commercial jingles??

guitarded

Experienced
I don't why, but I am always interested in the music going on in commercials... even when it is totally background filler. I appreciate that talent.
Has anyone one here composed, or been involved in anything that might be recognizable?
Hope this is not out of line in any way...
I am just curious.
 
I'll jump in here. Yes, I did a lot of commercials. Back in the early 90's, when I was living in California (Merced to be exact) I did a lot of session work for KRP Studios. KRP was located in Atwater CA (where Castle AFB is located). We developed a rather large library of "jingles". Bob Pogue was the owner and engineer at KRP. It was in the analog days. There were several musicians involved in this work. We had a drummer, bass player, keyboard player, and a pedal-steel guitar player (for country stuff). I was the resident guitar player. Back in the day, radio and TV commercials were 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, or 60 seconds. We would brainstorm a musical idea, and then take a run at it. We made hundreds of jingles for the various time formats. Radio and TV stations bought the music jingles, and then did voice-overs.

As musicians, we provided the music, but never had any idea what product the music would be used with. My music has been used to sell everything from appliances to zip-line excursions. The "Fantasy Room get-away" at a local hotel was my personal favorite. There was the cave room, the bordello room, the mirror room, you get the picture. We never made any residuals, but were pretty well paid for the studio time. Some of the jingles ended up on TV, but most were radio. It really helped hone my songwriting chops, and helped support my family so I considered it a win. The other musicians were great players and very spontaneous. It made me put my best foot forward, so to speak.
 
I'll jump in here. Yes, I did a lot of commercials. Back in the early 90's, when I was living in California (Merced to be exact) I did a lot of session work for KRP Studios. KRP was located in Atwater CA (where Castle AFB is located). We developed a rather large library of "jingles". Bob Pogue was the owner and engineer at KRP. It was in the analog days. There were several musicians involved in this work. We had a drummer, bass player, keyboard player, and a pedal-steel guitar player (for country stuff). I was the resident guitar player. Back in the day, radio and TV commercials were 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, or 60 seconds. We would brainstorm a musical idea, and then take a run at it. We made hundreds of jingles for the various time formats. Radio and TV stations bought the music jingles, and then did voice-overs.

As musicians, we provided the music, but never had any idea what product the music would be used with. My music has been used to sell everything from appliances to zip-line excursions. The "Fantasy Room get-away" at a local hotel was my personal favorite. There was the cave room, the bordello room, the mirror room, you get the picture. We never made any residuals, but were pretty well paid for the studio time. Some of the jingles ended up on TV, but most were radio. It really helped hone my songwriting chops, and helped support my family so I considered it a win. The other musicians were great players and very spontaneous. It made me put my best foot forward, so to speak.

Cool... in writing these... Were there times when you wrote, say a 1 minute song that it was cut down to a lesser time? or did you re-record it to be a lesser time?
Were any songs ever made into a full length version even if just for fun or was it pretty strictly "this and no more?" I realize there prolly wasn't much horsing around on the studio dime, but perhaps outside...?
Thanks for the reply.
 
Cool... in writing these... Were there times when you wrote, say a 1 minute song that it was cut down to a lesser time? or did you re-record it to be a lesser time?
Were any songs ever made into a full length version even if just for fun or was it pretty strictly "this and no more?" I realize there prolly wasn't much horsing around on the studio dime, but perhaps outside...?
Thanks for the reply.
There were songs that were cut down. Times had to be pretty exact though. If we missed by a second or two, the engineer could speed up the tape or slow it down, but if it was too far off it started to sound weird. Yes, we did miss some times and had to play some additional takes to get it right. We were not exactly the wrecking crew. None of the jingles were turned into full songs, as far as I know. The jingles did inspire musical ideas that were expanded into bigger and better riffs and some of those ended up in parts of songs.

You are right, there was not much messing on the clock (time is money), and Bob Pogue was trying to make a living off his studio. Merced was never the musical mecca that LA, NY, or Nashville was. Some of the other guys I worked with and I were in a band together. The band was called CrossStreet. We were signed to Wingate Records and released an album titled Different Roads. We got a lot of airplay back in the 90's. I now reside in the discount rack.:rolleyes: The work did lead to an offer to be in one of the Promise Keepers bands back in 96. That was pretty cool to me. Promise Keepers was an awesome movement.
 
