SECRETS OF SOUNDTRACKS

Making music for picture is now one of the most rewarding roads that a music-maker can travel. So, sit back as we arm you with the knowledge and tools to start your own soundtracking journey...

There are a lot of issues for musicians to worry about in 2023. Whether it’s anguish about the algorithmic nature of our listening habits, or those who point at the financial unsustainability of music streaming for the economic survival of artists. With all this pervading negativity, some might even be thinking of stepping away from their core passion. But, a more positive, somewhat under-shared truth is that in the modern world, music has really never been more omnipresent.

The boom in streaming television over the last ten years has been inextricably bound to the services of a growing list of distinctive composers and sound designers. Expressive composers are personally hired to infuse their own creative sensibilities into our favourite shows, films and video games.

Merely a decade or so ago, the art of writing to picture was significantly different (and significantly harder) than the process is now. Thanks to the rise of video-supporting DAWs and upgrades, the plethora of big budget orchestral and real instrument sample libraries, not to mention the numerous mountains of sound design-tailored effects, most of us are over-armed to begin our soundtracking journey. The sad thing is, many of us probably don’t even realise it.

While conventional writing to picture is still a prerequisite for a lot of projects, there’s also been a simultaneous growth in production music and an explosion in the number of sync agencies, who work tirelessly to get their artists placed. Resultantly, many thousands of musicians now make a comfortable income writing cues to more general briefs, and pitch their archives of tracks, alongside said agencies, to music supervisors on a regular basis.