A busy month at Howard Audio – Loerie wins and festive preparations!

First up, we’re still buzzing from an incredible time at the Loerie Awards. Howard Audio took home seven awards: two silvers and five bronzes – across multiple projects, and it’s a real testament to the dedication of our entire team. 

A special shout-out goes to our head engineer, Paul Theodorou, whose work was key in some of these award-winning pieces. From sound design to final mix, it’s always a team effort at Howard Audio, and we’re incredibly proud of the range of work that brought us these wins. It’s been great to see our work being celebrated, and we’ve got some photos from the weekend to share the excitement with you! 

In other exciting news, Howard Audio recently worked on the latest Toyota Hilux TV commercial, directed by Anton Visser of Patriot Films and produced by Publicis. We were tasked with re-recording Richard Strauss’ iconic overture to his opera Das Rheingold. It’s a monumental piece of music, building over 136 bars of an E-flat major chord that swells with energy – like the creation of the universe! To achieve this, we combined orchestral samples with performances by some of South Africa's top classical musicians. The complexity of the sound design and final mix played a crucial role in bringing everything together, enhancing the epic scale of the commercial. The use of subtle arpeggios suggests the flow of the river, and, as Wagner’s music is known to do, it left a lasting impression on the audience.

We’re happy to share that the ad was given an ‘orchid’ by BizCommunity. For those unfamiliar, they’ve got a fun system where ads can either get an orchid (a seal of approval) or an onion (not so much…), and we’re pleased to have landed the orchid for this one! You can check out their full review here.

Looking ahead, we’re diving into preparations for the holiday season with our upcoming show, Swingin' Christmas. As many of you know, the Johannesburg Big Band will be leading the charge for this festive concert, and it’s shaping up to be one of our most exciting productions yet. We’re mixing festive cheer with big band magic - and let’s just say, the studio is buzzing with all the arrangements and rehearsals happening behind the scenes.

Beyond that, the studio has been alive with projects, collaborations, and a whole lot of creativity. It’s one of those months where the energy just flows, and we’ve been fortunate to have some amazing artists come through our doors. It’s been a busy and rewarding time, and we’re looking forward to keeping up this momentum as we head into the final stretch of the year.

Thanks, as always, for staying connected with us. We’ll catch up again soon with more exciting updates as we move into the festive season!