One of my former students contacted me about a needed 30 second commercial spot on a local radio station. I had played acoustic him a few times before. Anyhow we worked out this little demo for a guy who has a septic service business. He liked the song and offered a whole $200 for the track. ha ha I don’t need the money so I gave “Dave” it all.
I was so much fun working with an eager talented musician. He wasn’t at all familiar with the recording process and was a little nervous.
Anyhow , before we finalize this, maybe if you hear something odd??? Really tough to get it to the 30 second mark.
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For radio you’ll probably have to do it, shave 1/4 to 1/2 second here and there, or trim off the intro or outro. Instead of the end chord ringing out, it could be a staccato stop, that would save close to a second or two. Production stuff.
You already have this recorded so I don’t know if you want to change it. You might ask the radio station people too about the length; if it’s a small local station they may not have so much commercial segment pressure to be perfect on time. In major markets 29.5 seconds is usually really good, and necessary, so they can cram them back to back - you need a slight bit of pad time like that 0.5 seconds to work with.
That “Everybody knows” at 0:20 feels a little awkward since he’s going to the bottom of his vocal range (it sounds like) and his voice/tone wavers a bit. But it’s probably minor enough you can get away with it for local. It also does add some interest in a way. Things that are super slick sometimes don’t grab your attention as much.
A potential downside is that the phone number only goes through one time really quick, and the name is not something I would necessarily know how to spell to look up in the Yellow Pages. Most commercials run the phone number twice (at least) so you can try to remember it or quickly write it down. But with 30 seconds you’d have to hack part of your script to run the phone number a 2nd time, and it seems pretty good as is, and fun and interesting. On a positive note, listeners can probably call the (local) station and ask for the details if they’re really interested.
Who wrote the script, and who did the voiceover? Was it all him and you singing harmony and recording? Or did you play some guitar too? You guys did a respectable job, assuming you didn’t have much or any experience with this type of thing. And $200 is probably a decent “buyout” (no copyright retained) for a local market. Maybe a bit on the low side, since you provided not only the voiceover but the music and production as well. But as you say, it sounds like everybody came out happy in the end.
You already have this recorded so I don’t know if you want to change it. You might ask the radio station people too about the length; if it’s a small local station they may not have so much commercial segment pressure to be perfect on time. In major markets 29.5 seconds is usually really good
quote from Stan the man
Hey Stan First, thanks for all the info. I played one side acoustic, bass and, for some reason, one of the harmonies. His lyrics and his vocal. Personally I would have recorded it up a key or three. I initially used EZ drummer and actually a click track in some places. At the end, we decided to scrap the drums and that would been my chance to grab all the tracks and slide them tight to the left. That would give me , within .20 the perfect time. Still going to do that.
[quote=“Stan_Halen, post:2, topic:6562”]
That “Everybody knows” at 0:20 feels a little awkward since he’s going to the bottom of his vocal range (it sounds like) and his voice/tone wavers a bit.
The guy plays out in bars and parties and has never sung harmony before so there was some schooling there. ha ha He loved it tho. I checked his vocal and it was nearly spot on. There were a couple areas that needed a little lift. I did test his ears tho. I played just his vox and asked him to listen for anything off a little bit. He then identified the mutt notes. Impressive.
Yes we talked about the one shot phone number. The thing is we live in a VERY remote area and the folks in the Marquette area pretty much know all the business’s there. I also have an EQ that says telephone, that would have sounded perfect. There is a dead spot I think at 19 seconds and I was going to record a toilet flush there. Was worried about dropping the mic tho…you know crap happens.
I have been doing tracks for a long time, but never with anyone else in the studio. This was an excitment and a joy to do the “what do ya think about’s” with someone else.
We are going to do some more demos for businesses that know aren’t doing much advertizing and present them to the top brass.
My neighbor has a tire business. I was thinking something about "ya gotta get these FALKEN tires. haha stay cool Stan
Sounds like an interesting place up there in Yooper. Small town in a big space? I bet the nature is very beautiful, and quiet/calm.
So now you need an official name for your studio, for business purposes. How about “MagniFeak Studios” (i.e. “magnifique” = magnificent in French)?
Ha, “We’ve got the deals if you’ve got the wheels!” 
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I don’t have much feedback other than this awesome! I probably don’t live near you, but I still want to call the number. Nice work. Maybe instead of singing the number you could say it twice to help people remember it, and that would help you shave off a couple seconds if that’s what you need to do. Either way, sounds like a fun project!
Hi sir fly Yeah I also think the repeated number is important. 30 seconds is like ridiculous to get it all in. He loves the harmony part, but that would be a great place to chop. He’s coming early next week. We’ll see?? I have three songs going, so I’m a little torn. nice to hear from you …thanks
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Hahaha, that was amusing, in a good way. I would be excited if someone used my music in an ad.