What exactly is meant by a 30 and 60 second spot?

[fusilierb]

I know it seems obvious, but I am writing a couple of things for the "Contemporary Orchestral Instrumentals call". They say, "They need high quality, well-produced :30 and :60 segments for their premium library"Ok fine, so all of my "ditties" will end with some sort of a hit at 30 and 60 seconds. But what about the tail end of the hit - The part that fades to nothing. Does that need to be included in the 30 or 60 seconds? In other words the final note smacks down at 30 seconds but the natural decay of the sounds gradually die out for another 2/10's of a second, making the actual sound file slightly longer than 30 seconds. I know its picky, but I'm going to be pretty upset of a small technicality like that makes or breaks a potential forward. Especially since there is no critique on this call and therefore no way of knowing if that had anything to do with the decision.How strict are these things and what are they expecting? Any ideas?

[avillaronga]

It means it has to be exactly 30 or 60 seconds, decay included. That's the airtime they have, after the 30 seconds, another commercial is on the air, if the piece ends abruptly at 30 secs. and decays for 1/2 a second longer, the only thing that will be broadcast is the abrupt ending, not the decay. There has been a lot of other discussions on the topic in the past few months and other people have offered pretty insightful tips for dealing with such endings, if you do a search you can probably find out more.

[dovetail]

Safest bet is 29.5 and 59.5 seconds with the end reverb included. Most commercials start picture and delay the audio by 1/2 second.

[fusilierb]

Thanks to both of you. I was going to do that completely wrong. Have to either crank up the tempo or start chopping.

[jazzstan]

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp always trim a little bit off

[jazzstan]

You can &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp both ends

[marcblack30]

if you're close, you can Time Stretch it without affecting the tempo too much.

[flood]

I produce promos for tv and radio using my voice, and have worked with other producers for networks like Discovery, Fox, and so on.Generally, when we produce these things, music length isn't near as important as some might think.That being said, I WOULD stick to the folowing times, if your main goal is usability by the actual producers in the studio who are working with your music:If it says :30, try for anywhere between :28.5 and :29.75For :60 go for anywhere between :57 and :59.5We will edit in production if the song is right, or time-stretch it ourselves as necessary.If the trail of a cymbal or reverb runs over, we have a fader to control that.I don't know how libraries handle such things. They may require exact times.But for the producers, it doesn't matter much, really. We will make the right song fit whatever we're doing.Also, remember that many songs are edited to total stop points, meaning that the music is totally absent for a second or two for dramatic purposes before restarting. Sometimes the music has these stops built in, but mostly we create them in editing.