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Yeah a lot of layering – let’s see, on the session I’m currently working on I have 14 staccato string tracks – some are full section, most are one instrument section each. My perc is getting a little ridiculous – if you include all the FX like risers, signature hits etc, along with drums, I have about 70 tracks.
That said, I cut a lot of corners – I don’t have a full orchestra laid out with every articulation ready to go. My single computer set up is pretty much pushed to the limit even with no video window synced. I’d love to have a massive track line up, like John Powell, Junkie XL etc (500 tracks or more!), but then I’d need a machine room bigger than my current studio 🙂
what do you mean by pre-fader reverb? do you mean pre-delay in a reverb module?
First off, let me make the disclaimer that I am definitely not a pro mixer and often get a much better mixing engineer to do a final mix on my trailer music. I do usually leave my own reverb on though – because otherwise what I describe next is hard to replicate from dry stems…
What I meant is apply reverb pre fader instead of post fader (it’s a drop down choice for a send in most DAWs). Pre means the reverb signal / volume is independent of the track, so you can literally pull the volume completely down on the track and hear only reverb coming from the send. Doing it this way makes it easier to push back or pull forward instruments in the sonic 3-dimensional space (by raising or lowering the reverb send level).
Do you tend to use one instance of reverb and send all your instruments to that same room setting using sends but just by different amounts?
Yes, this is how I’ve done it – just because multiple reverbs seem to dominate my processor, and I need all the help I can get with a 150+ track session.
When I give the stems to a mix engineer, the stems are a little wet (usually a little less reverb than I’d put on when doing the final mix) and then they do their magic, which quite often involves using multiple reverbs on each track. I still don’t quite understand entirely what they’re doing, but the guys I’ve worked with always find ways to give each section its own space, clearing out the mud and clutter that I’ve stacked up with so many tracks playing together.
Do you ever install a final reverb on the master output bus?
No, I can’t see why you’d do that unless you literally had just one track. My master has a gain, which I automate to make sure the levels never clip, and a basic mastering plugin like Ozone, which gets bypassed if I’m sending the stems to a mixing engineer.
One last tip that I only learned recently – EQ some of the low mids (140 Hz-ish) out of your reverb. Those frequencies tend to build up and get magnified by reverb.
Hey Patrick, you really have some great composing chops.
There was just one thing that stuck out to me musically with the SW track, which was around 1:03 – this build up sound a bit off harmonically.
Perhaps re-thinking the Eb major 7 chord at 1:03 would help. Generally, try to avoid emphasizing a maj 7 sound in trailer music (especially on the b6 major chord) – it sounds a bit too down / depressed, jazzy or dated for trailers. A 7th passing note is fine, or within rhythmic notes, but in the top line it’ll tend to suck the ‘epic-ness’ out of the music, especially on a strong downbeat like you have there.
After that chord, the next one is also an issue – it’s another chord type that can take us out of epic trailer land… the dominant 7 (F7 here). There’s a time and place for it in trailers, but not usually as a V7 (I’ve used IV7 quite a lot in minor key rock orchestra type tracks).Production wise, there were just two things that I would suggest you work on (and these are things that I’m constantly trying to get better at too)
1) use pre-fader reverb to create a 3 dimensional sense of space. The amount of reverb you assign to each instrument determines how close or far back it sounds. EQ can do this too – nudging down the highs (460 Hz and above) will give a sense that the strings are a bit further back on the stage. Try that with the choir too (and give them more reverb).
Determine which instruments you want in the front, and which ones you want in the back. Refer to an orchestral seating arrangement map if you’re aiming for an authentic sound.2) give your track a bit more breathing room – dynamic range – so that you can add heavy, low thunderous drums. Right now we’re getting a lot of your snares and a little of a tom sound. With drums I aim to fill in the whole frequency spectrum – subs, lows, mid range toms, snares, hi stuff (metal hits).
Listen to amazing mock ups of music in this style and try to A/B your mix to reverse engineer what makes the other mix more polished. Here’s a great place to start:
It takes a bit of chasing to get any royalties from commercials, and at least for one of the PROs in the US, it’s done on a survey (not a census). So they’re not a given like with TV show placement.
The main prize with placing library music in commercials is the license fee – which can be anywhere from $500 to $50,000, depending on who’s using it, where it airs and how exclusive the deal is.
The main back end income you can get with commercials is the musician residuals, paid through the AFM. They’re usually reserved for big budget ads, and (from my experience) only apply to music written or revised specifically for the commercial being aired, i.e. not for library music placement.
