• An overview of your intentions for your jingles or soundtracks
• The processes you followed (justifying your decisions) and any issues you faced
• A reflection on how well you achieved your objectives
Include a short paragraph about your freelance work, if you produced any.
Include links to your finished media and any images that illustrate aspects of your project production.
Also include a link to your jingles company website.
Jingles Relfection
Forza Horizon 3
The Forza Horizon 3 was a group effort and although I know it dosesn’t sound as I personally would have imagined, I can’t ignore the fact of how far this jingle has come. Having never recorded cars, and having no real idea of where to begin. We decided to record with what we could get our hands on. We had access to a small-diaphragm condenser microphone, a Shure PG81, paired with a Focusrite Scarlet interface, found a quiet piece of road and just recorded anything. Most the exhaust from the outside, a short drive with it on the insider. On the road where we recording, we had trucks drive by and we recorded them as well. We also had a friend, Luxe, on his motorbike drive by and recorded that. I’ve also recorded some of the car noise on my iPhone as I was driving home because that’s what I had and I just thought it could come in handy. It really got me to listen for everything around me and how it can be useful for different or future projects. We hear a lot of sounds, but how much of it are we really listening to? EQ had a very big influence. As the one who is creating the content, I really notice how ‘artificial’ the car sounds. When we’d play it in class and other people, the feedback I seem to get is that it sounds pretty realistic. Feedback is critical and in a sense, helps validate the project. The car sounds were one aspect, the other would be the soundtrack and sound effects besides the car. The kangaroos had us think and be creative. At the end that was done using some trees and just shaking them around. It made me realize how a sound can be used for anything, and as long as it matches the visual, it will sell.
Animation Jingle
Animation Reflection I felt like this one turned out really well despite a very poor start. I started this project with the idea that the animator would tell me what they wanted and I would go create it. Rather I can give them different ideas I had and let them go from there. The animation was a dark brick room with portals. The idea of the room was to be a witch’s lair, and that leads me to the thought of a place that is very sinister. I communicated with the animator how I thought of having a dark drum sound to start and building up to have a synth, bassline, strings, and some sound effects that would represent the portals. I recorded drums, gave the drummer a click and once again, explained the vibe I was looking for. I knew I wanted toms to drive it rather than the snare for a more subtle, held back, sound. I sent the drum recording for feedback, it was found to be fitting. The following night I went into the studio with a friend of mine who played synths. We tracked a few layers and I played the role of producer. It well rather well and I’m very happy with the end result. Pushing myself to communicate my ideas has made me more comfortable to be more assertive. In the end, it paid off well.
Hugo Boss Reflection
Hugo Boss - Intention
For the Hugo Boss Ad, I didn’t go in having a set melody in mind. I only had a rough idea and the vibe I wanted to do. Watching the advertisement without any audio, I got the point of the ad was to sell a certain fragrance for women that attracted men. It was done in an intimate setting where the woman would tease the man of the fragrance she was wearing. This lead me to develop a few key points I wanted to achieve
- Saxophone. A friend of mine plays the saxophone. I felt it would be fitting to use a saxophone to drive the ad in a slow sexy jazz vibe. I believe it would be fitting of the visual content that was happening.
- Bass. I wanted a bassline to sit under the saxophone to help support it. I wanted the bass to be the second instrument the audience really notices.
- Drums. A very light simply grove to sit at the back to help tie the instruments to a certain rhythm.
- Dynamic. I wanted the song itself to build upon the narrative of the video.
Hugo Boss - Process
I had the saxophonist, bassist, and drummer come to the studio and I explained the vibe I wanted to create. I played them a reference track of similar vibe. From then they each played something they would see fitting a few times and basically improvise on the spot. After each take, I gave my thoughts and opinion of how it tied into the video. Some takes I noticed was building up too soon, or too much happening in the end. There were a few takes that I found to be well, but it clashed with the instrumentation and it wasn’t what I wanted. After a few hours in the studio, I felt like it was 90% there. I felt like everything was good, but something just didn’t glue everything together. The next day, I added a synth layer from the start of the video as most things come in only a few seconds in. This synth layer really did make me feel confident that I was done with the composition and ready to mix.
Hugo Boss - Reflection
In terms of my intentions. I met all of them. The saxophone drives the ad and it is complemented with the bass. The synth and drums help kept everything together. The dynamic was there. As the video got more intimate, the bigger the jingle. This jingle is one of my proudest work. Going through this process, I wished I knew more about music theory. In the studio, playing the role of producer, I learnt a lot. It really got me to communicate my ideas to the performers. The idea of me to do that was something I thought I always struggled with. It went rather well. I’m also glad they had the patient to try to understand what I was saying and try to play accordingly. I’ve also never recorded a saxophone and that itself I learnt a lot. A saxophone doesn’t make its sound from the bell, but rather every little hole where air comes out. Mixing was good, but I felt like if I had more time I would adjust the reverb, perhaps automation of it.
Apple Ad
The Apple Ad itself had a very similiar process as the Hugo Boss Ad. I watch the ad a few times, sometimes with audio, some without, and some without other audio tracks. After doing so the idea was the journey of the balloon and how it meets one other balloon, and finally joins a whole group of balloons. The ad itself is selling a feature within iMessage where you can send texts that will make the balloon appear on the recipients phone. As the balloon journeys, I had the idea of something sad sounding and gradually builidng as it meets other ballons.
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