“Music’s played a major role in my life growing up. It’s always been ingrained in me. So, you know, I remember as a really young kid, like kindergarten, going to my grandparents’ house or great grandparents’ house and mashing the keys on their Wurlitzer organ, right? And then mom and grandma are in the other room going ‘sounds great, hon!’ And I’m like, ‘yeah, it’s great.’ Notice they weren’t in the room with me, they were in the other room, because there’s a volume pedal on that thing.” -- Adam Pleiman My next guest is always in search of the next “goosebump moment” and takes pride in eliciting that reaction from those that he works with. His extensive background as a Grammy-nominated engineer, accomplished composer, producer, and musician brings an expert foundation to his role as creative director at Play Audio Agency. His name is Adam Pleiman and he has a unique perspective, having viewed so many facets of the audio industry and approaching it now through a sonic strategies lens. There’s a lot to talk about, and I look forward to sharing our discussion with you!As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that. Taking Things ApartWe start the episode off with a look back at Adam's early memories of sound, from his family's Wurlitzer organ to the childhood joy he took in tinkering, taking things apart, and trying to put them back together. He particularly recalls a precocious 7th-grade science fair project he came up with on radio and television jingles and the marketing effectiveness of different audio techniques. “I don't even think I got a great grade on it either,” he jokes, looking back on it. “They didn't understand. They just didn't get it. They weren't there yet. And that's, I think that's part of this industry as well.” The Immersive SideAdam tells us more about how his curiosity when it came to experimenting with the world around him helped hone his audio instincts even as it left the appliances around him in shambles. “I'm like, wow, that's really cool,” he says about a washing machine console that he took apart as a child. “It's never gonna do that again, because now it's in all these pieces. But I loved that stuff.” He tells us about a college experiment in ambient sound that left his friends stunned and paved the way for a lifelong fascination with exploring how sound secretly shapes our perceptions. “The immersive side,” he says, “the binaural side, the perception of it all, I think, has always been a curiosity.” Removing the SubjectivityWe talk about how that teenage sound setup with headphones and kitchen utensils mirrors Dolby’s latest Atmos sound systems. Adam explains what sets Atmos apart from older, more hardware-driven surround sound, and why he believes it has more staying power. He tells us how he transitioned from a career as a musician into sonic branding, and how he’s working to make sound design as rigorous a field as graphic design. “It's like, well, I could say that about colors,” he says. “I could say that about shapes. I could say that