A Chat With: audio production company On The Sly
We were very excited to chat with the team at audio production company On The Sly recently when they invited us to take a look around their new state-of-the-art recording studios in Eastbourne.
Getting to know the team
Coming from a radio branding background, On The Sly’s directors Chris and David launched the company in 2003, its name derived from the fact it was always something they had been working towards ‘under the cover of darkness’ around their day jobs. One of their first commissions was branding the national commercial radio Top 40 show, Hit 40 UK. They then expanded to many national and international radio brands plus BBC TV audio trailers. After many years of producing branding, sound design, and music mixing for radio and TV, they branched out to work in the live experience domain.
The team work with a trusted collective of composers and producers, pulling the right team together to deliver on each project. No matter what the project, the essential goal of their work is to tell a story through music, a creative process with collaboration at the heart.
Their work
The On The Sly team have produced some amazing musical soundtracks for a host of live events including the London NYE fireworks show for the last five years, music and sound design at COP28 in the UAE in partnership with Identity, high-energy music mash-ups for the kinetic dance floors at Coldplay’s current world tour, and they produced part of the opening ceremony soundtrack for the 150th FA Cup Final at Wembley. It is well worth taking a look at their work.
They are also audio branding experts for radio, TV, advertising, and podcasts, so frequently work on jingles, branded song intros, trailers, and audio commercials. In just one of many examples, they developed the new station sound for the iconic Virgin Radio UK featuring new imaging, unique jingles and voices, all sound-tracking Chris Evans at Breakfast and Graham Norton at the weekend. See a full range of their work here.
A new home in Eastbourne
Based in the heart of Eastbourne, just seconds from the train station, On The Sly’s new visual podcast studios have been fine-tuned with bespoke acoustic treatment to deliver premium sound and are fully equipped with an array of professional audio and video recording equipment.
The move to creating a physical set-up in Eastbourne made sense to the team, as through COVID their team relocated from their London base to different parts of the country, with a few being hired on the south coast where others of the team have working remotely for many years. The time felt right for On The Sly to come together and enable more efficient collaboration on projects, which can sometimes require an all-hands-on-deck approach. Putting together a custom musical soundtrack for a jaw-dropping drone show introducing K-Pop superstars Black Pink at the Coachella music festival in the US, in just two weeks… yep, they did that.
The good news
We were blown away to see this kind of recording space - and talent - on our doorstep. The good news is, the studio space is available to book!
If you’ve been thinking about Podcasting and wondering if it’s for you, have a read of this and discover how On The Sly could support you, drawing on their 20 years of award-winning audio production experience.
“Our team has essentially been working in a hybrid manner in London and the south coast since 2004 - so we are so pleased to now be in this space in Eastbourne. It has made such a difference to our ability to collaborate on projects and opened up opportunities for us to work more closely with other local talent and businesses. We would welcome anyone who would like to come and check out our studio space, so please get in touch.” David Wakefield, Director, On The Sly.
On The Sly is hosting an open house event on Tuesday 26th March at their new visual-podcast studios in Eastbourne and would love to show you around. Join the team for an informal evening from 5pm-8pm as they showcase the space, enjoy some refreshments, and delve into the world of podcasting and their creative audio branding company.
Contact fran@onthesly.studio to secure your spot.
