Highland Park

About Highland Park
Highland Park is a Scottish single malt whisky brand which is being distilled and bottled in the eponymous distillery in Kirkwall (Orkney islands). Highland Park was founded in 1798 and is the most northerly located distillery in Scotland.

Brief
Highland Park asked us to create a sonic palette for their four new whiskey flavors. We had to take the viewer/listener on a sonic journey through the flavors in the bottles. Each bottle consists of three different flavors blending into each other ultimately creating a ‘Wild Harmony’.

Execution
We created a fully integrated combination of sound design and music to enhance the visual experience. The uniquely created sound design textures focus on the ingredients’ feel and movements, following the textures of the visuals. The musical elements operate on a more emotional level wrapping all ingredients together and guiding the listener/viewer in the journey through the flavors.

There are three main pillars we used during the design process:

1. The translation of ingredients in sound design and music
Figuring out what type of instrument and sound design fits with the flavors. E.g. citrus taste is experienced as fresh and sour. That goes with high-pitched string elements and fizzy sound design elements. Chocolate asks for a more dark and thick-sounding palette, e.g. analog bass synths layered with sounds of lava streaming.

2. The movement/morphing of the visual ingredients
How do we morph the music and sound design to follow the visual morphing/blending of the ingredients? After sketching out the basic composition and blending the sound design elements with the musical elements we use processing like pitch, filtering, tremmolators, delay and panning to create movement in the audio.

3. The description of the title layovers
Each ingredient has its accompanying description indicated by title layovers. E.g. ‘Smashed Orange’. After translating the ingredients in sound we had to interpret the smashing, crushing, whipping, charring, etc. This was done by recording foley and creatively following the descriptions while translating those characteristics into musical elements.

Big thanks to:
Highland Park
Brand Articulations