# Anybody composes for trailers, loves it and make a living at it?



## Valérie_D (Jun 19, 2015)

Hi,

There has been a lot of threads about music libraries lately, lots of them started by me.

I am also interested in discovering your experiences in trailers, any great advice is appreciated, good companies, turn over dates, the music itself, earning possibilities, the ''trailer format'', any personal experience is appreciated, thank you so much!

Best Wishes,


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## Greg (Jun 19, 2015)

It's a real love / hate relationship. That's for damn sure! hahaha

Deadlines? 24 hrs if you're lucky. Clients would prefer 5 hours (for a fully produced track of varying complexity. Mixed, mastered, ready to sync, & stems)

The Music Itself? Just like any other library, you can make music that sells, or make music that excites you creatively. Both have a place in trailers and that's great! Editors are always looking for new cutting edge ideas.

Earning possibilities? Everyone knows the sync fees can be huge. But placements are rare.

Honest advice? Only do it if it fits your aesthetic artistically. Too many newbies try it and come up with shitty epic music that would never work in a trailer. It is 10000000000x harder than anyone that hasn't worked in the industry before thinks.


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## Valérie_D (Jun 19, 2015)

Thank you! Yeah, for this part of this industry, I'm not really in the ''everyone knows'' category, more like ''what does it eat in the winter'' category, if I can translate loosely :D 

''It is 10000000000x harder than anyone that hasn't worked in the industry before thinks.''

Indeed, that's hard.


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## RiffWraith (Jun 19, 2015)

Greg @ Fri Jun 19 said:


> Too many newbies try it and come up with shitty epic music that would never work in a trailer. It is 10000000000x harder than anyone that hasn't worked in the industry before thinks.



Ain't that the truth. There are so many people who think that they can write real trailer music, and who can not hear the differences between the tracks that they write, and the tracks put out by pro trailer music houses. Not sure I understand that, but...

Thing is, trailer music is not all I-VI-III-VII, with staccato strings, loud booming percussion and chanting choirs. Tho, this is what many people think.

Cheers.


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## Christof (Jun 19, 2015)

Some days ago I was asked to write and perform music to a trailer for a universal pictures movie with a very short deadline.
Just finished some hours ago.
This is very different from composing for TV or movie, but it is fun.
This was a totally new experience for me.

But I can't tell how to approach the right people because they approached me.


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## Lex (Jun 19, 2015)

Hi,

I make a living doing music for trailers for the last 10 years, so I'll share what I know. 
This is gonna be a long one, so grab a cup of something.

- *Good companies*: Any company that has at least 10-15 placements a year. Not all look for new composers, but if you have good material it shouldn't be too difficult to find a good publisher. Stay away from starting up companies unless you know for sure that they have a very good music supervisor and a solid relationship with all the leading trailer houses. 

Once you have some material ready I would gladly have a listen and recommend you who to send it to.

-*Turn over dates*: There is several scenarios.

1. You write your own material at your own pace. When it's done you look for a publisher. When it gets sent to trailer houses you sit and wait with your fingers crossed (or even better start writing new material).

2. The publisher is preparing a new album and asks you to contribute x amount of
tracks that will fit the albums purpose. Trailer albums/compilations are always themed in some way to make it easier for the editors and music sups. In this scenario you will have time to write until albums mixing/mastering date. These times vary but it's never less then a month.

3. Custom orders from trailer houses. These are what Greg mentioned. They are most often done for big theatrical trailers, and are hardest to get and hardest to work on. You will get, as Greg said, 5h to 24h to do it, but important thing to mention here is
that these are most often "cattle call" that is not being payed. 

Basically the trailer houses will get in touch with music sup and say "..hey we need something like this for tomorrow", they don't actually care if the publisher already has the track, or Greg  needs to write it in 5h. They just want it. And they will ask other publishers in the same time too. Then they will see what they get and if they like any of it.

If you are lucky and they like what you did, then they will start asking you to change it and change it as much as they are changing the cut, which can be a lot on a theatrical.
For all this time you will not be payed for your work, and you will not have any guarantees that what you do will be used. There is simply too many people involved and all of them have to like what you did through out 3 months or so. If you manage to get it, you will get more money then usual, good exposure and solid reputation with the trailer house that did the cut.

