The Approach

My approach to the service video project was to create a television commercial. My first task was to write a script for the commercial. After writing the script, I recorded it in my home studio using a Townsend Sphere modeling microphone set to the Telefunken ELA M 251A microphone. The 251A was routed to a Telefunken V76 preamp then to a Tube-Tech CL 1B for some light compression. The 251A, V76, and CL 1B are emulated plug-ins running in Universal Audio’s (UAD) console software. Physically, the Townsend Sphere microphone is connected to my UAD Apollo Twin. All tracks were recorded using Pro Tools.

 

After recording my vocals, I used Splice to find 3 loops: a lead synth, drums, and bass. Splice is an online database of loops and one-shots. The BPM is 120 and the key is C major.

 

After importing and duplicating the loops, it was time to edit and mix.

 

On the drums, the loop came in unbalanced leaning too far in the left ear. To correct it, I use the S1 Imager to balance the drums in both ears. Next, I added 27kHz for high-end sizzle with the Precision EQ. I added some beef to the kick at 60Hz with the EQP-1A. Then, I added StandardClip to add some soft clipping to the drums to bring out some harmonics and saturation.

 

I sent the Drums track to LoAir to beef up the sub lows, SmallBass to give the kick more presence in smaller speakers, and Duck to duck the bass with every kick to give it more presence.

 

On the synth, I just EQ out some 2k so it doesn't interfere with the vocal.

 

On the bass, I added a ChannelStrip to duck the bass with a sidechained kick. I sent the bass to LoAir for more sub information.

 

On my vocals, I add a DeEsser, EQ, and compression. The first two EQ3s are removing low-end below 60Hz and some mud at 200Hz and boosting 500Hz for more body. I am compressing with a Fairchild 660 for presence and control. Lastly, I added an EQ3 to add sheen to my vocals over the instruments.

 

I sent my vocals to reverb, delay, and saturation. I automated the pitch on my vocals to be -6 semitones when I say “Brillyance” and -1 semitones when I say “Entertainment”. The 1/4Delay adds a nice pad of vocals as I spoke. Saturation was used to take the edge off my vocals.

 

I bounced the mix to a stereo 24/48 wav and then imported it into iMovie.

 

Within iMovie, I gathered all my assets from Unsplash.com and Prexel.com for free pictures and videos.

Final Edits:

• Service Project- Pro Tools

  • Added faded and crossfade.

  • Verified proper I/O.

  • Replace a small section of vocals for clarity.

• Service Project- iMovie

  • Clean up a few unbalanced transitions.

  • Fine tuning of images to vocals sync.

  • Cropped last video to be full screen

  • Added financial tags and other information

• Business Plan- PowerPoint

  • Grammar and spelling corrections

  • Added studio equipment cost to plan.