Hi! My name's CK, and I'm a friend and colleague of Michelle's through Taxi, the independent A&R company that we both use. Michelle has graciously invited me to write a guest post about instrumental cues. If you’d like, you can hear a bunch of my work by visiting http://www.reverbnation.com/ckbarlow. Let’s get right to the point, or at least one of them! If you take nothing else away from this post, please remember this: Anyone with a credit card can get the same gear – the same instruments, the same software, the same loops and sound libraries, the same boutique mics and exotic preamps, on and on – as you. So the most important tools you've got, ultimately, are your creativity, your unique style, and your commitment to quality. Let's face it: When we’re talking instrumental cues, a monkey can throw a bunch of loops into a DAW, let the software match the key and tempo, then stick a fork in it and call it done. Set yourself apart by aiming higher than that. Be a composer. Make music that you're proud of. OK, off the soapbox and on to some details! Form In instrumental cues, you'll typically use one of the structures described below. In all of them, two things will hold true 99% of the time: ● you’ll want to maintain the same key for the entire piece, and ● you need a button ending, meaning the piece stops definitively rather than fading out. One of my publishers recently requested something pretty smart: endings that combine hard stops with big hits that then fade out. Consider the ending of The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and how useful those hits are to a music editor on a show. You could cut the song after any of the hard-stop hits or after that second-to-last hit that sustains and fades. Give the editors some cool options! Now for some forms. ABA Start with a very short intro and then build some variation on ABA (ABABA, AABA, etc.), where the successive A sections are bigger, more developed, more exciting than the last, or maybe broken down and then built back up – your goal being to balance interest with unity. This is the closest to normal song form that you'll likely produce as an instrumental cue. If you work at it, you’ll be surprised how many variations you can create with just those two sections. My highest-earning instrumental track, Snap Crackle Pop, complies with this form, but to be honest, its intro is probably too long. Music is really subjective, but if I had to guess at this track’s appeal I’d say that upbeat, fun tracks are always in style, and this tune combines several interesting sounds that fit the vibe. Nothing virtuosic, but lots of fun. C? Nope. But You Do Need Edit Points. It’s rare that you’ll need a distinct third section comparable to a bridge. What you will need, though, are some edit points, which are spots in the cue where things halt or at least break down enough to let a show’s music editor cut away from the music cleanly and easily. This doesn't have to be difficult! Genres like dramatic orchestral lend themselves to breaks really well – you know, BOMP BOMP… BOMP! But once you get the hang of it, you’ll find ways in any genre to create breaks and even to do them at ad-friendly times like 14-15 seconds in, 29 seconds in, 59 seconds in, and so on. I’ve posted my track Skipping Stones, owned and represented by Drama King, to illustrate these ad-style breaks for you. Check out the melody leading up to the 59-second mark – I shortened it by a measure to hit the 59 while still leading musically back to the tonic. A, another A, another A, etc. … and that’s it. This form has no intro; it comes out swinging with what songwriters would consider a chorus, then builds and differentiates mainly with textural changes to maintain interest and create movement. See the Taxi TV episode with publisher/artist John Fulford; he explains this well and also points out that these intense cues will only last a minute or so, and they should make up only about 20% of your catalog. Per John’s request, please do not swarm him with emails. Thanks! Drones and Underscore Cues Like all cues, these exist to create a mood. There might not be a true musical statement beyond the mood, perhaps some instrumentation and scale choices that indicate geography/ethnicity. And there might not be a clear delineation of sections, or much if any harmonic movement. You’ll hear plenty of these that sustain a single bass pitch with subtle changes above that to create motion. It needs to set a mood without distracting from the action. I recently learned that five tracks of mine were used across four episodes of HBO Vice, so I've posted those for you as examples. Note that in every case, the supervisor chose an alternate mix – that is, a mix with at least one part removed – rather than the full mix. You should always provide alternate, reduced mixes for just this reason. Length Your publisher will usually give you a target range. Generally for instrumental cues, 1.5-2 minutes is a great target because it gives you ample time for a basic ABA form with some nice edit points. As mentioned, those edit points are crucial! If you have advertising hopes for the track, put the edit points at around 14-15, 29 and 59 seconds. I do have publishers who ask for lengths of 2.5-3 minutes, but in my experience those aren’t as common as 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Mood and Genre What should you write? There are many possible answers, depending on your own career stage