That all said, infomercials can get you insane royalties, as they air everywhere and as a result are much more likely to show up on a PRO’s survey.
I can’t even use SoundCloud for some library tracks – ones published by Universal are recognized and blocked from being uploaded.
It’s definitely not perfect… anyone got a better alternative?There’s no set rate – that $0.30 figure was probably just given out as an average. It depends on where the views are coming from i.e. what country and if they’re watching directly on YT or embedded on another site. Not to mention, if you have to share the revenue with other music on the same video.
Out of the small pile of tracks I could give Adrev, just the three best performing trailer tracks really make me any significant money – actually more than the other 50 tracks I have with Adrev so far, combined.
I’ve heard of big trailer music companies making mid five figures every month with companies like AdRev. I think the key is that tracks need to be popular, or if you’re lucky, used on a video that goes viral.
It’s worth noting that one of the biggest RF libraries has been working with AdRev for over a year now.
I think these are essentially the same rhetorical question:
but Mark how could anyone be sure that’s what will happen? even if they library in question has a good rep of placements thats no guarantee that the next exclusive track one gives them has the same success so there has to be an element of gut feeling with this no?
In theory that’s correct but how do you compel a Lib to use your track?
If they have 300 awesome Investigative Tension tracks and need 9 for a few new shows, how will the odds pan out? Also, consider the fact that they may be receiving 10 plus more tracks a day in the same genre.There’s of course no way for a composer to compel a library to submit tracks to their clients, or to somehow make the client use them. Quality and usability count for a lot though – that’s probably the closest you can get to ‘compelling’ them to do anything. Limiting your exclusive deals to just higher end ‘PMA’ companies or well established boutiques will improve your odds. Avoid the low hanging fruit, like a company that puts out an email to 1000 composers requesting music with no money upfront.
Otherwise, you’re probably a lot better off sticking to non-ex deals. I speak from experience on this 🙂
Early in my career I gave hundreds tracks to a couple of libraries who did barely anything with them. Luckily I got connected with better performing ones and after a few years my royalties ramped up.
If you’re going to give away the rights in an exclusive deal – where a company will own your music forever, it makes sense to only work with libraries that have a long track record and a wide range of potential clients (not just a handful of reality shows). You want to aim for a company that will get the same music used frequently for many years.
The amount of music they’re churning out each month vs how many clients they have is also a big consideration when deciding whether or not to write exclusive tracks. A big ‘PMA’ library will have lots of music coming out every month, but they’ll likely have offices pushing the music in every region, with a massive potential for placement. Or you might find a smaller yet successful boutique company that has sub-publishing deals throughout the world.
I was wondering if your Exclusive libraries use your track more than once.
Yikes!
Pretty much the only reason you’d want to give ownership of your music to a library is that they’ll do their best to get your tracks used HUNDREDS of times.
My payments from streaming have, so far, been ‘steaming’
Awesome! I saw it on TV a few nights ago. If you haven’t already, make sure you get your PRO on board with tracking it.
Here’s a Public Safety Announcement:
This particular company is trying to be a middleman between composers and libraries – but it’s completely unnecessary and borderline predatory. Ask yourself, do they really deserve to take a cut of your writer’s share from work you did entirely yourself, for the rest of your life, and then for 70 years after you die?
It’s not hard at all to find willing libraries to accept tracks for free, especially exclusively. You’re literally adding to the library’s valuation and they barely have to lift a finger.
I’ve certainly split the writer’s share before, not just with actual co-writers but when writing for a show or film where the credited composer has established a palette and set of themes. But never with an ‘A&R’ company.
Hopefully you actually get a fee – unfortunately a lot of the competition is giving away their tracks these days. At the very least, I hope they don’t ask for half your publishing too!
Best of luck with your bid!
I know of at least one big ‘PMA’ library that has such a beef with RF sites that they say (at least publicly) that they don’t work with composers with music in RF libraries.
If you ask me, it’s a pretty mean stance to take. RF has helped so many composers make the move from dabbling and doing it as a hobby to a significant income stream, or even moving into it full time.50/50 or upfront payment / buy out. I wouldn’t recommend trying to keep tabs on residual income and changing the split as time goes by.
Someone tried that with me once – he hired me to ghost write on his various TV shows and said I couldn’t be on the cue sheet but he’d have his book-keeper go through all the PRO statements and calculate my share. He gave up pretty quickly after finding out what a PITA it was. Bought me out for a fee.