How I Make Cinematic Music For Brands/Ads/Commercials Pt 2 | Library Placements With Cinematic Pop

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markhimley
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How I Make Cinematic Music For Brands/Ads/Commercials Pt 2 | Library Placements With Cinematic Pop

Post by markhimley » Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:22 pm

Hey everyone!

Last week I shared part 1 of this series where I break down how I make cinematic music for brands and ads. This week I’m happy to be sharing part 2; I think these videos could be very helpful for some members here who are interested in getting into this kind of stuff. :)

In last week’s video, part 1, I showed how I landed two 60 second ad spots with Peter Millar. In this situation I actually worked directly with the music producer of the ads so I had to handle the negotiations, licensing agreement, etc by myself. I explained what that process was like and how it happened, and then I went through and broke down the two pieces I wrote for those ads and showed exactly how I created and produced the music.

In this week’s video, part 2, I explain how I landed two ad spots with Yamaha Boats with a Cinematic Pop song called “On My Mind” that I produced and co-wrote. These placements were landed through a music library/publisher, so I explain how that process was different, how it all happened, and then I go through the entire production and break it down so you can see exactly how I produced the song. I really dug deep into the production and there’s lots of production tips and tricks, so if you’re interested in producing hybrid cinematic music, or cinematic pop, you’re going to get a lot of value out of this one.

I haven’t seen many videos like this on YouTube, and they are definitely videos I wish I had when I started doing this kind of stuff. Thankfully the music I’m breaking down in these videos is all signed non-exclusively so I have the freedom (and permission of co-writers) to do so. I really hope this is helpful for those of you trying to get into this kind of stuff!

https://youtu.be/3iPb7X-ojss

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Re: How I Make Cinematic Music For Brands/Ads/Commercials Pt 2 | Library Placements With Cinematic Pop

Post by Telefunkin » Tue Oct 04, 2022 4:32 pm

Fantastic information and great sounding song Mark. Again, its very kind of you to post such a detailed video (some would call it a course and charge a pile of money :)). Thanks also for the accompanying open and honest comments. It would do us all good to ask 'why'.
Graham (UK). Still composing a little faster than decomposing, and 100% HI.

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Re: How I Make Cinematic Music For Brands/Ads/Commercials Pt 2 | Library Placements With Cinematic Pop

Post by markhimley » Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:16 pm

Telefunkin wrote:
Tue Oct 04, 2022 4:32 pm
Fantastic information and great sounding song Mark. Again, its very kind of you to post such a detailed video (some would call it a course and charge a pile of money :)). Thanks also for the accompanying open and honest comments. It would do us all good to ask 'why'.
Thank you very much, Graham! It is my pleasure, I really love making these videos. I've had so many amazing mentors and helping hands along the way and I feel it's my duty to do the same for others. While I fully support many paid courses out there, and I've taken a number of them, some of them are not worth the cost. Lots and lots of these courses popping up now teaching the same basic foundational stuff about licensing. That is not my goal and not in my plans - I'm going to keep making these free videos and provide as much free value as possible, as long as I can continually justify the time it takes to do so :) Really glad to hear they are helpful.

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Re: How I Make Cinematic Music For Brands/Ads/Commercials Pt 2 | Library Placements With Cinematic Pop

Post by Paulie » Tue Oct 04, 2022 7:39 pm

Fantastic video, and great job on the song! Simplicity... four chords, then tons of attention to detail with plenty of ear candy. :)

What is your video setup? What are you using to record the video, and what app are you using to edit? The video is crisp, lighting is excellent, audio is solid.

Well done, my friend!

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Re: How I Make Cinematic Music For Brands/Ads/Commercials Pt 2 | Library Placements With Cinematic Pop

Post by markhimley » Wed Oct 05, 2022 4:29 am

Paulie wrote:
Tue Oct 04, 2022 7:39 pm
Fantastic video, and great job on the song! Simplicity... four chords, then tons of attention to detail with plenty of ear candy. :)

What is your video setup? What are you using to record the video, and what app are you using to edit? The video is crisp, lighting is excellent, audio is solid.

Well done, my friend!

PC
Hey thank you very much, Paul! Really appreciate the kind words and you taking the time to watch and write your comments :)

As for my video setup, I have links to some of the actual stuff I use in the video description if you want to see exactly but I'll give a quick rundown.

I record the video with a Canon camera, mounted on top of that I have my Zoom H6 with a shotgun mic attachment, this is how I record the audio when I'm speaking directly to the camera. At the same time I'm using OBS to record my screen. When I'm on the computer, I'm using a Rode USB mic that's inside the Kaotica Eyeball which you can see onscreen.

For audio routing in my computer, I'm using 2 Mac-only apps from Rogue Amoeba, Loopback and Audio Hijack 2 - they are phenomenal. Loopback allows me to route all of my audio and create a new audio device, so I can route all of the audio I want and use that as the audio input in OBS (and Zoom when I do that, or any other app). Audio Hijack is different, I use that to route the audio to my headphones, and I can throw the Slate VSX software on that chain, so I'm hearing all audio go through that as I use the VSX headphones, but the audio coming through the video does not get affected.

After filming, I use PluralEyes 4 to sync the 2 videos, import that into Final Cut, and then edit there.

As for lighting - I just use 2 softbox lights - I need to figure out a new configuration though. The way I have it set up now, I am looking straight into the direction of one of the lights when talking to the camera and it gets really hard to do so - lights are bright and I end up having to re-film a lot of stuff.

I have invested quite a bit into my setup (all with money I've made from music, so re-investing of course haha). Not something I'd recommend necessarily, but I want to take this seriously and want to stick with it.

Hopefully that helps! Thanks again my friend.

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Re: How I Make Cinematic Music For Brands/Ads/Commercials Pt 2 | Library Placements With Cinematic Pop

Post by Paulie » Sun Oct 09, 2022 5:38 pm

Great info Mark, thanks a ton for the detail. Guess I need to finally get a newer Mac, my old Mac-Mini just can't handle Final Cut Pro, I sometimes struggle with OBS as well. I've got Audio Hijack, but I had not heard about Loopback. I've been trying to figure out the right setup for me to do live streams of writing sessions on YouTube, or for Zoom calls. There was an app I tried to use in the past, but it was not very intuitive and I ended up messing up my audio outputs and finally deleted it. I'll check it out.

I get the lighting issues as well, it can be very fatiguing to stare into bright lights, and with glasses people see the reflection on your lenses. :)

Keep up the great work!

PC
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"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." Beethoven
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Re: How I Make Cinematic Music For Brands/Ads/Commercials Pt 2 | Library Placements With Cinematic Pop

Post by markhimley » Mon Oct 10, 2022 1:40 pm

My pleasure! Yeah check out Loopback, it's incredible. Very easy and intuitive, and super helpful.

Thanks again!

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