and circumstances. If you have publishers already, they're probably asking you for specific genres and moods. If not, and if you don't have personal connections in the industry, your best bet in my opinion would be to use services like Taxi and Hit License – not one of these but several – that will help connect you with music supervisors and publishers; and by virtue of using those services, the supes and publishers have specified their in-demand genres. Again, the Taxi TV episode with publisher John Fulford spent a little time discussing hot genres. John specifically mentioned dubstep (yes, still), dramedy (think Desperate Housewives light orchestral with a mischievous vibe), urban, and gangsta grass (aka hick hop). I can vouch for that; I've got hick hop and dramedy requests from one of my publishers right now! More tips: ● It’s always smart to watch current TV shows and then produce tracks comparable to those used on the show. Putting a towel over the TV screen is a great way to focus on the sound world of the show. ● Within a genre, stay current (unless you’re asked for specific past era). If a publisher asks me for hip hop tracks, I immediately visit Billboard, check the hip hop charts, then study the top three tracks to pick up trends. ● Finally, if you’re just starting out, try new genres! You never know where you might discover a hidden talent. Then, as you build your catalog and your publishing relationships, analyze which genres – and which publishers – are working best for you, then focus your energy there. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
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This week we will talk about chords and melody. This won’t be about theory but just some simple things to think about. Many songs have very simple chord progressions. You don’t need to write a complicated chord structure to make a song memorable. Usually it is the combination of melody, lyrics and chords that bring the song to life. In the Film and TV realm they are looking for how the song feels instead of some complicated chord structure. You can try to vary the chord progression from 2 bar chords in the verse to 4 in the chorus or vice versa. You can do an entire verse with one chord and then move to a 2-chord progression in the chorus. Mostly K.I.S.S -Keep It Simply Simple! ;) You can of course use chords to express the emotion of the song. Use chords with an overall major “feel” for happy fun songs and chords with an overall minor “feel” for somber songs. You can also alter the notes in the chord to change how the chord sounds or “feels” in the song. This is like adding some spice to food. There is no rule, but play with it and decide if you like how it sounds. Have you ever seen the Axis of Awesome 4-chord video? They are playing songs through the years that have the same 4-chord progression. So it shows you can make a good song with simple chords and it’s the lyrics and melody that makes the song come to life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ Now what about melody? Being that you are aiming for Film and TV, your melody does not have to be as complicated or as attention grabbing as a Hit Song. But you do want it to be memorable, to the audience as well as a music supervisor. Often times I may have shorter melodic phrases in the verses and then longer melodic phrases in the chorus and a melody that will provide a lift in the song. This will separate the sections of the song and make for a more memorable chorus.. A lot of times a Pre Chorus will help lift the song and get it ready for the chorus. (We will talk about song structure at a later date). You can also pick different places in the beat to start your melodic phrase, for Instance, Beat 1, or maybe the “And” after beat 1 if you want more rhythm. Also use melodies that walk up or down after one that is more straightforward. Repetition is also key; you want people to remember your songs, even if they are in Film and TV. Often I will repeat the melody in the first three lines of the verse, then change up the fourth, or in the second set of verses change something there. In the Chorus, I repeat the melody, but then alter it in the third line for movement and again, giving the song and listener a place to go, then returning to the hook melody on the last line. There is no right or wrong, just start experimenting, listening to songs, and how their chords and melody are being used to make the song memorable. Not good at creating a melody? Here is some homework that may help In Robin Fredericks Books Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film and TV and Shortcuts to writing Hit Songs she mentions writing new lyrics to an existing song. It’s called ghost writing. Homework: Basically Take a song, and write new lyrics to the same melody/chords Then, take what you just wrote and alter the chords (if you play, if you just sing/write melody then go to the next step). Start to sing it and alter the melody -Alter the phrasing -alter the notes, where the ghost song goes up, you go down, play with it! - Alter the beat the phrasing starts Play with this and have fun!!! As always feel free to post any comments!! Check out these resources! http://robinfrederick.com/ http://jasonblume.com/songwriting_books.html (Writing Hit Melodies CD) Howdy Folks! Hope you are doing well! As I type this I am listening to Philip Glass- Glassworks album. Someone recommended it because I am working on a