. Adam Norden, a composer at Mic, composes, sound designs and engineers audio for everything from the recently completed feature Beck, directed by Kjell Sundvall to commercials for Maribu chocolate. With the typical music budget clocking in between US$3,000-$8,000, Norden says a big part of his job is teaching clients that quality music is worth paying slightly more for.

"Compared to features, there is a lot more money involved in commercials, but producers are quite happy if you can give them a good sounding synth score with orchestral overdubs," says Norden. Operating on Pro Tools and Logic systems, Norden relies on an EMU E6400 sampler and a Nord Modular synth, which enables him to create ample strings and suspension scoring to meet the needs of clients seeking orchestral sounds.

"There's usually not so much orchestral work in commercials. Lately there's been a tendency to use a lot of licensed songs in commercials and what's more, there's been three or four commercials this fall with reggae or ska tunes," says Norden. The heavy use of Swedish production companies by agencies in other Scandinavian countries means Mic often finds itself producing audio for projects from throughout the region.

This process is facilitated by the presence of satellite studios in Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen, linked to the Stockholm site with an ISDN connection.

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Mic Studio> www.micstudio.se