Ringing in the new year, Nickelodeon announced a new addition to their weekday roster: trivia game show, Tooned In. The show pits three young contestants against one another, testing their knowledge of cartoons past. The host is animated robot, “Nicky,” an A.I. supercomputer awakened from the depths of a Nickelodeon basement to test the knowledge of NickToon superfans. While the players compete for a chance to win $1000, they answer increasingly specific questions. And if the players get a question wrong? No Nick show would be complete without an ample amount of slime. The network hired Flavorlab Sound to provide sound design and mix for the show.
Working with producer, Mike Silvon, our engineers’ main direction was to keep things consistent. The show being the ultimate nostalgia machine, it was important to maintain the warm and giddy atmosphere. From watching and reacting to clips, slamming a hand down on the buzzer, or of course, getting splashed with whatever Nick makes slime out of these days, episodes are riddled with sudden spikes in sound. As iconic as that green goop is, dumping a bucket of it on a contestant poses an issue. Where there’s slime, there’s slime everywhere, including on the mics! With a decent amount of EQ and general clean up, the team smoothed out those moments so the reactions of shocked children could be heard clearly and the drop still carried impact.
“I always wanted to be on a show like this when I was young, so working on it as an adult is the next best thing.”
Eric Stern, sound engineer
Most of the show’s questions center around cartoons of the late 90s and 2000s. This means a number of our now-adult team experienced these moments as kids in real time. Viewing clips from 15 – 20 years ago, Stern could recall many moments in detail which made him a real contender against the youngsters on the other side of the screen. “Yes, I was answering the questions out loud and talking along with the show while mixing alone. I would’ve won a few episodes if I had the chance.”
