For The Birds: The Birdsong ProjectClient Information
5 February, 2024Print
For The Birds: The Birdsong Project Wins Grammy for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
The 20-LP Deluxe Box Set For The Birds: The Birdsong Project Features 242 Original Recordings By Leading Artists Inspired By Birdsong
Packaging Art Direction and Design by Jeri Heiden and John Heiden of SMOG Design, Inc.
Produced by Grammy Award-Winning Producer/Music Supervisor Randall Poster
Executive Producers Elliot Bergman, Stewart Lerman, Lee Ranaldo, and Rebecca Reagan
Portion of the Proceeds Support the National Audubon Society, Drawing Attention to Threats Facing Bird Populations
Monday, February 5th, 2024— Congratulations are in order today to the For the Birds: The Birdsong Project who on Sunday earned a Grammy Win for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package.
The 5 Volume, 20-LP Deluxe Box set packaging was designed by Jeri Heiden and John Heiden with contributions from dozens of artists, and The Birdsong Projectwas produced by Randall Poster, the Grammy Award-winning producer and music supervisor known for his longtime work with Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese. It was conceived and inspired by Executive Producer Rebecca Reagan, who brought a grand creative vision and wisdom to the project. Additional executive producers are Elliot Bergman, Stewart Lerman and Lee Ranaldo.
The complete 5-volume collection from The Birdsong Project is available digitally for streaming though the full collection is also available as a limited edition 20-LP deluxe box set, which features a 60-page book including an essay by musician-ornithologist Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater and a package bursting with paintings and illustrations of birds by well-known artists.
Of the win the Heidens say,”On behalf of The Birdsong Project and the National Audubon Society we are thrilled to receive this recognition from our peers in the music industry. We hope that it will continue to inspire people toward conservation of birds and their habitats.”
Randall Poster adds,” We are thrilled to see the Birdsong Project recognized by the music community. John and Jeri designed the most beautiful box set ever.”
"We are incredibly proud to stand alongside the Grammy Award-winning Birdsong Project," said Dr. Elizabeth Gray, Chief Executive Officer of the National Audubon Society. "This project celebrates birds and the joy they bring to our lives. At Audubon, our unwavering commitment to the conservation of birds is rooted in the understanding that they serve as critical indicators of our planet's health. As they thrive, so do we.”
The project’s expansive collection of 242 recordings represents a remarkable assemblage of diverse talent from across the creative community in support of an important cause, including GRAMMY, Oscar, Emmy, Pulitzer, Peabody and James Beard Award winners Ad-Rock, Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Beck, Cassandra Jenkins, Dan Deacon, Julia Holter, Daniel Lanois, Elvis Costello, Flaming Lips, Haden Triplets, Jeff Tweedy, Jim James, Kamasi Washington, Karen O, Kurt Vile, Atlas Sound & L’Rain, Makaya McCraven, Arturo O’Farrill, Hania Rani, Mark Ronson, Nick Cave, Stephin Merritt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Terry Riley, Tyondai Braxton, UNKLE, Yo-Yo Ma, and many more. The majority of the recordings were made specifically for this project.
Spoken-word contributions recorded and donated to the project feature an array of writers and actors including Jonathan Franzen, Maggie Smith, Ocean Vuong, Alice Waters, George Saunders, Florence Welch, Greta Gerwig, Jeff Goldblum, Jelani Cobb, Matthew McConaughey, Natasha Lyonne, Regina King, Robert Pattinson, Sean Penn, Tilda Swinton, Tim Blake Nelson, Bobby Cannavale, Olivia Wilde, and more.
Proceeds from The Birdsong Project benefit the National Audubon Society, a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to protecting birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow.
About the Design Team / SMOG Design, Inc.
Founded in 1995, SMOG is a boutique design firm located in Silverlake, CA. Our expertise and versatility spans photo art direction, imaging, brand identity, entertainment packaging, merchandising, advertising, and book and publication design. Our philosophy is simple: always ask questions, embrace collaboration, and to never stop honing our craft. We are known for our thoughtful process, careful attention to detail, discretion, and long-term creative relationships with our clients.
We are an award-winning design firm whose work has been recognized by the AIGA, American Center for Design, the Grammys®, the Type Directors Club of NYC, Print, Communication Arts, Graphis, I.D. Magazine, and the Art Directors Clubs of Los Angeles and New York.
About Jeri Heiden / Creative Director
Jeri was born in New Jersey and moved to the Central Coast of California at age 10. She studied graphic design & packaging at Pepperdine University and Art Center College of Design. Prior to joining Smog in 1999, she spent 17 years working in the music industry at Warner Bros. Records and A&M Records as an executive and creative director. Her work can be seen on over 400 album campaigns and she has received 5 Grammy® nominations for packaging design.
Jeri has lectured and taught extensively, served on numerous design juries and her work has been recognized by the AIGA, American Center for Design, the Grammys®, the Type Directors Club of NYC, The PDC, Print, Communication Arts, Graphis, I.D. Magazine, STEP Inside Design and the Art Directors Clubs of Los Angeles and New York.
She has served on the AIGA/L.A. advisory board and been a member of the AIGA and The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) for over 35 years. In 2010 she received the prestigious AIGA Los Angeles Fellows Award.
At Smog, Jeri’s expertise encompasses the administration and leadership of the studio, photography, photo art direction, photo imaging, identity, book, packaging, advertising and merchandising design.
