John Hunter is one of my favorite guys / composer / business owners. I think of him kind of like a mentor. He shared a great thought about composing with me that goes something like this:

When you see a new commercial on tv and the music is really simple, maybe just drums, guitar and bass, or maybe just a few notes on a single instrument, you might think, ‘I coulda done that!’ But you have to ask yourself, ‘Could I have come up with the IDEA to do that?’ Could you have thought to make it just a few clever notes on piano? Would you have known that THAT particular simple music is EXACTLY right for that spot?

And of course he’s right. No matter how simple or complex the music is to be, our most important job as composers is often deciding WHAT the music should be. Is rock the best choice? Does it really just need to be piano? Will a large complex piece just over complicate the spot?

Among a few other projects, I’m just finishing up a 5 sec intro / theme piece for a client. They already knew it should be simple. I watched the video and got a feel for what it was about, then sent them a few different versions varying in complexity and feel. I think they chose the right one. It’s very simple and feels right. So simple that someone might hear it and think ‘I coulda done that!’

But would you have known that a mixolydian chord progression tied to a simple major melodic phrase of 4 seconds was just what the thing needed?

That’s why you hire a composer!

Studio Makeover

We recently went through a pretty big makeover in the main studio.  It required unplugging and moving out EVERYTHING, so they could put in our new wood floors.

First Realization – There are a heckuva lot of cables in a music studio.

Second Realization – Pianos are VERY heavy and do not care about your lower back pains.

Third Realization – 10 year old boys and teenage girls are neither very strong nor good helpers without bribes.

We had carpet before, which is very good at taming audio reflections, so the studio was awesomely ‘dead,’ meaning that very little ambiance would be recorded along with the instruments.

But we replaced that with hardwood, and now it’s more alive and sounds great!

We also removed the corner wall panels and upgraded the acoustic absorbers.

I use a lot of live instruments in my music, from guitars and flutes to violins and percussion.

So this studio upgrade will affect every production from now on.

We also moved the composing rig to the right and added a client desk on the left.

Now it’s time to get back to enjoying the new space.  Or playing Portal 2.

Chris

Button Endings

Remember that one of your goals with a promo is to enlarge the perceived value of the show, and music is the best way to send that subconscious message to your viewers.  The way you end the promo is very important; it may be the only thing the viewer remembers about it!

One of your first decisions will probably be about whether or not you have a ‘button’ ending.  Like a joke, wink, nod or something that ties up or sums up the point of the promo.  They are not a bad thing, but not every promo needs a button ending!

Too Late

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when you are crafting a button ending, and timing is everything.  The most common problem I usually see is that they are way too close to the end.

Let’s think about at a typical 30 second promo with a button ending.  The actual button event can be anything, and these principals will hold.

I have scored literally hundreds of promos and commercials, and the thing I see the most is that the breath AFTER the button event is neglected.  Often the button will be pushed as far to the end as it will fit, but this doesn’t give any room for the promo to really end; it just cuts off and the viewer is immediately hit with the next promo, commercial or whatever.  Just like a good piece of music, a promo has ups and downs and a certain pacing, and that pacing can only be within the confines of the allotted time.  Use that time wisely.  Think about pacing and give the end of the promo time to breathe AFTER the button.  Without that breath, the promo and the music just gets cut off, and the viewer is immediately slammed with the next spot on the air.

How do you get the right timing?

You could try editing from the back first.  This is a common way we compose music, finding the important parts and getting those laid out, then working around them.  It might also help to take another spot you have and slap it in immediately after the end of the one you are working on.  If you are making a 30 second spot, put another unrelated spot starting at exactly 31 seconds.  This will help you get the feel for how your spot will be perceived on air, and will better illustrate how you might need a little more time at the end of your spot than you thought!

With your ending in the right place, lay out the rest of the spot before it.  If you find that it is 40 seconds long (and starting at 01:59:50,) then just keep that ending where it is and squeeze your time out of the middle.

Should the music end or fade out?

In general I say it should fade out without an actual ending.  This makes the spot feel a little larger than its allotted space and scope.  Even for a custom scored spot I like it to fade rather than end.  There are times where an actual ending is preferred, though.  Like on a comedy spot, with quirky funny / weird music.  Or maybe a big orchestral finish, as long as you allow a couple of seconds AFTER the last note for the reverb tail (and for the spot to breathe a little!)

Whatever!

Of course this is all coming from a composer, for whom the feel and timing of a spot is very important.  Anyway, maybe this will get you thinking about new ways to take your promo to the next level!

We want it Contemporary/Hip/Cool

What does that mean?  When you think about it, there are a helluva lot of different styles of music that different people would consider hip, or cool, or whatever.  That’s why I actually love it when I’m told to, “just make it hip.”

Trust the composer

You hire a composer either to A: make your creative vision of the music a reality or (my favorite) B: to add his creative vision to your project.  I guess what I really mean is ‘trust your composer.’  Let the composer impress you with something awesome, something that you might not have thought to ask for, something that supports as well as adds to the production.

Version advantage

We don’t mind doing a version or two, if there is time.  You can use that to your advantage.  If you already know what you want, you could ask for that AND for something the composer dreams up.  If there is lots of time, let the composer do a version BEFORE you tell him what kind of thing you were thinking about.  This won’t work for spots where you know the target market or the spot or the client demands something specific, so no need to waste time there.  But if nothing specific is called for, let the composer run free for a version or two.

More time equals more better

If you want to make something really original and creative, you need to give the composer time.  As much time as you can.  Book the composer early, and keep the deadline as far away as possible.  It can only make the final results better.

Loops Suck!

Damn straight they do.  About 95% of the crap you hear on TV is made of nothing more than loops.  Unoriginal, the same as everything else on air, and poorly produced.

What’s a loop?

It’s a prerecorded piece of music, usually of just one or a few instruments, designed to be put together with other loops, like making music with lego blocks.  Need some horns?  Just grab the overused sax, trumpet and trombone loop and lay it in on top of your music.

Why does urbody use ‘em?

Because they make music making simple.  Anybody with no experience, training or sense of aesthetic can throw some loops together and suddenly they’re a composer!  Forget mixing, mastering, eq, compression and all that crap.  Nobody listens to the music anyway, right?  Bastards.

Lying jerk!  You use loops too!

Shut up!  You’re not my dad!*  Fine, I’ll use the occasional loop.  But in my defense, I use them the old skool way- as flavor, not as the meat.  I’ll take a hip hop loop, lo-fi it, reverse it, etc. to make something new.  I would die if I put some crap on the air that even had a single element that was identical to some other piece.  Unless that’s what I was hired to do.  Shut up.

Libary’s use loops

Most of the music you get from music library’s are hardly nothing more than loops, composed as quickly and cheaply as possible in order to maximize profit.  If you do happen to find a cool, original sounding piece, you can bet that every other producer is out there using that same piece for a local car ad, major network promo, or who knows what.  Library music tracks are all dirty whores.  Ooo, that’s a little harsh…

* are you?