-*The music itself*: Well, contrary to popular belief of uneducated colleagues that you can fart in a mic and then enjoy your farts on a big screen in my experience it's not that easy.

I guess the best way I can explain is that you have to follow what's going on in trailers, and then choose according to your capabilities and instincts if you are going to write material that can fall in to category of what's popular at the moment, or you are going to try to predict where the trend is gonna be in 6 months, or you are gonna try to 
fill in the niche that trailer houses need and you can do well.

One misconception that I hear a lot here is that "the epic" music that is all over youtube is same as trailer music. It is not, and I could write a lot about this phenomena and how it started but maybe some other time, the point is that the generic epic heroic tracks could get you licensed but you are reducing your chances cause by now trailer houses are drowning in this type of material and rarely have particular interest in it.

Try to do something that fits with what trailer houses look for today but it suits your style of writing. For example, if you are good at sound design, do just sound design, if you don't like to make music that is ridiculously loud and has a sophistication of a grizzly bear trying to play a marimba, then maybe you should try to just write trailer intros? You get the idea, i hope.

Other then that, simplicity is religion these days, keep things very simple and sneak in more intricate ideas within or underneath that simplicity. 

-*Earning possibilities*: Sky is the limit. It all depends how successful you are with getting licensed, you could make 500$ a year, you could make 50.000$ a year, you could make 500.000$ or more, it's very simple, the more licenses you get the more money you make. There is no back end in trailers, sync is all you get. 

If you wanna make a living out of it you have to produce enough interesting material throughout the year, every year. I would say 30 tracks a year is a bare minimum if you wanna have a decent shot at it. 

One thing to remember here is that financially trailers are a big gamble. You could have a track that license once, or it could license 30 times or you can have a 10 track album that doesn't get licensed once. There are no guaranties of any sort. Massive amount of tracks that reach trailer houses are never ever used. The market is more saturated with composers then ever, this is true, but honestly I could easily list those few that are working right now and have a long lasting knack for it. So, not many  This is good, cause who knows, maybe you are the next one that has it ?


*Trailer Format*: This is actually tricky one, cause the format is changing more and more. It used to be the usual 3 stage structure, but more and more the editors are trying to step away from it. Everything still starts easy, builds then bangs, sure, but editors are trying to do something new with it lately.

Here are some general tips:
-Make intros either 30s (+/-2) or around 60s(+/-2), if you go for the 60s mark the 30s with something, a perc hit, sound, new instrument, but mark the 30s with some change.

-Make your back end either 1:00 or 1:30 long.

-Make a 3 stage structure if you can, but don't be a slave to it. You'll never place a full 2:30 track, ever they will use parts of, that's why it's important that you have the parts they will need. Fo example, if you decide to make a track that has a 60s intro and 60s back end, thats cool, makes sense? Cause you have no idea what will get picked up, but you DO KNOW that trailer editors think in 15s, 30s and 60s chunks, thats your guideline.

And lastly, production quality. It has to be high. I admit that the bar is getting lower last 2 years, but you still need to produce and mix something that will sound good in cinema.

I think the main thing is, you have to know how to challenge yourself and how to incorporate new ideas in to a very restrictive format of music. it's not really a pop song, it's not really a film score, it's not really concert music...but it's kinda all of it..and in 2:30...

It's sort of like just scoring Superman learning to fly scene from MoS, or Bruce climbing out of prison in TDKR...but that's all you do..haha..every day your task is to score those two scenes, in different ways...

Best of luck, and if you wish, send me stuff when you are ready.

cheers

alex


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## RiffWraith (Jun 19, 2015)

Great post dude! 









Lex @ Sat Jun 20 said:


> ...{production quality}....the bar is getting lower last 2 years...



Yeah - why is that?


