We’re wrapping up for the year. We just finished two great events and are looking towards the future. Check out a little bit of our Particle family in action at our holiday party.

Check out our seats being used by one of our lovely clients and his wife. We got it all on video from another client of ours — we’re glad somebody else obsessively watches the Blackhawks too.

Ever heard this expression before? A discussion ensued this morning regarding this phrase as the women of the office were discussing fitness guru Jillian Michaels. In her video tapes she warns participants not to “phone it in.” We took it upon ourselves to define this phrase, and by that I mean we checked Google.

Here are our discoveries:

Phoning it in — to slack or approach something without full potential.

Interestingly the phrase comes from our industry. It’s used because voice over talents often “phone it in.” Meaning, in the audio world talents are able to be recorded through the phone from another location.

Don’t worry if you’ve ever literally “phoned it in” to work with us we think you’re awesome and NOT a slacker. Happy Voting Day all.

So it may have been awhile since you last heard from us — but we’ve got some exciting things going on right now.

First things first, we have a new addition to the office. Megan, our new receptionist, she hails from the University of Kansas and she’s ready to tackle this new position. Originally from Leawood, Kan., she majored in journalism and history.

She loves her Jayhawks and has no room in her heart for any type of tiger or cat. Rock Chalk baby. She’s also loyal to her Kansas City Royals — but we’re slowly turning her into a Cubs fan.

A couple things we’ve learned so far:

1. Kansan’s do not have accents nor are they from “The South”

2. The state flower is the Sunflower — hence why it’s called the Sunflower State

3. She is not a fan of olives

By now, you’re surely well aware that more than 600,000 iPads have been

sold. And the number keeps rising. One of those went to James Michael Henry,

of Radar Studios, who was the top winner of the Comma + Particle Brackets.

Indeed, James won the “Commarticle Madness” tournament by a landslide, with

44 out of 63 correct picks. And he received his very own iPad–compliments

of Comma + Particle–three days after its debut. Congrats, James!

Particle received the best Christmas present this year!  No it wasn’t a years supply of socks, the newest NOW cd, or a bacon of the month club membership.  We got…..

A totally expanded voice over booth!

Check out the progress the crew has made on our booth since they started just one week ago over the holidays. The new booth is double the size and is just a couple days away from being 100% finished. Stay tuned for the ever-so-dramatic ‘before and after’ shots.

The Kino Flo lights were glaring and Red Cameras were rolling at Leo Burnett’s Starbar this week.  What was the occasion?  A live recording and video shoot for Particle’s own Mike Middleton, of course!  He showed up with nothing more than his acoustic guitar and rocked the lounge with his singer/songwriter melodies and even a couple crowd-pleasing covers thrown in there too.

Keep an eye (and ear) out for these recordings and also his upcoming gigs at  www.myspace.com/mikemiddletonband.

What in the world does Jello sound like?

To tackle the sound design for a spot featuring the wiggly dessert, it was up to engineer Dave Kaduk and his assistant Dominic Morris to find out what Jello would say if it could talk. They spent time with it, listened, shared their innermost feelings… and nothing. Not a peep out of the Jello. Eventually they settled on shaking it out and using a large piece of sheet metal to create the sound of the delicious, moving snack treats.

And all was well in the world of refreshing gelatin snacks. Just had to learn to speak the language….

Coors Light may be ice cold in the can, but is red hot on the international awards scene. Three spots promoting the Cold Activated Can- you know your beer is ready when the mountains turn blue- were short listed at the 56th Annual Cannes Lions International Festival.

The radio series was conceived by Coors creative team at Draft FCB, headed by Berk Wasserman and Brian Seiband, who took iconic songs and turned them into cold beer anthems. Foreigner’s Hot Blooded now extolls the feeling of having your blood run ice cold at the thought of a beer at 34 degrees. Too Hot from Kool and the Gang is now Too Cold, and Nelly’s ultimate summer jam, Hot in Here, reminds the world that it is getting cold, really cold, in here.

CONGRATS!!!!

You can’t stop the rock here at Particle Audio. Well, until you break the drumsticks. Then you kinda have to stop. Band Aids are not yet designed for this type of repair work. The apology note was very thoughtful though…

THIS IS HOW MUCH FUN WE HAVE!