We are proud to announce a new custom IQ Beats package for Global Radio’s Heart Network and the flagship Heart 106.2 in London. Going on air at 4pm GMT at the beginning of the Club Classics show, you will have to remain patient to hear all of the 22 different pieces of custom imaging crafted from the ground up throughout the duration of the weekend culminating with the debut of new themes for the Jamie and Harriet breakfast show.

Wow, what can we say? Well, first we’d like to say thanks. Thanks to the entire Global Radio crew. And that means Global executive Richard Park, Programme Director Mark Browning and all of the people responsible for hustling to get this thing on air while the paint is still drying. And let it be known that a certain behind-the-scenes figure is well due some serious props… You know who you are and smooches to you!

What else would we like to say? How about whew! This project has been months in the making and started off back in April with a trip to London in order to take the brief in person and soak up some Heart-ness. During this time composers Steven Scalfati and Patrick Napper wandered the halls of the Global Radio building to find out “what it’s all about” and even sat in on a session of the Jamie and Harriet Breakfast show. The lads left impressed, inspired, and ready to write.

From these talks it became apparent that the station the station wanted to keep its strong rhythmic up-tempo feel, and create a forward thinking musical package which reinforced its warm, contemporary, uplifting brand values. So began the search for the definitive vocal combination that ultimately lead to:

• 3,468 vocal takes of audio
• 42 hours of billed time with vocalists
• 500 hours spent composing and producing the tracks
• 150 hours mixing
• 420 pieces of audio delivered
• 3 singers rejected
• 1 ident singer debut
• 2 international flights
• 3 hotel rooms
• 1 domestic flight
• 5 singers used throughout the package
• 40 Whole Foods sandwiches
• 45 bags of Kettle chips
• 16 cans of Diet Rockstar
• 1 dinner at the Palace Kitchen

The week spent in Seattle by Mark Browning and Mark Hall was action-packed with vocal sessions from 10am to 6pm with short bits of time in between singers for grab-and-grin photos and to slam down a sandwich, some chips and an energy drink. Here is a gallery of images from one very concentrated week of production…

The process of securing a deal, decoding a brief, composing and then refining tracks, scheduling and producing vocal sessions, mixing, mixing and more mixing culminating in the final delivery of a package is a cycle of life that is intense, exhausting and ultimately rewarding.

And after the package is delivered and on air, not much is more rewarding than some evidence that our clients love and appreciate what we do for them. Even though weΓÇÖre Yanks and on the other side of the pond, we know what HarrodΓÇÖs is all about and are thoroughly lavishing in some nice cups of tea after what arrived on Wednesday…

Listen to the package cut by cut here or Download a montage of the new cuts | 2.8MB

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IQ Beats composer extraordinaire Patrick Napper just celebrated a benchmark birthday on the landmark day of 8.08.08. Orchestrated by the event planning prowess of Patrick’s wife Rebbecca Luke of Les Egoistes and fully supported by Patrick’s IQ teammates, the party was a MASSIVE hit.

Held at the expansive Voda Studios in west Lake Union, the stage was set for good times, yummy food, pretty girls, an endless stream of cocktails, DJ Woogie spinning good-time grooves and an instrument back-line for live representations of Patrick’s various musical projects over the past 15 or so years.

After back-to-back visits from European clients engaged in massive customs, Patrick and Rebecca (as well as the rest of the IQ team) were definitely ready blow off some steam and there was no better vehicle than ushering in a new decade of age for our man. Happy birthday dude and here’s to rocking life better and better day by day!

Click on any picture to see it larger.

Napperfest ’08 even had it’s own custom shot glass… Necessary for all of the free-flowing tequila!

Behold… The Nappertini!

And no IQ Beats party is currently found without a healthy dose of Diet-Rockstar Energy Drink. When mixed with vodka, the Diet-Rockstar serves as a catalyst for enthusiastic behavior with a degree of alertness not typically scene after a long night of…

The IQ Crew (Steve Scalfati, Michael Berlin and Kip Beelman) represented with custom made shirts playing off the theme of Patrick’s party. Take a guess at Pnap’s age!

There was no shortage of fun and hot girls tearing up the dance floor!

Patrick’s wife Rebbecca sets up a great evening with a heartfelt toast for the man of the hour.

Somehow the birthday boy managed to blow out all of his candles in one fell swoop.

Was it mentioned that DJ Woogie was spinning the seriously fat and fun tracks?

And of course no landmark birthday would be complete without a burlesque performance by Miss Indigo Blue.

Between the many Patrick bands and cuts being spun by DJ Woogie during the evening, the girls were getting their back-arching groove on!

By this time in the evening, it’s only fair that the birthday boy is getting his groove on.

And the surprise of the evening was a sweet improv performance from IQ’s very own Steve Scalfati. Steve took the the jam to some deeper and darker depths while Patrick jammed along on trumpet. HOT!!