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## Lex (Jun 19, 2015)

RiffWraith @ Fri Jun 19 said:


> Great post dude!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The advancement of tools. The better the tools get the easier it is for a lot of people to produce something that sounds almost as good as something that sounds good, but not really. Over time this kind of production is so large in quantity that it becomes a "sound" that is acceptable. This lasts a certain period of time until enough of more imaginative music is being used again. 

Basically every time there is something out there that can't be easily reproduced by the majority the music tools producers step up and make a product that enables them to do so. 

Here's a simple example, Inception trailer (not the movie) gave us the BhRAM, this made some of us curious to start making our own BHRAMs mostly cause they are fun to do and the trailer houses were eating them like there was no tomorrow. But as silly as it is, not everyone could make a BHARM armed with Zebra a brass sample and a reverb, so Daniel and Folmann gave BHRAMS to the masses and all of a sudden the number of BHRAM oriented tracks, quadrupled! Then few years ago some of us started putting our BHRAMS through gaters, reversers, and LFO filters....and this year we have tools that do that for you..cause I guess routing a sound through a step sequenced filter is too much for many people...

And that's just one example...it's a cycle thing, and it will never end. I don't see this in film music trends, it's connected mostly to trailers...why?..well probably because if you are chucking something out by punching white keys on bunch of presets, you don't know how to orchestrate, and you don't know how to program music machines it's hard for you to imagine that you will score the next Ridley Scott movie...but you might, you just might have this crap in a TV spot for it...cause with this new software it sounds almost as good as the real thing...almost 

alex


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## Daniel James (Jun 19, 2015)

Everything Alex said!

I never really intended to get into trailer music....I was always looking at trailers wanting to be the guy working on the actual projects, however now that I am actually lucky enough to have a career writing music for a living I find taking the time to write a few library pieces or albums in the big over the top epic style (which I love) is actually a nice reset button for my creativity. One can get really stuck and tunnel visioned when working on other peoples work, its nice to take a break and try out some new things that you wouldn't otherwise get to do. You can write in styles you love and still have it be 'work'

So yeah its a great thing to get into, but if you are only in it for the money you may be disappointment for quite a while as it takes time to get anything substantial going.

-DJ


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## jneebz (Jun 19, 2015)

GREAT thread. This is why I love VI-Control. Much thanks to Alex and everyone who humbly contributes and gives budding artists some hope. 

o-[][]-o 

-Jamie


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## Stephen Rees (Jun 20, 2015)

Big respect and appreciation to you Alex for that awesome post.


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## muk (Jun 20, 2015)

Thanks Alex, very informative post.


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## sleepingtiger (Jun 20, 2015)

Big thanks to Alex for such a generous post.


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## mwarsell (Jun 20, 2015)

Thank you, Alex, an outstanding post!


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## InLight-Tone (Jun 20, 2015)

THAT was an education...


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## Dean (Jun 21, 2015)

Hey Valarie, totally agree with Alex and Daniel, spot on! especially the part about epic music its not trailer music at all .Im also lucky to earn a living from trailers for the last few years ,Im away at the moment but hope I can add more experience here when I get back on Tuesday. Diu


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## Vin (Jun 21, 2015)

Thank you very much for your post, Alex. Very generous.


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## mwarsell (Jun 21, 2015)

I've got some questions for Alex and other experts:

1. Do trailer houses want exclusive deals?
2. Do they want to own all the copyright? Even the writer's share?
3. What if you get accepted to several houses and they want exclusive deals?


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## Lex (Jun 21, 2015)

mwarsell @ Sun Jun 21 said:


> I've got some questions for Alex and other experts:
> 
> 1. Do trailer houses want exclusive deals?
> 2. Do they want to own all the copyright? Even the writer's share?
> 3. What if you get accepted to several houses and they want exclusive deals?



Are you asking about trailer houses who license the music, or about trailer music houses who publish it?

alex


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## mwarsell (Jun 21, 2015)

I'm asking about the middlemen, publishing trailer houses


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## Dean (Jun 21, 2015)

mwarsell @ Sun Jun 21 said:


> I've got some questions for Alex and other experts:
> 
> 1. Do trailer houses want exclusive deals?
> 2. Do they want to own all the copyright? Even the writer's share?
> 3. What if you get accepted to several houses and they want exclusive deals?



