# Submission to Trailer Music Houses !



## HarmonyCore (Feb 19, 2021)

Hey Everyone,

So, I tried my luck and submit couple of trailer tracks, one horror and one action, to 5 houses. One of the houses decently responded back and said that they are finalizing two albums with tracks that have the same style and sounds as my tracks.

What I want to say is ...., that this is what I expected actually and this what I was trying to say to some professionals here who recommended to submit to trailer houses. Of course, trailer houses have armies of composers that produce tons of albums with a HUGE similarity to what I produce. This makes the submissions to these houses even harder. Before, I aimed for music libraries for 4 months now.

I am not trying to ask a question. I am just sharing my experience. So, it is an open discussion.

Thanks for your attention


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## pmcrockett (Feb 19, 2021)

I sympathize. I've just in the past couple of days sent out the first of what I'm sure will be many query emails to libraries. Too early to tell yet just how much of a slog catching people's attention will be. I'm keeping my expectations in check and trying to treat this as more of a trial-and-error learning experience than a bold career move.


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## brianbuchanan (Feb 19, 2021)

I was on Evolving Sound this week and dreamt of submitting my work to them. But I didn’t as I don’t have the library yet for that style. I posted in another section on here earlier today about trying to sound like trailer music. Good info though, HarmonyCore


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 20, 2021)

pmcrockett said:


> I'm keeping my expectations in check and trying to treat this as more of a trial-and-error learning experience than a bold career move.


I've been actually living my composing life in a trial-and-error mode. When I send emails to libraries or trailer houses, I never wait a reply from them. I just forget about them. I never felt depressed because I just don't wait for it. I literally lock myself in the "Send-and-Forget" mode. 

But the reasons of posting this thread is to share my experience and to do everything yourself to find out instead of following people's advices that might be wrong. These people are from here and they are supposed to be professionals in the industry I think. I am still not sure if it's true that trailer houses can take your track if it's unique in some way. But again, they have dozens of in-house composers that can deliver that uniqueness.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Feb 22, 2021)

HarmonyCore said:


> I've been actually living my composing life in a trial-and-error mode. When I send emails to libraries or trailer houses, I never wait a reply from them. I just forget about them. I never felt depressed because I just don't wait for it. I literally lock myself in the "Send-and-Forget" mode.
> 
> But the reasons of posting this thread is to share my experience and to do everything yourself to find out instead of following people's advices that might be wrong. These people are from here and they are supposed to be professionals in the industry I think. I am still not sure if it's true that trailer houses can take your track if it's unique in some way. But again, they have dozens of in-house composers that can deliver that uniqueness.


Which "trailer houses" have you submitted to?


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 22, 2021)

Jeremy Spencer said:


> Which "trailer houses" have you submitted to?


Brand X, Evolving Sound, Audiomachine, Confidential Music and Extreme Music


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## Jeremy Spencer (Feb 22, 2021)

HarmonyCore said:


> Brand X, Evolving Sound, Audiomachine, Confidential Music and Extreme Music


Unfortunately, your odds of getting into a high-end trailer house are pretty slim unless you have very high quality tracks (but you are already aware of this). I recommend focussing on music production libraries....did you have luck with any of those?


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 22, 2021)

I thought this track would get me into the high-end trailer house 








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Not really! I sent to Crucial Music and other couple of libraries. I get more rejections


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 22, 2021)

brianbuchanan said:


> I was on Evolving Sound this week and dreamt of submitting my work to them. But I didn’t as I don’t have the library yet for that style. I posted in another section on here earlier today about trying to sound like trailer music. Good info though, HarmonyCore


Evolving Sound was one of the houses that I submitted to them.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Feb 22, 2021)

HarmonyCore said:


> I thought this track would get me into the high-end trailer house
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Way too generic., and too many Braaaaaaams Lol!


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## versko19 (Feb 22, 2021)

HarmonyCore said:


> I thought this track would get me into the high-end trailer house
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey there, just wanted to offer my two cents as a fellow trailer composer. I'm by no means uber successful, but I have had a few placements. Just based on this track, one of the things I'd like to suggest is the way in which you think about momentum. Production-wise, save for a few clicks in the 2nd act, it sounded cool. However, I felt like there wasn't enough momentum. I wanted to be propelled forward even more. By the time that 3rd act hits, I want to feel immersed in the intensity of what you've been setting up in both the 1st and 2nd acts.

