Bang or no bang for the bucks?

[Telefunkin]

Hi Folks,
Graham from the UK here. A quick intro before seeking some insight:
- new member for less than 3 months,
- gigging guitarist, occasional songwriter, apprentice composer,
- 16 new pieces submitted, 3 still pending, 3 forwards (though still mystified by screening and missing email notifications).
Very happy to be here and meet you all!

My questions are regarding film TV type cues/themes.

1) I often see the requests for obvious edit points. Does than mean silences, and should they preceded by anything (rises/hits etc), or are we simply talking about ends of phrases that would facilitate a clean cut (which is less easy)?

2) Also, I listen to cues on TV (e.g. Ghost Hunters, Storage Hunters) and they are filled with bangs, slams and hits. Are they part of the submitted music or have they been added afterwards by the music supervisor? In essence, I'm asking whether I should include these dynamic punctuations within my tracks? In particular, film trailers seem full of them to the point of sounding far too contrived and unnatural (to me anyway), but is that what is required when submitting one?

To bang or not to bang, that is the question!

Thanks to all,
Graham.

[TheElement]

Hey Graham. Welcome! I can answer #1. dont know about #2.

an edit point is just a break in the track. it can be something as simple as removing a kick drum. you would be amazed just by removing a kick how it creates an edit point and makes the next section sound like something changed when you may have not have introduced anything new to the track.

You can remove more than just one instrument all the way down to removing all instruments and creating total silence right before the next section in the track.

I remove as much as I can throughout the track once it doesn't mess up the flow of the song. got to work with the song. for me anyway thats what I do. thats my take on edit points. Hope that made sense. sometimes I don't! lol

[Telefunkin]

Hi Mr Element,
Great answer, thanks
[If I was in the Bahamas I wouldn't be too worried though. Is there an emoticon for envy? ]

The background to the question is that I had a tension cue returned with the comment that is was sounding promising until I brought it to a stop (although I carried on with two more sections broken by a second stop, which were my interpretation of 'edit points'). I was looking for a bit more of a steer on whether I'd got that right. It seems not.

Also, in the lastest call for a tension cue the two examples given have several bumps, bangs and crashes that are not really musical features. I can include such things in my efforts but I'm not sure whether I should. Again, I'm just trying to get this clear.

Cheers,
Graham.

[zacnelson]

The bangs and crashes are added as separate sound effects by the editors of the TV show or trailer.

[hummingbird]

Film/tv cues should not include sound effects. However, they might include a bumper or a stinger created by the composer to punctuate the end of a section or the end of the piece. Most want button endings but a short stinger is permitted.

Put simply an edit point is a place the music editor can cut the track without it sounding weird. Having a wee bumper at 29.5 secs and/or 59.5 secs might assist with this.

HTH

[Telefunkin]

Excellent!
Thank you very much guys. I was beginning to think that the 'punctuations' were included within the music, although I'm really glad they aren't. Now I'm wiser I can eliminate one more reason for rejection, and that's great!

Also, thanks for the clarification on edit points. I think my instincts were closer on this but I'm more confident now, and that's great too!.

Many thanks,
Graham.