“I wanted to create something bold, committed and warm.”
Interview by Colleen Fahey, US Managing Director, Sixième Son, about a creation for Women In Voice
“Women In Voice was founded by women, but they wanted to avoid all feminine clichés especially fragile and girlish ones. I imagined bold music that represented their strength and suggested an authoritative dimension. The piece needed to represent their professional side, too, so I worked to find the right balance among all these elements,” says Alice Lépine, the Sixième Son sound designer who created the sonic identity for Women in Voice.
Here, she talks about her sonic design decisions on behalf of the organization and shares her early musical background.
When asked to describe her choice of instruments for the brand identity, Lépine says, “I decided to use piano, which is elegant, serious, simple, and warm, and then added a driver (electronic sound) to give it a more distinctive character. I chose a big drum to convey commitment and strength and worked in some SFX, too, to represent the technological aspect of the sector.”
At first, Lépine also used human voices to reflect the world of voice. But the WiV team felt that any voice would suggest a specific individual. They wanted everyone to feel welcome and, in the spirit of inclusiveness, rejected the singing.
This didn’t damage the composition because, explains Lépine, “The sonic identity design began with the piano,” and she wholeheartedly agreed with the reason for the change.
Sonic identities are different from music created for entertainment and Lépine talks about the approach Sixième Son takes, “There is a concern for identity. Our goal isn’t just to illustrate the brand with a pretty song, but to define its essence through the music. Every detail counts in representing the brand in the best way possible.
“We get the brand brief, and the brand’s values define the artistic direction, if the brand construes itself as dynamic, premium, joyful, serious, human, or digital, for instance, we have a place start to create from.”
“We have to stay focused on the brand and on what it stands for, while at the same time, we have to set our minds free to create and to let inspiration come in.”
Alice Lépine
Lépine was born in the outskirts of Paris in Saint-Maurice. Her singing was noticed when she was four and, at six, she was enrolled in a music conservatory in the choir program. While there, she also studied classical guitar for ten years and taught herself the piano.
She went to a music high school that specialized in classical music. It taught academics in the morning and music in the afternoon. At the university she studied Musicology, Jazz and Composition in the Music and Sound Professions program. During that period, she began to compose.
Today, in addition to working full time at Sixième Son, Alice is part of an electro-pop duo called Calyce. Listen to “Motion”, an original song from her band.
Tribune written by Katy Boungard