Cool Commercial Shows How Composer Lalo Schifrin created Mission Impossible…Fantastically
As a composer, I really got a kick out of this commercial spot for Lipton Yellow Label Tea which shows how a composer, a very famous one, creates the music for a major pop culture event: Mission Impossible. The music has lasted for decades since the television series and then with the movie remakes with a bonafide star Tom Cruise.
Check it out. I wish I had a room where these players would drop from suspension wires whenever I needed them!
Interesting how infectious that theme is and how it has lasted the test of time – mainly because of that cool rhythm. Could it be Lalo Schifrin‘s Argentinian upbringing? Tango anyone?
And yes, the tea does things for me, though I prefer the pearl jasmine tea I get down in Chinatown at $100 per pound. Man! Just talking about makes me want to go brew a pot!
Enjoy!
Andrew
Podcasting Music Tips
Music and Voice-Overs: When to Drop the Music
Music adds power and polish to podcasts
Most podcasts start with a blast of music, before the presenter fades the volume. She then says a few words with the music playing gently in the background. When she finishes speaking, she either fades the music up and it ends or fades it out entirely.
This is known as a voice-over and is often abbreviated as V/O. The music in the background is often referred to as the music bed.
Usually the music bed will be from a royalty-free ‘production music’ library. Your track will not be a commercial top 40 hit.
Why use a voice-over?
While some people do voice-overs simply because everyone else does, there are actually some very good reasons to use them.
When listeners hear too much spoken word, they often grow tired and become distracted. Music can add energy and refocus your listener’s mind on what you’re saying.
This works either half-way through your spoken word podcast or at the beginning. If you want to create energy right from the start of your podcast, voice-overs can focus your listener’s mind immediately.
But being able to affect energy levels is not the only reason voice-overs are so useful.
Using music behind your voice also affects your listener’s mood. For example, if your podcast is about funerals, you can instantly influence the mood with a calm yet melancholic music track. If you’re making a sports podcast, you might use an up-tempo music piece with an aggressive guitar riff.
Not everyone has what used to be called in the old days a “broadcast voice”. Their diction may be poor or their intonation just lousy. Playing music behind their voice will often dampen the fact their vocals are poor.
Creating great voice-overs comes down to two things. Timing and the level of your music. Before I talk about when you should drop your music volume and start talking, let me say a few words about how loud your music bed should be, when you are talking.
How low should you drop your music?
The best instrument to judge the effective level of music behind the voice is your ear. You can’t make the decision by looking at an audio editing software package and making a guess based on the wave-form.
Listen to the volume of the music and ask yourself, is the voice clear and easy to understand? If not, reduce your music. Beware that many people find it difficult to distinguish between voice and music for voice-overs broadcast on television and radio.
So use your ears when deciding how low to drop the music level. Err on the side of a lower music volume, rather than a high one.
When do you drop the music?
Dropping your music too late can slow the energy of your podcast and make it sound sluggish. And playing the music bed too long before your drop it, transforms the music from a communication tool into a performance piece. You don’t want this.
Playing your music too long before dropping to a voice-over is like spending more time in the restaurant looking at a cardboard menu than actually enjoying your food. The menu should get you excited about the food and set the mood for wonderful cuisine. But the main act is the food, not the menu.
For serious podcasters, the main act is your content which is usually conveyed through the spoken word. Your music should create the energy and excitement that draws your listener to what you have to say.
Timing
So how long before you drop the music? Just a few seconds. To make it sound really good, though, it also helps to know some basic musicology in relation to the beat or time signature of the piece you’re using.
I suggest that you listen to the timing of your music and drop the volume so your first words start on the first beat of the second or third bar. Don’t do a slow fade but smartly drop your music at the 3rd or 4th beat of the bar preceding the bar you will speak.
Fade or End?
When you have finished your voice-over, should you fade the music off gently? Or fade the music bed up so the piece ends on a strong note?
I recommend a quick fade up so that the music actually ends rather than fades out. Depending on the length of your voice-over, this may require you to edit the music bed.
