Score

scoring

Original Music

Export a WINDOWBURN of the film’s visual lock.

SPOT the film.    Which scenes need music?  Which do not?

  • CUES. Mark musical starting and stop points on an editing timeline.
  • HITS.  Mark critical moments where musical event must precisely match an action on the screen.  Include any hits of “sudden silence.”

DESCRIBE what the cue is supposed to do.  Add emotion?  Comment on a relationship?  Increase action tempo?  Calm the audience?  Foreshadow an evil event?

RESEARCH similar or inspirational musical to share with a composer. 

AUDITION multiple composers.  Compare the suitability of their existing work to your project. 

CONTRACT for the cues and, ideally, at least two revisions. 

  • Does their composition work include PERFORMANCE? 
  • Specify FILE DELIVERY – as mixed a single mixed track?  as individual instrumental tracks that you can mix yourself?
  • Specify OWNERSHIP.  Do you own this music exclusively and in perpetuity?  Are you merely licensing tracks that might be reused in other films? 
  • CREDIT the composer as agreed.

Production Music

SPOT the film.    Which scenes need music?  Which do not?

  • CUES. Mark musical starting and stop points on an editing timeline.
  • HITS.  Mark critical moments where musical event must precisely match an action on the screen.  Include any hits of “sudden silence.”

DESCRIBE what the cue is supposed to do.  Add emotion?  Comment on a relationship?  Increase action tempo?  Calm the audience?  Foreshadow an evil event?

Generate KEYWORDS (genre? tempo? instruments?) with your crew to filter a search.

AUDITION tracks at royalty-free sites like Audio Library, Bensound, Blue Dot Sessions, Free Music Archive, and Kongano.

Specify OWNERSHIP.  Do you own this music exclusively and in perpetuity?  Are you merely licensing tracks that might be reused in other films? ⚠ “Royalty-free” ≠ “Free.”

Upload tracks to the appropriate SERVER folder (not the download folder).  Include crediting METADATA. 

CREDIT the composer/performer as required.

KEYFRAME loudness to complement dialogue and FX levels.  BACKTIME the music so it ends at the same time as the credits.