Whenever I receive notes, the majority usually involve the necessity to include more momentum. More propulsion. It's the driving force for the editor and the trailer itself. Anyhow, my apologies if you already knew all this! I don't want to come across as condescending. I think your track has a lot of potential and if there was just some added momentum to really drive the listener to the end, it'd be a solid track. Not all of us are aiming to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes editors/clients want the cliche.


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 22, 2021)

Jeremy Spencer said:


> Way too generic., and too many Braaaaaaams Lol!


LOL But hey! I listened to many horror tracks with the same style and they weren't on beat like this one. And they included too many Braaaaams as well


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 22, 2021)

versko19 said:


> Hey there, just wanted to offer my two cents as a fellow trailer composer. I'm by no means uber successful, but I have had a few placements. Just based on this track, one of the things I'd like to suggest is the way in which you think about momentum. Production-wise, save for a few clicks in the 2nd act, it sounded cool. However, I felt like there wasn't enough momentum. I wanted to be propelled forward even more. By the time that 3rd act hits, I want to feel immersed in the intensity of what you've been setting up in both the 1st and 2nd acts.
> 
> Whenever I receive notes, the majority usually involve the necessity to include more momentum. More propulsion. It's the driving force for the editor and the trailer itself. Anyhow, my apologies if you already knew all this! I don't want to come across as condescending. I think your track has a lot of potential and if there was just some added momentum to really drive the listener to the end, it'd be a solid track. Not all of us are aiming to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes editors/clients want the cliche.


No man! It's perfectly fine! I always welcome advices from Pro's. Definitely thanks for the tips. I am just trying my best to improve. Kudos to your tips!


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## brianbuchanan (Feb 22, 2021)

versko19 said:


> Hey there, just wanted to offer my two cents as a fellow trailer composer. I'm by no means uber successful, but I have had a few placements. Just based on this track, one of the things I'd like to suggest is the way in which you think about momentum. Production-wise, save for a few clicks in the 2nd act, it sounded cool. However, I felt like there wasn't enough momentum. I wanted to be propelled forward even more. By the time that 3rd act hits, I want to feel immersed in the intensity of what you've been setting up in both the 1st and 2nd acts.
> 
> Whenever I receive notes, the majority usually involve the necessity to include more momentum. More propulsion. It's the driving force for the editor and the trailer itself. Anyhow, my apologies if you already knew all this! I don't want to come across as condescending. I think your track has a lot of potential and if there was just some added momentum to really drive the listener to the end, it'd be a solid track. Not all of us are aiming to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes editors/clients want the cliche.


That kind of input can resonate with me too, so thanks for sharing the notes for H-Core!


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## brianbuchanan (Feb 22, 2021)

Jeremy Spencer said:


> Unfortunately, your odds of getting into a high-end trailer house are pretty slim unless you have very high quality tracks (but you are already aware of this). I recommend focussing on music production libraries....did you have luck with any of those?


Which production libraries would you refer to?

funny story: I had tracks submitted to AudioJungle maybe 8 years ago? I made a couple hundred total off a few tracks here and there. I closed my account later, then thought, well I wouldn’t mind getting this super passive income again, so I submitted newer work. They rejected it, said also I couldn’t submit that track again for consideration. Audio Jungle wasn’t even the top of the crop from what I could tell:(


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## Jeremy Spencer (Feb 22, 2021)

brianbuchanan said:


> Which production libraries would you refer to?
> 
> funny story: I had tracks submitted to AudioJungle maybe 8 years ago? I made a couple hundred total off a few tracks here and there. I closed my account later, then thought, well I wouldn’t mind getting this super passive income again, so I submitted newer work. They rejected it, said also I couldn’t submit that track again for consideration. Audio Jungle wasn’t even the top of the crop from what I could tell:(


Just Google around and you’ll find a ton of them. Loom at their submission policies and payment structures. I personally avoid the non PRO companies. You might submit to 50 companies, here back from three, and get interest from one.


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## Andrajas (Feb 22, 2021)

HarmonyCore said:


> I thought this track would get me into the high-end trailer house
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey! I write mostly trailer and library music. For trailers I mostly work with dos brains atm , and for library music its mostly Universal. I have a decent amount of placements but not a "huge" trailer yet. 