haunting piano piece. So I figured I had better listen to something similar! A lot more than just piano in that album. Cool Stuff! Anyway I digress... This week we will talk a bit about Song Forms and how they work for Film and TV followed by which Themes work best. Song Forms: If you are currently writing, you know what a song form is: Verse, Chorus, and Bridge etc. Here is a refresher on the most common song forms: Verse 1- Chorus Verse 2-Chorus Bridge-Chorus OR: Verse/Pre-Chorus/Chorus etc. Those are the most common basic forms and work well for hit songs and Film & TV songs. The lyrics in the verse sections typically contain the basic information and set up the song. The Chorus is a summary of the song's theme and the bridge usually provides a twist or new information. This section all provide an organization to the song and lets the listener know the song is going somewhere. In Film & TV they often chop the songs to fit the scene, but we still should be crafting complete songs because the Music Supervisor will critique them as fully complete songs. We need to create the song appropriately to SELL the song. Typically when a song is screened, they want to hear something interesting right away, that captures the attention and has a hook that is memorable. Also each section should be defined in someway. Meaning that each section should have a contrast. Perhaps your verse is a bit lower in energy and melody and then the choruses lifts and soars, followed by a bridge that has some space, and then back into the high-energy chorus. Music supervisors look for this kind of variation so they can use it for certain sections of their scenes. Using a clearly defined structure with contrasting sections is key. Here are some other tips as far as song forms: Intro- Use a short Intro, music supervisors will often want to get into the song right away and a long intro may cause them to lose interest. Sometimes they only listen for 30 seconds and if it doesn't capture their interest, then into the trash it may go. Chorus- Get to the chorus within 1 minute. Getting to the chorus as quickly as you can, within a minute is ideas because screening times are often short. I have had live song listening sessions and they only listen a minute and a couple times the song was turned off before the chorus... kind of a bummer. Also if your chorus is short, you may want to do a double chorus after the second verse. Will make it stick in their heads ;) Bridge- Film and TV likes space in a song, someplace where there are no words, just instrumentation or ooos and aahs. Often times these will be used under a scene where they don't want the dialogue to be interrupted, or maybe where there is a thoughtful moment and they don't want song lyrics interfering either. Having musical space in a song and crafting energy changes gives them edit points so they can cut and paste the songs as needed for their show. End- Sometimes in Film and TV it is beneficial not to repeat the chorus at the end of the song but use tag lines or part of the chorus repeated with some different vocalizations. Not always... I have been doing this more in my songs, but usually I will come out of the bridge with a break down and then build back into the chorus. Length: Make sure your song is at least 2 minutes long. 3 minutes seems to be the sweet spot. There are also other song forms that are worth creating. One of which contains a refrain line at the end of each verse, contains a bridge and does not have a chorus. I.e. Verse/refrain -Verse/refrain - Bridge - Verse/refrain. In Robin Frederick's Book "Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV" Shortcut #24 says: "An ear catching chorus can draw the viewer's attention away from a scene, while a song form with subtler changes in dynamics can keep the focus on the dialogue and characters"1 This is not a hard and fast rule, but this song form is a very viable and marketable form. These aren't hard and fast rules, but guidelines for making your song more marketable for Film& TV Time to move onto the next topic: Themes: A Theme is: "a unifying or dominant idea, or motif"2 The theme is not the story, just the overall idea. The Theme for your song can make a difference in the number of opportunities it will be appropriate for in Film&TV. Take a listen again to TV shows and commercials and see what kinds of Theme's you are hearing. Happy? Sad? Angry? Love? Robin says, "A Song lyric will often echo the theme of a scene"3 You want a theme that will work for a scene. Here is an exercise that Robin's book provides which I think is very helpful. Take a look at this and try it before looking at the themes list below. Watch a scene; write a one-sentence line summarizing the events that you saw on the show. 4 Write down your list then: Look at the list below and see if yours is listed. There are others Themes besides what is in this list so feel free to add them. Love (The good, bad or ugly) Life is good/hard Strength/Challenges Hope Good vs. Evil Coming of Age Family bonds Fun (i.e. you, me, we are gonna have some fun) Happiness Death Loss In most cases the happy fun themed song is most usable especially in commercials, but a lot of the shows do have songs with angst, sadness etc. So don't limit yourself. Write songs with a variety of Themes. Hope this was helpful! As always, please feel free to comment or ask questions! Have a great rest of the week! - Michelle References: 1-Robin