TAXI.com

Wish I had the time to work on this.... would love to hear what folks come up with.

Leading NY Ad Agency needs a Mid-Tempo INSTRUMENTAL TRACK for a thirty-second TV spot. Here's where it gets interesting! At the end of the spot (probably around 27 seconds into it), the instrumental track will have a vocal tag sung that will become the brand's new sonic or musical branding piece that could very well end up tagging all future spots. The tag needs to be just 4 notes, and the accent should be on the last note.

David,

I sure am glad you posted this. I am very interested in this listing.

I love the the description that Taxi used to describe the listing because it gives all kinds of things not to do. But, I would love to hear from some other people trying the listing to see what they like as a reference for the indie Pop/alt rock. I'm sure there's a lot of it out there but I'm not exactly sure what would be the best idea.

Thanks,

Alan

Yeah, looks like the sky's the limit. If it wasn't for the vocal part I might give it a shot.... but don't have enough time to even consider it.

I'm having trouble figuring out what they want here - they say "fun pop/indie rock", but listening to the examples, we have:
-Intel: basically just some very sparse underscore
-State Farm: I guess you could call this "fun pop", certainly not rock or indie. Dangerously close to the Uke sound they warn us against.
-Kay Jewelers: easy listening(?)
-Windows: tag only

So I'm wondering if they are looking for fun pop, like in the State Farm ad, or basic underscore, or would they prefer something with more of a rock/indie vibe to it.(?)
I was considering going with something like the Strokes' "Last Night" kind of groove, but I'm wondering if that's too much energy. Mixed really low, I could see it staying out of the way of the dialog just fine, while adding a nice energetic undercurrent.

It would also help if we had some idea what the product was, or what the target market will be. Computers? Insurance? Jewelry? Soft drink? Financial Services? Car? Beer? 20-something, 30-something, 40, 50, 60...??? I'd think that would have make a huge difference in terms of getting the right "texture, mood and feel".

monarkeys wrote:I'm having trouble figuring out what they want here - they say "fun pop/indie rock", but listening to the examples, we have:
-Intel: basically just some very sparse underscore
-State Farm: I guess you could call this "fun pop", certainly not rock or indie. Dangerously close to the Uke sound they warn us against.
-Kay Jewelers: easy listening(?)
-Windows: tag only

I would go with the descriptions of what they want - the examples they posted are only to give an example of sonic branding tags - not the genre of music they're looking for. But what I find baffling is the reference to Kanye - that came from out of left field - it doesn't even seem in any ballpark close to "Your instrumental track should start out being somewhat light to mid with mostly acoustic instrumentation (guitars, piano), backed by bass and drums that join in a couple bars later. Clean electric guitars are okay to use early in the track as well. Nothing edgy or synthy sounding..."

I would stick with " It needs to be fun Pop/Indie Rock..."

HTH,

Juliet

Well it says "hip, but *not* Kanye", so I guess Kanye is too hip ...

The other question I have is about the button ending ...Do they want:

-Band stops, then only vocal singing last four notes
-Vocal sings last four notes over band, and then everybody stops

It would really help to know what the product is and what the four secret words are...

Here's my take on this - It's my first time doing anything like this - Please let me know how you think this sounds...

http://www.soundcloud.com/chrisjwalter/commercial-001

Sounds like it would do it to me... but don't they want vocal for the last 4 notes?

I wonder is it still considered "button ending" if the song's last chord rings out a few seconds?