The libraries you mentioned; have you compared your music with their catalog? I mean, Audiomachine for example is one of the bigger ones, and has music out there that you can reference. After hearing your track, I'm sorry to say, that its not on the same level, in my opinion. The track doesn't grab me and doesnt develop in a "trailer manner". Also the production needs to be even bigger. It has good parts in it, but for a trailer track it needs more. It would work better in the TV world as I hear it. 

Whats your favorite style to work in? In my experience, try to find labels that suits your writing style, that will help you a lot. 

But if you want to write for the big labels, I think you need more time. My suggestion would be to try to find some tv-label first and get that going. Usually a little easier and once you have experience and better production, try to reach out to good labels (Library music is more reliable as well). But its super crowded at the moment., so your music needs to really be up there where they can hear you being ready and doesnt need a lot of tweaking etc. 

good luck!


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 22, 2021)

HarmonyCore said:


> No man! It's perfectly fine! I always welcome advices from Pro's. Definitely thanks for the tips. I am just trying my best to improve. Kudos to your tips!





Andrajas said:


> Hey! I write mostly trailer and library music. For trailers I mostly work with dos brains atm , and for library music its mostly Universal. I have a decent amount of placements but not a "huge" trailer yet.
> 
> The libraries you mentioned; have you compared your music with their catalog? I mean, Audiomachine for example is one of the bigger ones, and has music out there that you can reference. After hearing your track, I'm sorry to say, that its not on the same level, in my opinion. The track doesn't grab me and doesnt develop in a "trailer manner". Also the production needs to be even bigger. It has good parts in it, but for a trailer track it needs more. It would work better in the TV world as I hear it.
> 
> ...


Thanks man! 

Yes indeed, before submitting any track, I took a 2 hours listen to what's there. Of course, I admit that there are professional tracks compared to mine. And I have most of dos brains, audiomachine and brandx albums. But strangely enough, before I even come here and post this, I had a chat with one of the ELITES in trailer music (I won't share his name, sorry) that I took his contact off his Facebook page and sent him this track. He admired the track and he said it like that: "This track is almost ready for a placement. No two persons share the same ears so you will always get different perspectives. Just keep writing". That was very encouraging and show me an obvious indications of progress.

I am not in a rush! Definitely, I will take my time to perfect stuff.


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 22, 2021)

brianbuchanan said:


> Which production libraries would you refer to?
> 
> funny story: I had tracks submitted to AudioJungle maybe 8 years ago? I made a couple hundred total off a few tracks here and there. I closed my account later, then thought, well I wouldn’t mind getting this super passive income again, so I submitted newer work. They rejected it, said also I couldn’t submit that track again for consideration. Audio Jungle wasn’t even the top of the crop from what I could tell:(


I stayed away from AJ and Pond5! As Jeremy said, I also target PRO-based music libraries and staying away from the non PRO ones.


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## Andrajas (Feb 23, 2021)

HarmonyCore said:


> Thanks man!
> 
> Yes indeed, before submitting any track, I took a 2 hours listen to what's there. Of course, I admit that there are professional tracks compared to mine. And I have most of dos brains, audiomachine and brandx albums. But strangely enough, before I even come here and post this, I had a chat with one of the ELITES in trailer music (I won't share his name, sorry) that I took his contact off his Facebook page and sent him this track. He admired the track and he said it like that: "This track is almost ready for a placement. No two persons share the same ears so you will always get different perspectives. Just keep writing". That was very encouraging and show me an obvious indications of progress.
> 
> I am not in a rush! Definitely, I will take my time to perfect stuff.


Thats great, getting feedback from successful people in the industry is key. I'm sure you would get into lots of labels with this, but you are targeting some of the biggest. And thats why it may be why they don't reply? I'm not trying to be harsh but its really difficult and this track just may not be up there? 

But you seem to have the right mindset. Hope you get all the success in near future!


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## HarmonyCore (Feb 23, 2021)

Andrajas said:


> Thats great, getting feedback from successful people in the industry is key. I'm sure you would get into lots of labels with this, but you are targeting some of the biggest. And thats why it may be why they don't reply? I'm not trying to be harsh but its really difficult and this track just may not be up there?
> 
> But you seem to have the right mindset. Hope you get all the success in near future!


Thank you, Sir  Yes, absolutely they are big houses. I submitted a modified version to some music libraries and let's see if I can catch a fish


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