How many cues created on a weekly basis…

[Peter]

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering how many cues people are writing each week (on average)? I’m trying to continually build my catalogue and with work and study am averaging 2-3 new cues each week.

Also, do you guys have specific DAW templates for writing in different genres? I have just started setting this up which makes things easier to start off.

One more question… How do you choose what to write? Do you actually plan out what you write? Try to follow trends (if they are any)?

That’ll do for now. Thanks!
Peter

[Art Munson]

Hi Peter,

This has been discussed many times before. Some write one a week, some write many cues a day. Go to: https://musiclibraryreport.com/forums/topic/library-alert-another-music-thief/

Scroll down to February 11, 2014 at 10:23 am and the post from MichaelL and continue reading.

[Peter]

thanks Art.

[MichaelL]

And then there’s this…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSUjMpRMbkA

Just be aware, the more you focus speed and number of cues per day the less satisfied you may creatively, based upon other things that you’ve said.

[Peter]

Thanks Michael. yeah I know what you’re saying. Just playing catch-up I suppose and looking into all aspects of this crazy business. And.. the fact that a lot of libraries are now going exclusive so more tracks needed to spread the love.

Quality or quantity… that is the question for me at the moment. I’m trying for both within reason. 😉

[pcomp]

Hi Peter!

It’s very different week to week. Now for example I haven’t written anything new in two weeks because I haven’t been inspired and I’ve been reading up on a bunch of things regarding music business, ways of selling etc.

A good week I might finish a track (don’t like calling them cues) per day, but those are tracks I’ve already started. I try not to compose/record, mix, and master any track to completion in one single day because two weeks later, I’m almost never satisfied with the results.

Composing/recording 2-3 tracks in one day isn’t uncommon though, but I always let them sit so I can come back with fresh ears. Then it’s usually pretty obvious if the material is good as is, or if I need to work much more on it. Or if it goes in the trash.

[Pat]

I would love to hear tracks from those who can do 2-3 tracks a day. I just want to get an idea of what kind of tracks we’re talking about. Maybe I’m just going overboard with mine or I just don’t have “it” to be able to do that and be satisfied with my work.I’ve also read about staff writers at a certain library churning out 6-7 cues a day and I say to myself,”what in the world kind of music can it be?.” Hard for me to grasp that.

[Kubed]

Aiming for 3 cues/tracks per week.Sometimes i can do 4 but some others just 2.
I don’t feel comfortable writing,mixing and finishing a cue in the same day.

[MichaelL]

I would love to hear tracks from those who can do 2-3 tracks a day. I just want to get an idea of what kind of tracks we’re talking about.

As posted above. I think he did this track in under 15 mins –real time.

[ChuckMott]

My rule of thumb comes from a video I saw on Christopher Beck, who wrote the music for Frozen. He aims for 2 minutes of music in an eight hour day, you’re talking movie soundtrack/trailer quality. In doing that, I don’t think (don’t quote me though) that he mixes this stuff in isolation. So after creating edits, mixing, uploading to libraries, probably 12 hours per track. And no, I totally lose my objectivity if I completely finish the track in one day. If you are a one man show like many (most) of us are, you have to to make a lot of spot decisions that maybe in a large scale environment you have a team making. And I suspect many of these 2-3 tracks a day guys are doing simple instrumentation tracks, 2-3 instruments, and very short. So if I was a fulltimer, 6 days a week, I would shoot for 3. With a full time day job, I try for one.

[Paolo]

And there are a whole bunch of variables (requested by client/library or self-imposed) that make an impact. Just a handful off the top of my head:

– is the track 1:00 to 1:30 or 2:00 to 3:00?
– is a melody required?
– does the instrumentation cater to our strengths?
– when do they want it?
– knowledge of DAW shorcuts; speed of applying EQ’s etc,
– updates to software that require a new learning curve
– first time or 500th time with the genre
– frequency of doing it – more time/frequency = faster

And how many more factors do we encounter that affects time on a track?

[Peter]

I suppose it boils down to your writing style. When I start writing it’s an absolute flurry of activity, my brain is running so fast it’s hard to keep up. Sometimes I will record a part that I may use later just because the idea came too early on to use – if that makes sense.

When I say cues, I’m talking about 1:30-2:30 tracks that are pretty much underscore stuff – sorry should have clarified that.

When I write one of my romantic sweeping symphony pieces ;), yeah then it can take me a whole day to complete and then mix and master the next day, but you’re talking 3-4 mins of music consisting of hours of wrestling string libraries into submission! I do find a lot of my time is spent finding the right sound and then making it work if the developer hasn’t done their job properly. Solo violin is hell.

All in all, everyone is different.

Peter

[MichaelL]

When I write one of my romantic sweeping symphony pieces ;), yeah then it can take me a whole day to complete and then mix and master the next day,

Extremely tiny market for that. You’ll sell a thousand corporate tracks for every “romantic sweeping symphony piece.”

Solo violin is hell.

Try Embertone’s Friedlander Violin.
http://www.embertone.com/instruments/friedlanderviolin.php

[Vlad]

I have often been pondering this and bothered that I spent 8-12 hours on each high quality 2-2:30 track. I am okay with it now.

Now as regards Art vs. Commerce: after listening to MichaelL and Composer J I have started to try speed writing for the purposes of throwing a few tracks at garbage sites like P5, etc. I have found that I can pump out a 1:30ish track in under 3 hours. Will I be thrilled with it? No. Will it sell because it is trendy and simple? I hope so.

[Art Munson]

I have started to try speed writing for the purposes of throwing a few tracks at garbage sites like P5,

I don’t know that I would call P5 a “garbage” site!

[Author]

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