2025 IN REVIEW
Thanks to all the collaborators in so many media who allowed Cool Cat Audio to serve them this year! 2025 saw noble deeds in sound design, voiceover engineering, custom music composition, and mixing for film and corporate communications; production, mixing and mastering for music artists; and an expansion into the education space with a Sound Design for Film course. Read on for details on some of our work this year…
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JOHN AKRE’S “LET’S COUNT TO SIX, SHALL WE?” FEATURED AT ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL
An experimental animated short by John Akre featuring an original score by yours truly, “Let’s Count to Six, Shall We?” screened at the 2025 Ann Arbor Film Festival— basically the Super Bowl of experimental music! We were honored by/ grateful for this well received showing.
Rising to the challenge of Akre’s frenetic visuals, the soundtrack derives from recordings of cascading dominoes, guitar loops micro-edited into blipscapes and plunged into pits of dronesludge dolloped with crystalline harmonies, and melodic synth samples scrambled into glitchy squiggles.
Now available online too— see and hear the completed film above!
More music + sound for experimental animation
Music + sound for narrative animation
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MUSIC PLACEMENTS IN BROADCAST MEDIA
Appearances of my original musical compositions in media projects continued apace in 2025. Placements included “Late Night with Seth Meyers”, new episodes of the kids’ science show Get Set Galactic on BBC subsidiary CBeebies, and the Disney+ documentary Meet The Pickles, about the making of the animated series “Win or Lose”.
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VOICEOVER ENGINEERING FOR WPS HEALTH SOLUTIONS
As part of our work for corporate communications in 2025, Cool Cat Audio executed voiceover engineering for a marketing video by WPS Health Solutions (below).
As of this writing, it’s also currently viewable at wpshealthsolutions.com. Thanks to creative director Kris Dunlap for this opportunity!
More work for corporate video by Cool Cat Audio
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SOUND DESIGN FOR FILM CURRICULUM
In 2025 I expanded into the educational space, inaugurating a Sound Design for Film course at Film North.
In Sound Design for Film, I ask students to explore such questions as: What roles(s) does sound play in film? How does sound facilitate storytelling, establish mood, help in worldbuilding, and create meaning? Focus is on practice, with a smattering of theory here and there.
I’m refining the course for next year, and Film North was kind enough to refer to me as a “rock star instructor” on Instagram in the meantime, so I appear to be something right. Grateful for the opportunity to pass on what I can to others in the community!
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MUSIC PRODUCTION/ MIX/ MASTER: COMRADE COMRADE
This year saw the completion of Comrade Comrade’s Sadly Temporary release— produced, mixed, and mastered by yours truly at Cool Cat Audio.
“Sadly Temporary” joins a growing portfolio of music projects I’m pleased to have assisted in the capacity of recording engineer, producer, mixer, and mastering engineer.
More music production, mixing and mastering by Cool Cat Audio
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“LE COSMOS” ON THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT
“Le Cosmos”, an experimental short by Natalie Peracchio and featuring original music, sound design, and mix by Cool Cat Audio, has been making the rounds of festivals globally. See the trailer and hear a few selections of the musical score here.
Official Selection Fantasia Film Festival, Sydney Underground Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Indy Film Fest, Bridge Video Chicago, Capital City Film Festival, Twin Cities Film Festival, Lone Star Film Festival, Altered Images Film Festival, and Pebbles Underground Film Festival.
More music + sound for experimental film and animation
More music + sound for narrative film
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MUSIC PRODUCTION: TEN ITEMS OR FEWER ALBUM
I’ve been producing an album (working title: “Press One for Yes”) by my band 10 Items or Fewer this year as well. We started basic tracks in March with engineer Steve Price at his place with keyboardist/ accordionist Jon Duncan, guitarist Dan Gaarder, drummer Keely Lane, and bassist Matt Regan; since then we’ve been adding overdubs at Cool Cat Audio with pickups and new tracks by Duncan, Gaarder, and harmony vocalist Rhiannon Fiskradatz, while Regan has been overdubbing remotely from his secret stronghold somewhere in Ward 7. We’ll be releasing at least one single in 2026, and hopefully the full length as well.
More production, mixing and mastering by Cool Cat Audio for music artists
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AUDIO POST FOR DNR STATE FAIR INSTALLATION
If you were at the Minnesota State Fair this year, you may have heard the sound design of Cool Cat Audio as you perused this DNR installation on fire safety. I engineered voiceover, edited interview audio, implemented sound effects and executed final mix for the audio portion of the project— produced by the State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources, in collaboration with 5 by 5 Design. Thanks to Andrew Hunter for these photos.
More work by Cool Cat Audio for corporate communications
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THE PIC: AUDIO POST PRODUCTION FOR COMEDY SHORT
Cool Cat Audio executed sound edit and mix on “The Pic”, a comedy short directed by/ starring Frances Chewning in 2025— after tending to those same duties on Chewning’s previous short, “The Glasses”, released in 2024. “The Pic” premiered at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts and also screened at San Jose International Film Festival and Rocky Mountain Women’s Festival. Most prestigiously, though, the film served as pedagogical fodder during Mike Hallenbeck’s Sound Design for Film class at Film North.
More work by Cool Cat Audio for narrative film
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VOICEOVER ENGINEERING, MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN FOR ANIMATION: INTRO FOR HELLAVISION TELEVISION’S WEB 5000.0
In late 2025 we helped out with the intro for Hellavision Television’s “Web 5000.0” animation anthology, a collaboration featuring visuals by animator Sishir Bommakanti, VO by voice artist Sudarsna Mukund, and original music, voiceover engineering, sound design and mix by yours truly! See and hear it above; find out more about it here.
More music + sound by Cool Cat Audio for experimental animation
More music + sound by Cool Cat Audio for narrative animation
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Thanks again to everyone we had the privilege of working with this year! Onward and upward in 2026.
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