There were songs that were cut down. Times had to be pretty exact though. If we missed by a second or two, the engineer could speed up the tape or slow it down, but if it was too far off it started to sound weird. Yes, we did miss some times and had to play some additional takes to get it right. We were not exactly the wrecking crew. None of the jingles were turned into full songs, as far as I know. The jingles did inspire musical ideas that were expanded into bigger and better riffs and some of those ended up in parts of songs.

You are right, there was not much messing on the clock (time is money), and Bob Pogue was trying to make a living off his studio. Merced was never the musical mecca that LA, NY, or Nashville was. Some of the other guys I worked with and I were in a band together. The band was called CrossStreet. We were signed to Wingate Records and released an album titled Different Roads. We got a lot of airplay back in the 90's. I now reside in the discount rack.:rolleyes: The work did lead to an offer to be in one of the Promise Keepers bands back in 96. That was pretty cool to me. Promise Keepers was an awesome movement.
Awesome! A friend of mine and me (on bass at the time) played in the band for our local PK meeting here North Mississippi. It was a great group of guys!
I appreciate the time in talking about this stuff!
I will BOLO for "CrossStreet" LOL!!!
 
I don't watch TV, so I only hear commercials when I'm around someone with a TV or radio on. How accurate is my perception that commercial jingle writing is a dying art form, and the majority of commercial background music these days just consists of a ukulele with a xylophone and/or whistling?

Like this:


When I listen to that it sounds like it could be from an ad for virtually anything; an Apple device, Pampers, Ziploc bags, a minivan dropping kids off at soccer practice, etc.
 
We were recording at a studio, and the owner asked us to do a commercial for a chain of rest homes, assisted living centers, whatever the proper term is. What the heck... did a few versions, one straight through, and one of the obligatory doughnut versions (with an instrumental center for them to voice over). It was a south Texas regional thing, which even I never heard on the radio. :) But I can say I did one in my long list of less than nationally known efforts!
 
I don't watch TV, so I only hear commercials when I'm around someone with a TV or radio on. How accurate is my perception that commercial jingle writing is a dying art form, and the majority of commercial background music these days just consists of a ukulele with a xylophone and/or whistling?

Like this:


When I listen to that it sounds like it could be from an ad for virtually anything; an Apple device, Pampers, Ziploc bags, a minivan dropping kids off at soccer practice, etc.

HA!!! This does sound like 75% of the commercials I hear now!
I LOVE listening to old commercials from the 70/80s
They all, or most, had full scores with lyrics about the product!!
 
We were recording at a studio, and the owner asked us to do a commercial for a chain of rest homes, assisted living centers, whatever the proper term is. What the heck... did a few versions, one straight through, and one of the obligatory doughnut versions (with an instrumental center for them to voice over). It was a south Texas regional thing, which even I never heard on the radio. :) But I can say I did one in my long list of less than nationally known efforts!
Cool... So you did lyrics and all?
I think that may be what interests me the most about the whole process.
I STINK and writing songs! I have tried to on about 20-25 occasions, and only 2 are even close to what I would consider a "decent" song.
So I am fascinated by folks who can do it...
BUT not just a regular song as it were. I mean at least if it is a song about love, hate or religion I can understand... there is a passion involved and a deep well of feelings to draw from (with the exception of me) if that makes sense...
But a person who can write a song about a can of beans!!! THATS AWESOME!!!
 
I don't know if jingles fall under the umbrella of "library music" but Sound on Sound had a 5 part article on Library Music that was an interesting read. I think jingles do, that was my perception, but the focus seemed more on film and tv. Sometimes when I write I might only get one or two parts and so a full song is never created. The other day I was watching some NFL recap show and while they were showing the highlights for each game they has some music underneath that was very rock/metal based. For each game they covered it was like 30 seconds or less and each game had a different "riff." I was thinking maybe I could do something like that.
 
Cool... So you did lyrics and all?
Yeah, it was almost funny trying to make a retirement home sound like it was a place you should aspire to go to, especially by two people in their 30s at the time. But, yeah, we did. We were passionate about making money. :)
 
Yeah, it was almost funny trying to make a retirement home sound like it was a place you should aspire to go to, especially by two people in their 30s at the time. But, yeah, we did. We were passionate about making money. :)
O give me a home, where the old geezers roam, where the beer and the cantaloupe stay. Where often is herd, passing gas with a turd, and the guys are not rowdy all day.
 
I've always been interested in jingle making (and library music). I've even thought about finding out how to get into the biz, but I'm not sure if I could pull it off. I know I'm a good player and a good engineer/producer, but I may not be good enough or have a prolific enough output to do it.
 
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