Piano Cues and Fades

[MBantle]

Hi Guys,
Ok, this one is probably a bit difficult to explain. The Screener liked one of my piano cues but rejected it for formal reasons. The listing said 60 seconds including reverb tails. So I had the last note playing at 00:57 and it naturally rang out (sustain pedal and a bit of reverb) to full silence at 00:60. I did that with other Cues and they got forwarded so I am not sure what best practice is... I would always like to preserve the natural decay and depending on the tempo that may well be 2-3 seconds or should one simply land the last note on 00:59 and don't care too much about natural decay/reverb as it could theoretically be added in post?
Please let me know your thoughts.
Cheers,
Matt

[mojobone]

This is a tough question; when does a ringout become a fade? For cues and commercials, timings are crucial, but I theenk we'll need to see the listing to be able to be of any help, here. You could time stretch the piece by a second or so, then do a fade dump on the reverb tail or automate the reverb time, but that could sound very odd, depending.

[Len911]

+1 on the timestretch.

"...You will be able to adapt the length of your compositions with ease to fit the needs of your project. If your song has to end more quickly or be extended for any reason, it is a click of a button away. and you will hear it immediately. Film and advertising work with their demands for different lengths of material will be instantaneously available to deliver the new time format. "
https://www.ircamlab.com/products/p1680-TS/

[MBantle]

This is a tough question; when does a ringout become a fade? For cues and commercials, timings are crucial, but I theenk we'll need to see the listing to be able to be of any help, here. You could time stretch the piece by a second or so, then do a fade dump on the reverb tail or automate the reverb time, but that could sound very odd, depending.

This is the listing and I took an even more conservative approach due to the 'Taxi Tipp'. IMO there is not a lot of middle ground here: You either let a piano ring/fade out in natural sounding way and reach silence at the 1 Min. mark or you fade it in a rather unnatural way and have the last note as close as possible to the 1 Min. mark. I am happy to hear your comments.

Y190103PN

HOPEFUL, PIANO-Based INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed no later than THURSDAY by an A-List Music Publisher/Music Licensing Company with a long history of placements in Film, TV, and Commercials. They’re on the hunt for Mid-Tempo Instrumental Cues that are in the general stylistic range of the references they provided to us below:

The Dream Gap

Financial

Please submit well-composed Piano-based Instrumental Cues that convey a hopeful and optimistic vibe, feel, and mood. Your Cues should have an arpeggiated style, with light Orchestral Instrumentation layered as it progresses to build to a nice developmental arc. Instrumentation for this pitch could include Strings, Bells, Cello, and Drums. You’d be smart to avoid submitting anything that’s overly busy for this pitch, as it could distract from a TV Commercial's dialogue.

TAXI Tip: Think of the type of music that could work well for many kinds of happy, lighthearted, storytelling-type moods in commercials.

All Instrumentals must be 1:00 in length with Non-Faded, Buttoned/ Stinger endings. We think you'd be even smarter to make sure your Cues end at 59.5 seconds, including instrument ring outs and reverb tails! Please do NOT copy the referenced music in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for instrumentation, texture, tone, and overall vibe. Broadcast quality is needed.

This company offers a NON-EXCLUSIVE, 50/50 deal. You’ll split any applicable sync fees 50/50. You’ll get 100% of the Master rights and Writer’s share, and the Catalog will get 100% of the Publishing for any placements they generate. You must own or control your Master and Copyright to submit for this opportunity. Please submit as many Instrumental Cues as you like online or per CD. All submissions will be screened on a Yes/No basis by a TAXI screener handpicked by the Publisher – Short critiques only. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59PM (PST), on Thursday, January 3rd, 2019. TAXI #Y190103PN

[ttully]

Hi Matt,

The end of track...including the reverb tail, needs to be over at 59.5 seconds.

The difference between a ringout and a fade are:
A ringout is the natural reverb or decay at the end of a note.
A fade is slowly reducing the volume of a track till it reaches zero.... like a lot of songs used to end...slowly fading out.

Hope that helps,
Tim