Who's composing music for my washing machine?

Why are appliances playing elaborate tunes, and where do they come from? Two sonic designers explain how they compose for your vacuum.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ira Flatow?

  Science Friday is supported by MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design. MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at mathworks.com.

• 0:19Flora Lichtman?

  Hey, it's Flora, and you are listening to Science Friday. Have you noticed that your appliances have suddenly begun to serenade you? Listen to this washing machine play Schubert.

• 0:46Flora Lichtman?

  And it's not this one diva. Many new dishwashers, dryers, vacuums have sonic signatures. So why are so many brands turning to sound to try to make their products sing? And who are the composers making music for your Roomba or your washing machine? Well, my next guests, Audrey Arbeany has composed for Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and the London Olympic Games, and also Microsoft Xbox 360.

• 1:17Flora Lichtman?

  She's the owner and executive producer of AudioBrain. And Joel Beckerman is a composer and founder of Made Music Studio. He's composed for NFL, IMAX, Roomba, AT&T.

• 1:31Flora Lichtman?

  And he also wrote a book called The Sonic Boom: How Sound Transforms the Way We Think, Feel, and Buy. Audrey, Joel, thank you for being here.

• 1:41Speaker 02

  Thank you for having us.

• 1:43Speaker 03

  Appreciate it.

• 1:44Flora Lichtman?

  Okay, why are my appliances suddenly making music? How did we get here?

• 1:48Speaker 02

  In my opinion, we got here for several reasons. One, because technology is now capable of putting interesting kinds of sounds into devices that aren't just pings and blips. Number two, the marketplace is so saturated and crowded that people want to differentiate. And three is the overall customer experience.

• 2:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think, I think the real

• 2:20Speaker 03

  I almost want to jump to the problem. The problem is, there is so much of this now. You know, a while back, it actually was really valuable to people. You know, brands could really stand out. Customer experience really benefited. But in a lot of ways, everything's making too many sounds, and it's too loud and too long. They're not thinking about sound in the totality of somebody's day, but they're thinking about just the sound of their product.

• 2:44Flora Lichtman?

  They're adding literal bells and whistles just to be a bell and whistle.

• 2:48Speaker 03

  And to shout out loud. Everyone's shouting for attention, right? The question is, how can you, as Audrey was saying, differentiate, provide great experiences? But it's just, we're overwhelmed. We're overrun by sound now.

• 3:02Flora Lichtman?

  Let's get into an example. I want to play this washing machine song again that we heard in the intro, and then I want you all to dissect it for me.

• 3:26Flora Lichtman?

  Joel, what are your thoughts on this?

• 3:29Speaker 03

  So many things. First of all, it sounded like a fife and imagining a leprechaun, but that's just in my mind. It's very long. It's, you know, maybe it's kind of fun and it's quirky. And, you know, one of the things we have to think about is, there's a lot of different cultures in the world, right? In Japanese culture, this is very familiar. And, you know, I think in the US, we have a much lower tolerance to it. Also, the end of it, not to get all musical geeky, but it's kind of like it didn't finish. Like, what's at the end? What happens after this? So.

• 4:03Flora Lichtman?

  Another load of laundry, Joel, if it's my house.

• 4:06Speaker 03

  Fair enough.

• 4:08Flora Lichtman?

  What about, what about you, Audrey? What do you think?

• 4:12Speaker 02

  I think, I, if that was ever on my appliance, I think I would like break it.

• 4:21Speaker 02

  It's too long. It's too monotone. It sounds like a little fife, but it sounds like an old...

• 4:30Speaker 02

  Cheap sound when we could do so much better. And it's in, most importantly, it's too long.

• 4:38Flora Lichtman?

  Hmm. I love that you all are hating on this. I feel vindicated. But are there differences, Audrey, between a cheap sound and a luxury sound?

• 4:48Speaker 02

  I believe there is. I mean, there's ways to do sounds that sound like quality and sounds that sound like the old piezo buzzer sounds. And that's kind of what this reminded me of.

