Side Project- Working for Work

I am currently employed by both Hit105 and Triple M radio stations as a 'Street Teamer', which is like a promo person. As I am studying a Production Degree, it has allowed me to network with a few different jobs within the studios- as I am currently getting shifts for Tech Assistance and also Live on Air Panelling. The tech assistance requires me to help set up both lighting and sound for gigs and events- my most recent outing was helping the Techs to get ready for an acoustic performance by Ed Kowalczyk, who is the lead singer for the internationally loved American rock band 'Live'. I am also sitting in on Live on Air panelling sessions for Triple M, where some basic editing is used to trim and place songs for the Brisbane radio feed, which is sent up from the Sydney feed. Queuing advertisements and timing pre-recorded radio host segments to play with the beginning/ending of songs also. My job is definitely getting me experience within multiple different facets of the Audio industry. It has also led myself and fellow student/radio employee/project partner/ roommate/friend Peter to an opportunity to produce a jingle for the station. A jingle is 'short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans'. (Wikipedia, 2017).

We were both approached by a fellow worker, Trent, to produce a re-imagining of a previous segment used by the radio- a Tongue Twister. 'Pick the peanuts picky peanut people pick' is the script we were given, and the station wanted us to 'hood it up' and make it a little more Hip Hop based. So off to SAE we went see what we could come up with.

First we hired from tech an AKGC414 condenser mic, as we felt it would be the best possible mic available to us for recording multiple clear and clean vocals. The layers were all recorded in Pro Tools. I was the first in the live room to record the actual script of Picky Peanuts etc. Multiple takes were recorded with different pronunciations, pitch alterations and all round delivery of the script. After recording the best possible take, it was then onto recording the under layers of the project. Peter then moved into the live room where he whispered 'pick pick pick the peanuts' as a looping background vocal. Also a small segment of beat boxing was recorded and looped to give the track some rhythm.

We then edited the track in shuffle mode and slid the segments to where they were in time and sounded/fit best. All recordings were Eq'd and compressed. The background whisper was also given some reverb to add some depth to the overall sound, which it did nicely. A delay was added to one of the background segments, and the word 'pick' rings out about four or five times before fading into the distance. The design or arrangement of the production was really just a process of getting in the studio, laying down some ideas and then building from there. Have a peep at the submitted project below on my SoundCloud-

The scratch/sample idea of the recording was met with good reception from the client as seen in screenshots below.

Photo Evidence 1 Photo Evidence 2

Photo Evidence 3.a. Photo Evidence 3.b.

(Full msg of chat from 3.a.)

Upon completion of the recording/mixing session, a few other ideas came to mind (as they do) that could be added to the project. An added line of whispers could have been used to give the production more direction, and also a connecting line between the main tongue twister could have been used to create a better flow. I was thinking along the lines of 'Pick em Pick em' said quickly and in a monotone voice, would give a different pacing to the production. At the moment the background sounds good, but the gap between the two tongue twisters leaves a distinctive hole in the jingle which could be filled.

This experience has been a fun one to say the least. In no way do either of us see ourselves as vocalists per-say, but getting in the studio and experimenting with deliveries and developing vocal layers was cool. As you can see in the above conversations with our fellow employee, the pitch is being delivered to the client on Monday 20th November. We will find out in the next few ays whether or not it will be used, or if they like it and would like it to be worked on further. Again, if it is used, we would be paid every time it is played on the radio....which is fuckin great for two broke ass uni students. Fingers crossed. But none the less this has been a cool side project to work on for an actual, real life client.

References-

Define 'Jingle'- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle#cite_note-6