Typical Cue length?

[yammer107]

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What length should one shoot for... if just dipping into that format and producing some generic cues?

I understand clients may request misc/specific lengths per project, but is there any loose standard - So my 'experiments' into this area may actually be utilized at some point?

I've seen 30-60 seconds....1:30... But couldent find much information otherwise.

~ Chris

[davewalton]

Somewhere between two and three minutes is pretty much always safe

[yammer107]

Thanks Dave .....

Hmm I always thought they were shorter 'bites' with button endings. Well thats why I'm askin!

[guscave]

Some libraries or clients will request 30 or 60 second bumpers, but I always shoot for 3 minute cues and then edit down from there.

[yammer107]

Thanks Gus!

Enjoyed the clips on your page as well......

[BruceBrown]

I was told in an email today from a library 1:30 to 2:00, followed by "But that's not a rule."

[Casey H]

There is no one answer because there are different types of cues.

I'm assuming we are talking about instrumentals. Vocal songs are best as full songs of 3-4 minutes.

In the absence of other information, 1:30-3:00 is usually good with at least 2:00 probably recommended. If you have a great cue that's 1:43 and no specific length requirement, don't sweat it.

For advertising (e.g. TV commercials), cues of exactly 30 or 60 seconds are often used because that maps to the time slices commercials are in.

Bumpers are even shorter, often around 15 seconds or less (sometimes a little longer). These are used as music at the end of a radio or TV segment as they transition to commercial.

Stingers are quick 5-10 second cues with a solid button ending. These are used to highlight the end of a scene with the button end generally played in sync with the scene end.

Many composers write full pieces and then make cut downs for the shorter variants-- 30, 60, 15, and stinger.

HTH
Casey

[yammer107]

Thanks you've cleared alot up for me..... and yes instrumentals. I think bumpers & stingers are more what I had in mind - nice to have some terms to reference now.

So.....
Going the 2-3 minute route - are you fleshing out full ver/chor type structures or just grooving along enough to keep interest?

Last question sorry and thanks!

~ Chris

[Casey H]

Thanks you've cleared alot up for me..... and yes instrumentals. I think bumpers & stingers are more what I had in mind - nice to have some terms to reference now.

So.....
Going the 2-3 minute route - are you fleshing out full ver/chor type structures or just grooving along enough to keep interest?

Last question sorry and thanks!

~ Chris

You can go with V/C/V/C/B/C format like a song or, for film/TV instrumentals, often A-B-A section format works fine. One thing that is helpful is to have easy edit points between sections in any format.

Casey

[yammer107]

..
So theres really not a whole lot of distinction here between 'instrumental' and 'cues' at the end of the day.... best to write full instrumentals, keeping edits points in mind as you go along. They can be slightly shorter, thats about it..

I was just looking for smaller projects to break up the monotony.... Plus I'm really good at little pieces parts > thats how all my songs start, I got a million of them! Anyways perhaps its more than I initially understood.

Thanks Casey!