Writing Music for Television and Radio Commercials (and more): A Manual for Composers and Students

Musical Skills!! 31

composer to ask the agency to hire a musicologist to determine if there
could be a soundalike copyright problem. The agency would most likely
have to receive permission from both the Glenn Miller estate and the Mod-
ernaires to re-create their sounds.

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Re-creating Sounds

If the creatives ask a composer to re-create the sound of a popular

vocal or instrumental group, listen only to the artists’ popular

recordings. The public’s perception of a ‘‘sound’’ comes from hear-

ing select recordings repeatedly. Not all songs or instrumentals

recorded by groups or soloists have a consistency; therefore, if a

composition that does not depict an artist’s signature sound is cho-

sen as an example and the composer emulates that piece, the new

composition or arrangement will not sound like that artist.

I worked on a campaign for Entenmann’s cakes. The music for

one of the commercials had to capture the sound and arrangement

of a recording that emulated music of the 1930s. To help achieve that

goal, the engineer recorded the beginning of a vinyl record (only the

scratching noise heard before the music entered) and looped it

(repeated it) throughout the track. This technique helped to re-cre-

ate the ambience of a 78-rpm recording. Several popular records of

the 1930s were referenced while mixing. The final product accu-

rately depicted the sound of the 1930s.

It is important to note that if the same assignment were given

for a feature film, the composer would have a longer time period

to re-create the sound; commercial composers must work within a

shorter time frame and with a lesser budget.

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In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the Hammond B3 organ with a Leslie
speaker is the organ heard on most recordings. The Hammond has a dis-
tinct sound that is difficult to duplicate; it behooves composers who want
to re-create the sound to rent a B3 with a Leslie speaker. (New Hammond
organs that duplicate the sound of the original B3 with a Leslie speaker are
being manufactured.) A typical 1950s-sounding ballad would traditionally
incorporate the following:

1. The piano playing triplets


2. Possibly a tenor or baritone saxophone


3. The musical chord progression I, VI, II, V, I


4. Background singers singing typical traditional syllables of the era,
   such as the doo-wop genre