Parv Thind sounds off

When adam&eveDDB wanted to create the definitive sound of someone enjoying a Pot Noodle – a bundle of steaming strands relayed from cup to gullet in one continuous slurp – there was only one man for the job: Parv Thind, partner and sound engineer at Wave Studios. 

As the award-winning engineer responsible for the iconic sounds of Cadbury’s Gorilla, Skoda Giggle and 1extra Street Music, Thind was more than equal to the challenge but, it turns out, human physiology was not; "You just can’t slurp for that long," Thind says. "You run out of breath."

Such was the level of public disgust that the brand and agency were forced to issue an apology, and launch a follow-up campaign.

After several failed attempts by the actress to create the sound naturally, Thind managed it with technical trickery, but the result just wasn’t that funny. So, he started playing around with the slurp, adding in some small nuances and hiatuses, “as if the noodle got stuck, and they had to suck a bit harder.” Much more amusing, “but also…. quite annoying. 

Above: Thind's initial attempt at creating a 'slurp' was met with internet angst, meaning other versions needed to be created.

That turned out to be an understatement: after the spot aired, such was the level of public disgust that the brand and agency were forced to issue an apology, and launch a follow-up campaign which cleverly replaced the slurp with more palatable sounds, based on the online content the slurpo-phobes were consuming. Thind and his team were tasked with creating 50 different sounds, from racing cars for petrolheads to saxophone solos for jazz fans. No mean feat, but then Thind has built a 30-year career creating weird and wonderful aural concoctions, from an ape preparing for the drum solo of a lifetime, to a factory full of giggling machines.   

“We didn’t really know what to do with them, so we just started teaching ourselves.” 

Thind grew up in Gravesend in Kent, a Thames-side town mainly notable for its large Sikh community. Back in the 80s, though, it was also something of a creative crucible thanks to its most famous musical alumnus, DJ Pete Tong, and a burgeoning hip-hop scene which drew partygoers from south London. “It was all happening,” remembers Thind. “Lots of kids doing graffiti, break dancers, people making music.” 

To keep him and his brother Munzie – a fellow sound designer who has recently joined Wave Studios – “off the streets”, their parents bought them a set of Technics turntables, a rarity outside nightclubs at the time. “We didn’t really know what to do with them,” admits Thind cheerfully, “so we just started teaching ourselves.” 

Above: Fellow Gravesend alumni, Pete Tong, was the inspiration behind some early Technics turntables.

It was an early example of the inventiveness and gumption which has propelled Thind to the top of his industry, starting from humble beginnings as a runner. “This was before home computers and kids making music at home," Thind says. "Back then, it was all done in a professional recording studio. I remember watching videos of people on these big mixing desks and thinking ‘I’d really like to do that one day’.” He sent off his CV to a bunch of studios and got an interview at Grand Central Recording Studios, which had only just opened its doors. “I walked into this shiny, brand new place, and I knew this was my one opportunity. So, I told them, if I get this job, I'll work my arse off. I’ll do anything.” 

"I managed to record the actor’s voiceover and edit it in. Then the sound engineer came back, and I went back to unloading the dishwasher.”

Coming from a traditional Indian background, he admits the early years weren’t easy. “I didn’t even know how to make a cup of tea, because my mum had done everything for me. And advertising was very middle class, privileged and white. It would definitely have been easier if my name was Paul.” The hours were long, and the tasks were mundane, but being the last to leave the office had its upsides, because he ended up teaching himself how to use the recording equipment after hours. 

So, when he overheard one day that a sound engineer on a Kellogg’s spot was unexpectedly delayed, Thind volunteered to step in. Luckily, the then-creative director on the job, JWT’s Charity Charity, decided to take a punt on him... and the gamble paid off. “I was busking it, but I managed to record the actor’s voiceover and edit it in. Then the sound engineer came back, and I went back to unloading the dishwasher,” he laughs.   

Above: Thind was tasked with creating the drumming ape's subtle breathing and sighs, for Cadbury's iconic spot. 