About John Heiden / Founder, Art Director & Designer
A California native, John was born and raised on the Central Coast. He ran cross-country and studied art, graphic design, photography and printing in both high-school and college. His interest in fashion and photography led him to work with Elite Models in New York and travel throughout Europe in his early twenties.
Moving back to L.A. in the early 80s, John took an apprenticeship in a small design firm and honed his skills as a typesetter and production artist. He worked at Warner Bros. Records as a graphic designer for 3 years before opening his own design studio, partnering with the L.A. desk of the Dutch design firm, Hard Werken. John went on to found Smog in 1995.
At Smog, John specializes in photo imaging, identity, advertising, book, packaging and merchandising design. His work has been recognized by the AIGA, The American Center for Design, The PDC, Print, Communication Arts and I.D. Magazine.
About Randall Poster
Randall Poster is one of the most highly sought-after music supervisors in the film and television industries. Over the last three decades, he has bolstered the work of some of the world’s most innovative film directors.
In 1996, Poster produced the soundtrack for Larry Clark’s groundbreaking film KIDS, a foray into music supervision that led to high-profile collaborations in independent and commercial cinema. His selective, distinctive ear has been essential to the musical identities of critically acclaimed films including SCHOOL OF ROCK (Richard Linklater), COUNTRY STRONG (Shana Feste), MEET THE PARENTS (Jay Roach), THE HANGOVER PARTS I, II and III (Todd Phillips), and VELVET GOLDMINE (Todd Haynes). Poster has also lent his skills and musical insights to the works of directors Sam Mendes, Olivia Wilde, Danny Boyle, Karyn Kusama, Antonio Campos, Kevin Smith, Harmony Korine, and Sean Penn.
Poster has been an essential participant in shaping the unique aesthetic of all of Wes Anderson’s films; supervising the scores and soundtracks from 1998’s RUSHMORE to 2014’s GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, to the upcoming ASTEROID CITY. Poster has also developed musical identities for many of Martin Scorsese’s biggest recent projects, including films HUGO, THE AVIATOR, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, and the hit HBO series BOARDWALK EMPIRE and VINY No L. In 2011, Poster’s work on the BOARDWALK EMPIRE soundtrack earned him a GRAMMY Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack. Poster won a second GRAMMY for his role in producing the soundtrack to THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL.
Poster was recently involved in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON and Sofia Coppola’s PRISCILLA.
Other recent projects of note include THE FRENCH DISPATCH, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, TIGER KING, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME, PRETEND IT'S A CITY, Questlove’s Academy Award-winning, Olivia Wilde’s DON’T WORRY DARLING, feature documentary debut, SUMMER OF SOUL (...OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED).
About The Executive Producers
ELLIOT BERGMAN
Elliot Bergman is a musician and artist living in Chicago and Los Angeles. After studying Jazz, Composition, and Gamelan music at the University of Michigan, he has been an active part of the creative music scenes in Brooklyn and Chicago while touring extensively with his groups Wild Belle and NOMO. He has also performed and recorded with Beck, Iron and Wine, Yeasayer, Cage the Elephant, and His Name is Alive. His musical and visual art practices are uniquely intertwined. His early training in metal work led to experimentation with material and sound and the production of bronze bells and sound sculptures. He has exhibited his work at The Marciano Art Foundation In Los Angeles, The Depaul Art Museum in Chicago, and at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.
STEWART LERMAN
Stewart Lerman is a Bronx born NY based 2x Grammy winning(3x nominated) music producer and recording/mix engineer who has produced over 100 albums and worked on countless movie and TV soundtracks.
He has worked with such artists as Patti Smith, Loudon Wainwright, Elvis Costello, The Roches, Shawn Colvin, Sharon Van Etten, etc. In the film and TV world he has worked with directors Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen, Barry Levinson, Wes Anderson, Amy Sherman-Palladino, to name a few.
LEE RANALDO
Musician, visual artist, and writer, Lee Ranaldo co-founded Sonic Youth in 1981, and has been active both in New York and Internationally for 40 years as composer, performer and producer; also exhibiting visual art worldwide and publishing several books of journals, poetry and writings on music. Recent live performances with partner Leah Singer, Contre Jour, have been large scale, multi-projection sound and light events with suspended electric guitar phenomena that challenge the usual performer/audience relationship.
Most recent album In Virus Times, an instrumental acoustic piece in four parts, was released in November 2021 on Mute Records, A new collaborative quartet album with Jim Jarmusch, Churning of the Ocean, was released by Trost Records in May 2021. Sonic Youth released a new compilation IN/OUT/IN in March 2022 on Three Lobed Records. Previous album Names of North End Women – a collaboration with Raul Referee - was released in February 2020 on Mute. Lives and works in New York City
REBECCA REAGAN
Rebecca Reagan is an LA-based executive producer, advisor at Kiss the Ground, and cofounder of the Ecuador non-profit Amazon Healing.
She is a multidisciplinary creator, who values the potential of global listening, empathy in communities, and accessible education, to support the ecological well-being of our planet and all beings. Rebecca is also a mother, meditator, and tea enthusiast/curator.
About the National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society is a nonprofit conservation organization that protects birds and the places they need today and tomorrow. Birds act as early warning systems about the health of our environment, and they are telling us that our planet is in trouble. As a long-time leader in the conservation movement, Audubon is rising to meet the urgency of this moment. Like the birds we love, our work spans the Americas – from Boreal Canada to coastal Chile. In communities across the hemisphere, we are tackling change, protecting and restoring important places for birds and people, and fostering a community where the joy of birds sparks action for our planet.
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