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Where to Get a Jingle for a Podcast

Making Music the Main Character of a Podcast

I believe music changes everything, so for our podcasts we usually commission tracks from a composer. Sometimes we develop the sound concept of a podcast in such detail that music becomes its main character, the basis of the concept.

For example, listen to the teaser of the podcast "Fucking English" - it will take you 2 minutes.

"Fucking English" is a podcast exploring how people find common ground across language and cultural barriers. To express this idea, we use the metaphor of tango. Although it may seem that "Fucking English" is just a podcast, we actually consider it a piece of music.

Tango is more than just a dance; it's a language. The better you speak it, the more meaningful and profound your conversations on the dance floor become. When two people start dancing, they don't follow pre-arranged steps; instead, they explore each other's possibilities, engage in a conversation, and establish a connection. It's through this organic process that the dance truly comes alive. To dance tango, one needs to have the courage to open up to another person. That's why we have made tango music our central character.

But music is not only about the ability to connect; it also involves the discipline of solfeggio. Therefore, each new episode of "Fucking English" is structured like a tanda: it always consists of three dances, with each dance featuring one lesson and two stories.

So Fucking English podcast became our declaration of love for music — thanks to our composer, Ksenia Kazantseva.

How to Find a Common Language with a Composer

If you want to make your podcast more expressive with music, or even base an entire concept on it, you should collaborate with a composer. To begin, describe your podcast's concept and ideas for the main jingle.

Here's how we did it for our other podcast, Crossing the Desert:
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The main point. We are creating an investigative podcast about how Dubai has managed to grow in 30 years. In doing so, we're looking at this issue from the perspective of small businesses. We're talking about those diverse, multicultural, multilingual people who provide goods and services in Dubai. Those who sell clothes, appliances, spices, and nuts. Those who open their boutiques, shops, and corners in shopping malls. Those who open laundromats, appliance repair shops, or equipment rental outlets on the beach. The illustration has to appeal to them.

Regarding mood: a jingle should indicate that we are about to plunge into fascinating research and dramatic stories. It can convey that feeling of walking through sand for a long time and finally reaching an oasis. Or when you get to the market with the traders.
In addition, you need to describe all the audio pieces that your sound engineer will need to design the podcast. Here's what we ordered for "Crossing the Desert."

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We need a package, sucking together a jingle, a few variations and sound effects. Here's what goes into the package:

  1. The jingle. It starts at the beginning, then a flash-forward or intro is overlaid on it, then it lasts for a short time and finally ends spectacularly. It is cool if the jingle is not homogeneous and has its development: from calm expectation to climax and spectacular end. It is important that it can be lengthened or shortened, depending on the length of the flash-forward or intro. At the same time, the beginning and the end should remain the same. The goal of the jingle - is to capture attention, and to be recognizable. Strengthen the effect of the flashforward.
  2. Joyful or neutral backing. Usually made based on the jingle - it continues the same theme. But the backing has no or almost no development, it is neutral, background is easy to lie under any text, easily cut off at any place with a simple fade-out.

Its goal is to set the mood and tempo in case the narrator speaks a rather long text - so that the listeners don't get bored and it doesn't sound like a lecture. In addition, the backing lays under the advertising integration and helps to rewind to its end.

  1. Sad backing. Same thing, but in case it's about something sad or dramatic.
  2. Joyful sound effects. This is a short sound effect, literally 14 notes. It comes in handy when a podcast has a sudden change of topic and you want to mark the transition.
  3. Sad sound effects. Same thing, but in case you're talking about something sad or dramatic.
  4. Beep. One sound in case you need to cover an inappropriate word or something else.

Everything is in multitracks.

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Based on this brief, after several iterations, Ksenia Kazantseva created a jingle that still makes me dance every time. Sometimes when I'm listening to a new episode of "Crossing the Desert," I replay the intro just to enjoy the music once more. It captures the voices of Deira market traders, the spirit of adventure, and a love for the Arab world.

To experience it yourself, listen to the first few seconds of the "Crossing the Desert" podcast:

Where to Get Music for Free

Sometimes a conversational podcast doesn't need a full soundtrack; just a snippet of good jingle music and a couple of fillers is enough. Here are the resources I recommend for such cases:

  • Suno - AI-based tool for generating music
  • Free Music Archive - A collection of tracks with varying Creative Commons licenses (mostly attribution/noncommercial), and many public domain options
  • Band camp - One of the main music sites with Creative Commons and public domain tags; you can also contact musicians directly
  • Partners in Rhyme - Offers numerous free sound effects and music tracks
  • Moby Gratis - Moby has released a selection of his music for indie filmmakers, which we can also use
  • Archive.org - Contains a vast amount of content, though searching can be challenging
  • SoundCloud - Use the tag "creative commons" to find various unstructured options

Of course, there are other sources available, but you can easily find those on your own.