The Sound of Seinfeld.

The sound of Seinfeld.

Jerry had a problem with the show's music.

The opening titles were him performing stand-up related to the specific episode + would change each time.

A meter of his delivery was taken + set as the general tempo of the theme.

His voice was positioned as the lead instrument + other sounds were arranged around him.

Instead of using trumpets or guitars to play melodies (which would interfere with his voice) a library of original sounds was created to support him.

Slap-bass was used to drive the melody.

The bass was in an audio range that didn't interfere with Jerry's voice.

It could be used modularly, weaving in + out of his lines.

EACH episode's theme was built from scratch to match the cadence + pacing of Jerry's monologue.

172 times over 9 years!

3 Lessons:

Voice: The Seinfeld team spent hours reviewing footage to understand Jerry's specific tempo of delivery + cadence, using it as the foundation to build on top of.

Consistency: 172 episodes later, the sounds used to brand Seinfeld never changed. Massive recall.

Flexibility: The message was never lost in the delivery. Instrumentation was built to be flexible + was arranged around Jerry's voice as the lead instrument.

Check out this old interview with Jonathon Wolff