# Originality in Trailer Music



## BenG (Mar 12, 2019)

How do you all deal with trying to create Epic/Trailer music that is truly original and hasn't been used previously?

The more I use more common chord progressions and simpler (half/whole note) melodies, I am finding it difficult to know if it has been 'done already'. Is there any way around this that I'm missing?


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## erica-grace (Mar 12, 2019)

BenG said:


> How do you all deal with trying to create Epic/Trailer music that is truly original and hasn't been used previously?



The same way you would try to create a film score for a movie that is truly original and hasn't been used previously, I would think.


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## gsilbers (Mar 12, 2019)

the guys from two step from hell seem to do some different type of epic that sounds cool. 
trailer music is relies a bit more on prodcution and doesnt have too much development time for different theory wise. but still cool to try different production vs composition tehcniques that take that genre to the next level.


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## BenG (Mar 12, 2019)

gsilbers said:


> the guys from two step from hell seem to do some different type of epic that sounds cool.
> trailer music is relies a bit more on prodcution and doesnt have too much development time for different theory wise. but still cool to try different production vs composition tehcniques that take that genre to the next level.



And I would say that that is actually one of my issues. I come from a purely orchestral background, so there is nothing revolutionary going on production-wise to stand out...


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## Desire Inspires (Mar 12, 2019)

BenG said:


> And I would say that that is actually one of my issues. I come from a purely orchestral background, so there is nothing revolutionary going on production-wise to stand out...



You should take some courses on how to produce Trailer music.


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## sleepingtiger (Mar 12, 2019)

BenG said:


> How do you all deal with trying to create Epic/Trailer music that is truly original and hasn't been used previously?
> 
> The more I use more common chord progressions and simpler (half/whole note) melodies, I am finding it difficult to know if it has been 'done already'. Is there any way around this that I'm missing?


Amen to what gsilbers said above. My first epic/ trailer album came out in January and even though there are traditional elements it relies heavily on sound design and production. I backed into the whole epic/ trailer thing and I'm pretty much a newbie to that part of the music biz so take what I say with a grain of salt but when I was shopping those tracks I got the feeling that the big libraries were up to their ears in standard formulaic trailer tracks. One guy actually told me it was obvious I didn't know the rules and that I should probably avoid learning them.

Edit: Ha! I just looked at your website and we're label mates! In fact, your album came out right after mine. Nice work!


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## BenG (Mar 12, 2019)

Desire Inspires said:


> You should take some courses on how to produce Trailer music.


 You may be right and I will check some out!


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## BenG (Mar 12, 2019)

sleepingtiger said:


> Amen to what gsilbers said above. My first epic/ trailer album came out in January and even though there are traditional elements it relies heavily on sound design and production. I backed into the whole epic/ trailer thing and I'm pretty much a newbie to that part of the music biz so take what I say with a grain of salt but when I was shopping those tracks I got the feeling that the big libraries were up to their ears in standard formulaic trailer tracks. One guy actually told me it was obvious I didn't know the rules and that I should probably avoid learning them.
> 
> Edit: Ha! I just looked at your website and we're label mates! In fact, your album came out right after mine. Nice work!



Very cool to see we're on the same label and thanks so much for the input! Are you doing all custom sound design on that album? Would love to hear it


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## sleepingtiger (Mar 12, 2019)

BenG said:


> Very cool to see we're on the same label and thanks so much for the input! Are you doing all custom sound design on that album? Would love to hear it


I checked out a couple of tracks on your album and they're fantastic! Seriously, excellent work. Yes, I actually have two albums with them. One is called Phosphorescent and it's strictly sound design. The other, which is the one I was referencing in my previous post, is called Orbit and it's hybrid/ epic. I don't know if it's appropriate to link here but you can find them both at Immediate's page on the BMG site.


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## gsilbers (Mar 12, 2019)

BenG said:


> And I would say that that is actually one of my issues. I come from a purely orchestral background, so there is nothing revolutionary going on production-wise to stand out...



well, besides anything Thomas Bergersen, i would also suggest listening to those big trailer companies. to me, seems that many of those composers have the same thought as you. how to make it different to whats been done, yet not too far off. i notice some playing with perspectives orchestration wise and mixing wise. and also composers like brian tyler who does random one off epic tracks for concerts or commercials. his style is more dry but in those videos you can see the little tricks his orchestrators use to make it sound cool and fresh.


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## Henu (Mar 12, 2019)

gsilbers said:


> trailer music is relies a bit more on prodcution



"A bit".


