Well I've slowly learned that writing a song or traditional instrumental is very different than writing stock or TV film music. I've practiced with using just one chord and filling the track with intetesting sounds. Oddly enough there us a module right now in my degree which deals with creating electronic music using ableton live. I hope that gives my writing a new lease of life as much as another dimension I should add that I'd much prefer writing for film, TV and games if I had a choice.
This is so true! I have that exact problem myself, I send music that I like to production music companies instead of what they need! Stopping this right now!
Great video again as always Michael! This is my #1 problem. Of course I need to get better at the mixing production process, but I write a lot of very genre-specific music and they are mostly one-offs, so I haven't done any albums of the same style and it makes it hard send anything to a library. I guess my problem (if it's really a "problem") is that, if forced to write a certain way, I draw blanks a lot of the time, but I'm more successful when I just write whatever pops into my head. Maybe it's I'm not good at any one style, but average at doing any number of styles. Good idea to maybe find a TV show that seems to use music close to my natural style and see who the licensing library is, then try and write similar stuff and see if they'll a use it.
Hey Matt! I hear you! And of course, don’t forget many libraries go to a few composers for an album, and some also need people to fill that last track or two to make up the numbers. Might be an interesting exercise for you to not wait for an idea to come into your head (you have proven to yourself that you can write that way, which is great!), but try a different approach: Perhaps check out some shows or tracks in successful libraries, write down a general “ingredients list” and just dive in from there? Be interesting to see how that goes.
Hi Michael great video as usual! At first I just went for what I remembered of the music in TV and videos. I just wanted to avoid copying. Went for quirky cues and just tried to balance having fun and being spontaneous and somehow that seemed to work, as I've had immediately several placements on national TV. I think mostly depends on how you're inclined towards music. I probably have a knack for conveying emotions regardless of the mood. Sorry if that sounds somehow big headed. But before writing any music I followed a few courses, including yours, which pointed me in the right direction. I'm still learning, but music is an ongoing process. It also helped that I've been writing music for well over forty years and started with Atari, 8 reels recorders etc. What slowed me down was that I couldn't afford to have music as a career:pay the bills, family etc. But my passion for music writing/production was compelling to the point I even used to read instrument's manuals during my lunch breaks at work. How I got to learn about midi and such in the early nineties. Sorry for this long answer, I just wanted to show an example. Tsome sort of talent is needed, but possibly never giving up is more essential.
Loved reading this, Danilo! Was it Notator on the Atari?! Seems so long ago now, right? And doesn't sound big headed - sounds like you've got a very useful skill there!
@@danilocarnevale6098 Love that you still have the Atari! I still have my Korg 01Wfd that I used to use the onboard sequencer on to write tracks. Just can't let it go!
Ahahahah @Michael Kruk, programming must have been a nightmare. I had mine programming the Roland R8 and it was enough trouble! I guess we could go on for quite e bit with this conversation :-)
Again, such great and helpful advice Michael, thank you again so much for putting the time into producing these for us. I look forward to each video. To answer your question, optimizing a piece of music for media almost always means taking the inspired melody or musical phrase that is fun and easy to write and then spending hours crafting the idea so that it evolves, rises, crescendos and then emerges from the crescendo simply again. Birth, glorious death in battle, and rebirth. Also, endings. Always with the concise and direct endings.
Hello, I'm planning on being an artist and I've been watching your videos to find ways to monetise your career which has been helpful. I also want to get into sync licensing as I can make my own music however I need your help to resolve this problem that I've been thinking about. I release a song with a distributor which is distrokid, 2 months in its only got 150 streams on Spotify, I also manage to get a music supervisor to enquire for a different piece of music I sent them. They offer a sync fee but I'm only interested in royalties but I can't sign up with PRS because it says that I don't have a piece of music that's enough to generate royalties ( for instance a song with 150 streams is not enough) which is understandable but I also don't have an IPI number to give to the Music Supervisor . I don't know if that means I have to take the sync fee or I do just agree for them to use the piece of music and they promise me backend so then when it does start generating royalties I can show evidence to PRS but how I do know I won't get screwed because I don't own it? I may be wrong or missing something but it would be wonderful if you could clear this up. Hope to hear back soon.
Thanks a lot Michael for this great video... Why don't you offer the interview mentioned in this video for a nominal fee outside your big course? I would certainly b very interested in the main time while I save up for your large Music For Income course ;-) Kind regards and blessings, MaxT
Hey Max! Yes that's an idea that has been considered (and it's a smart idea!) The conclusion was that so much of the course (and interviews) reference other parts of the course (or other parts of the course expand on interview content), that it just seems to offer the best value and learning experience when it's all together and in order. I'm quite passionate about all students getting the whole 360 degree experience to become production music behemoths!!
