Sctiger Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 As I'm trying to finalize my playlist for this year, I came across a song that seems perfect for synchronizing with lights (Take a Break Guys by Brian Setzer) but it's a little on the heavy side. Weighing in at almost 4 1/2 minutes .I was wondering if that was too long to hold someone's attention. I'd be interested to hear some lessons that you've learned about song length. P.S...and yes! I'm doing everything within my power to not make jokes about "length" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 I would highly think about shortening that song to about 2 minutes or shorter. But that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zvacman Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 1 hour ago, Santas Helper said: I would highly think about shortening that song to about 2 minutes or shorter. But that's just me. X2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Batzdorf Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 2.5 to 3 minutes is the average attention span. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 I try to shorten mine to 2.5 to 3.5 minutes. There are few I took out a verse in the middle but mostly I fade at the end. This year I took a 2 minute section for flight of the bumble bee out of the middle of a longer TSO song. If you do shorten a song remember this limits your ability to share your work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebuechner Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 49 minutes ago, Dave Batzdorf said: 2.5 to 3 minutes is the average attention span. You haven't met my kids I personally run all my songs full length and I have some that are about 10 minutes and I have people who will stay for the whole show about an hour and a half. My problem is if I cut a song what part do you take out will they notice section of the song Missing that they like so much. But after all this is a hobby and everything is personal preference 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebuechner Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 What were we talking about? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sctiger Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 17 minutes ago, Ebuechner said: What were we talking about? I think it was our favorite effects in a sequence..I'm not sure, I saw a squirrel! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebuechner Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 24 minutes ago, Sctiger said: I think it was our favorite effects in a sequence..I'm not sure, I saw a squirrel! Squirrel? Where? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 (edited) My preference is usually to shorten most songs to around 1:30.00 to 2:00.00 minutes, HOWEVER, I do make exceptions, some songs I leave intact at their full length, most aren't over 5:00.00 minutes in length, usually around 4:30.00 minutes, However, I do edit out the silent sections of all songs I do from the beginning and at the end of the song. Many times, just removing the start and end silent parts has reduced a song down by as much as 1:00.00 minute! And if there is a few or a lot of sections where the song has long silent gaps, I will shorten those down to around 1/2 {.30} to not more than 00:01.30 seconds, maybe 2 seconds at most. Taking out these silent parts within a song does not detract from the song and helps with no extraneous pauses in the song, it also has cut the song length down at times by as much as over 2 minutes by my doing this. But these are MY preferences on how I edit my MP3's to be shorter and easily glide into the next sequence without long pauses between each sequence. Been doing it this way now for close to 5 years, learned this trick after my 1st year doing a display starting Halloween 2010. Edited October 6, 2016 by Orville Used their instead of there, wrong use of the word! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zvacman Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 I agree with Orville for the most part. It is definitely done on a song by song basis, but a lot of times the slight pauses or silent moments in a song are followed by a punch that is impactful to the show. Everybody has their own taste and preferences, go with what you like. Z 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 1 hour ago, zvacman said: I agree with Orville for the most part. It is definitely done on a song by song basis, but a lot of times the slight pauses or silent moments in a song are followed by a punch that is impactful to the show. Everybody has their own taste and preferences, go with what you like. Z Z, if the gap leads to a high note, a punch as you will, I will still shorten it, but I won't shorten it as much as I do the areas where the song just re-transitions into another part of the song at the same level. Removing the silent parts there just gives the song {too me anyway} a smoother flow and transition from one section to the next. And most times it's not even noticed by the viewer that the lengthy silent section had even been removed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 On 10/5/2016 at 7:03 AM, Dave Batzdorf said: 2.5 to 3 minutes is the average attention span. This is not your average song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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