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Mar 12, 2019)

I would say that "trailer/epic" and "originality" are mutually exclusive.


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## BenG (Mar 12, 2019)

Jimmy Hellfire said:


> I would say that "trailer/epic" and "originality" are mutually exclusive.


 Ha! Noted


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## BenG (Mar 12, 2019)

sleepingtiger said:


> I checked out a couple of tracks on your album and they're fantastic! Seriously, excellent work. Yes, I actually have two albums with them. One is called Phosphorescent and it's strictly sound design. The other, which is the one I was referencing in my previous post, is called Orbit and it's hybrid/ epic. I don't know if it's appropriate to link here but you can find them both at Immediate's page on the BMG site.



Wow, thanks so much for the kind words! Checked out your work as well, killer stuff man and love the industrial feel. Really cool sound design ideas on Orbit!


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## JohnG (Mar 12, 2019)

I ended up writing music for trailers and the guys told me just to write what I thought was really fun and interesting to write. Not "trailer music" necessarily, or what people typically think of when they use that expression, but what I was personally interested in doing. That worked pretty well.


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## Saxer (Mar 13, 2019)

I'm not a trailer guy but from the point of creativity I would think about emotions as in any other genre. All styles have do's and dont's and that's true for trailers too. But I think a trailer for a war movie would sound different to a love story drama or a biography or a teeny sports movie. So why not make a world music trailer or a classical music trailer? Things like that...


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## dannymc (Mar 24, 2019)

JohnG said:


> I ended up writing music for trailers and the guys told me just to write what I thought was really fun and interesting to write. Not "trailer music" necessarily, or what people typically think of when they use that expression, but what I was personally interested in doing. That worked pretty well.



Really John? i would of presumed they would say please just nail the briefs we send. 

Danny


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## Lionel Schmitt (Mar 24, 2019)

Do you expect John to come out with: "Yea, right - it was pre-april fools hehe!" ?? 
Different companies with different approaches and his took that route, at least with him. Certainly also depends on the prestige of a company. Whether you as a company can "allow yourself" to not just play it safe and produce only the most typical trailerish trailer music in desperate hunger for placements.


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## JohnG (Mar 24, 2019)

dannymc said:


> Really John? i would of presumed they would say please just nail the briefs we send.
> 
> Danny



Yes, really. I have worked in other situations where there was a 10 page (or longer) brief and all it does is shackle me.


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## Greg (Mar 24, 2019)

I've had good success just writing whatever I want, and then turning it into a trailer cue after the fact. If you start with "trailer" in your head, you will realize that you're actually quite limited and might not give yourself a chance to change it up.


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## Parsifal666 (Mar 24, 2019)

These days I wonder if the term "original trailer music" is becoming more and more an oxymoron.


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## ghostnote (Mar 24, 2019)

Minimalism. Do the math.


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## dannymc (Mar 24, 2019)

JohnG said:


> Yes, really. I have worked in other situations where there was a 10 page (or longer) brief and all it does is shackle me.



yeah but i guess my point was that usually the aim of each brief is to capture a certain mood. once you do that i guess you're free to write what you want. but if they are looking for dark sinister and you decide to write uplifting they would hardly be happy imo. i would imagine its much the same with working with a film director and writing to a particular scene. if they ask for a particular mood tone emotion you cant really stray too far from there. 

Danny


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## JohnG (Mar 24, 2019)

Well, it's true that if you write rom-com and they want Avengers that's bad. But the point is to write something that incorporates your individual taste and imagination. Those cues have been by far the most successful. 

Not just in trailers, either.

I'm sure I told this story before but once upon a time I was presented with a scene that the production team said they'd tried a bunch of times to temp, the composer they'd hired had had one or two shots at it and they weren't happy with anything. But the one thing they were 100% certain about was "no circus music" -- that was the big no-no.

So I watch the scene and I think, "this scene needs circus music." So I wrote that and they loved it.

I don't get all confrontational if I disagree, but my experience suggests: do what inspires you or it ends up pretty insipid.


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## Parsifal666 (Mar 24, 2019)

JohnG said:


> I'm sure I told this story before but once upon a time I was presented with a scene that the production team said they'd tried a bunch of times to temp, the composer they'd hired had had one or two shots at it and they weren't happy with anything. But the one thing they were 100% certain about was "no circus music" -- that was the big no-no.
> 
> So I watch the scene and I think, "this scene needs circus music." So I wrote that and they loved it.
> .



Makes me think of how Hitchcock expressly told Bernard Herrmann he didn't want music for the Psycho shower scene. Guess what happened.


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