[octagon]

Prior to Alfasound going bust in 1998/99 some say that they had started to produce some of the best Jingles ever. I joined Alfasound as a freelance programmer some 2 years before.

I was the music producer /programmer who wrote many of the better ID packages for Alfasound. Alan Fawkes and Steve England paid me a small fixed fee for my work at £100 per cut and as it was their business and their contacts made the majority of the money. (they did have staff to pay and a building to run though i guess)

For those of you interested in the jingles I produced you may like to visit this link. which contains a few show reels of my Jingles past and “almost” present. There are some new ones here which have not seen the light of day yet… (2BR)

http://www.octagonmusic.com/radio.html

I found this forum by chance and as I am not really in the Jingle world anymore I have nothing to lose by telling it as it was/is. I still have all my kit and my ability to program up stuff is much the same.

I was very proud of what I did and loved to hear my music being played around the country. I would like to get back into the world of Jingles someday so If anyone is in a position to form a formidable team then email me for a chat then I'd be happy to talk…

Jonathan

[IainJohnstonMember]

Welcome to JingleMad Jonathan!

A lot of us here actively collect material from “that era” of Alfasound, so would be interesting
to hear what audio you might have still have in your personal archives :^)

Someone a while back did post a link to the Octagon website I think…?

[SeanMartin]

Wixy1360 wrote:

Someone a while back did post a link to the Octagon website I think…?

No doubt because that Key 103 top of hour was one of the best UK productions ever (along with the Brian James vo).

Nice to have a name to put to the musical face!! Welcome along Jonathon.

-Sean

[octagon]

When creating the Jingles, there were certain instances early on where I would take a brief from Steve and the notation from Alan to control copyright issues, but later on for Key, Minster, Vibe, some Kiss, Metro and galaxy jingles I would just knock stuff together as i found it easier to work in this way.

The News On Key103 was Lightening Seeds inspired and I agree that it worked very well. I was never that keen on the vocals for the Key package though… I thought they were a bit too “Sesame Street” ? (if that makes sense to anyone ???)

GT Overdubs and Vocals were recorded at Alfa with the vocals being recorded over ISDN. I was on a roll at that point and felt like knew exactly what radio stations wanted.

I was devastated when Steve pulled the plug on everything though

Thanks for welcoming me and being so complimentary about my work

Jonathan

[Gazza]

Jonathan

The 2BR demo is/was excellent
Nice work!

[simon_t123Member]

Hey this is cool, the work for Metro FM was spot on for its time, great vocals (which I think were a different kind of US vocal sound) and cracking tracks, definately head & shoulder above the usual Alfasound stuff previous to it

Did you do any work on Essex FM's 1996 package ?

[Barras]

Just heard the 2BR demo for the first time and love it !

Thanks for your initial post about Alfasound Jonathan and welcome to Jinglemad. Not only do I love to hear jingles but find the history of jingle-making and the relationships between jingle companies and the writers/singers fascinating too. Thanks for the insight into the demise of Alfasound, however, just for the record, Steve England is well respected in the UK jingle community.

You know the Metro FM package you helped to create, when those jingles were on-air circa 1997, they were mixed with sweepers, here`s an example of that station-voice, do you know his name please ?

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1214913170_3680_FT0_metro_fm_liners_1997_.mp3

Barras

[octagon]

Thanks for the enthusiastic response..

I really liked the 2BR stuff and felt that it could have opened a few doors again, but they have never been aired as the pitch was not successful… something to do with budgets ? hmmm

Thanks for the “Just For the Record” heads up Barras…

As for the Metro VO I am not sure who he is/was as Steve would have arranged this along with the sweepers, and the drum n bass loops/ stuff that follow. I programmed up the Brass News cut though.

[nostalgie]

I have to say that 2BR is really “enticing”! This is the perfect proof that we still can get GREAT contemporary jingles using warm arrangements & orchestration.

I love it!!!

[RjM]

Great to see you posting on jinglemad Jonathan. I'm a huge fan of your work, and Key 103, Metro FM, Vibe FM and The Wolf remain amongst my particular favourites of any company. It was the Key 103 top-of-hour from '97 that really got me interested in jingles. As already mentioned, you are responsible for some of the best UK produced jingles to date.

There's a couple of posts on Octagon somewhere in the jinglemad archives. I'm sure I've raved about the 2BR cuts on here before, I'll try and dig the thread out.

Thanks too for sharing the full story on your connection with Alfasound. Until I found out about Octagon's involvement in the later Alfasound packages I'd wondered how they suddenly started to sound so different (good!)

I'd be great to hear some more of your work.

[Matt_Barton]

Hi Jonathan

I'm another big fan of the Key 103 1997 package. I was doing a summer job in a factory in Manchester at the time it was aired, and we used to break the monotony of making double glazing by singing along, and imitating Brian James each hour!