Splash FM of West Sussex have launched their version of our classic Heart 106.2 package today and it sounds great!

The lyrics are “This is Splash, Splash FM” and fit great over the cuts. There are also sings for summertime, late night love songs, and the Dave Hunt breakfast show.

Download a montage of the stagers here | 2MB

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Team IQ has just survived another round of clients in town for yet another huge European custom. Here are some breakdowns:

• 1 News cut
• 1 Travel cut
• 1 Sunny Seattle day in summer
• 1 Half gallon of vodka
• 1 Domestic flight
• 2 Composers
• 2 Focused clients
• 2 Dinners out
• 2 Studios working simultaneously
• 2 International flights
• 3 Rooms at the Edgewater Hotel
• 3 Singers
• 4 Days of full-on vocal recording
• 4 Months in the making
• 7 Rounds of contract revisions
• 18 Music cuts
• 35 Whole Foods sandwiches
• 39 Cans of Diet Rockstar Energy Drink
• 40 Bags of Kettle chips
• 86 Pictures taken
• 2,779 Vocal passes recorded

The result? A wee bit of a hangover and an epic package that we can’t wait to share with you at the top of September… Stay tuned. Hee hee.

So, it’s been forever and a day since our last post and we’d like to apologize, but you’ve got to understand that producing 4 European customs in nearly as many months is taxing to say the least. Lately we’ve had visitors from Eastern Europe followed by a dynamic duo from London. And the decks have been cleared for more visitors from London… How many stations can we possibly image in one town?!

Here are a couple of snaps from a the recent vocal session with the guys from Eastern Europe. We had a grand time with them and look forward to rolling their package out for you to check out soon. One cool think about this package is that it features different combinations of four different singers, including the unveiling of a certain talented someone we’ll simply refer to as Mr. A.

Our second package for Fun Radio in Paris, France has just left the presses and is already broadcasting in the City of Light and across the land of wine, cheese and romance.

The package again was made possible through our partnership with Michiel Lisseveld and Paul Gulmans at Music and Images and is another collection of up-tempo and contemporary beds loaded to the gills with great vocals and production.

The production wizards at Fun Radio use the tracks on-air, but really have their way with our vocal workparts as they cut them into sweepers, liners and every conceivable form of station sound. Check out the station stream here, the first Fun Radio package here, and the new package here.

Download a montage of the ramps | 5.1MB

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By Saturday night word had spread that our man, Steven Scalfati was joining up with some guys for two sets of inspired improv at local hot spot ToST.

With live appearances becoming more rare as he is perpetually hunkered down at a very busy IQ Beats as Creative Director, composer and producer, it was no surprise that Tost quickly filled up with friends, fans, criminally hot girls and the rest of the IQ team there to catch a glimpse of the maestro.

Here is a quick and dirty iPhone shot of Steve (in the spotlight, natch) alongside Jon Ryser also on alto, CD Littlefield on trumpet, KJ Sawka on drums and Thaddeus Turner on guitar.

We just noticed that we never shared with you a fun track that the IQ Beats creative team was recently tapped for and think you’re going to dig this.

The commission was to create a piece of custom music with vocals for the British Airways Dream Destination promotion run on Heart London. Mix-outs abound including two competition pieces that are loaded with suspense.

The piece has been running for awhile now with the promotion being a big hit. Whether you win or not, this theme truly has the ability to transport one to their Dream Destination.

Have a listen.

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Vinyl 107 is Stockholm’s only oldies radio station boasting the best music from the 60′s through a careful selection of songs from the cradle of Rock to the golden years of Pop and features a morning show with Lillemor and Jonas that is one of the most popular morning shows in Stockholm.

In March 2003, Vinyl 107 was elected “Radio Station of the Year” by the Radio Awards jury. Vinyl recently choose our BBC Radio Leeds package for their new imaging. And again as mentioned here for Radio 1075, Music and Images and IQ Beats have worked together for syndication. Check out the montage of stagers below or hear long versions here on the Music and Images site.

Download the Vinyl 107 jingle montage | 1.3 MB

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Let’s dance with Radio 1075 Stockshols Enda Dans Golv! Radio 1075 is THE Dance station of Stockholm and is presented by popular local DJ’s such as Gordon Eriksson, Thomas Hansen and Patrik Hallmert. Radio 1075 is formerly known as Studio 1075 and have taken delivery of our WKTU New York package to brand their re-launch with style.

For this syndication, IQ Beats and Music and Images have worked together to produce a version of the WKTU package that has Thomas Hansen saying, “The jingles even sound better than the KTU originals!”

Have a listen to our montage of stager cuts below, head to here at iqbeats.com for a blow by blow, or head to the Music and Images site to hear the cuts at length.

Download the Radio 1075 jingle montage | 1.6MB

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