• 5:03Speaker 02

  Just don't sit well, at least, you know, for people with discerning ears and the general consumer. Just because we can play sound doesn't mean we have to play sound everywhere and all the time. It starts to sound like a cacophony.

• 5:21Flora Lichtman?

  Joel?

• 5:21Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's, you know, I think just to add is we want to use sound in intentional ways. We have to think about sounds that are functional and emotional. Emotional, it should, you know, feel like what you might want to do in association with a particular brand. If it's a luxury car or if it even is a toaster or whatever it is, those should have a different feeling to it. And then functional to what Audrey was saying, that these sounds need to make sense so that it's not just pulling you out of the experience. It's like becomes part of the experience. It's like you think about, you know, in the analog world, when you hear a car rev, you know what that is. You know what's happening. You started the car, you've added gas.

• 6:04Speaker 03

  You're kind of hearing that, you know, that guttural sound of it's warming up. So you know what that is in the, in the real world. And the question is, okay, well, when you have a sound, like for instance, electric cars don't naturally make a sound. So what should the electric car sound like? Now, you need it to be functional. You need to make sure people understand that it is a car. So if it's driving by you, you hear it and you'll take a step out of the way. If it sounded like a spaceship, you wouldn't know what it was and you might get hit by the car.

• 6:31Flora Lichtman?

  Right. Or if it's too organic, you might be like, oh, what's that stampede of deer coming down the road?

• 6:38Speaker 03

  Totally.

• 6:39Flora Lichtman?

  Hmm. I want to break down how you both approach composing for an appliance, for example. Audrey, you created sounds for Whirlpool washing machines. I want to listen to a few. So this is the notification sound.

• 6:53Flora Lichtman?

  And here's the power on.

• 6:58Flora Lichtman?

  And here's the power off.

• 7:01Flora Lichtman?

  What was your approach? How did you decide what it should sound like?

• 7:05Speaker 02

  We have a team of composers and strategists. And we, before we write any sound, we do a lot of research and we do a lot of experimentation. And in this case, which is Whirlpool, we wanted to communicate what the brand was saying, which was that Whirlpool is, and we were doing Whirlpool and KitchenAid at the same time. And, you know, they're both under the Whirlpool brand. And Whirlpool is all about caregiving and, you know, the pleasure of doing chores and everyday tasks and warmth and reassurance and, you know, the joy of chores. And to communicate that, it was like about a human touch.

• 7:50Flora Lichtman?

  The joy of chores is, that sounds like a tough assignment, the joy of chores.

• 7:54Speaker 03

  Well, listen, you go online, how many videos are there now watching people clean their house? Come on, seriously.

• 7:59Flora Lichtman?

  True.

• 8:01Speaker 02

  But it really, and you know what? The funny thing is, at least for me, I love doing laundry. I know a lot of people don't, but the concept of putting things in when they're a mess and taking them out warm and fluffy is a... I have no problem doing laundry. And to have that sound, you know, to use the harp in there. And like in some of the other sounds we did for Whirlpool, we had like hands rubbing on jeans and, you know, these textural sounds that are warm and rich. And, you know, these sounds really did resonate with the consumers on a pretty large scale.

• 8:44Flora Lichtman?

  Let's hear the notification again.

• 8:49Flora Lichtman?

  I can hear what you mean about the warmth. Also, much shorter than the ditty we just heard.

• 8:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, and it's just the idea of a human touch. That's basically what we were going for here. And yet, we have to also be mindful about the global audience, because we had to walk a fine line between, in the United States, this is an everyday brand, whereas in another country, it could be a premium brand. There's so much strategy that goes on when we make these sounds, so much psychology, so much technical implementation and testing and everything else, that by the time we sit down to write them, we pretty much have a blueprint, in a way, of where we're going to go with the sounds.

• 9:39Flora Lichtman?

  Joel, you compose sounds for Roomba, for the Roomba vacuum. Let's hear a couple of those. This is called "Mission Start."

