Quick Tip: How To Be Successful Scoring Commercials

[@garaughty]

I composed/produced jingles for about 12 years. I still remember being in the studio one day and the ad agency account exec asked me to make the track sound more like "clouds"!!!

[@skemsen]

LOL! I hear you - I’ve also been there. Please share more stories like this if you like. I love to hear them.

[@fingerhorn4]

I had to work on advertising stuff in my twenties - a long time ago. 90% of my work was dictated by a bunch of vastly overpaid leather-jacketed "creatives" who had not an atom of creativity between them, and they all argued among themselves to the point where everything I did was subject to conflicting demands. One "creative" (trying to appear musical) said "can you put this up a crotchet?!!". Advertising music is the most soulless job and my advice is the quicker you can pass through it to other things the better. The fact that there are "awards" for it doesn't make it any good. By the way, you do not "score" advertising music, unless you are writing for live musicians which is very rare nowadays. The vast majority of it is done on multi-tracked samples or synths. Most advertising execs have zero imagination and fixate on already composed music from the distant past which they want on the cheap but cannot obtain (so-called "temp" music). So they mostly ask you to compose or arrange something that is "just like" something else which they are too mean to pay for, exposing you to copyright claims by composing or arranging something "close to" but not quite like the original piece they wanted. Rather than indemnify you against copyright claims which you never wanted to invoke in the first place, they often pass the legal responsibility on to you. Advertising music is utterly soul destroying. I would advise anyone wishing to climb up the composer ladder to avoid it at all costs unless you are desperate. There are noble exceptions as with everything, but I believe I am communicating a realistic picture of the flavour of this "industry".

[@nyrask]

marti garaughty I once was asked by an ad exec to make the music sound more like money...

[@garaughty]

@nyrask After all the time I spent around ad execs, nothing surprises me anymore ! ;-)

[@skemsen]

Do any of you know if there is a forum where we as composers can share experiences and advice like this?

[@JamesARubin]

I really appreciate everything that was shared in this video. I often feel sometimes like I'm not good enough and no matter how much I research and try, I will never reach my goals and dreams. This is the encouragement I needed so thank you!

[@KevDKR666]

Right there with ya buddy! One day at a time. It's finding good bloody libraries I'm stuck with. It's a lonely old job though, but will be worth it in the end when it all starts coming together! Best of luck!

[@melray74]

Get out of your head and don't think about it so much. Just feel. Even if you're not writing for a job, I'm sure you hear snippets of music in your head at various times of the day. Use a simple recorder on your phone and either hum the melody if you're not near your instrument and if you are near your instrument, record yourself playing that idea, no matter how small the idea is. Because that small idea can be the start of something big. Good luck!

[@sejtaridiss]

While I love Christian and his vlog, I cannot stress how I admire Paul's modest, to-the-point, specific way of presenting his knowledge and thoughts. They compliment each other very well, we should hear more from Paul! :)

[@yuggothproductions]

sejtaridiss if you watch those early spitfire demos Paul does he writes his ass off! So good!

[@danieljohnson1213]

I've been doing this work for a living for almost 10 years. I can vouch for everything said here.

[@BMUSIK101]

Daniel Johnson is enough is in this to be made?

[@chaosevolution]

What platforms do you use to pitch/sell the ad music?

[@danieljohnson1213]

@@chaosevolution no platforms. I work directly with music houses

[@thesoundvault508]

I wanna see the Mercedes ad 🔥

[@AllanGildea]

That's how you coach. Brilliant.

[@cornerliston]

Thanks Paul. When talking about ads/commercials you can't go wrong having a Venn diagram reference. Lovely.

[@ike2404]

Thank you so much. I am getting first briefs for an agency and this really helped

[@dilerock]

I'm about to take my first step into the world of jingles and commercial scoring, moving away from current marketing job. wish me luck guys.

[@nicodominguez132]

Great video Mr.Paul. Thanks to you and to the whole Spitfire Audio team for the hard and inspiring work.

[@paulargueta]

It only took me 43 years to learn that the difference between those that became SUCCESSFUL, and those who didn't, was their ability to HOLD ON and PERSIST in the face of less than desireable, often bleak, circumstances and/or environments. Just. Hold. On.

[@SharonGitau]

That advice was golden Paul Thompson. Perfectly distilled, cogent, applicable advice. Thanks for sharing your insights.

[@thorpe8138]

It's all about music libraries now. I own a music licensing business, I very rarely write for commercials because they prefer the work that's already written.

[@ABS_AD77]

These are an incredibly valuable pieces of Gold. Thank you very much. This is a Blessing.

[@ciganaromungra]

YESSS golden advice here

[@maiatmo]

Thanks a lot! Aside from that it was very useful, it was very encouraging. On my way of learning, sometimes I just get tired. It cheered me up really on time

[@SRDhain]

Really related to this, especially having everything described as colours and moods. Orange, Orangey, warm, fizzy/ opulent.. I'd read that and more in all the pitch e-mails many a time. I've even got a set of Oblique Strategies (they're great for all kinds of things), which I bought to prevent or stymie myself from making the same musical choices. Eventually I switched to doing music for libraries which was easier , and allowed me to give them more music in all kinds of genres. Thank you so much for sharing!