Editing your music to make it exactly the right length is tricky at first. But once you’re in practice, it is very easy.
I think that in most cases, a gradual fade doesn’t sound as good. Editing your music so it finishes a bar or two after your last words sounds much more professional.
Of course rules are written to be broken. There may be times when a slow fade actually achieves your editorial purpose. More often than not, though, you’ll find tight fades actually make your podcasts sound snappier and more professional.
Good luck!
Learn more about how you can create phenomenal podcasts at http://podcastersportal.com . Podcasters Portal is packed with free articles, audio seminars and videos for the podcaster who is serious about content. Jonathan G Halls is a speaker and writer. He has taught thousands of people around the world how to make phenomenal podcasts. He has worked with professionals from some of the world’s leading media organizations and learning professionals across America who use podcasts as part of their learning strategy.
Jonathan used to run the BBC’s television, radio operations and new media training in London. He has worked as a journalist and talk show host. He has a masters and bachelors in adult education. His company Talkshow Media LLC focuses exclusively on new media training and is based in Alexandria, Virginia. http://talkshowmedia.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathan_G_Halls
Music Creates Mood for Commercials
Have you ever tried to watch a video commercial or advertisement without music? If so, there are few things you may have thought: that it was different due to the silence yet you seemed to like it, or you didn’t care for it at all making it easy to go on with your daily activities never giving it a second thought as to what the commercial was even selling. Ninety five percent of the time the latter happens because music is almost a sure-fire way to create emotions and moods in video advertising.
When it comes to advertisements, music has the power to create better moods in video commercials, as well as to bring a more personal touch to these ads. As a result, it provides a better impact to their target audience, therefore effectively promoting products and services.
While visuals might be appealing to marketers’ target consumers, the use of music in video media advertising tends to create a more lasting impression in consumers’ minds, providing a great chance for companies to build positive brand or company images.
Setting the Mood
Simple video advertisements sometimes could set the proper ambiance when they are without music. Of course, there are some scenes which might be perfectly shot and produced, but music enhances this mood and ambiance in any video media, providing a great complement to these scenes and stamping a long-term impact in the audience’s minds.
Consider this situation: There is a video of a woman who seems to be standing in the middle of crowd. With the video alone, it doesn’t seem to mean anything. There is also a big chance that people would simply forget it, thinking that it is just some boring video. On the other hand, applying music in this advertisement would set a deeper mood – something that would connect better to the target audience. Slow music in this situation would set the mood of sadness, as if the woman is sadly waiting for somebody. On the other hand, upbeat music would set a more positive and outgoing mood, as if the woman would soon do something funny.
Suggesting the Right Emotions
The use of music in video commercials also hints what the audience or the target market should feel when they see these ads. Without music, people are sometimes confused as to how they should react to these ads. Music in video ads makes sure that your desired feelings are conveyed to your audience by suggesting certain emotions. It does not overly push the feeling towards your audience, but it acts as a way to make your audience think about what they should feel as suggested by the music. Music in video media ads, therefore, helps marketers and advertisers to somewhat help tell the target audience which kind of feelings should be felt in these video advertisements.
Evoking More Intense Emotions
Simple emotions found in scenes in video ads can be heightened further with the use of music. A scene of a sad woman would even be sadder with the right music, and can evoke more intense emotions to its viewers. Music can greatly affect the effectiveness of these video media ads because they can make the audience relate to a particular emotion or feeling. Affecting people’s emotions through music will make your advertised product, service or company to be related to a particular strong emotion, such as happy, uplifting, energetic or loving.
Catchy Tunes Tend to Leave Longer Lasting Impressions
Admit it – once in your life, you might have had some music stuck in your head because it was played in some video advertisement. Months or years later, you still remember that particular product, service or company whenever you hear the music. People tend to link music, brands and companies together, which just shows how effective music can be in video advertisements as compared to using only text or visuals. Video media advertising and commercials with music invest in long-term brand or company images in the consumer’s minds.
