In the traditional commercial production pipeline, music and sound design studios are almost invariably brought in at the very tail end of a project. By the time audio professionals receive a cut, the visuals, narrative structure, and overall pacing have already been locked into place, leaving little room for a deep, foundational sonic exploration.
Seeking to shatter this conventional workflow, the creative team at the sound and music studio Cypher has officially launched a bold new initiative titled "Sonic Studies." The first release in the series upends the traditional timeline, placing sound and tactile material experimentation at the absolute center of the creative process from day one.
John Black, the founder and creative director at Cypher, explained that the studio wanted to find an authentic outlet to showcase their distinct methodology for crafting music and sound design directly to picture. Rather than relying on a standard agency reel or an abstract creative manifesto, the team chose to build a dedicated series of standalone audio-visual studies.
"As sonic artists, we often don’t have any meaningful input on the subject or structure of commercial projects, so we wanted a way to showcase our approach to crafting music and sound design to picture, not a reel, not a manifesto, but a series of sonic studies," Black noted.
This inaugural film in the series was born out of an intersection of disciplines, driven specifically by team member Joseph’s personal interest in connecting his professional work in sound design with the tactile art of sewing and textiles. The foundational starting point for the entire project was a jacket that Joseph physically constructed himself. By building the garment from scratch, the team gained direct, uninhibited access to the raw fabrics, specialized tools, and heavy machinery involved in its creation. These physical items served a dual purpose throughout the production: they acted as the primary visual subjects on screen and functioned as the core acoustic sources for field recording.
When exploring the relationship between what an audience sees and what they hear, sound design frequently relies on artistic liberties. There is often an inherent disconnect between visual reality and audio perception, where sound designers utilize elements that might have little to do with the literal objects on screen, yet successfully suggest the right movement, texture, or visceral feeling. However, Cypher took a distinct approach for this project. They worked primarily with sounds that literally belonged to the subject matter itself, capturing the authentic noises of the fabrics and tools, and then manipulated and warped those recordings without ever severing the underlying connection to their source.
For the visual execution of the film, the creators leaned into a deliberately restrained aesthetic. The imagery relies on a combination of simple animation, scanned materials, basic digital image processing, and raw textural footage. By allowing the visual imagery to remain relatively minimal and unpolished, the team deliberately left ample room for the intricate sound design to shape the rhythm, cadence, and overall character of the edit.
As the project progressed from concept to final cut, the team discovered a striking and harmonious parallel between the worlds of sewing and sound design. At their core, both practices require gathering raw materials, meticulously manipulating them, and carefully assembling them into a cohesive finished piece. This inaugural sonic study provided Cypher with a rare and valuable opportunity to bring those two distinct disciplines together, allowing them to experiment freely outside the typical constraints, tight deadlines, and narrow creative briefs of standard commercial work.
The project features a talented collective of creative contributors. Music and sound design were handled entirely by Cypher, with John Black serving as founder, creative director, and sound designer. Original music for the piece was composed by Joris van Grunsven, while the complex audio mix, animation, and editing were executed by Joseph Sims, bringing the textile-inspired vision to life on screen.