@@MusicForIncome Hi Michael, thank you for your kind reply! I understand that extrapolating video interviews from your course to be sold separately may not give the viewer the complete picture that is given when consuming all the course content in the right order. Cheers, MaxT
There's nothing I'd love more than to earn even the most humble living from composing. But pond 5 is the only one that accepted my tracks. I'm 52 doing a degree in sound engineering and I'm struck by the fact that out of 22 students, only four play an instrument. The rest use chord and beat samples and rap over them. I feel like I'm decades out of touch with my music. I come from the time of modulation and chromatic progressions, key changes and middle eights, harmony and bridges etc. The kids on the course produce very polished sounds to be fair. They say a stock music composer has to be a good writer as well as a good producer. Then there's the mystery of my power tripping everytime I plug in a midi keyboard into my Daw. A year now of power cuts. Got one electrician who thinks I might be just tipping past the threshold with the keyboard. Suggests putting in a second RCD switch to fix it. Of course it might not even be that but it makes the most sense of a strange problem!
Hi Glenn! Thanks for your comment. Can't do much about your power cut problem - hope you get that sorted. I think Pond 5 is not a bad option at the beginning of your career, but as your music improves I think you should look at other, less "stocky" libraries to earn better cash. Supportive of you and your journey of course, but the truth is that if you feel that you are decades out of touch with your music, you're going to have to spend some time getting that sorted out if you want people to pay you for it. This might not be as big a journey as you think though, it's possible many component parts of your tracks can stay!
Really, really good advices and video! But, how to research the market? I MEAN how can you find the place of your music style? Of course, i check credits in TV shows and documentaries (POND5, SmashHaus) but is it the only way to find market where to sell our music? Thanks 🙂
Have you had to change the natural style you write in to make it work for TV/Production Music? What did you do to "optimize" it?
Well I've slowly learned that writing a song or traditional instrumental is very different than writing stock or TV film music. I've practiced with using just one chord and filling the track with intetesting sounds. Oddly enough there us a module right now in my degree which deals with creating electronic music using ableton live. I hope that gives my writing a new lease of life as much as another dimension
I should add that I'd much prefer writing for film, TV and games if I had a choice.
@@BossLevelAudio24 Grab the 3 free lessons from the description link, Glenn! Think you'll enjoy them!
This is so true! I have that exact problem myself, I send music that I like to production music companies instead of what they need! Stopping this right now!
Great video again as always Michael! This is my #1 problem. Of course I need to get better at the mixing production process, but I write a lot of very genre-specific music and they are mostly one-offs, so I haven't done any albums of the same style and it makes it hard send anything to a library. I guess my problem (if it's really a "problem") is that, if forced to write a certain way, I draw blanks a lot of the time, but I'm more successful when I just write whatever pops into my head. Maybe it's I'm not good at any one style, but average at doing any number of styles.
Good idea to maybe find a TV show that seems to use music close to my natural style and see who the licensing library is, then try and write similar stuff and see if they'll a use it.
Hey Matt! I hear you! And of course, don’t forget many libraries go to a few composers for an album, and some also need people to fill that last track or two to make up the numbers. Might be an interesting exercise for you to not wait for an idea to come into your head (you have proven to yourself that you can write that way, which is great!), but try a different approach: Perhaps check out some shows or tracks in successful libraries, write down a general “ingredients list” and just dive in from there? Be interesting to see how that goes.
Very helpful. Thanks for posting!.
Hi Michael great video as usual! At first I just went for what I remembered of the music in TV and videos. I just wanted to avoid copying. Went for quirky cues and just tried to balance having fun and being spontaneous and somehow that seemed to work, as I've had immediately several placements on national TV. I think mostly depends on how you're inclined towards music. I probably have a knack for conveying emotions regardless of the mood. Sorry if that sounds somehow big headed. But before writing any music I followed a few courses, including yours, which pointed me in the right direction. I'm still learning, but music is an ongoing process. It also helped that I've been writing music for well over forty years and started with Atari, 8 reels recorders etc. What slowed me down was that I couldn't afford to have music as a career:pay the bills, family etc. But my passion for music writing/production was compelling to the point I even used to read instrument's manuals during my lunch breaks at work. How I got to learn about midi and such in the early nineties. Sorry for this long answer, I just wanted to show an example. Tsome sort of talent is needed, but possibly never giving up is more essential.