Frederick- " Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film and TV”, Shortcut 24 page 68, Taxi Music Books, 2010 2- Dictonary.com 3,4-Robin Frederick- " Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film and TV” page 121, Taxi Music Books, 2010 Ok So after the deletion of my blog the hosting company can't get back the content so... I have most copies on my computer. Over the next several days I will be re-posting the content and maybe gain some new readers! So let's start learning how to write songs for Film & TV. One thing that Film & TV needs are lyrics that are Universal. So what is a Universal Lyric? In the book “Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV “ by Robin Frederick, she defines Universal lyrics as: “A lyric that a large number of people can identify with or relate to.” “A lyric that will not conflict with the specific content of a scene” It took me a while to grasp the meaning of this and start incorporating it into my songs. Before I started writing for Film and TV I was writing a lot of story songs, or songs that have a lot of detail in them. When writing like this, the song paints the picture. In Film and TV, the show paints the picture and the songs helps bring out or supplement the emotion of the scene. For example: In one of my songs Just Who I Am! Here are my lyrics for the first verse: Just Who I Am! © 2011 Shell Sings Publishing Verse 1: I got dirty clothes on the floor A kit kat clock hangs on my door Sometimes my hair is red, or styled in dreads I like to wear sneakers with my Sunday best. Ok, so that is VERY detailed and descriptive, no emotional elements and you are visualizing in your head right now my room and how I might look. This would not work well for a TV scene. It is too detailed. The song is telling the story. Now as we move on into the Chorus That’s Just Who I am, what you see, is what you get That’s Just Who I am, I know I’m crazy, can’t change me baby I’m nobody else but me, Just Who I Am. The chorus is more universal… very general language, non descriptive and could be used in scenes displaying confident women. It is still a little specific however and would only be able to work in specific scenes. Now let’s take Ingrid Michaelson’s song Everybody Everybody – Ingrid Michaelson 2009, Cabin 24 Records We have fallen down again tonight In this world it's hard to get it right Trying to make your heart fit like a glove What it needs is love, love, love Everybody, everybody wants to love Everybody, everybody wants to be loved Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Happy is the heart that still feels pain Darkness drains and light will come again Swing open up your chest and let it in Just let the love, love, love begin These lyrics are very universal lyrics and they use imagery to represent certain feelings. This can and has been used in TV, Film and Commercials. It is being used for many different types of scenes that depict love and happiness. Is this starting to make sense? It takes a while to grasp it and to begin to incorporate it in your writing. But one mistake we don’t want to make is thinking that this type of writing is “dumbing down” the song. Robin Frederick says, “ A lyric that moves a lot of people is one that is original, vivid, and believable. Most importantly it communicates with listeners.” You want to create a mood for the audience, or an experience. The on screen action will take care of the telling the story and providing the details. For fun, (before your assignment below) Here are a couple of my songs that were used in an advertisement and a TV show. My song Everybody Smile! Was used in this advertisement http://youtu.be/DGuUXq1cq9Y?list=PL52E72E8B3BF5FE4D And my song with fellow writer Paul Otten, called Live, Laugh, Love in Color was used for a wedding show http://youtu.be/66OVlouVCys?list=PL52E72E8B3BF5FE4D Ok So now for your assignment: Write a Universal Verse and Chorus lyric for one of these two options 1. Pick a TV show you like, find a scene and mute the sound. Watch it for about a minute and a half. What kind of lyric might you write to express the emotions of the scene? 2. Here is a scene that I wrote for you. Scene fades in on a woman leaning against her dusty blue corvette. She is on the side of a dirt road that seems to never end. In the distance is a mountain range and the sun is just about to go down. The orange and red colors begin to transform the dessert into something of beauty. The woman is in her 30’s; long brunette hair is flowing a bit in the wind. She is wearing a plain blue T-shirt and jeans. She is looking toward the sunset and a tear rolls down her cheek. She goes to wipe it away but instead kicks the dirt with her boots, gets in her car and tears down the road toward the mountains. Write a verse and a chorus that is Universal and evokes the emotion of the scene Please feel free to ask me any questions and leave comments! I write a blog for Writing & Licensing Music for Film & TV as well as the struggles we face when trying to reach our dreams. Well, it totally sucks that I somehow managed to delete all my previous blog files. I will recreate them soon. Stay Tuned! - Michelle |
AuthorMichelle Lockey is a multi-award winning singer-songwriter sharing the knowledge she has learned over the years writing for Film & TV. Like what you are reading? Please Sign up to receive a FREE Music Licensing checklist! 10 Steps to Sync Success
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