[@CSRLaunchpad]

Thanks so much for this Paul. I need someone to come and shout this in my face really aggressively and make me scared of failure, because as you said, it's a tough world. Cheers!

[@TheKnightimeProject]

Absolutely love these quick tips - thanks for sharing Paul!

[@TaterScotts]

Loved this video Paul. Love seeing you!

[@PeteCalandra]

love the Black Hole Verb. Adaptiverb is also interesting!

[@PereRevert]

Thank you very much for sharing this Paul, it's very kind of you and we need more of this !

[@Table-Top]

Wow, I'll look up those Oblique strategy cards, and the advice at 3:20 is great too. Thanks Paul !!!!!

[@aljames7345]

What’s not to love about this. Really great advice there. Thank you

[@troypallasinstrumentalmusi4013]

Great advice!

[@user-kb8vg3sm7g]

Man, this is what I needed to hear. Thank you for the advice!

[@jeremyhollobon1723]

A superb video (even for those of us not composing for ads), thanks Paul.

[@davidjohnwilliamson5721]

Thanks so much for sharing this invaluable knowledge, not many people are as open and willing to share there skills they have worked so hard to develop. Kind regards David John Williamson

[@greasepaintavenue8854]

Lovely video thank you

[@PaulDKerry]

Great advice... Thanks for sharing your expertise!

[@basilomusic__]

Thank you❤❤

[@Zoomfilm1]

Thanks for sharing your huge amount of knowledge - so informative.

[@Sellouth]

Thanks for sharing, I like how we can find very insightful content on this channel

[@yuggothproductions]

Great advice Paul! Thank you!

[@paulhoffman-music]

This was really inspirational!

[@seanashmore8785]

Really fantastic video - many thanks!

[@thiagodalpoz]

this was a joy to watch!

[@amircohen5925]

Inspirational Paul !! thank you for sharing..

[@RDillonMusic]

Just purchased the cards. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@RhonVanErman]

Thank you for this, great points!

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

very good

[@robertb.robinson6869]

Wow, excellent! Thanks so much.

[@mtbagz]

Thanks so much for this! Cheers!

[@didierjoomun]

Very inspiring video, thanks ! :)

[@mmturner89]

Loved it. Thanks so much for this! Very useful :-)

[@AirwaveMusic]

My favorite: Paul

[@CybreSmee]

Gawd, I needed that. Cheers.

[@santiagovalenciamusic]

Thank you for your wisdom and help. :)

[@ishagshafeeg]

Very helpful. Thank you

[@soundtreks]

Great advice Paul. Totally agree about the gear. I’ve scored ads on my MB Air, a Steinberg UR22, Korg Microkey 49 and a few Samsung external SSDs. That said, I see you also got an iMac Pro huh? Very nice

[@davidmeyer8756]

Thank you!

[@momogris6159]

Thanks so much!!!!!

[@Lewis0302]

Brilliant stuff!

[@tedaldifabrice2595]

Very useful ! Thanks a lot :)

[@jasonhuggins6573]

What is the white 6-fader controller on the far left?

[@mogeekie2082]

Paul would be better if You just add an 8bit sample from an 80’s Mike Tyson game!!!!!!Thats the way to go!!!!

[@bhavearth]

perfect !

[@VilhelmKruse]

Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts. Totally off topic: Whats the make and brand of your keyboard and mouse rest?

[@CaesarCMusic]

The problem is that most ad agencies today just download stock music from libraries for their commercials so they don’t need composers anymore :(

[@nicodominguez132]

Hi Caesar. Well, stock music is made by composers, so I guess is just about finding the way around into library music. Cheers.

[@bepperigotto]

thank!

[@Kevin-ie7vi]

Paul I notice Pro Tools on your screen. In most of the Spitfire videos I see Logic. I use both but was wondering which DAW you prefer to do your own creative work in mainly. Thanks !! Loved the video

[@LouieTaylorMusic]

He's using that probably to record his own audio. To my knowledge the Spitfire team mostly all use pro tools for recording live, and logic for sampling

[@quando2302]

How do I get started to even begin pitching or get opportunities, where do I find them?

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

portfolio

[@HAKKOSAMPLER]

it would be much better to use this video when you give briefs for the competition.

[@camdendaly7579]

Paul, what kind of mixed do you use for controlling dynamics and expressions for strings?

[@robguitarwizard]

The hardest part is getting the gig in the first place.

[@spyridonpoulimenos8314]

Where should we address, in order to find commercials to write music for? Are there agencies for musicians and composers that run "competitions" for ads music? I don't know where I have to search to find ads and small movies to score music to....

[@Animadvertens]

Very nice video! Also, your voice needs desperately some EQ! Somewhere in the mid-high range, it hits a frequency that's quite harsh to the ear. But very nice video!