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Music Production > Commercial Production > Flashcards

Commercial Production Flashcards

1
Q

Button/Stinger

A

A short 3 to 5 second slogan or musical identifier

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2
Q

Copy (Ad Copy)

A

Written advertising material; the script of the commercial

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3
Q

Disclaimer

A

The legal ‘fine-print’ at the end of a commercial

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4
Q

Final

A

The finished recorded project that is ready to be broadcasted

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5
Q

Music bed

A

A stereo mix of the music that will play underneath the VO in the commercial

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6
Q

SFX

A

Sound effects

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7
Q

Tag

A

Information at the end of a spot. The tag usually contains the company name, phone number, address, website, or a slogan/jingle

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8
Q

Voice Over (VO)

A

Refers to the written dialogue, the person who reads the dialogue, and the recorded track in your DAW

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9
Q

Parts of a Commercial

A
  1. Button/Stinger
  2. Copy (Ad Copy)
  3. Disclaimer
  4. Final
  5. Music bed
  6. SFX
  7. Tag
  8. Voice Over (VO)
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10
Q

Commercial lengths

A

60 seconds
30 seconds
15 seconds

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11
Q

True length of a 60 second commercial

A

59.50 seconds

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12
Q

True length of a 30 second commercial

A

29.50 seconds

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13
Q

True length of a 15 second commercial

A

14.50 seconds

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14
Q

Types of Commercials

A
  1. Jingle
  2. Full vocal sing
  3. Instrumental
  4. Front song
  5. End song
  6. Donut (aka Open-Close)
  7. Weave
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15
Q

Jingle

A

A musical ad that usually has a catchy hook

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16
Q

Full vocal sing

A

A commercial with singing through the entire commercial, and no ad copy

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17
Q

Instrumental

A

A commercial with music through the entire commercial, and no ad copy, no singing

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18
Q

Front song

A

A commercial with music at the beginning and the ad copy at the end

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19
Q

End song

A

A commercial with ad copy at the beginning and the music at the end

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20
Q

Donut (aka Open-Close)

A

A commercial with music at the beginning and the end, but with a space in the middle for ad copy

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21
Q

Weave

A

A commercial with music and the ad copy alternating back and forth

22
Q

Customer supplied lyrics

A

Exactly what it says. We are engineers, not script writers.

23
Q

Needle-drop

A

Prerecorded music from a production library that is licensed simply by purchasing the library (ex. Soundly).

24
Q

Pros of Needle-drop

A

You don’t have to write the music or hire a composer or pay royalties simply for using a piece of music for a low-budget commercial

25
Q

Cons of Needle-drop

A

Other commercials may have a higher probability of using the same music

26
Q

Talent

A

Used as a noun - referring to anyone hired to be recorded on a project

27
Q

Talent release

A

A contract indicating that a talent has been paid for a performance, or otherwise indicating that payment will be received from someone other than the engineer

28
Q

Engineer Responsibilities (Obvious)

A
  1. Microphone choice and placement
  2. Headphone mixes
  3. Tracking, editing, assembling, and mixing the commercial
  4. Accurate levels
  5. Make the VO intelligible - use compression and EQ, \louder than the music or SFX
  6. Documentation and archiving
  7. Make the spot as loud as possible
29
Q

Engineer Responsibilities (Less Obvious)

A
  1. Quality Control - make sure that all elements in the session are recorded properly, labeled accurately, and sound good
  2. Timing - Make sure that the commercials are the proper length; for Donuts, make sure the VO will fit into the space provided
  3. Ensure content - Make sure that the correct ad copy is used and that the copy is pronounced correctly
  4. Vibe - With any session, make sure the talent is comfortable so they may work quickly and give a good performance
30
Q

Radio stations have limiters that cut in at this level

31
Q

Broadcast audio for television is typically mixed at or below this level

A

-24 dB LKFS

32
Q

LKFS meaning

A

Loudness, K-weighted, Full-Scale

33
Q

Simple explanation of LKFS (K-weighting)

A

Taking into consideration certain frequencies that human ears are sensitive to more than others, while averaging the overall level of this ‘weighted’ mix over a certain period of time

34
Q

Typical averaging time for K-weighting

35
Q

Distribution: Analogue

A

Basically dead as far as commercial production is concerned; too expensive.

36
Q

Distribution: Digital

A

Usually you will use a broadcast station’s website or ftp server to upload your file, or just email your final to the director of advert

37
Q

Distribution: Digital - Acceptable file types

A

.mp3, .mp4, .wav, .mov, .aiff, .avi, and .ogg

38
Q

Distribution: Mail

A

You could send a CD through mail… but why lol

39
Q

Distribution: Unacceptable physical formats

A

SACD, multitrack tapes (including ADAT), hard drives & flash drives (you won’t get them back!), DVD (too many issues with standardisation), and Blu-Ray (not everyone has a drive)

40
Q

Distribution: Unacceptable file types

A

.wmv, .wma, any kind of DAW sessions, or any random converter extensions

41
Q

Procedural Method

A
  1. Ad copy
  2. VO
  3. SFX
  4. Music
  5. Mix
  6. Final
42
Q

Studio owner

43
Q

Studio manager

A

Schedules sessions

44
Q

1st & 2nd engineers

A

You/Me lol. Sometimes the same person as the studio owner or manager. Job: uphold integrity of the producer’s vision.

45
Q

Producer

A

In charge of all creative elements.
Duties: contacting/booking studio & talent, scheduling, filing contracts, paying talent & studio fees, final decider about acceptability of all creative performances, delivery of final mix to the client

46
Q

VO talent

A

Announcers & dialogue actors

47
Q

Sessions players/arrangers

A

Any musicians used

48
Q

Account representative

A

Salesperson that works for the advert agency or for the radio/television station

49
Q

Client

A

Person commissioning the commercial

50
Q

Ad agency

A

Supplies the ad copy and the producer

51
Q

Other people involved with other random tasks..

A

Interns, secretaries, support staff, etc.

Music Production (16 decks)

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