Hey Miika, there are different deals for different trailer houses,..some work in a non exclusive way so you are free to work with other trailer houses too,they will tell you upfront if they want you or your music tracks exclusively.

They retain the publishing but AFAIK the writers share is yours(or negotiable? I forget) but as others said there are no back end royalties from trailers from cinemas as of yet except when played as tv spots on certain stations or some Youtube channels. 

If youre excepted to different trailer houses who want exclusive deals just for your tracks then thats ok,..you can compose different cues for each house but you cant let different houses license the same cue or they get really pissed off big time! if they want you to work exclusively with only them then you have to choose one. D


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## Lex (Jun 21, 2015)

1. I never heard of a trailer house that doesn't want tracks exclusively

2. They keep publishing you keep writers 

3. See "1"

alex


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## Lex (Jun 21, 2015)

Dean @ Sun Jun 21 said:


> ..there are no back end royalties from trailers from cinemas as of yet except when played as tv spots on certain stations or some Youtube channels.



Hi Dean,

I'm curious about this, did you manage to actually get PRO royalties from a movie TV Spot that was licensed to a major Hollywood studio?

alex


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## gsilbers (Jun 21, 2015)

its also a very tight group who do the trailers and do the trailer music. 
hard to get into.


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## Pietro (Jun 21, 2015)

I'm a relatively newcomer in the trailer music field. Some of you may know my approach to the epic hybrid style, which I'm not that very passionate about. I have been lucky to have been accepted in some of the major labels recently, though.

There are many trailer music companies now, that each have their own sales strategy and style strategy. Some are general media oriented, and some are tied strictly to the trailer area.

It will probably be easier to get placement with those companies, that are tied to the "steady income" strategy, licensing music for lower rates to TV shows and games trailers. You would get money from licenses and royalties, which can turn out relatively satisfying and even very decent, if you keep building up musical profile with them. Sometimes you can land a custom music deal with them too. It's a lottery, but one that you can steadily build up your chapnces with.

Other companies have very high rates for strictly trailer placements. Those to me seem more risky. You have to be VERY good to get anything at all. That's because they are only accepting the best, and if they are releasing an album with multiple composers and you are new, everyone else is probably better. And you are a filler. Getting from a filler to the real deal will take time and REALLY good, convincing music.

Writing trailer music isn't easy. It may seem easy at first, but when you dig into it, you get a whole new level of musical understandig, that you need to reach. Just like with game music. Yeah, everyone can press one key and make Evolve play a tech drum loop, then add one sustained note or another loop. But it doesn't make the music work. Sure, some tracks sound dumb, but if they got licensed multipe times, it makes you think, they are not as dumb as you would think.

Actually, I learned to appreciate good music of any style. It's a an art, writing good pop, rock, hip-hop, dubsteb, epic, metal, contemporary music. One may not like it, but it's a thing one should learn to appreciate.

- Piotr


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## givemenoughrope (Jun 21, 2015)

Great thread. 

From a moviegoer’s perspective, I dislike trailers for the most part (not vintage trailers though) and not just for the music. Some aren’t so bad though and there seems to be (from what I’ve gathered while at the movies but trying to ignore them) a backlash to them being so epic or deafening, less overwhelming front to back and more intriguing, at least for smaller thrillers and dramas. Would you say that that is the case or is that just my selective memory (the trailers for films that I make a note to go and see)? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IWaBAwTf2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnwNuG1ayno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOohAwZOSGo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atQlRcYJBOM

How often are they written around songs and how does that work?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK7y8Ou0VvM 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpG5dWV7piw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5gPQXbFs9Y (just the intro)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0BMx-qxsP4 (the middle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fChx_YZUAR0

Is there a huge market for that kind of subtle, less is more trailer writing? Sometimes those kinds of tracks sound like the perc stem of a library track and other times they sound custom. Either way, writing that kind of stuff seems like it would be fun.


