Over the last five years, basic home studio setups have come on so far that it's now possible to write full arrangements and sync them up to a video just on a standard laptop. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for writing music to film, TV and adverts, and so also gives producers a much-needed new revenue stream too. But how to get involved and start making your mark on this crowded scene? Join us as we run down a quick overview of what equipment, skills and contacts you'll need....
One of the trickiest parts of the process is getting the work in the first place, and finding people who need music for their productions. One obvious place to start would be with local students on film or TV production courses who may need to create programmes or shorts for their assessments. It would be unpaid of course, but it's still good practise, and - as we should all know in this industry by now - networking and making contacts is never a bad idea. That kid at university now might land a plum job at Universal in two years time, and if you've worked together before, it could lead to better things in the future.
If you're a published musician, then simply ask your publisher - they'll no doubt be in contact with music sync agencies to try and get your tracks onto TV programmes, and TV people are always looking for new music. Alternatively, ask someone you know who is published - they may already be turning down work if they're busy, and you might get a chance to submit a couple of demo efforts.
The crucial skill you'll need is the ability to turn things around extremely quickly. Sometimes you need to submit a demo the same day, sometimes you get twenty four hours, but either way there's very little time to get bogged down in details, fills and mixdowns. You need to sketch the general idea out quickly to communicate the idea to the director, and if they like it there'll be (some) time later to work on the small stuff. Bear in mind that these projects can sometimes need a lot of music; your author last week had to submit a two-minute track in the style of early 90's soul, and the initial deadline was within four hours. You have to work quickly and efficiently.
This leads on to what tools you'll need to do this. Firstly, and most obviously, you'll need a certain range of hardware and software to work with. Any modern DAW can handle video and audio these days, and any laptop from the last 5 years will be perfectly up to the task. Synths and samples are extremely important; whether you're trying write a 70's funk lead or a classic piano house piece, a good keyboard should have you covered. Sample packs are highly useful for this as well - with one purchase you can get a quick overview of a whole genre, with some ideas for production, riffs, and arrangements too. Get a dozen or so and you'll find that whatever you need to write, you'll be able to turn to one of your packs and find some inspiration for a starting point (they'll come in handy for your own productions too).The other angle is a decent grasp of theory and musicianship, as well as a good musical knowledge. You might be asked to write in a style that you've never written before, but if you're familiar with genres and scenes, you might be aware of the typical sounds of that style. If you don't, then you'll need to quickly work out what it's doing so you can get into the right vibe – is it minor or major? Key changes? What are the rhythms doing? Your producer's hat is important here too; you can take a drum kit or piano from the 70's to the 80's just with your choice of EQ and reverb, so a good knowledge of production techniques is invaluable.
Any instrument skills come in very useful here too; even if you can only play a few chords on guitar or gave up violin at grade 3 - real instruments are difficult to synthesise effectively, and being able to record yourself playing even a simple line will add an extra dimension to what you can offer.
One other key requirement is the patience of a saint. Hearing an overpaid media executive making ridiculous comments to try and justify their obscene salary is amusing when it happens to someone else; but once you've heard someone ask you to make a folk track "a bit more "heavy rock"(true story)you'll start to appreciate the need to be polite, play the game and make changes to your track even when they're plainly not going to work. These are the people who decide whether you'll be featuring on the show or advert, so it's best to play along and try to accommodate them where possible.
Patience and persistence are also essential to deal with the inevitable knock-backs that you'll receive along the way. Just like trying to get your tunes signed involves plenty of polite refusals, it will be a long time before you can get into the swing of writing quickly to order. So don't get disheartened - keep hustling and as you get more practised at this tricky art, you'll soon find you start to get more interest from producers and publishers.You could write a book on producing music for TV - many people have - but we hope these tips have given an insight into how to get started.
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