need help with this mix...its a radio jingle

jimistone

jimistone

long standing member
Our store is doing a new promotion. Its "Marketman ...a super savings hero". They wanted it to be similar to the Batman theme. I need some mix suggestions. I know that the mix is kind of cluttered and the a little harsh, but I need some imput on the bottom end. I mix on stereo speakers in a square room so I'm not sure how its going to translate sometimes. I need this to be better than my average half assed mixes because they are going to use it for the radio and TV commercials.



remixed

the 60 second spot


the 30 second radio spot
 
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You'd better clear with the store that they're prepared to pay royalties to Neal Hefti!
After the 1st run through I reckon you could ditch the keyboard as there's too much going on.
 
IANaLb... yeah, you'll definitely want to recommend the store research licensing here. You, as a producer (not songwriter) should be fine, I'd think?

As to the mix. The vocals all feel a little buried. I think with jingles, you probably want to err on the side of too loud for vox.

Something about the "marketman" line isn't sitting right. It sounds like you've got the harmonies and brass right. Maybe if the rest of the mix is cleaner, it will sit better? Maybe those parts aren't lined up very well? Maybe they're not balanced correctly with each other?
 
VomitHatSteve said:
IANaLb... yeah, you'll definitely want to recommend the store research licensing here. You, as a producer (not songwriter) should be fine, I'd think?

As to the mix. The vocals all feel a little buried. I think with jingles, you probably want to err on the side of too loud for vox.

Something about the "marketman" line isn't sitting right. It sounds like you've got the harmonies and brass right. Maybe if the rest of the mix is cleaner, it will sit better? Maybe those parts aren't lined up very well? Maybe they're not balanced correctly with each other?
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Thanks. Yeah, the vocals are a few people in the store singing the word "marketman" and they we're all over the map timing wise and pitch wise. The girl singing the tag line is a friend of mine who can sing very well. I think I'm going to delete the background vocal tracks and recur them with actual singers. After listening to it a few time I think the keys, guitars, and vocals are, for the most part, occupying the same frequency. I need to Eq some more to address that.
 
Hey Jimi, waaaaaaay too much happening in the midrange. Personally, I'd strip everything out but bass, drums, and vocals, and then rebuild the mix from the bottom up.

Did you do some limiting and boosting on the mix bus? I'm hearing harshness in the midrange that seems to come from that, 9/10 times. Probably best to get the mix sorted first, then master for volume and dynamics.
 
haha this is fun. Is that a synth violin?

Yeah I agree with Ray, you have a lot going on in the mids, and it's kinda taking away space from the vocals maybe. I think with a jingle you want the words to be a little more obvious and out front. Sounds like you got two guitars, bass guitar, and solo guitar all kinda too close to being in the same range. So I guess this is an arrangement type issue. Perhaps addition by subtraction. You could probably delete one or all of the rhythm guitars since it's just doubling the bass and synth violin thingy anyway. Plus the solo is fun so it would be brung out more along with the vocals.
 
Robus said:
Hey Jimi, waaaaaaay too much happening in the midrange. Personally, I'd strip everything out but bass, drums, and vocals, and then rebuild the mix from the bottom up.

Did you do some limiting and boosting on the mix bus? I'm hearing harshness in the midrange that seems to come from that, 9/10 times. Probably best to get the mix sorted first, then master for volume and dynamics.
Click to expand...

Thanks robus. I'm stretched out this week trying to get all my ducks in a row to take a vacation next week. So, I haven't been able to get back to this mix. I will take incorporate the suggestions I am getting and repost
 
ibleedburgundy said:
haha this is fun. Is that a synth violin?

Yeah I agree with Ray, you have a lot going on in the mids, and it's kinda taking away space from the vocals maybe. I think with a jingle you want the words to be a little more obvious and out front. Sounds like you got two guitars, bass guitar, and solo guitar all kinda too close to being in the same range. So I guess this is an arrangement type issue. Perhaps addition by subtraction. You could probably delete one or all of the rhythm guitars since it's just doubling the bass and synth violin thingy anyway. Plus the solo is fun so it would be brung out more along with the vocals.
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thanks IBB.
I'm going to try notching the mids out of the synth and bringing the level down. It sounds better without the keys, but with just bass and drums the keys sound great. I have guitars and keys in stereo pair.2 tracks each and panned left and right. it giving the overall track a mono cluttered sound.
 
"Take that high price" sounds like it's in a different world and the voice is a bit nerdy...could you redo that line with a more "batmanish" voice and the same reverb as the rest? Drums could tighten a bit...for a jingle, I don't think a bit of quantize would hurt. Everyone else has the mids and licensing...
 
Not going into details on the mix but a general comment: for radio jingle you have to have the vocals a lot more prominent compared to the music and a shitload of compression to reduce the dynamic range to way less than you'd want in a normal recording. I suspect for something playing over ceiling speakers in a shop (which is a noisy environment) it would have to be even worse. Also, assuming a 70 volt line system, get everything important in the mids and don't count on lows and highs doing much.
 
well, It's not really a jingle It's a music bed for ad copy with a tag 9n the end. While the song is playing the weekly specials will be given and the music will kind of be low in the background. Then the music comes up in volume for the tag "a super savings hero...marketman!"
 
I've listened to this a few times since you posted and kept meaning to comment.

I know nothing of any particular things one should do with regard to mixing a jingle or backing track for a commercial, so I would trust others who seem to know about that stuff.

Just as a musical track though, I thought it was really fun. A bit too similar to batman perhaps, but different in some key elements. Personally, I loved the voice that comes in with, "take that high price". That was great.

I guess it sounds a bit muddled/jumbled at times with everything going on in the track, and perhaps you could drop back or remove some elements at times to bring more focus to the words, but I appreciate that it so organic sounding and catchy.

I know when I hear the music used for local adds, they often sound like home recordings, but ones done entirely with canned, virtual instruments and awful, stock sounding tones. This was refreshing in that it sounds like genuine music. So for that alone, I congratulate you. Thanks for sharing this.
 
Here is what I came up with and I guess it will go to TV and radio because the TV people and the radio people have it. They shot a tv commercial at the store and the music will be on there.
Bear in mind that the intro will be lound and then the ad items will be read (ad copy) with the music in the background....the the music comes back up at the end for the tag "A super saving hero...take that high price...marketman"

the 60 second spot


the 30 second radio spot


Thanks for the help on this guys!
 
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