Production Roles

When it comes to producing a radio commercial, there are a lot of people involved in ensuring it all comes together and is a success, therefore we can conclude from this that there are a variety of job roles available within this particular industry.

Creative producers oversee the making of radio commercials from beginning to end whether it’s for an independent production house or a particular radio station. They must ensure that everyone is communicating effectively and that everything is running smoothly- creative producers will typically have the final decision over the script used and any advancement of it. Whilst there are different types of producers within the radio industry, for this particular job role their main duty is to create and produce all audio content for the commercial; their line of work can also involve producing jingles and station promotions. Whilst most independent production companies will have a small group of producers who will create commercials for stations, larger radio companies have their own in-house creative production team who will produce audio content for all of their stations across the country. Creative produces will sometimes act as both board and technical operators- this includes controlling volume levels and recording software- whilst the voiceover artists are doing their bit. The creative producer will make the final decision as to whether the commercial is perfect enough to be aired.

Copywriters are an important aspect when it comes to producing a commercial- whilst it may seem as if they only write a script, they need to ensure that it’s strong enough to both influence people and persuade them into buying a product. It’s key for them to know how we as an audience both listen and respond to radio commercials, meaning they need to have an indepth understanding of all types of target audiences. They need to produce a script that’s powerful enough to grab our attention. A copywriter’s job can also including creating taglines, slogans and writing jingles- they typically work closely with creative producers in order to bring the script to life. Most copywriters are employees of a particular advertising agency or independent production team rather than a radio station, whilst others work freelance. During the production stage of the commercial, the copywriter will be heavily involved with the recording of the voiceover artist- this is to ensure that his script his read exactly as he envisioned it.

Like the job title suggests, sound engineers are concerned with all thing related to the creative aspect of sound. Both independent production companies and radio stations have their own engineers who typically spend the majority of their day working within the studio. When producing a radio commercial a sound engineer’s job is to be concerned with the recording, manipulation mixing and reproduction of all sound that’ll be used in the commercial- this is all done with the use of technical equipment such as digital audio workstations, mixing consoles and editing stations. Sound engineers have years of experience meaning they have a keen sense of hearing and an indepth understanding of what goes into creating music. They are heavily involved in both production- the recording of all sound- and pre-production- mixing and editing of the audio.

A voiceover artist’s job is to simply lend their voice for a commercial- they’ll turn up to the studio and read from a script provided to them. Whilst it’s the copywriter’s job to produce the perfect script, choosing the right voiceover artist is crucial if the advertisement is to be a success. The right voice can have a huge impact on the audience, therefore we need to believe that they have confidence in what their telling us. High quality equipment is used to ensure that speech is captured

clearly- a poor recording would not have the same effect. Finding a voiceover artist is a simple process for the producer; large companies such as ‘Lip Service’- a London based agency- will typically hold yearly auditions where people will come along and record fragments of book or scripts. The agency will then choose who they’d like to take on and set a profile up for the online. The producer can then access there profile and look through there recordings before choosing the right candidate.