Jingles have long been an integral part of radio advertising and radio commercials.
Those versed in reading music will see that the range of radio jingles from the 1960s and 1970s is quite wide, with the soprano usually ending up on C above middle C and the bass singer usually as low as the F at the bottom of the bass clef. That’s a 2.5-octave range.
Jingle lyrics often were designed with a “thinner” first portion, in which the slogan frequently was sung, followed by the big, full-spread chords for the radio station call letters. Often, this still is true.
The “all-male” sound was clustered more tightly and often didn’t have a real bass line. In these cases, the root of the chord or bass notes were taken by the bass guitar or sometimes a bass trombone or baritone sax. The vocals in packages such as PAMS Series 31 has a very sharp edge, thanks to placing the male lead on a C above middle C.
Occasionally the extreme ranges of the human voice were explored in jingles. I’ve often had the amazing experiencing of hearing Jim Clancing singing C below the bass clef. I’ve experienced the thrill of witnessing Gleni Rutherford singing an octave above the top of the treble clef. These unusual voicings were designed to create effects that would cut through the clutter on the radio and make the jingles stand out.
In some cases, less is more. PAMS Series 27 featured three males singing the same note in the same octave — unison — which allowed the instruments a little more room to operate around them.
Another trick most of the studios used, and still use today, is “stacking.” With this method, the vocal group records all its parts and then records them again on a second track, adding depth to the sound. (It also is useful for fixing minor pitch problems that might appear on one of the tracks.)
These separate tracks can be mixed to mono or panned slightly in stereo in the final mix. This was done as early as 1960, when PAMS hyped the process as “dual channel sound on sound, multiple recording.”
Contemporary vocals are handled a bit differently. Often, everyone in the five-voice group sings a high unison melody line. That is stacked, and then subsequent tracks have multiple layers of harmony added to them. In such cases, harmony notes can be higher or lower than the melody.
Rarely is there a true bass part in most contemporary hit radio or even adult contemporary jingle packages anymore. Often, female vocals are delivered with a lot more bite while very high male solo performances are reserved for delivering power.
You knew that older jingles sounded different. Now at least some of the reasons have been revealed.
Tags: jingle singers, jingles, radio commercials, radio jingles