Loved reading this, Danilo! Was it Notator on the Atari?! Seems so long ago now, right? And doesn't sound big headed - sounds like you've got a very useful skill there!
Thanks Michael! It was actually one of the first versions of cubase. I still have the Atari, and yes it seems like in another life, almost.
@@danilocarnevale6098 Love that you still have the Atari! I still have my Korg 01Wfd that I used to use the onboard sequencer on to write tracks. Just can't let it go!
Ahahahah @Michael Kruk, programming must have been a nightmare. I had mine programming the Roland R8 and it was enough trouble! I guess we could go on for quite e bit with this conversation :-)
@@danilocarnevale6098 😂🙌🏽
Again, such great and helpful advice Michael, thank you again so much for putting the time into producing these for us. I look forward to each video. To answer your question, optimizing a piece of music for media almost always means taking the inspired melody or musical phrase that is fun and easy to write and then spending hours crafting the idea so that it evolves, rises, crescendos and then emerges from the crescendo simply again. Birth, glorious death in battle, and rebirth. Also, endings. Always with the concise and direct endings.
Love it, Haddon!! 🙌🏽 And 100% right with those endings!
Michael Another great video very helpful
Thanks so much, Ron!
Hello, I'm planning on being an artist and I've been watching your videos to find ways to monetise your career which has been helpful. I also want to get into sync licensing as I can make my own music however I need your help to resolve this problem that I've been thinking about. I release a song with a distributor which is distrokid, 2 months in its only got 150 streams on Spotify, I also manage to get a music supervisor to enquire for a different piece of music I sent them. They offer a sync fee but I'm only interested in royalties but I can't sign up with PRS because it says that I don't have a piece of music that's enough to generate royalties ( for instance a song with 150 streams is not enough) which is understandable but I also don't have an IPI number to give to the Music Supervisor . I don't know if that means I have to take the sync fee or I do just agree for them to use the piece of music and they promise me backend so then when it does start generating royalties I can show evidence to PRS but how I do know I won't get screwed because I don't own it? I may be wrong or missing something but it would be wonderful if you could clear this up. Hope to hear back soon.
Thanks a lot Michael for this great video... Why don't you offer the interview mentioned in this video for a nominal fee outside your big course? I would certainly b very interested in the main time while I save up for your large Music For Income course ;-) Kind regards and blessings, MaxT
Hey Max! Yes that's an idea that has been considered (and it's a smart idea!) The conclusion was that so much of the course (and interviews) reference other parts of the course (or other parts of the course expand on interview content), that it just seems to offer the best value and learning experience when it's all together and in order. I'm quite passionate about all students getting the whole 360 degree experience to become production music behemoths!!
@@MusicForIncome Hi Michael, thank you for your kind reply! I understand that extrapolating video interviews from your course to be sold separately may not give the viewer the complete picture that is given when consuming all the course content in the right order. Cheers, MaxT
There's nothing I'd love more than to earn even the most humble living from composing. But pond 5 is the only one that accepted my tracks. I'm 52 doing a degree in sound engineering and I'm struck by the fact that out of 22 students, only four play an instrument. The rest use chord and beat samples and rap over them.
I feel like I'm decades out of touch with my music. I come from the time of modulation and chromatic progressions, key changes and middle eights, harmony and bridges etc. The kids on the course produce very polished sounds to be fair.
They say a stock music composer has to be a good writer as well as a good producer.
Then there's the mystery of my power tripping everytime I plug in a midi keyboard into my Daw. A year now of power cuts. Got one electrician who thinks I might be just tipping past the threshold with the keyboard. Suggests putting in a second RCD switch to fix it.
Of course it might not even be that but it makes the most sense of a strange problem!
Hi Glenn! Thanks for your comment. Can't do much about your power cut problem - hope you get that sorted. I think Pond 5 is not a bad option at the beginning of your career, but as your music improves I think you should look at other, less "stocky" libraries to earn better cash. Supportive of you and your journey of course, but the truth is that if you feel that you are decades out of touch with your music, you're going to have to spend some time getting that sorted out if you want people to pay you for it. This might not be as big a journey as you think though, it's possible many component parts of your tracks can stay!
Really, really good advices and video! But, how to research the market? I MEAN how can you find the place of your music style? Of course, i check credits in TV shows and documentaries (POND5, SmashHaus) but is it the only way to find market where to sell our music?
Thanks 🙂