What is the difference between a Stinger and a Bumper?

[TrexGuitarman]

Hi guys,
What is the difference between a Stinger and a Bumper?

[andygabrys]

this might help:

http://forums.taxi.com/topic21103.html

or this:

"Stinger– A short piece of music used for many purposes including logos, highlights, scene transitions etc. Good examples of stingers can be heard in every episode of Friends: when the scene changes, you often hear a short piece of music.

Bumper– A bumper is similar to a stinger in that it is used to transition between two scenes or segments in radio or TV, but is slightly longer than a stinger at around 30 secs to 1 minute in length."

from Emmet Cooke's “The Business of Music Licensing – Generating Revenue Through Your Music”

but if its a library asking for these things from you, sometimes just asking them is better. Then you tick all the boxes and everyone is happy.

btw - this kind of question gets asked a lot on this forum and the answers can be had in 10 seconds if you just search via Google.

[mojobone]

From a video editor's point of view, a bumper is a transition between scenes and a stinger is the punctuation at the end of a scene. In radio terms, a bumper is a transition between the program and the commercial break; there's a bumper, usually with a fade, on either end of a segment, just like on either end of a car. Radio stingers are usually heard at the end of a commercial, and rarely at the end of a segment.

[hummingbird]

A bumper is a natural ending, like on the tonic, maybe with a soft drum, or a quirky synth, or something tonal, to cleanly end the piece... kinda like "ker-plob !".

A stinger tends to be a 'bigger' and has a bit of a flourish... like sort of "cymbal sound building !! big thump !! ksshh"

[edmondredd]

A bumper is a natural ending, like on the tonic, maybe with a soft drum, or a quirky synth, or something tonal, to cleanly end the piece... kinda like "ker-plob !".

A stinger tends to be a 'bigger' and has a bit of a flourish... like sort of "cymbal sound building !! big thump !! ksshh"

Probably the best sound definition I've ever read