Over the next four years, Thind rose steadily through the ranks, first as an assistant in the machine room and then a fully-fledged sound engineer. At GCRS he thought he’d found a home for life, until Johnnie Burn and Warren Hamilton, the founders of Wave Studios, came to him with a rather unusual job offer. “They told me, ‘We can't pay you any more money; it’s the same salary. In fact, you won’t be an engineer anymore, you’ll have to take a demotion and become our assistant. But, what we're going to do, is win every single award that there is,’” Thind remembers. “So, I said yes.” 

“They told me, ‘We can't pay you any more money [and] you’ll have to take a demotion. But, what we're going to do, is win every single award that there is’.”

In light of Wave’s phenomenal success over the years, jumping ship turned out to be a wise move. “They even gave me a pay rise... eventually,” he deadpans. Filthy lucre aside, his working relationship with the founders has proved incredibly fruitful, with Hamilton providing Thind with many of the “silly sounds” that went on to bag him awards including two D&AD pencils, three BTA Craft arrows, several Creative Circle awards and a Pro Max Gold award for best sound design. 

However, it was Burn who stepped in to help on Cadbury’s iconic 2007 spot, Gorilla. Along with making several edits of Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight, for the different spot lengths, Thind was tasked with creating the ape’s subtle breathing and sighs as he psyches himself up for the drum solo of a lifetime. “That week, Warren was off on holiday,” remembers Thind, “so, I said to Johnny, I need someone to make some gorilla noises. He said, I’ll come and give it a go... and it was perfect.” 

Above: A day walking the floor of a car factory was the inspiration for the sound design on Skoda's Giggle.

Anecdotes like this, of which Thind has scores, are a reminder of the human creativity that’s so integral to sound and design, a craft otherwise rooted in technology. Take, for example, Skoda Giggle, where Thind spent an entire day walking round a factory, filming machines – working out whether they would giggle, hum, whistle, sigh or roar with laughter – then recording street-cast people to make those noises, creating the sound of a happy car manufacturer.  

Or Guinness’ Dream Club, Jonathan Glazer’s much anticipated sequel to Surfer. In the offbeat spot, a man searching for the meaning of life through dreams scrambles up a human pyramid to peer through a hole in the wall and glimpses the answer; the moment marked with a hollow, metallic bang. “That’s the sound of me being kicked inside a massive industrial bin,” explains Thind delightedly. 

"I get up on his shoulders, throw out the rubbish, and get into the empty bin. I’m in there with the microphone and Walt [Campbell] is kicking the bin from the outside… and we end up with this amazing sound.” 

To achieve the sound, he and Walter Campbell, the creative director, had gone wandering the back streets of East London, “looking for stuff to record, and we find these six-foot-high metal bins down a really horrible alley at the back of some restaurants. I had the mic, and Walt started to kick the bin. We thought if the bin didn't have the rubbish in it, it would make a hollower, more interesting sound. So, I get up on his shoulders, throw out the rubbish, and get into the empty bin. I’m in there with the microphone and Walt is kicking the bin from the outside… and we end up with this amazing sound.” 

It’s hard to imagine that level of joyous experimentation happening in today’s time-poor, data-informed, results-driven culture, and Thind agrees. “Everyone's just too scared of a really good idea now. People keep saying, it’s all about the craft, and part of the reason they’re using that excuse is because the idea isn't good in the first place.”

Above: Even rubbish bins can provide inspiration, as Guinness's The Dream Club showed. 

As someone who started their career when music and sound design was something that only happened in a professional recording studio, Thind reckons that advances in technology have been a double-edged sword. It has streamlined cumbersome processes, but it has also removed vital time for reflection. “Everyone expects everything within a minute. But being able to deliver things at the last minute, and being able to change something at the last minute, isn’t necessarily a good thing.”   

"Being able to deliver things at the last minute, and being able to change something at the last minute, isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

Thind’s biggest bugbear isn’t with innovation per se, but with technology that’s simply not being used in the best way. “Take Zoom: it serves a purpose, and is useful for some things, but do we really need to be finalising sound mixes over Zoom?" he asks. When it comes to AI, it’s the same argument. “Clients have been asking if we can use an AI voice because it's cheaper. Yes, it’s a really good cleaning up tool for making audio sound better - like badly recorded dialogue - but to start to generate what humans can do, in a way that affects people’s livelihoods… that doesn't sit comfortably with me at the moment. Plus, an AI voice is just not as good.” We’re back to the importance of human creativity again.