Jingle Producers- Signal path?

[Prickstein]

Hi Folks
Just wondering if there is anybody out there working in the jingle buisiness and if so, what type of gear you are you using?
Do you record full band backing as well, use pre recorded backings or use MIDI (synths and samplers)
Cheers
Rick

[Audy O]

Hi:

I guess I'm a jingle guy in addition to recording and producing/engineering pop music.

Live vs. MIDI depends on the type of jingle and most importantly the client's budget. I've never used prerecorded music although there's some good stuff out there.

Of course, if the budget is there, I love live musicians/strings but big budget productions these days seem fewer. A couple of times the client sprung for me flying to LA, recording and mixing at Oceanway and let me hire all the musicians I wanted. Great fun spending $10,000 a day just on recording. This is not the norm however.

I still find myself using Roland S-760 samplers a lot, XV-5080 at lot, Korg M-1, Roland JV-1080 and even a D-550 depending on what's needed.

I almost always record and mix to Radar 24 Nyquist, especially for stuff that has acoustic instruments. Edit in Peak and it's done.

Like to hear from other jingle guys...

Audy O

[Prickstein]

Hey Audy O
Do you keep things as MIDI untill you have a singer come in and settle on the key?
What type of mic and pre do you usually use for the vocal? After all, every word has to be intelligable, doesn't it.

[Audy O]

Originally Posted by Prickstein

Hey Audy O
Do you keep things as MIDI untill you have a singer come in and settle on the key?
What type of mic and pre do you usually use for the vocal? After all, every word has to be intelligable, doesn't it.

If it's a MIDI project, yes. I usually meet with the singer or check the key on the phone regardless to get a good starting point. You don't want to have to transpose too much because it can change the voicings of some chords.

Depends on the singer but I use a Neumann M269 or AKG TLII. On some females, there is sibilance with the TLII. The Neumann is great because is smooth but you can add exactly the amount of EQ you need. You may already know that it can be hard to get rid of excess highs in a mic. There are a number of mics you could use depending on the jingle. I know for movie trailers, they use a Sennheiser shotgun but can't remember the model - gives you that "in your face" vocal.

Are you a jingle writer/artist also?

Audy O

[Prickstein]

Yep, my day gig is writing, producing and peforming jingles. I usually end up playing all of the instruments myself. One of my bosses is a drummer so he usually handles drums when he's around, otherwise it's me on drums as well (so long as it's not a swing or shuffle, I play AC/DC style drums and thats about it) I sing on most of the ones I write so long as it doesn't need a "nice" vocal, which I'll get someone else to do. Jingle singing is mostly about getting into character i find. I've had many a good singer come in that just didn't do the jingle thing real well.
Anyone else out there in the buisiness?

[joaquin]

Hi there.
About Live Vs samples/MIDI...like mentioned above: will depend on the Budget.
About recording Techniques...is the same as any other music...just try to match the source with the signal chain you think will work the best in context.
The major difference with regular songwriting, is in the Form and the arrangement...that's where you create the spaces.
True about intelligibility...work the frequencies that may interfere with the message....and.....all singers are not crated equal!!

[Audy O]

Yeah, jingles singers are hard to find. "Getting into character" is a good way to put it. I couldn't find someone to sing a "Beanie Babies" promo and a fun "Cookaracha" Mexican jingle so had to do them myself. Funny, even my friends in the biz locally asked me who was singing.

Also, I've found that the singer has to have excellent time which is critical if the vocal is at the start or end where you can't go over your time limit.

Some singers also have to be instructed "who to sound like." Mariah Carey, etc. as they can't come up with the appropriate style on their own.

Sure is nice to do jingles though...it's over so quickly. Just did a film score for a Sundance selected film last year and that was like a marathon. It just never seemed to end!

Audy O

[JulianBrightnes]

I do mainly commercials and the occasional jingle. Most of my drums, strings and keyboards are sampled/midi.
Not too hard to find session singers here. Most pro singers in Holland do jingles/commercials as well. Though stacking vocals quickly is something only a few can do well.
Horns I almost always record real. They always sound crap no matter how good your samples are.
I usually use the pre's on my AWS900 and I find my hardware L2 always at the end of my jingle chain.
I also own a liquid channel (start flaming slutz) which I usually use as an insert in Protools to add colour to different vocals.

Cheers, Julian

[dave-G]

In the 90s I worked in a high-end commercial music shop. 90% was all live... sometimes drums from an MPC, but sometimes Greg Errico, Steve Smith, et al. All super high-end session players and vocalists, with the occasional well-known guest singer working incognito. Never any straight-up sequencing... They played as a band, even if the drums were played by pressing a button on the MPC.

We tracked to 2" on an Otari MTR90-II, with a Trident TSM console. which later gave way for a Trident/MTA console with a ProControl and more and more leaning on ProTools.

I always loved the pace of commercial music production.. Help get the musicians going, track it, maybe an edit or some fx, mix it, print it, ship it, and then break for lunch with the clients before doing it again in the afternoon with a different client and different style of music. No postponement of decision-making in the production of the music ... Quick, fun, and good.

-dave

[Prickstein]

Well it seems as though most of the jingle guys are using some pretty high end gear then. I feel embaresed about the gear we use in comparisson. We are talking about upgrading though so it's good to get some feedback as to what you guys are using. Still, our upgrade seems pretty humble compared to others.
Anyone else in the biz?

[Kyle Ashley]

I've gotten into doing some for a writer in Wisconsin. He sends me a rough, and we re-produce it with pro vocals. I do all the music myself using high quality drum loops, guitars are cut with a Tech21 Trademark 10 mic'd up, bass can either be MIDI or a real P or J bass DI'd into a Great River NV, Vocals are cut through a Phoenix DRS-2. Mics are Soundelux U195 or Shure SM7. I'm looking at a Brauner Valvet for my next mic. Synths are my weakest dept. with a Kurzweil Mark series piano, or an old Korg O5.