Getting started Radio Ad's

[crs117]

I know quite a few of you do advertisement type work, and i would like to try to get involved doing this. I live in Buttcrack, Alabama and you would laugh at some of the ads that come on the radio, or jingles on television here. I know i coud do 110% better job, but i have no idea how to get started, or how to find get this kind of work. Any tips on how to get started would be greatly appreciated.

Christian

[Mr_Seven]

Put together a good portfolio and start contacting Ad Agencies. There's some good info at the site below.

http://www.getsigned.com

look for those tips there.

[chiefhugenuts]

You know, there are two different catagories here. There's the audio work, which is the tracking, editing and mixing of said commercials, and then there's the scripting, which is obviously what you're critisizing. Now I assume you're and engineer, in which case the writing and creativity of the dialog (pitch, character voicing, etc.) is of no concern of yours what so ever. If you want to get into writing scripts, well as I said, that's a whole different ball game. You gotta watch it, cause as soon as you start doing that, kiss any business, you'd get for doing the audio work for any ad agencies, goodbye cause you just became they're competition. "Don't bite the hand that feeds ya". But when you said you could do a 110% better job, you were referring to weak audio recording/editing, well than I appologize for this lengthy explanation on perspective. Good Luck! The Chief.

[crs117]

I am referring to all aspects of the commercials. Actually many of the local commercials here are simply jingles. This means i could get in to both radio and tv spots using the same jingle.

Anyway there are absolutely no decent recording facilities here in Tuscaloosa and because of this there are no decent sounding recordings coming out of here, either as albums, or as jingles.

The scripting, heck the tv production is horrible and if i purchased around $1000 worth of equipment i coud have the best audio/video setup here. i mean the talent pool here for this stuff must be ridiculously low.

Man a commercial is on right now, geez i have never heard such over compressed mess ever.

Christian

[Roy Howell]

Christian,
One thing I know backwards and forwards, is jingles. I've written lyrics, music, and produced around 1000 jingles. It's likely much different than you think, definitely different than songwriting, in my opinion.
When I decided to try it, I was lucky, because there was a company whose jingle division was based here in Memphis.
Part of what's weird is that some of those very jingles that you hate may be what those clients actually want, because they're 'tried and true', and they want to play it safe with their bucks. BUT, that never means YOU have to do piss-poor work. The trick is to convince your clients to try it your way, and then do a killer job for them. The whole objective of a jingle is to portray the image that your client wants his/her target audience to perceive them.
To clear up any mystery, here's what a jingle is. One jingle covers both radio and/or TV. It's up to the client how they will advertise once they get it. They get about 6 edits of the same jingle, 3 being 60 sec. spots, and 3 being 30 sec. spots. There is a simple formula to write and sing the initial full jingle, from which all those edits can be done in the studio without resinging them all. (:60 Full Sing, :60 'Donut', :60 Tag Sing, :30 Full, :30 'Donut', and :30 Tag Sing). This is simply done by having the singers sing throughout (and writing the lyric to make sense no matter which edit is used), then in the studio muting certain parts. Once you've seen it done, it becomes simple.
Initially, I wrote some pretty cheesy jingles, because I was just learning, so I was really copying my more experienced fellow composers. But, after getting comfortable at it, I started doing good stuff. I have a file of testimonial letters from happy clients now.
My advice to you right now is to call your local radio stations and ask where they get their jingles. (I would ask for the station mgr. initially and go down from there). Once you find out, you do not have to tell the jingle company their stuff is terrible, but absolutely tell them you think you can do better if they'll teach you the basics.
So help me, at the time, I worked the first 2 weeks for nothing, because they didn't even NEED anybody. I was hired initially as a Junior Lyricist, but after 8 mos, I became a Senior Lyricist, and stayed there for 2 years.(the company dissolved and I went freelance with all the salesmen giving me work).
I still accept jingles to help pay bills, but I do not do it full time anymore.

Now, I know this may seem wordy, but I hope it gives some incite. And you know I'll be glad to help you if I can.

~Roy

[Stone Knife]

The 'donut' Roy talks about above is called by that name because it begins with some music or some lyrics, then drops down for the V/O announcer to do the script, then it pops back up at the end with the client's musical tag line, such as, "Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal..." Since there's nothing in the middle= donut.

It is possible to do everything, scriptwriting, V/O and production/engineering (That's my gig) provided you have the skills and voice and musicianship to do all three ... a good place to start as an ad writer is with the 'rules' ...then you can break 'em once you know 'em. If you're really interested in writing,

Start Here this is a standard text in broadcasting schools. It has tips on getting jobs in the back, too.

I'd record some of the local spots that you can improve upon, write new jingles or produce the whole thing, and then call the director of the local ad agency for a brief meeting. Be sure you don't just 'drop in' because they will most likely take this as a sign of unprofessionalism, as though they have nothing better to do than drop everything to see what YOU want. (even if that's true [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] )

Once you have an appointment, be early, hand the guy your CD Demo which has your e-mail and phone info on it, and be sure to mention you'd like to follow-up with a phone call in a couple days to discuss the material on the CD.

On the follow-up call, if they don't think your stuff is right for them, be sure to ask how you could make it more suitable for what they want. You'll get some valuable tips and a chance to do a second one, more in the style they're looking for.

If you only want to do the music end of it, a partnership with local radio/TV stations would not be unheard of. Start by booking a few minutes with a senior sales weasel, er, person... and discuss hooking up with their clients to provide custom music beds and jingles. If your price is right, then you'll be off.
Be sure to have some GREAT looking (not cheesy homemade) business cards on hand for this, everything is done with a business card, and without one, you're going to appear as a nobody, and in the media, appearance is almost everything.

[Roy Howell]

Stone,
Could you possibly send me a copy of 'Introducing' one more time? That is the funniest advertising take-off I ever heard...(I re-ghosted my system recently and lost some of my recent email).

Thanks, Roy

[Stone Knife]

Ha! Yeah man, on the way... [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[crs117]

Mr_7,

I have no idea where to get started on that site to find the information i am looking for. Does anybody have any tips on how to locally get some interest. I mean do i try to call some ad agency here. If so do i tell them their ad's stink(j/k). Really what would be some good tips for a local, small town business.

Christian

[B.Ray]

There was a good article on the subject in EQ Magazine a few years ago. I'll check my library (cardboard box in the garage) and see if I can dig it up.

One thing I remember from the article was that the author said he rarely writes original music for local Radio spots. He said the trun-around was often so short that there was no time for the normal writting/arranging/producing process. Instead, he said he used canned music from libraries.