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## Lex (Jun 21, 2015)

givemenoughrope @ Sun Jun 21 said:


> Is there a huge market for that kind of subtle, less is more trailer writing? Sometimes those kinds of tracks sound like the perc stem of a library track and other times they sound custom. Either way, writing that kind of stuff seems like it would be fun.



All of the stuff you linked are using tracks from well known trailer music houses.
Yes there is a market for this kind of writing (as you can see). Sometimes these kind of cues are actually intros to tracks that have a big back end as well...

alex


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## rJames (Jun 21, 2015)

I would disagree with Pietro on one small point. It would be best if you were a newbie on an album with well-known writer's because your cue will be heard, guaranteed.
My advice would be to watch trailers, study them and write cues that you think will work following Lex's instructions that are posted above in this thread. 
Then send them to all of the trailer music houses that you can find.
If one of those companies thinks they can sell your style and quality production they will contact you.
And yes they will want each Cue exclusively.
You would be quite lucky if they want you to write for them exclusively.


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## Greg (Jun 21, 2015)

Little tidbit to pitch in. One of the things I really like about writing music in the constraints of a trailer is that the ideas have to be simple and very concise to make room for the narrative. It's really a joy to search for the most concise ideas that still have impact. And valuable to be able to do that as a composer! Even if you ultimately want to write symphonies.


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## salbinti (Jun 22, 2015)

Great thread, and great info!

So, allow me to play devils advocate for a moment. I am not a trailer composer, but am curious about this.

This thread seems to be relying heavily on composers who do trailer music getting in with the big music trailer houses. Well, What is stopping a composer who is really good at this to license their own tracks directly? Assuming he/she is really good at marketing, who's to say a composer who has a really good product can't go it alone? Or am I missing something?


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## Dean (Jun 22, 2015)

Lex @ Sun Jun 21 said:


> Dean @ Sun Jun 21 said:
> 
> 
> > ..there are no back end royalties from trailers from cinemas as of yet except when played as tv spots on certain stations or some Youtube channels.
> ...



Hey Alex,yes,I did a main trailer for Lionsgate (Hunger Games part 2),clips of this trailer aired on tv in Europe and I received some royalties from that.I also received royalties from UFC Youtube channel for another placement but in 3/4 years thats all I ever got from the back end though. 

Excellent post btw,..I could'nt have said it better myself! D


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## jcs88 (Jun 22, 2015)

Lex @ Fri Jun 19 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I make a living doing music for trailers for the last 10 years, so I'll share what I know.
> This is gonna be a long one, so grab a cup of something.



Great post. Thanks for this.


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## gsilbers (Jun 22, 2015)

salbinti @ Mon Jun 22 said:


> Great thread, and great info!
> 
> So, allow me to play devils advocate for a moment. I am not a trailer composer, but am curious about this.
> 
> This thread seems to be relying heavily on composers who do trailer music getting in with the big music trailer houses. Well, What is stopping a composer who is really good at this to license their own tracks directly? Assuming he/she is really good at marketing, who's to say a composer who has a really good product can't go it alone? Or am I missing something?



sure they can. here in los angeles its about being a vendor. the trailer houses is a vendor the to big studios. the music studios are vendors to those trailer houses. 
so to get into that supply chain its about having connections or having worked on big projects. 
redcola, ninja tracks etc are established vendors with a pool of music and composers who can deliver what the creatives' @ the trailer house and big studio want. 
they will want something new and unique. that's for sure.
for a random composer to come in and jump into delivering to the trailer house is possible but there is a whole system in place. this is not only about the music. 
its about liability , reliability, insurance, invoices, schedulers, coordinators. etc at the trailer houses. trailer houses already trust and signed contracts with music studios/some composers. so a new trailer its just another job. like a manufacturer. 
so even if the composer has the coolest music, there are some stops, but its still possible to work it in. or you get your music with those established companies who supply music. or you have a connection at a trailer house who is willing to give you a chance. since different music can still be good for a trailer, usually people go with what they know. which is one of the reasons why Hollywood doesn't have any new ideas.