Video advertisements that tend to be the most effective, almost always balance between the use of audio and video. Music can enhance the audio, and it should offset the video to effectively relay the marketers’ desired messages to their particular audiences.
Some advertisements are better without music, but these are very rare and always depend from case to case. Most of the time, the best advertisements which leave lasting impressions are those with perfect mixtures of audio and video. The next time you watch a video advertisement, consider muting the audio. You will see a different message and effect as compared to watching it with the audio and music.
Follow this link to read actual statistics confirming these findings about video advertisement and video commercials.
Ann Rountre
Marketing Director
David Tower & Associates
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ann_Rountre
Great Music For Cartoons & Animations, Royalty Free
Just added to the online royalty free music store, 13 new orchestral and quirky/funny tracks by Canadian film composer Yuri Sazonoff. Fabulous orchestral cues that will certainly add some Disney to your shorts, and animated wonders. You can also browse many other great tracks from other composers in our Funny Royalty Free Music category.
Pandora’s Secret Music DNA Equals Millions of Human Hours
Great article in the NY Times about how Pandora actually determines the individual elements of their Music Genome Project. Interesting that it is so human labor intensive, given the technology aura of the company.
And how do you get your music into their engine? One guy with an overflowing desk.
Also interesting to note that founder Tim Westergren was a film composer who had to decode film director’s likes and dislikes on a daily basis. Sounds familiar!
The Right To Profit From Your Ideas
Everything is Intellectual Property
All around you it’s there. Physical objects, systems, organizations, processes, buildings, machines – all manifested from ideas. And the originators of these ideas are blessed with profits, security, fame, glory, awards and a golden retirement.
That’s the ideal at least. For those who create things that are less than concrete, it gets tricky.
I was reading this morning’s NY Times and came across this article about inventors and auctions. The main focus of the article was about the difficulties of the little guys to compete with the big guns. Sounds just like the music business! There was also brief mention of a new company called Rational Patent Exchange.
“The long-term vision at Rational is to become a marketplace or clearinghouse, perhaps the way ASCAP is for copyrighted music, collecting fees and distributing payments to artists.” says Randy Komisar, a partner at venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Whoa. That’s a big idea. The article also talks about how big guns can also buy up competing patents as a defensive mechanism. This too sounds familiar - like the Hollywood producers who option a screenplay and shelve it for years so they can bring out their own pet project that bears an eerily similar plot to yours!
“The goal is to be a place where the patent-holder is fairly compensated [hmm, just like the music biz?] but the corporate users have access to technology with minimal transaction costs. It has the potential to make innovation more efficient and less risky for both sides.”
I’m all for innovation and friction-less commerce and heartily applaud this idea. In fact, I would love to see this idea applied elsewhere as well. How about visual designs? Logos? Animations? But here’s the caveat. The concentration of power in a new organization may not actually help ALL the “little guys.”
Even though composers/ writers have 3 performing rights organizations in the USA (ASCAP, BMI & SESAC), collecting performance royalties and distributing them to its members – how this done is far from transparent. In any organization there’s a concentration of power at the top and the “members” have very little say over how much or how little their royalties should be. How any clearinghouse organization distributes its funds needs to be transparent. For example, commercial soundtrack composers, have little or no representation even though our music is used for television commercials, web spots and more. In my experience as a BMI member, I have to jump through multiple layers of bureaucracy to ensure I get paid for performance royalties on music composed specifically for use in a commercial. There are many that just give up. And yet, the clearinghouse organizations go out and routinely collect multi-million dollar fees for blanket usage of ALL the music in their catalogs. They’re supposedly looking out for their members, but try calling any of these organizations unless you already have a hit record. At ASCAP, I’ve heard that the pay-rate on underscore is much less than for music with lyrics. Why would that make sense if the organizations licensing the music pay one blanket rate?
I’m not asking for a government bureaucracy, but some kind of decency/moral standards? As we continue to move to a society of “knowledge workers” (thanks Peter Drucker) intellectual property is increasingly what we ALL do.