‘Like Nothing I’d Ever Heard Before’: WondaGurl & Tequila Avión’s Unique Listening Experience Takes Over Miami
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Crystal-clear tequila meets hi-fidelity sound.
Tequila Avión celebrated their collaboration with producer WondaGurl with an immersive, invite-only listening experience for a select group of media and tastemakers in Miami on Wednesday (Dec. 7).
“It just sounded interesting. Like nothing I’d ever heard before,” the 25-year-old producer, who has worked with the likes of Travis Scott, Drake, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Rihanna and the late Pop Smoke, told Billboard of teaming with the tequila company during the Avión Listening Experience 2.0 at Miami’s Soundlux Audio space.
Soundlux Audio granted Avión and guests the first official use of their new $110,000 Dali Kore speakers for the event. Guests experienced how sound can affect taste (“Science actually proves this,” WondaGurl explained to the crowd) while listening to the Canadian producer’s remixed version of original sound recordings of the Avión tequila-making process — from the agave fields to the Avión distillery — as Avión’s Carlos Andrés Ramirez led the group through a sound-inspired tasting of Avión Reserva 44 and the brand’s-new Avión Cristalino tequila.
“The original audio was seven to 10 years of the tequila-making experience turned into a 10-minute audio and highlighted elements of the tequila-making process,” said WondaGurl.
Miami Heat’s DJ Irie, Marcello “Cool” Valenzano of Cool & Dre, producer Marcella Araica and performance artist Aileen Quintana were among the special guests. Avión held a similar event in Brooklyn over the summer.
So how does sound affect taste? Sweet and salty flavor notes, for example, are amplified by high-pitch sounds, while flavors such as minerals and herbs are amplified by low-pitch sounds, WondaGirl noted during the event.
The multiplatinum-selling producer, who revealed that she’s working on “an electronic and instrumental project,” signed a publishing deal with Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Publishing and Sony/ATV Music Publishing through her Wonderchild imprint in 2020. Her debut solo album is set for release early next year.
Avión and WondaGurl also announced an exclusive opportunity for aspiring musicians to enter for a chance to win an at-home studio set from Perfect Circuit filled with nearly $3,000 worth of gear chosen by the producer.
The set includes a synthesizer, studio monitor, closed-back studio headphones, vocal microphone, audio interface, keyboard controller, cables, and a $250 gift card.
“I feel like [these] are just standard classic speakers for people who are just starting out and interface is really what brings those things together, so you can plug it into your computer,” she said of curating the collection. “The speakers and then midi-controller, I feel like most producers are going to need a midi-controller [keyboard] to use.”
In addition to the at-home studio, one lucky winner will get a virtual, one-on-one mentoring session with WondaGurl.
To enter for a chance to win, submit up to 300 words to AvionListeningExperience.com about why you deserve one of the at-home studio bundles curated by WondaGurl who will choose the final recipients. The contest ends on January 22, 2023.
Latifah Muhammad
Billboard