I was half way through making a montage when I came across the attached file on my hard drive; so no credit to me for compiling this – no doubt if I downloaded it from JM then the real montager will stand up!

Matt

P.S. What did you mean by “Sesame Street”?!

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1226348861_380_FT66865_key_103_1997_alfasound.mp3 filename:key_103_1997_alfasound.mp3

[Bigdave]

Hi Jonathan!

When Roy (the man behind this site),myself,Hirsty and Dave Hemsley got together to plan the North West Radio Night in Manchester back in 2006,it was that Key 103 cut that gave us an idea. We all wanted to get Brian James to redo the classic Top of the Hour sequence,with a few subtle differences to mention the event .

Well,with the assistance of another one of the regular visitors to this site,Dave Watts,we contacted Brian to ask whether there was any chance…

To his credit,Brian came back us within half an hour of our first email to him with the goods – dropped over the cut,it made the evening…

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1226356692_59_FT66865_jinglemad_key103_with_drone_and_bj.mp3 filename:jinglemad_key103_with_drone_and_bj.mp3

[octagon]

LOL !…

Thats funny

I know Hirsty (Simon Hirst) in a roundabout kind of way as I worked with mutual friends Shaun Scott and Danny Oakes (Hirstys side-kick) We formed a band called the Barkin Brothers. We also remixed records for various companies. Hirsty has always put a good word forward for me !

The Sesame Street sound I was referring to was the fact that on some of the cuts the vocals sound a little too American (pushed) -like they are trying a little too hard to sound happy ?…

The US vocals can (and often do) sound polished, smooth and very classy indeed, but make the singers too smiley and they start to lose the classy and can start to sound like they are singing for a younger audience. Do you see hear what I mean ?

Jonathan

[octagon]

Does anyone want to hear vibe FM jingles ?….

Just found a Dat full of them… Sound pretty good even today !

Maybe they're have already been heard by you guys loads ??

Jonathan

[nostalgie]

I would love to hear those Vibe jingles!

[octagon]

Here is Vibe FM in 3 parts…

I forgot I did a “J0sh W!nk” style jingle among this lot !!!
but note: There is no copyright in style! and as there was only one note going “dd der dd der dd der” no one had any issues with it

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1226360715_12926_FT66865_vibe_fm_pt1.mp3 filename:vibe_fm_pt1.mp3

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1226360715_12926_FT66865_vibe_fm_pt2.mp3 filename:vibe_fm_pt2.mp3

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1226360715_12926_FT66865_vibe_fm_pt3.mp3 filename:vibe_fm_pt3.mp3

[nostalgie]

Thanks Jonathan for posting these Vibe “vibrant” cuts!

Now, I'm ready to dance all night long!

The last cut (part 3) is really something! Most radio listeners wouldn't know it's a jingle…

Thank you very much and welcome on JM!

[octagon]

Yes!… this is exactly what i wanted to achieve. I wanted listeners to think “I like this tune, wonder who's dunnit?” and then go “Its a jingle!…coool!”

Towards the end of my jingle period, I felt I was really 'getting' the whole jingle thing and thought of them as mini pop records in their own right. Like a box of Milk Tray chocolates that are all very tasty , different and yet all very “Cadbury's”

Its amazing that if one person many differnt pieces of music they are united by his/ her natural style. By this I mean that even though all the styles are different they are some how the same ?? – if that makes sense ?

Jonathan

[nostalgie]

I like the way you describe the process Jonathan.
You're a real Cadbury's artist!

Merci encore! Thanks again for posting these cuts and sharing with all of us.

[octagon]

Cheers !

[RobinBlamires]

Those Vibe FM jingles really helped it to stand out from other stations playing dance music and were really varied in style from the Jamiroquai soundalike to the one that bares a resemblance to Faithless. In my personal opinion shame on another company who decided to steal the stations name to make it there own!

[MartinS]

Hi Jonathan, welcome to Jinglemad.

I'm also a big fan of your work, especially the Key103 1997 package mentioned already by several people above. That is certainly a 1990s jingle classic and will be remembered for a long time.

The Minster FM package also worked really well too, especially when combined on air with the Brian James voiceovers!

Interesting to hear your story.

[octagon]

I put alot into that Minster FM Package…. (Edited out the bitter comments as I should have got over it by now !!!)

Glad you like it

[TheMix]

2BR package. One word- LUSH!

Great stuff, Octagon.

[octagon]

Well the 2BR package is available to any station that wants it….

We could re sing it and customise it with extra cuts.

It would be almost a bespoke package if it fitted the stations music policy.

Should I advertise it for sale ????

[Author]

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