When you're tasked with supplying music and audio effects for Nike's first-ever cinema commercial and David Fincher is directing, you'd be better be spot-on. Having scored the Fincher-helmed, Clio-winning "Mechanical Legs" for Adidas, Sausalito-based Mit Out Sound was up to the challenge.

Nike's "Speed Chain" shows sea creatures, mammals and machines racing to a finish line from ocean to desert.

"[Nike] wanted to draw you in and build and build, just as the copy ["There's more fast out there"] delivers at the end," says Mit Out Sound designer Ren Klyce.

Sound-wise, this meant three main pieces to score. First, the 'reality' sounds of the ocean and the desert. Next, the point-of-view of each creature. Finally, a backing track, providing the foundation for the commercial's ultimate crescendo.

While the real-life ambience was easy to achieve, the specifics of each creature took more imagination. Klyce's team made a jellyfish sound using wet shammy cloths, while a snake was a combination of a leather belt being twisted, fingers through sand and pre-recorded hisses.

Fincher "was concerned about the texture of the desert ground," recalls Klyce. "He kept referring to Lawrence of Arabia, and the steps of the camels running through the desert."

A horse had a microphone taped to its chest during filming to capture its snorts, while the train was a mix of metal sounds, including a "human-like scream" Klyce recorded at a Tokyo subway station.

They hit a few problems nailing the proper dynamic range, but with an arsenal of DAT tape recorders, Neumann microphones, an aging Synclavier and Pro Tools, Klyce created an enhanced but still realistic sound equal to Fincher's pictures.

Klyce says the sounds "are intended to evoke curiosity, a sense of primordial earth, loneliness and isolation so that the audience will lean forward.

"What we were trying to do was pull the audience into this story of speed."

COMMERCIAL: "Speed Chain"
SOUND DESIGNER: Mit Out Sound, Sausalito
CLIENT: Nike
AGENCY: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland
DIRECTOR: David Fincher, Anonymous, London
THE SPOT: A multi-species relay race in which a jellyfish and a snake slither onto land, a heavy-breathing dog and a proudly panting human sprint through the desert, and a thundering horse is overtaken by a motorcyclist who's finally upstaged by a screeching train. The mostly formless musical score backs up the build, from the slow pulsations of the jellyfish to the sound of squealing metal, joined by a rising chorus of voices and then, as the Nike logo flashes, a strong metallic hit.

Web.files:
Mit Out Sound> http://www.mitoutsound.com