• 9:50Flora Lichtman?

  This one is called "Can't Do That."

• 9:54Flora Lichtman?

  And this one's called "Mission Complete."

• 10:01Flora Lichtman?

  Tell me about your process.

• 10:03Speaker 03

  Well, I think, first of all, we think about these, whatever the device is, it has a personality, right? Whether it's more friendly, or if it's more evocative of something. Or you're living with these things. They're like, they need to be your friends. They need to be something that's familiar. So, some of these sounds that you're playing right now, when you do something where you're starting up or you're beginning a journey, it should sort of feel like, off we go. There's a kind of a feeling to that we're used to musically, but also, our voices, as human beings, we use our voices in very melodic ways. "Hey, let's go."

• 10:46Speaker 03

  There's a certain sound and a certain flavor to that. "Hey, great job." That's also got a certain sound to it that we're familiar with language. So, these sounds, in a lot of ways... Almost wanna, we wanna emulate human speech. Sort of like what they did with R2-D2 in the Star Wars movies. Kinda, even though you didn't know what R2-D2 was saying, he sure knew what he was feeling at every moment. That's what we're trying to do, is to sort of, again, tap into this, this thing that we're all familiar with, which is human speech.

• 11:17Speaker 02

  And one other thing I just wanna add in that, too, like in, in hearing those sounds from Joel, is that, you know, a Roomba is to make your life simple and to give you a little more joy that you don't have to do certain chores. And so if those sounds were heavily textured or complicated, that would be not supporting the desired user experience. And the same way with the Whirlpool, we wanna craft in that care and that comfort. So we bring these products to life with, with the sounds we create.

• 11:50Speaker 03

  Thanks, and, and just to add to that, I think that, in, in that you're talking about care for Whirlpool, if we were to sort of just boil it down for Roomba, it's gotta be friendly. Because you have to remember, when these first came into people's homes, they're a little scary. Sometimes your pet gets scared by it, or your kid gets scared by it. So we wanna try to make these things friendly, so it's like, hey, I'm here, but don't be afraid.

• 12:16Flora Lichtman?

  We have to take a break, but when we come back, the best and the worst of sonic branding. Don't go away.

• 12:23Speaker 04

  WNYC Studios is supported by Wise. Wise, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the world. With a Wise account, you can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get wise. Download the Wise app today. Terms and conditions apply. WNYC Studios is supported by Odoo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way.

• 13:07Speaker 04

  You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at O D O O dot com. That's O D O O dot com. WNYC is supported by Bear. Every day in America, science delivers, not just in the headlines, but in the moments that matter most. Science is a journey, one of curiosity, persistence, and progress. It's about asking questions, testing, learning, and improving again and again. Science delivers harvests that feed families, tools that help farmers grow more with less, and new ways to protect land for generations to come. Let's keep asking, keep testing, keep discovering, so science can keep delivering. Learn more at sciencedelivers.com.

• 13:52Flora Lichtman?

  Support for Science Friday comes from the William K. Bose Jr. Foundation.

• 14:01Flora Lichtman?

  Is there an appliance or a sound that you encounter a lot that you just really want to mute?

• 14:07Speaker 03

  To me, the worst one out there is, you know, I don't know if you've had this experience, but you go and you put your credit card in a credit card reader, and it's the kind you slide in to the credit card reader, and then you hit a couple of buttons and you're ready to leave, and then all of a sudden, you have the reader yelling at you. Eh, eh, eh. It's like, don't forget your card. But you think about it from the personal experience and also think about it from the brand experience. Do I really want to have a crappy experience in association with just making a purchase? I'm now sort of being penalized for making the purchase? I don't think that was the intent of the people trying to sell you something.

• 14:46Flora Lichtman?

  Do you have one, Audrey?

• 14:49Speaker 02

  Um, I do. Um, I have, I have an issue with the voice on the accessible street crossing devices in New York City. Because, because I know that they, I know that they should certainly need to be loud so the people could hear them, but they're angry. They go, wait, wait.

