Happy Ads

Hey peeps! This episode Espen shows a simple way to build an advertisement cue.

How I build an advertising cue

The video above is Espen’s. Here’s how I go about the same thing in my own music.

Before I got into trailer music I wrote mostly for adverts, and one trick did most of the work for me. I call it the advertising staircase: bring in something new every ten seconds.

An advert usually starts with an idea or a problem, which the product then solves. So the music has to keep building up to the moment you see the product, to make it feel magnificent. TV adverts rarely run longer than 90 seconds, which gives you about nine steps. The change can be anything: an extra instrument, a developed harmony, a new rhythm. Often I just move the same idea to a different instrument, say from piano to marimba. It’s exactly the same line, but it feels like it has moved on. That’s economical writing, and it means you can keep one simple idea going for the whole cue.

Before I write a note, I sit back, close my eyes and imagine the track playing to find the tempo and feel. Three-four has a lovely, nostalgic, waltzing feel that suits this kind of music.

For happy music I start the chord sequence on a major chord and use an eight-bar sequence, because a longer sequence feels like it’s moving and changing more. One I’ve used is C, F, A minor, D minor, G, E minor, G. I think of the chords almost like a melody, passing from one to the next.

If you want a more poppy sound, keep the piano close and dry, brighten it with EQ and compress it heavily so the level stays even. The playing can be really simple. Simple and positive is the point.

For more on this, SEARS MAN OF STEEL is a TV ad that used one of my Piano Works cues. 6 Easy Ways To Write For Piano gives you patterns to build each step with, and How I Wrote The Trailer Music For ‘Come Away’ shows a more contemporary family sound. My Cinematic Piano Course has a whole section on the advertising staircase, from template to mix.

Happy composing!Rich