Producing for a TV commercial

[simmerdown]

we are producing a commercial for our store and clothing line for local TV

i'm doing the music...48 seconds

concerned about it sounding good on all TVs, formats, bitrates, anything i do not know enough to ask....dont trust the techs at the station bc ive seen/heard what they are about, lol

anyone done this? any tips greatly appreciated..

got the ruff track arranged....will post....would love it if anyone with good monitors would listen and clue me in....thanks!

[Ub373NNN]

i no expert but if you got any of the kind SPEECH in the commercial you want that to pierce threw anything on else and no drown it out. i dont know.

[simmerdown]

no speech, just music and images

[Da hand]

You should get the specs (Peaks, RMS, etc) for the broadcasting standard of the broadcaster/tv channel your tv ad will be playing on. This will assure that your ad sounds good (in terms of volume) next to other ads.

[Vios]

If this is very important it may be well worth it to pay someone to produce the track for you. At the very least it's probably worth it to spend a little money on getting your track mastered before being put on air. Make sure your mixing/mastering engineer knows where the audio is going to be used, and has previous experience doing that type of work.

[ttilberg]

I too would love to hear someone ring in on this. Why the eff do all local commercials sound like piss in my beer? I would love to hear thoughts from someone who is familiar with producing for this medium say stuff like "Yeah, roll off everything below 120 hz, and above 15k, make sure it's mono because blah blah technical technical etc etc"

The tip on RMS and peak were good suggestions, I'd be curious to learn if there are "standards" of any sort. There must be? Good Q simmerdown.

[simmerdown]

not a big enough deal to get someone else to do it, plus i want to do it! this is my chance to go huge super-global with my music (in NW montana LOL)

cool, thanks for the input all...good info i can add to my list of Q's when i talk to the tech guy of the station

a friend on another forum with a pro studio offered to master it for free to the needed specs so, chin ching internet!

[MarkHenry]

Good work, I am waiting for your complete creation.

[chris vine]

Wav or Aiff 24 bit 48k should be good.
This is one of those situations, (48 secs), where you might consider using some limiting to enter the volume wars to make sure the ad STANDS OUT.

[simmerdown]

for peoples reference, here are the specs from the tech of the cable co.

16 Bit PCM Audio Only (AC3)
48,000 Hz
128 Kbps or better
2 channel stereo only

gonna have to look up PCM and AC3, unless someone can tell me...guessing its something i know but by a different name...

ALSO, lol, things got a bit more challenging/interesting in that we have chosen , to start , to do many 15 second spots....never wrote anything sooo short, this should be cool

[bicarbone]

Cheap advice: mix in mono to get your levels and EQ right, save. Then pan your stuff, add reverb, fx, whatnot, make final adjustments, save. Compare to first save version. If something went missing due to being out of phase or is too loud, try to figure out which tweak/fx was the culprit. Start over from here. A/B. Mono check, stereo check. When you're happy, bounce in stereo AND in mono just putting a Utility plug on the master. Listen on crappy systems. Burn a cd with both stereo and mono versions, play it on your dvd connected to your tv.

As for limiting, it should be peaking at -10 db max if I'm not mistaken.

I'm sure someone will know better and chime in.

[simmerdown]

good ideers bicarbone, willdo

[simmerdown]

here is the 15 second audio, and all the stems if anyone wants to listen or even take a shot at the mix/master for practice...might even go with someone else's version if its better:

http://www.mediafire.com/?mko0ief9650jb9u

[bicarbone]

Hey simmer,

Like the theme, good job But there are some things that you could fix in the mix:

a) piano is a bit out of phase, just drag the Utility preset called "phase" on the track and listen in stereo and mono (see if you like it better that way). Did you compress it? If so, attack and release could use some refinements. Also, fade out is not clean (there is a note popping out).

b) cello could use a gentle cut around 500 Hz, just a couple dbs, maybe 3, and some air...

C) I can hear a copy paste in the aaah sound, longer crossfade would help, or maybe this was dne on purpose.

d) Spoken words: use a deesser and a deesher before sending to reverb! That one will be tough to tame so if you have a chance to record the voice again with a slightly different mic placement, that would be even better.

Don't have time right now, but I can give it a go tomorrow if you wish (except that I would need a dry take of the voice).

Again, really nice little melody, bravo!

[simmerdown]

great!

i have the de'esser on, but at the end of the chain...i will try a rerender on that, or redo the vox tonight

and smooth the ahhhh vocal, good ear man

thanks for taking the time bicarbone! i'll get you thru PM...