Instrumental Song vs Cue format?

[Paulie]

What is the difference between an instrumental cue versus an instrumental song? A dispatch listing went out today asking:

"They’re on the hunt for Full-Length Instrumentals (not cues!)"

Followed up by

"All submissions should be at least 2 minutes long, give or take."

To me a song is 3:00-3:30 and has a traditional song form like VCVCBCC. But if they want 2:00, how does one edit the form to fit the time limit?

[funsongs]

Well - just today I was working on one... have not done this much (both in development)
the 3:00 song - like you state, has a particular structure;
EDIT: TRACK REMOVED FOR REPAIRS - sorry.
the 2:00 instrumental song/cue -
https://soundcloud.com/funsongs-1/glidi ... op/s-6bqQb
as I understand it: has one main melodic theme, with variations/added things, with edit points - for dynamics...
minus lead instruments that can get in the way of use under dialogue (that's my Peanut Gallery answer).

You'll notice I changed the title, hoping to convey "the mood" of the cue... for when a listing's verbiage would be asking for something like this.

Hope that helps. Actually, it would be of help to me, too - in this case - since my instrumental song/cue is gleaned from the song.
Cheers.

[Len911]

I'm not knowledgeable on cues, but my guess is that for a cue it's only necessary to have 1 copy of each section versus a song which often times has repeating sections.

You could try a different song form, AAA, AABA, ABC??
You could shorten the number of bars to a section, or speed up the tempo.

Wasn't there a time when most songs were about 2 minutes??

If you have a song with a tempo of 100 bpm, 2 minutes would be 200 beats @ 4 beats per bar = 50 measures
A typical AABA song has 8 measures x 4 sections = 32 bars. (70bpm=35 bars)

A VCVCBCC= 8bars x 7 sections = 56 bars total 56x4=224 beats @ 100bpm= ~2min 20 sec I don't have my calculator,lol
Maybe drop the final chorus??

[annayarbrough]

You know, I've been wondering this recently.... there was an electronic listing that went out looking for instrumentals, but the references they gave were actually structured like cues (same couple of chords throughout, no real shift theme-wise). I've also submitted cues/instrumentals interchangeably and been forwarded.... maybe that distinction is becoming less clear

[waveheavy]

From what I've studied in the books Michael has reviewed...

Instrumental Cue - usually written to fit under dialogue; limited structure, basically ABA and that's it, gets to the mood quickly without a long intro. Edit points, dynamic build. Sticks to one mood.

Instrumental Song - especially a melodic theme with more of a common musical form with more variation (intro-A-B-A-B-C..., etc.).

[cassmcentee]

I just spent a day recording a piece for this
Problem, I didn't catch the cue vs instrumental part (I seem to do this all the time re: Read The Entire Listing)
I only listened to the first ALA and went to work
Mine is AAAAA...
The first ALA was similar, seemed simple and in a Cue structure (didn't listen all the way through 'cause I couldn't stand it)
Will have to save mine for a Cue request
Thanks for pointing this out Paulie!

[Casey H]

What is the difference between an instrumental cue versus an instrumental song? A dispatch listing went out today asking:

"They’re on the hunt for Full-Length Instrumentals (not cues!)"

Followed up by

"All submissions should be at least 2 minutes long, give or take."

To me a song is 3:00-3:30 and has a traditional song form like VCVCBCC. But if they want 2:00, how does one edit the form to fit the time limit?

Well they said AT LEAST 2 minutes not that it should be around 2 minutes. So my GUESS would be to go with song format such as VCVCBC. You can probably do that in around 3 minutes, maybe a little less. To be sure, you might want to contact Taxi for clarification. Good luck!

[admin]

I'm actually heading out the door to have coffee with a TAXI member, so this is not a complete answer. Basically, a cue is what you'd here pieces of in a reality show. Other uses DO happen, but that's likely the most common. An instrumental is likely to be used in a more complete fashion, such as a smooth Jazz piece playing for 3 minutes in the bkg of a romantic dinner scene. A cue used in that scene could sound strange. Nothing is ever black and white, and as I said, this is not a complete answer, but is covers the gist!

HTH,
ML

[cathpeta58]

Well - just today I was working on one... have not done this much (both in development)
the 3:00 song - like you state, has a particular structure;
EDIT: TRACK REMOVED FOR REPAIRS - sorry.
the 2:00 instrumental song/cue -
https://soundcloud.com/funsongs-1/glidi ... op/s-6bqQb
as I understand it: has one main melodic theme, with variations/added things, with edit points - for dynamics...
minus lead instruments that can get in the way of use under dialogue assurance dépendance (that's my Peanut Gallery answer).

You'll notice I changed the title, hoping to convey "the mood" of the cue... for when a listing's verbiage would be asking for something like this.

Hope that helps. Actually, it would be of help to me, too - in this case - since my instrumental song/cue is gleaned from the song.
Cheers.

If you could illustrate all of this, that would be really great. Thanks in advance.

[funsongs]

Well - just today I was working on one... have not done this much (both in development)
the 3:00 song - like you state, has a particular structure;
EDIT: TRACK REMOVED FOR REPAIRS - sorry.
the 2:00 instrumental song/cue -
https://soundcloud.com/funsongs-1/glidi ... op/s-6bqQb
as I understand it: has one main melodic theme, with variations/added things, with edit points - for dynamics...
minus lead instruments that can get in the way of use under dialogue assurance dépendance (that's my Peanut Gallery answer).

You'll notice I changed the title, hoping to convey "the mood" of the cue... for when a listing's verbiage would be asking for something like this.

Hope that helps. Actually, it would be of help to me, too - in this case - since my instrumental song/cue is gleaned from the song.
Cheers.

If you could illustrate all of this, that would be really great. Thanks in advance.

YIKES!! Man... that was a long time ago... and all of that is quite 'gone' and in the past.
Perhaps a current TAXI Member doing this kind of thing, with success (i.e. forwards & placements) could render a better and more-applicable answer.
I could probably still do the production work of turning a song's backing track into a workable cue: but, that could be as much, or more, work than just writing a new CUE
to a particular listing request. But that's not my thing.
I stick to writing, co-writing, collaborating, toplining SONGS.

Thanks for the follow up... it's 2022 now.
"The future aint what it used to be!"