professional music help

[V___]

A while ago, i was outsourced by an extended family member to write a song for a life coaching video (he works in television media production or something similiar) I did that, with a tiny amount of feedback, n got paid a small amount. I was happy with it, its wasnt shabby, its still one of my cleaner works.

I got a phone call from him the other day... he's got a new customer that needs some music. However, its a bit more high end; he's looking at starting or taking over a TV channel. At the moment, the guy wants a 50-second promo jingle type tune that can be cut to 30 secs and 10 secs. I KNOW i dont have that skills for that. Chances are this wont pan out (it'l cost close to $3mil for the client) but if it does, i'm not sure i can do this without help. hell, probably not even with help.

I have minimal software, minimal hardware and minimal experience. I'm hoping some peeps here can help me out with writing a channel jingle... From the ones iv heard, they'r mostly live instruments, somewhat pop-y. Anyone got any hints for starting (other than research, i'l be doing that)?

[OverCoat]

You have Reason, so it's probably doable, but you HAVE to know what kind of channel the guy wants to run. There's a difference between Lifetime and Spike TV, for example.

The material on the TV station pretty much defines what you will write. If you can tell me what kind of format he's gonna be running, I can help you out with some ideas.

[Chavous]

As far as I know, OC is right. You need to know more about the commercial first. You're not going to make the same music for a fight AIDS as you are for a McDonald's commercial.

Find out more about the commercial first, thats my bet.

[V___]

The channel is primarily going to be documentry/reveiw based with talkshows and skitshows (with some community programming) from what iv been told, so i'm thinking chilled/ambient jazzy-type peice would fit...?

Anyone have an suggestions for structure? its always been my weak point, i tend to bring out melodies a bit too strongly, and i dont think thats going to be good in this situation.

[zircon]

soc makes an excellent point, as does chavous, the genre is very important.

Now, a bit more information would be helpful. Could you clarify exactly how this jingle is being used? Is this the theme for the channel as a whole? If so, how and where is it played? Is it simply background music? Is it being used in an advertisement for the channel? This drastically changes how you would be crafting the jingle.

[Splunkle]

The channel is primarily going to be documentry/reveiw based with talkshows and skitshows (with some community programming) from what iv been told, so i'm thinking chilled/ambient jazzy-type peice would fit...?

Anyone have an suggestions for structure? its always been my weak point, i tend to bring out melodies a bit too strongly, and i dont think thats going to be good in this situation.

I would go listen to the BBC's theme. Thats the British Broadcasting Commision, to all you Americans. Their theme is all synthy and stuff. They use it all the time, from 10 seconds between programs to several minute long background music.

[Chavous]

The channel is primarily going to be documentry/reveiw based with talkshows and skitshows (with some community programming) from what iv been told, so i'm thinking chilled/ambient jazzy-type peice would fit...?

Anyone have an suggestions for structure? its always been my weak point, i tend to bring out melodies a bit too strongly, and i dont think thats going to be good in this situation.

I would go listen to the BBC's theme. Thats the British Broadcasting Commision, to all you Americans. Their theme is all synthy and stuff. They use it all the time, from 10 seconds between programs to several minute long background music.

Either that, or something like the Mazda commercials (I think those are the ones) With the very soft drums, very light, thin, reverby piano (with many neutral chords) and the bass slighty louder, which sounds something like www.sf2midi.com 's "upright bass" sample.

Good luck.

[Potshot]

And for gods sake, make sure you get your synchronisation royalties. Do not sell exclusive rights, license it. Synchronisation royalties = big fucking money.

[V___]

And for gods sake, make sure you get your synchronisation royalties. Do not sell exclusive rights, license it. Synchronisation royalties = big fucking money.

thanks for the advice, will do.

I found out last night that the jingle will be used in the channel promo thats shown between programs (I'm guessing the stereotypical people-happy-on-the-beach-fade-out-to-logo type of promo) I'l check out the BBC theme etc later on. I'l work on a peice this weekend, see what I can come up with. Thanks heaps for the support.

[sgx]

Seems like they would have told you more about what they had in mind. Do they have the video for this spot made yet? It would probably be very helpful to see that.

[V___]

Seems like they would have told you more about what they had in mind. Do they have the video for this spot made yet? It would probably be very helpful to see that.

All the information i'm gettin off my brother-in-law (corey), who gets back to me after ive had acouple of drinks and just before i'm going to sleep That said, he doesnt have alot of information as is.

The video hasnt been made yet (to my or corey's knowledge), the channel is in the very starting stages. They have acouple of shows purchased and planned, none yet produced. All the other information i have is upward in the thread.

When posting this thread initially, I think i just kinda paniced without thinking too much about what I was asking here... i mean, chance of a lifetime pops up that i'm not quite ready for... hmm. Its probably best i make a WiP n get feedback on that, and if the final product isnt good enough, i'l try and refer him to another musician here (preferably in Australia).