MUMBAI: With a catchy title like 'Aural Sex', this particualr session had to be quite a hoot and it did not disappoint.

Armed with some good sound effects, Bruce Dunlop and Associates Australia's creative director Jens Hertzum's post tea break session did just more than just play it by the ear. The session was a crash course on the audio element of advertising. "The audience may not necessarily be watching but they are listening," he said..

He spoke on tips and techniques that one can use on a daily basis to beef up spots and deliver knock out sonic impact. While talking about the steamy world of promo and sound design, music sweetening and voice-over direction, track laying and mastering, Hertzum emphasised that you don't really need much special effects (aka more moolah) to make an ad effective, good use of the audio feed will do the trick.

To bolster his point, Hertzum started off his session by talking about the 'naked promos' - the basic low cost promos that anyone with fair knowledge of how to edit can accomplish well. Music was not just a basic requisite here but a vital element to drive the point home. The short poignant ads, with their effective music element were understated, yet were equally effective getting the point across.

Using some exemplary works from across the globe (US television excluded), Hertzum tried to introduce the audience to the brilliant world of sound. With terms like 'talking dirty', 'scream for me', 'sound on top', 'getting graphic' as the case pointer and the orgasmic tittle sound, Hertzum session set up was a case study in itself that one could have taken accurate notes from.

"Sound is an idea," Hertzum exalted. While giving pointers on how to manipulate viewer's emotions, and evoke the desire to watch, Hertzum tried and to exploit the power of sound. Whilst talking about how to create the music, Hertzum time and again elucidated that rather than being vague and using ultra terminology to describe what they wanted, it helps if the promo makers talk both the voice over artiste and the sound engineer through the process.

As a live example to the audience present, Hertzum called on stage Pips and Squeaks Media Pvt Ltd's voice over (radio and television) artiste Prithipal Bajaj to do an impromptu performance. "We voice over artistes usually depend on briefs that we get from our client to deliver. So if I don't sound good, you know whose fault it is," Bajaj jocularly said, pointing towards Hertzum.

He went on to demonstrate ways in which one could say 'I know what you did last summer'. With effective pointers from Hertzum, needless to say, the impromptu demonstration went off rather well.