General Music Chat

Hey Paul! Good to see you stop in to say hi, anyway.

Glad to know you're still at it. The jingle biz is tough, man. Best of luck with it.

Good to see you Phil! Did you work in the jingle biz?

No. I tried my hand at writing a few, but peddling them was too much like work. LOL

I have a book around here that might help you, but it's way out of date. I'll try to remember to look it up, so you can at least get an idea of what you'll need to get. It lists a lot of companies that may want your product, if it's good enough for air play.

You really need a pro product, well-recorded, & properly marketed, just to have someone look at it. Don't even try to get by with anything less than perfect in this biz.

If they want a song like a Zep tune, you'd better be able to provide the perfect Zep sound, complete with vocals, guitar, etc. The whole package will change from tune to tune, too, so you have to be perfectly versatile. There are deadlines, too. You should be able to provide someone with a perfect recording in less than 2 weeks, in some cases, or you lose the account.

It's a very intense biz, & stressful as hell.

Great thoughts Phil! thanks!

Nice to see that you are still kicking Paul

Hey, Neander, I was just wunderin' what happened to you. Keep it happenin'

Went to listen to some jingles and I now feel like eating some fries or buying some dog food. Hey, I think that I'll go down to the beach in my Kia Rondo.

Okay, I found that book for you, Paul.

It's called "Creative Sourcebook." Mine covers MD, DC & VA, but it's a '92 edition. It lists "Creative & Production Services For The Nid-Atlantic Region."

This is THE book you'd want for jingles, man. It lists advert agencies, marketing, print & broadcast media, Pre-production services, video & film production & support...on & on.

You get one of these, in an updated version, of course, & you'll have the world of jingles at your fingertips. I really wanted to get into it all, when I bought this thing, cuz I know I could do it (as far as writing them, anyway), but I had no pro recording outfit to collab with back then. All I was using was a lil 4-track...LOL...damn I was naive!

Then again...I have no idea if this is still in print...but it's certainly worth a try!

Good luck, Paul. I'll check out your jingles a bit later.

Good to see you Mary! Thanks Phil I'm on it! And I'm very interested in hearing your take on my jingle production specifically.

Nice Paul! You know I dig your stuff dude.

You know, I still think "I'm gonna get you" is your best jingle. And I think it's because it so out there and unique. I think you should have a little more fun with your jingles. Don't get me wrong, I like your music, I'm pretty sure you know that I think you're extremely talented.

You have a really awesome creative mind for music, and when you get into that wacky mode is where I think you're gonna hit something jingle-wise. I'd look forward to hearing you getting demented musically Zappa style. With loopers and samples, even drum machines and just plain banging on household items and recording them.. Vocals with effects and crazy harmonies..For some reason, I think you of all people can get REALLY crazy with it.

Just some food for thought from my perspective. It's in you to do stuff like that in a professional manner, I'd like to hear you explore that side a little more.

I'm checking out your jingles.

"Feeling Fine" - great underlayment for voice-over. The dbl whistling is a cool idea, but for a commercial, think of it like this - a single whistler would be easier to emulate for Mr Average Joe, & that's who you wanna hit. You want everyone to have that melody in his headbone. You want everyone whistling your lil tune. On something simple like this, you need to keep it simpler, imho. That's not to say that you couldn't do an entire 'whistling synphony' in another piece, though!

"Gourmet To Go" - have you presented them with this? Very catchy! Needs a better recording, though this one might work at the local level. Always think about national coverage, when you're doing this sorta thing, cuz it could happen. If your recordings are up to snuff, you'll be in like flint. If not, you'll only sell at the local level, occasionally, at best. Btw, if you DON'T sell exclusive rights to your customer, then you can RESELL the tune to a national customer. It happens all the time. That's why you want your recordings to be so top notch. If it's impressive enough, someone else may pick it up & run with it.

"Downtown Hawk" - this is okay, but the guitar work needs to be quicker & punchier, imho

Overall, I'd say that your efforts are in the right direction, but you need to work on upgrading your recording capabilities, & you prolly need to hire someone for your leads who has experience in the field.

Also, try to find the name of a pro recording studio who does this stuff (by checking in the sourcebook) & buy yourself some time there (don't let on that you're getting into the jingle biz). You'll probably learn a whole big bunch just from doing that.

Finally - when I was looking into this, I found a local ad agency, & spoke to the most beautiful woman I ever saw in person (not that that has anything to do with this convo...). She gave me lots of tips, & played some pro recordings for me, from some outfit like the one you want to start up in the mid-west, & I could see the difference between my work & thiers. Go to those places that buy jingles - radio stations, tv stucios, ad agencies - & find out what their needs are.

That's the best advice I can giive ya, Paul. Best of luck! There's good $ to be made doing this, but it ain't easy.

Nice Paul! You know I dig your stuff dude.

You know, I still think "I'm gonna get you" is your best jingle. And I think it's because it so out there and unique. I think you should have a little more fun with your jingles. Don't get me wrong, I like your music, I'm pretty sure you know that I think you're extremely talented.

You have a really awesome creative mind for music, and when you get into that wacky mode is where I think you're gonna hit something jingle-wise. I'd look forward to hearing you getting demented musically Zappa style. With loopers and samples, even drum machines and just plain banging on household items and recording them.. Vocals with effects and crazy harmonies..For some reason, I think you of all people can get REALLY crazy with it.

Just some food for thought from my perspective. It's in you to do stuff like that in a professional manner, I'd like to hear you explore that side a little more.

awesome! Thanks for that perspective and reminding me. I forgot about that angle.

I'm checking out your jingles.

"Feeling Fine" - great underlayment for voice-over. The dbl whistling is a cool idea, but for a commercial, think of it like this - a single whistler would be easier to emulate for Mr Average Joe, & that's who you wanna hit. You want everyone to have that melody in his headbone. You want everyone whistling your lil tune. On something simple like this, you need to keep it simpler, imho. That's not to say that you couldn't do an entire 'whistling synphony' in another piece, though!

"Gourmet To Go" - have you presented them with this? Very catchy! Needs a better recording, though this one might work at the local level. Always think about national coverage, when you're doing this sorta thing, cuz it could happen. If your recordings are up to snuff, you'll be in like flint. If not, you'll only sell at the local level, occasionally, at best. Btw, if you DON'T sell exclusive rights to your customer, then you can RESELL the tune to a national customer. It happens all the time. That's why you want your recordings to be so top notch. If it's impressive enough, someone else may pick it up & run with it.

"Downtown Hawk" - this is okay, but the guitar work needs to be quicker & punchier, imho

Overall, I'd say that your efforts are in the right direction, but you need to work on upgrading your recording capabilities, & you prolly need to hire someone for your leads who has experience in the field.

Also, try to find the name of a pro recording studio who does this stuff (by checking in the sourcebook) & buy yourself some time there (don't let on that you're getting into the jingle biz). You'll probably learn a whole big bunch just from doing that.

Finally - when I was looking into this, I found a local ad agency, & spoke to the most beautiful woman I ever saw in person (not that that has anything to do with this convo...). She gave me lots of tips, & played some pro recordings for me, from some outfit like the one you want to start up in the mid-west, & I could see the difference between my work & thiers. Go to those places that buy jingles - radio stations, tv stucios, ad agencies - & find out what their needs are.

That's the best advice I can giive ya, Paul. Best of luck! There's good $ to be made doing this, but it ain't easy.

thanks man! Lots of useful info. Thanks for the insight and taking the time to review.