Project Type
Client-commissioned

Agency
Mother New York

Client Name
The New York Public Library

Client URL
https://www.nypl.org/

My Role in This Project
We were locked up at home in Brooklyn, scared and miserable, desperate for anything that might connect us to our formerly-bustling city when my creative partner and I came up with the idea for Missing Sounds of New York. We galvanized half the agency of Mother to help us record sounds, pushing to ensure authenticity and diversity in every detail - and every voice. The myriad languages, cultures, communities and neighborhoods of New York are present on the album, contained by universal NYC experiences, and do not present the easiest route: neither polite, gentrified noise nor stereotypes of different cultures appear on the album - a paramount requirement for both me and my client, the New York Public Library.

Project Description
Remember the spring of 2020? Apologies for bringing it up. New York, a city defined by its noise, went into lockdown. It was quiet… a little too quiet… even for those who have historically championed ‘SILENCE!’: The New York Public Library. To show The NYPL is For Every New Yorker, we wrote, produced, and released an album of - you guessed it - the Missing Sounds of New York. We were stuck inside, desperate for anything that might connect us to our formerly-bustling city - and our fellow New Yorkers. Over 100 New Yorkers and 10 different languages are featured on the album, meticulously layered together with archival footage, sound effects and ambient noise to recreate details only the city’s inhabitants could recognize. The album was brought to life from scratch in just three weeks - remotely, under quarantine. From carefully hand-crafting foley that replicated a dive bar’s heavy front door slamming shut to asking friends and family to mimic iconic NYC accents - like the “GET CHA BEER HERE” concessions people at a ball game - it was a project made remotely and entirely from memory. The project won Webbys and Crestas, and was a finalist in 7 different categories at The One Show. More importantly, album inspired The New York Times to create an interactive article, and The Daily Show to release their own parody album.