On The Sly

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On The Sly

Creative music & experiential audio studio
Live events, ceremonies & spectaculars
Fireworks • Drone shows • Immersive experiences

ON THE SLY is a creative studio specialising in music and experiential audio for live and immersive experiences. We work across large-scale events, ceremonies and spectaculars, as well as immersive environments, installations and brand experiences. We create and produce original music, including large-scale orchestral and hybrid scores, curate soundtracks and design audio worlds that define the em

otional and narrative backbone of an experience, from immersive installations and themed environments to global broadcast moments and public celebrations experienced by millions. Our work spans immersive environments as well as large-scale public moments such as ceremonies, fireworks and drone shows. In every context, our focus is on storytelling, clarity and emotional impact. We act as music and experiential audio directors, working from early creative development through to final production. Our multidisciplinary team brings structure, craft and musical direction to complex projects, helping ideas translate clearly into live and spatial environments. We collaborate closely with global experience agencies, producers and creative directors on projects across the UK, Europe, the GCC, Australia and the US. Services -

Live Experiences & Spectaculars:
Music direction for live events and ceremonies
Soundtracks for fireworks and drone shows
Music composition and show themes
Event sound design and narrative pacing

Immersive & Experiential Audio:
Immersive and spatial audio experiences
Audio storytelling and soundscape creation

Brand, Media & Campaigns:
Sonic identity and audio branding
Audio commercials, trailers and campaigns

16/03/2026

iHeart TikTok Radio just launched at SXSW.

It's a genuine collaboration between iHeartMedia Inc. and TikTok, designed to translate the language of TikTok into an audio-first experience.

The station explores how the behaviour and culture of the platform translates when it becomes purely audio.

ON THE SLY was brought in to define what that translation sounds like.

At its core is a simple idea: your playlist meets your 'For You' feed. The sonic identity had to tell that story.

The starting point wasn't broadcast logic, but TikTok itself. The way sounds, voices and moments move through the platform, and how that energy could be reflected back. Fast-moving, culturally aware, built from sounds audiences already recognise.

Translating the sonic language of one platform into another becomes a form of world-building through sound.

03/03/2026

On Saturday, The BRIT Awards 2026 took over Co-op Live in Manchester.

Across the broadcast and the awards staging, this year’s creative direction explored refracted glass and layered worlds – a premium, cinematic visual language built around light, reflection and vertical panes.

We developed a restrained, tonal sound design to live inside that system. Warm and analogue in feel, with subtle glass-like textures designed to support the show’s graphic sequences, nomination moments and transitions, while maintaining clarity and forward movement across the night.

Our role was to ensure the audience didn’t just see that creative direction, they felt it.

Thank you to BRIT Awards , NorthHouse and the wider production team for the collaboration.

24/02/2026

The BRIT Awards are back this week.

This year we’re responsible for the show’s live and broadcast sound design as it moves to Manchester — creating the audio that carries the show between performances and nomination moments, both in the arena and on screen.

More to share once it’s live.

21/01/2026

LIWA International Festival, Abu Dhabi.

ON THE SLY created the music and sound design for a series of night-time moments at the 2025–26 LIWA International Festival, working with Artists In Motion.

Each piece had its own energy and character while still feeling connected to the wider creative world of the festival, supporting light, laser and projection across the dunes.

A rare opportunity to design sound that helps give personality, rhythm and impact to the experience in a distinctive landscape.

13/01/2026

Music and sound design for the Burj Khalifa.

Ahead of New Year’s Eve, ON THE SLY created the music and sound design for a series of pre-show audience engagement pieces on the Burj Khalifa, produced with

Designed as light-hearted, playful moments before the main show, the work focused on atmosphere and anticipation, with a contemporary musical approach and subtle Emirati textural elements.

A project designed to live beyond New Year’s Eve itself.

08/01/2026

Ras Al Khaimah welcomed 2026 with a landmark New Year’s Eve celebration across Al Marjan Island.

ON THE SLY composed and delivered the music soundtrack for the show, for SKY MAGIC and Fireworks by Grucci, on an epic drone, laser and pyrotechnic production.

With 120,000 watching on the beaches, and even more watching online, music played a key role in amplifying the scale, pace and emotion of the night.

📸 Navigation Films

07/01/2026

London’s New Year’s Eve is one of those rare moments when millions of people are watching together.

Music plays a huge part in how that moment feels, helping turn a large-scale broadcast into a shared experience.

Proud to have delivered the music soundtrack as London welcomed 2026.
Identity

05/01/2026

What does it take to create the music soundtrack for one of the world’s most watched annual live events?

Behind the scenes at London’s New Year’s Eve - where music, lighting, pyro and broadcast all run live, in sync, with no second takes.

An inside look at the real-time process, from the lighting booth to the music session.... behind a global moment.

Live Experience Agency: Identity
Music directors & soundtrack: ON THE SLY + Kojo Samuel
Fireworks: Titanium Fireworks Ltd
Lightning Design: Tim Routledge Lighting Design
Hologauze: Pixel Artworks
Lighting: Lights Control Rigging - LCR
Show Safety: CarnDu
PA Sound: DeltaLive

03/01/2026

Happy New Year from London!

https://www.youtube.com/live/FuzyX3q1crY?si=dvYINctX8U3J1Cj8

Another immense production by a fantastic team.

Wishing you all the best for 2026!

Agency: Identity
Music directors & soundtrack: ON THE SLY + Kojo Samuel
Fireworks: Titanium Fireworks Ltd
Lightning Design: Tim Routledge Lighting Design
Hologauze: Pixel Artworks
Lighting: Lights Control Rigging - LCR
Show Safety: CarnDu
PA Sound: DeltaLive
Client: Mayor of London
Broadcast: BBC One

18/12/2025

2025.... in 25 seconds

Huge thanks to all our clients and creative partners who have made the magic possible.

Highlights from a year of live experience, sound and music.

15/12/2025

This weekend, a global first - the Red Bull Tetris World Finals in Dubai. Giant Tetriminos flying high above the ground, turning the Dubai Frame into the world's largest playable Tetris game!

From the opening ceremony to gameplay, through to the closing ceremony, we were there to help the creative and technical visionaries bring the spectacle to life, directing the music team featuring the fabulous Firdaus Orchestra & El Waili.

Thanks to Red Bull, Hang Loose Media Group, and the whole team including Lumasky Drone Show, FLASH ART, Solas Middle East, Native Strangers, Impact Solutions Egypt, fckry, Blink Experience

24/11/2025

Right now, Manar Abu Dhabi is transforming the UAE capital into an open-air gallery with a citywide light art initiative that’s truly spectacular.

Running from November 15 2025, to January 4 2026, this year’s edition - titled “The Light Compass” - features 23 newly commissioned works across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, presented by the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi.

One of the standout pieces is “Wind of Change” by studio DRIFT : a stunning choreographed performance featuring 2,000 drones that map invisible natural forces… wind, currents, and time. The aerial display moves from shifting sand dunes to a luminous falcon (Abu Dhabi’s emblem) before dissolving into a vortex symbolising the city’s future.

We were pleased to compose the bespoke soundtrack and score for this piece, helping bring Drift’s vision to life musically above Jubail Island’s mangrove landscapes.

If you’re in the region, Manar Abu Dhabi runs until January 4th - an incredible celebration of light, nature, and artistic innovation.

📷 Images courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi & Public Art Abu Dhabi

Address

167-169 Great Portland Street
London
W1W5PF

Telephone

+442039156799

Website

http://www.onthesly.com/

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