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I’ve always been told that it’s very important for most cues to have a “sting/button” style ending, a firm and sudden end on a downbeat that rings out. Makes sense, and that is what I usually do. However, depending on the genre, I sometimes find myself writing tracks that seem to beg for a fade-out ending instead. It can be very tempting to go with a fade when the music seems to call for it, especially when the track is a bit more “song-ish” or radio friendly and I think I might want to use it somewhere outside the library ecosystem.
So, my question is: can I get away with this? If, say, 25% of my tracks sound great with fade-outs, would I be crazy to just throw caution to the wind and do it? I’d obviously only be doing this on the “full length” version of the track, and would still be doing sting/button endings on the :15, :30, and :60 edits of these tracks. I realize that the only definitive answer is “experiment and see how it affects sales”, but I’d like to know what I might be getting myself into before I upload 50 tracks with fades that might turn out to be unsellable!
Thanks in advance for all input.
I had this choice just a few days ago on a full length vocal song and decided on the button ending. I suppose you could do two mixes and send a fade out version for digital distribution streaming opportunities and the button version to libraries for placements.
So, my question is: can I get away with this? If, say, 25% of my tracks sound great with fade-outs, would I be crazy to just throw caution to the wind and do it?
Don’t do it!! <<at least don’t do it for library use>>
Consider where it’s going to be used – almost always reality TV and live sports games.
Watch any of that for more than five minutes and you’ll quickly understand what the most important part of any library track is: the ending.
I like to live dangerously, so I pull the tags off Pillows, Mattresses, and do both a Tag Ending AND a Fade!!
For Library/Catalog work I either do really BIG endings, or end on a phrase that has some power to it. But, sometimes the effects drag WAY too long on tail. So, I fade the effects/tail to shorten the duration.
When I first got started in production cues. I turned in almost 200 mixes that had fade endings. They were sent back to be re-dun..
Never do fade outs.
For the tail, it depends, but I usually automate my master to fade the tail over 2-4 bars.
This raises another question: even when using a button ending, how long can the tail acceptably be? Sometimes I like to have some trailing FX and such that peter out gradually. At what duration does this become a sales liability? Anyone? ?
Effects Tails (Boo on Chemtrails!!) don’t really make too much of an issue on standard length versions. But, they can create quite a problem on short version (60, 30, 15, tag..) Because it can chew up a LOT of usable time for some music. That’s why I fade them, so I can have more content..
Yeah, you don’t want a tail to start at ten seconds of a 15 second edit!
For short edits such as 15 or 30, no reason why you can’t shorten the tail by fading the tail out earlier. As long as there still is a defined ending. Having a long tail in the full version can sometimes make the short edits easier since you have more to work with (e.g. room to shorten the end) to make it fit the 15 or 30 without jumping through as many hoops.
You’ll see many times whereby the music editor used a piece of your track and then slid over the sting ending to make it work at the end of a scene. Being able to wrap up a scene is critical to them. Ending on the root chord is a good idea, don’t get fancy and end on some alternate chord. Also, this is why your track should always end in the same key it started in. Modulations whereby and the end you go up a 1/2 or whole step for “lift” like many older songs did, is a no-no.
A track is supposed to enhance the mood of a scene. There is no sisutation I could think of ariting for 6 years, when it’s commonly accepted that button and hard endigs are the way to go, where the use of a fadeout instead would add anything of value. It also makes your edits kind of iffy (well the sting is supposed to be 5 secinds but there is a 3 second fadeout, now what?).
The answer is quite simple. #1: You must do at least a button ending which is usually as good as a stinger. Of 10,000 titles I have accepted I have never accepted a fade, and I never will. #2: If for any reason an editor wants a fade he will do that him/herself. No editor wants to listen to two versions of the same cue just to find which has a button. There is one issue you should remember, what you feel a cue needs does not trump what an editor wants. The editor holds the purse strings. So don’t swim upstream, do the proven thing.
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