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## Dean (Jun 22, 2015)

Like Daniel I also fell into trailers,at first I struggled as I had'nt a clue about the structure but I soon sorted that out and started to hit my stride.I only work on cinema trailers and the competition is fierce to say the least! Some one once told me that on the first trailer I did that they had also looked at over 200 track submissions from various trailer houses!

School of Hard knocks:
A while back I composed a bespoke cue for a huge film trailer,I was told the music sup was humming my theme all day long, I revised my cue over 12 times over a two month period and then nothing,.radio silence...the trailer came out later with another cue entirely.On two occasions I had landed major trailers only to have the films composers also compose the music to the trailer at the last moment (this was after months of revisions,.but.that happens all part of the gig,it only made me more determined than ever! I have lost count of the gigs I did not land(after endless revisions and work),..every trip to the cinema reminds me of that! Grow a very thick skin very fast,..but for all these reasons I love it more,,.bit of a sadist! 

The Trailer Bank:
Think of your trailer tracks as a long term investment,think very,very long term here  (especially if youre aiming your music at the biggest movie trailers out there)keep writing and improving all the time,.but less is more,its better to have 10 amazing tracks then 50 album flllers.Trailer clients LOVE LOVE LOVE new and exclusive music so keep adding to your living catalogue all the time.

Dont bank on trailers:
be prepared to wait 3 - 9 months or longer to get paid!!The bigger the client the longer the wait it seems.
NB:make sure you have other income/projects,..without financial backup you'll be broke and homeless in no time waiting to build a viable income from trailers.

The Trailer curve:
In my experience it took about 2 years before things started to click then a further year or so untill I had a building catalogue and then I really hit my stride.Trailers are a long game,..its a bit like landing Moby Dick every time and so unpredictable and surprising all the time,..nothing is ever for sure untill you actually hear that trailer online and know youre music is still there for sure.

Trailers are all Noise!:
Dont knock it till you try it and succeed!
If thats how you feel about trailer music then do something about it to raise the bar,write some amazing trailer music and kill the competition.If you dont take it seriously and compose the best damn traler music of your life every single time then youre wasting your time,the position of the lazy/apathetic composer has already been filled many times over.

Tips: 
forget your composing for a trailer and just compose the best music/theme you possibly can,just keep the right tone then play around and have fun with it.
Try to start with the theme first (on piano maybe) alot of poorly written trailer tracks are usually composed with the ostinato or big perc hits first then the theme is forced on to, it should be the other way around,..build the trailer structure around the theme.
Choirs are not compulsary! 
Epic and trailer are not the same thing.
Adventure/uplifting style is a high risk tone to go for,very rarely ever lands in trailers.
Be flexible and open to constantly pushing,editing and revising to make a track as good as it possibly can be.
Brush up on your mixing skills,..bigtime!


Hope some of this helps? Dean


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## Wibben (Jun 22, 2015)

Great thread, great advice and knowledge shared, guys, thank you


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## Greg (Jun 22, 2015)

Another thing to consider is that for theatrical trailers, it is very often the case that multiple trailer houses are working on the same movie, all trying to get the client to choose their trailer. 

This amplifies the competition as you can imagine! But also makes it oh-so-much sweeter when you nail a theatrical placement.

If you have badass music that is obviously amazing for trailers, it is completely viable to just bang the doors down of music supervisors and give them the music. 

However I would suggest only doing this if you're pretty damn confident that the material is impressive. If not, they might write you off and ignore your future emails.


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## givemenoughrope (Jun 22, 2015)

Lex @ Sun Jun 21 said:


> All of the stuff you linked are using tracks from well known trailer music houses.
> Yes there is a market for this kind of writing (as you can see). Sometimes these kind of cues are actually intros to tracks that have a big back end as well...



Wow. You recognize these cues, or maybe just the sound of the work? Or maybe it's just known who got the work for each trailer campaign?

Have you ever had to write around a licensed song?

So, if this is the case I'm thinking of trying to do write some music for trailers. 2:30 long, 3-part structure. 