• 15:13Flora Lichtman?

  Right, wait.

• 15:14Speaker 02

  It's just like, okay, all right, I'm waiting. And also, you know, that's the fine line too, is that, um, you, it's a fine line between communicating an alert and, you know, communicating something that causes like a panic. Or is that the intent? Do you know what I mean? I'm having that experience right now with a brand new, um, Toyota Camry. And in the new cars now, this fastened seatbelt is not a quiet little, it gives you about five seconds of slow beeps. And then they go so loud and so annoying that you have no choice but to put the seatbelt on, which is the intent.

• 15:57Speaker 03

  Audrey, I don't know if you just got yourself a new client or cost yourself a new client.

• 16:01Speaker 02

  What? With Toyota?

• 16:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, with Toyota.

• 16:06Speaker 02

  That's okay.

• 16:08Speaker 03

  We, we would, we would all love to call out these, you know, because it's just not necessary.

• 16:14Speaker 02

  No, no, no, but I think.

• 16:16Speaker 03

  It just needs to be.

• 16:17Speaker 02

  Sorry, Joe. I think in the case of Toyota, that's specifically why it's designed to be that annoying and to be that grating because you gotta put that seatbelt on. And that's the ultimate goal, is safety. So, that should get me the Toyota client.

• 16:39Flora Lichtman?

  In, in the minute I have left, do you, are there gold standards in the sonic branding world where you're like, yeah, they really nailed it?

• 16:47Speaker 03

  To me, the, the gold standards are the ones that are iconic and enduring.

• 16:54Flora Lichtman?

  Give me your best example.

• 16:56Speaker 03

  Okay, so, uh, I would say, most people would, might say off the top of their head, uh, the McDonald's jingle, right? That's something that's been, they've been working on for 30 or 35 years. You're familiar with it. It feels like home.

• 17:10Flora Lichtman?

  Yes, totally. Audrey?

• 17:13Speaker 02

  I would say HBO, because HBO, from the day they came out,

• 17:19Speaker 02

  they've had that, their, their, their sound, their theme. They incorporated into their streaming, they incorporated across, it, it's, it's endured. So it went from the first cable to, you know, DVDs and stuff like that. And any medium that you touch HBO on, HBO Max, what have you, you still have that enduring sound.

• 17:45Speaker 03

  And actually, we didn't create that, but we were part of the, the team that helped keep that alive all those years and reinventing it. And I know that you did the same thing with, with Xbox. So it's one thing to create these senses, another thing to be able to have them continue to be contemporary and, and fit, you know, what, what's happening in the zeitgeist and what consumers want over time. So that's, that's a big part of it, too.

• 18:10Flora Lichtman?

  And they have huge audiences. I mean, you're composing for people, millions and millions and millions of people across the world.

• 18:16Speaker 03

  It's not just that, it's also think how many times they've heard it. So it's, it's really billions of times. It's like billions of tiny little compositions. So we really take this very seriously. It's really important. It, it really impacts the quality of people's lives.

• 18:32Flora Lichtman?

  Thank you both for taking time to talk to me today.

• 18:35Speaker 02

  Thank you, Flora. Thank you, Joel.

• 18:37Speaker 03

  Thank you both. This is fun.

• 18:39Flora Lichtman?

  It was really fun.

• 18:40Speaker 03

  We could talk for another four hours on this.

• 18:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, we both could.

• 18:45Flora Lichtman?

  Audrey Arbeany, owner and executive producer of Audio Brain, and Joel Beckerman, composer and founder of Made Music Studio. This episode was produced by Shoshana Buxbaum. Thank you to listener Kent for taking us down the rabbit hole of appliance sounds. It was your toaster that kicked this all off. And if something has been gnawing away at you, please give us a call. 877-FOR-SCIFRIGHT is our number. I'm Flora Litzman. We'll catch you next time.