The trailer game sounds somewhat similar to the ad game, right? Last year and the year before I pitched for a load of ads through a local music house in LA. I got rewrites a few times and high marks from the music sups at times but I didn't land a one. Honestly, save a few ads that called for music in the styles I actually like, I couldn't stand it. Wasn't into the cutesy indie stuff or extreme cola dubstep. I'm fine leaving that to the people that are actually good at it. By attempting these things i definitely realized how tough these styles can be to nail writing and production-wise. Likewise, I don't hear trailer music and think, "That's easy." But obviously there is some stuff that I can stand. 



complete side note- I went to a trailer music concert (you read that right) in SM that I think was put on by Immediate?...it was a couple years ago. It wasn't my thing at all and I mostly went bc i was invited and somewhat curious. Every last cue was epic (or waiting to be) so that is kind of how that notion got in my mind I guess. Good to know that there is some variety.


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## michaelv (Jun 22, 2015)

Many thanks to Alex, Dean and Daniel for investing time and showing extraordinary generosity in sharing their thoughts.

I've been writing for music library and TV for a long time, and very recently games. I've been thinking about looking into the trailer medium. The insights shown here are very valuable.


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## sleepy hollow (Jun 28, 2015)

Dean said:


> Brush up on your mixing skills,..bigtime!


Very important point that gets overlooked sometimes. Don't rely on the latest fancy plugin, but learn how to get the most out of conventional EQs, dynamic processors and reverbs.
And take your time - mixing is not so much about collecting tips, tricks and how-to's, but about training your ears.


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## scottbuckley (Jul 1, 2015)

Thought I'd throw my 3 cents in. I wrote for boomerang! for a little while, and landed a few decent TV spots and trailers between 2005-2008. It was fun for a while - recording with players; mixing some great tracks. But it got to me - the repetition, the mimicry, the 24-7 lifestyle; it was destroying what joy I derived from writing music. So I got out. 

I'm now a soil biologist, and loving it. Music is fun again, but it took a while. It's weird, but it felt like recovering from a chronic illness. 

Anyway - I respect those who can survive the trailer biz. You're stronger than me! :D.


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## Waywyn (Jul 1, 2015)

scottbuckley said:


> Thought I'd throw my 3 cents in. I wrote for boomerang! for a little while, and landed a few decent TV spots and trailers between 2005-2008. It was fun for a while - recording with players; mixing some great tracks. But it got to me - the repetition, the mimicry, the 24-7 lifestyle; it was destroying what joy I derived from writing music. So I got out.
> 
> I'm now a soil biologist, and loving it. Music is fun again, but it took a while. It's weird, but it felt like recovering from a chronic illness.
> 
> Anyway - I respect those who can survive the trailer biz. You're stronger than me! :D.



We are not stronger, we probably just enjoy what we do! ... in the end everything becomes kind of repetitive here and there anyway, no matter if you are a trailer/movie/theater/opera composer or a soil biologist!


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## Christof (Jul 1, 2015)

Some shameless self promotion 
http://vi-control.net/community/index.php?threads/custom-high-speed-cello-music-for-upcoming-steve-jobs-movie-trailer-universal-pictures.46369/ (Custom high speed Cello music for upcoming Steve Jobs movie trailer(Universal Pictures))


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## sleepy hollow (Jul 1, 2015)

scottbuckley said:


> But it got to me - the repetition, the mimicry, the 24-7 lifestyle; it was destroying what joy I derived from writing music. So I got out.


That was a very sensible decision, I'd say. There are way too many frustrated people out there, not only in the music industry. People who are constantly trying "to make it", but who end up grumpy and frustrated.

I start new projects/endeavours regularly to avoid repetion. Works well for me.


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## guitarman1960 (Jul 1, 2015)

sleepy hollow said:


> That was a very sensible decision, I'd say. There are way too many frustrated people out there, not only in the music industry. People who are constantly trying "to make it", but who end up grumpy and frustrated.
> 
> I start new projects/endeavours regularly to avoid repetion. Works well for me.



You probably have no idea just how many people in my day job (graphic/web design) are frustrated musicians spending every day in the design studio wishing they were doing music. I think if they all actually had to do music every day to pay the bills, then a lot of the imagined 'joy' of doing music for a living may soon disappear. The grass is always greener, right?


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## scottbuckley (Jul 1, 2015)

Waywyn said:


> We are not stronger, we probably just enjoy what we do! ... in the end everything becomes kind of repetitive here and there anyway, no matter if you are a trailer/movie/theater/opera composer or a soil biologist!



Haha good point. There's plenty of repetition in science - but for some reason I find it far more enjoyable!


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## scottbuckley (Jul 1, 2015)

guitarman1960 said:


> You probably have no idea just how many people in my day job (graphic/web design) are frustrated musicians spending every day in the design studio wishing they were doing music. I think if they all actually had to do music every day to pay the bills, then a lot of the imagined 'joy' of doing music for a living may soon disappear. The grass is always greener, right?



Ha! Yes - I have a bunch of friends in bands trying to 'make it'. Reality is never how we imagine it!


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## sleepy hollow (Jul 2, 2015)

Yeah, plenty of people out there who are driven by things that don't have anything to do with music, creativity or productivity. It's about prestige, about "proving something". Oh well, I don't want to get into details... Sure, when you're young, you're maybe a bit naive and easily impressed by lots of bullshit. 

_Buy things that you don't need
with money you don't really have
to impress people you don't like

_


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## Daryl (Jul 2, 2015)

guitarman1960 said:


> You probably have no idea just how many people in my day job (graphic/web design) are frustrated musicians spending every day in the design studio wishing they were doing music. I think if they all actually had to do music every day to pay the bills, then a lot of the imagined 'joy' of doing music for a living may soon disappear. The grass is always greener, right?


Part of the "being good enough" is exactly this point. The most successful people are not necessarily the best people, but they are the best people who can survive the industry well enough in order to make a living. "Good enough" encompasses all of these things.

D


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## guitarman1960 (Jul 2, 2015)

Daryl said:


> Part of the "being good enough" is exactly this point. The most successful people are not necessarily the best people, but they are the best people who can survive the industry well enough in order to make a living. "Good enough" encompasses all of these things.
> 
> D


That is so very true. I remember a great interview with Steve Vai, where he was discussing what advice he would give guitarists wanting to 'make it'. He said that it's one thing to be a great 'guitarist', but something totally different to have the 'music industry' skills to establish yourself, make a name for yourself, and actually do it for a living and become successful.


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## scottbuckley (Jul 2, 2015)

Daryl said:


> Part of the "being good enough" is exactly this point. The most successful people are not necessarily the best people, but they are the best people who can survive the industry well enough in order to make a living. "Good enough" encompasses all of these things.
> 
> D


Yeah. Survival of the fittest, not the best.


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## Dean (Jul 6, 2015)

scottbuckley said:


> Yeah. Survival of the fittest, not the best.



why can't it be both?  D


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## scottbuckley (Jul 7, 2015)

Dean said:


> why can't it be both?  D


Perhaps sometimes it is? :D


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## Desire Inspires (Oct 2, 2017)

Lex said:


> -*Earning possibilities*: Sky is the limit. It all depends how successful you are with getting licensed, you could make 500$ a year, you could make 50.000$ a year, you could make 500.000$ or more, it's very simple, the more licenses you get the more money you make. There is no back end in trailers, sync is all you get.
> 
> If you wanna make a living out of it you have to produce enough interesting material throughout the year, every year. I would say 30 tracks a year is a bare minimum if you wanna have a decent shot at it.
> 
> One thing to remember here is that financially trailers are a big gamble. You could have a track that license once, or it could license 30 times or you can have a 10 track album that doesn't get licensed once. There are no guaranties of any sort. Massive amount of tracks that reach trailer houses are never ever used. The market is more saturated with composers then ever, this is true, but honestly I could easily list those few that are working right now and have a long lasting knack for it. So, not many  This is good, cause who knows, maybe you are the next one that has it ?



Thank you for this!


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## Desire Inspires (Feb 22, 2018)

Lex said:


> Best of luck, and if you wish, send me stuff when you are ready.
> 
> cheers
> 
> alex



I am ready.


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