Advice on writing for film/tv

[Brock1]

Hey all,

Like many TAXI members, I spend a lot of time writing cues for film/tv. I have had some success, so presumably that means I'm doing it at least somewhat right. Still, I know there are people who get placements far more frequently than myself. I attribute this to a few different factors:

1. Being current/hip and able to write in multiple genres
2. Being a "one stop shop"; i.e. being able to write/record/produce everything on your own
3. Being fast


It seems like a lot of the most successful placements currently are hip-hop and orchestral. I'm pretty much guitar oriented for the most part. If I do a song that doesn't have a heavy guitar influence, I hire outside players/producers.

So, my questions/solicitation for advice:

1. If you are the type that is mostly geared towards one instrument (in my case, guitar), what is the "best" style to shoot for that is most likely to garner placements? I realize that is a tough question, and the obvious answer is "well, listen to tv shows and find which ones use guitar based tracks". I do my "watch tv" homework when I'm able, but as near as I can tell, guitar oriented pieces are typically the fare of reality tv. There doesn't seem to be a strong "preference" for one particular style. In fact, reality tv is all over the place when it comes to styles of music that they use.

2. How does a person become super fast at writing cues and/or songs? Again, yes, the obvious answer is "practice and write all the time". Well, I've been writing a LONG time and I've never gotten to the point where I can do a cue/song a day. I realize a lot of the most prolific writers write as a full time job. I have a day job, so that definitely cuts into my writing time. Still, even if I did it full time, I doubt I could write/record/produce a cue a day. But it seems like that's what you need to do to be highly successful. I don't usually "chase" listings because of the short turnaround time (usually a week for most listings). But I did just that recently because it was a placement I really wanted. Between my drummer and myself, I'll bet we put in 50-60 hours in that week. And that was on top of day jobs and his new baby. It was exhausting. And it astonishes me that people routinely do this and don't get burned out.

I guess I'm just slow!

Anyways, any advice y'all have would be appreciated.

Cheers!

Mike

P.S. I'm in the process of setting up my SoundCloud account, so I don't have a lot of my tracks up yet.

www.soundcloud/mikewestbrock
www,mikewestbrock.com

[Kolstad]

I'm not a good example myself, but I know of a really inspiring one, especially when working from the guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mqFdRdaymI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWZG3PTNwgY

I think just watching these videos will give you a heap of answers.

Suggestion to ML: Andrew Oye at the Road Rally.

[kclements]

Hey Mike -

1. If you are the type that is mostly geared towards one instrument (in my case, guitar), what is the "best" style to shoot for that is most likely to garner placements?

I don't know that there is a best style. It all depends on things out of our control. So the best you can do is play to your strengths, write a lot of music and constantly try to branch out and try new things. I only play the piano. So naturally I compose from that perspective. I have a good friend - also a great composer - who always tells me to stop thinking like a pianist. So I've worked hard to listen to other instruments and study and try to get a sense of how they approach their part. I'll never be a cellist, but I can get a sense of what they do to bring that emotion to the part. Then I try and emulate that.

The second thing to do is collaborate. Taxi is a great place to meet friends and collaborators. I have met and become close friends with a number of people around here, and we often work together. So you build these relationships and you start working on projects together, and your skills compliment each others, and your cues get better for it. This can also help in the speed department.

How does a person become super fast at writing cues and/or songs?

This is one I've struggled with since becoming a member. I don't think I am a fast composer. On a really good week, I can do three, maybe four (if they are more simple cues and very similar), and I do this full time. But when i started I was doing just 1 a week. So I am getting faster, the problem is my increases develop very slowly. So I don't see it week to week. I see it year to year.

I realized a while back, I can only do what I can do. I can't get too discouraged about my writing speed or my styles. It is what it is. I work really hard at writing the best stuff I can write. And I think it gets better each time. And I get a bit quicker with production, arrangements, knowing what to leave out, knowing when to stop looking for that perfect synth sound, when to call it a day....

It's a slow process for me. It has been said - "it's a marathon, not a sprint"

Hope that is helpful -
cheers
kc

[Joseph]

Mr. Laskow interviewed Chuck Henry and Stephen Baird (two successful taxi members) on Taxi tv, and I believe they said to shoot for three really strong cues a week.

-Joseph

[Russell Landwehr]

For guitar, Indie and Folk and Singer Songwriter and Garage Band and Alternative Rock and Modern Rock and.... well get the picture? All styles seems pretty well needed nowadays.

As far as pumping out quantity quickly, don't worry about it. Just work steady and constantly and create quality stuff. The Quantity will follow naturally.

Russell

[Brock1]

Ok, thanks for the tips, guys! Much obliged!

Mike
www.soundcloud.com/mikewestbrock
www.mikewestbrock.com

[mojobone]

1. If you are the type that is mostly geared towards one instrument (in my case, guitar), what is the "best" style to shoot for that is most likely to garner placements?

Start with the styles you're most familiar/comfortable with, and branch out from there. If you're too far outside your comfort zone, you won't sound authentic, and authenticity is more important than chops. Guitarists, even good ones, are pretty thick on the ground, so think about how you can transfer your guit-skills to instruments that are featured in genres related to those you started with-if you fingerpick, buy a banjo, if you flatpick, consider the mandolin, etc. If you can learn some bass, it won't just enhance your writing, it'll expand your gig opportunities, as well. Maybe you're ethnic or have a relative who is-saz, oud, koto, you get the picture, but make friends with people who play instruments that are less related: flute, brass, drums, fiddle.

2. How does a person become super fast at writing cues and/or songs?

In a word? Templates. It helps to be really familiar with your gear and software, so don't change DAWs as often as your pants. Cues go under picture, so they don't need to be as fleshed-out as fully fledged songs; you get a beat, a pad or two, some ear candy and maybe a melody, you have an A section and a B section, with some edit points and it lasts a minute or two. Buy Dean Kripphaene's book, Demystifying The Cue for way more details and advice.

[hummingbird]

1. If you are the type that is mostly geared towards one instrument (in my case, guitar), what is the "best" style to shoot for that is most likely to garner placements? I realize that is a tough question, and the obvious answer is "well, listen to tv shows and find which ones use guitar based tracks". I do my "watch tv" homework when I'm able, but as near as I can tell, guitar oriented pieces are typically the fare of reality tv. There doesn't seem to be a strong "preference" for one particular style. In fact, reality tv is all over the place when it comes to styles of music that they use.

I see a lot of calls for acoustic tracks, assuming that's what you play. Examples:
-ambient tracks with a melodic plucked melody - think calm, peaceful, positive
-warm, playful tracks with a happy melody - think kids, summer afternoons, walking the dog
-edgy or moody or gloomy tracks, could be drone like with deep notes on the guitar
-bass & drum style percussive tracks for underscore


2. How does a person become super fast at writing cues and/or songs? Again, yes, the obvious answer is "practice and write all the time". Well, I've been writing a LONG time and I've never gotten to the point where I can do a cue/song a day. I realize a lot of the most prolific writers write as a full time job. I have a day job, so that definitely cuts into my writing time. Still, even if I did it full time, I doubt I could write/record/produce a cue a day. But it seems like that's what you need to do to be highly successful. I don't usually "chase" listings because of the short turnaround time (usually a week for most listings). But I did just that recently because it was a placement I really wanted. Between my drummer and myself, I'll bet we put in 50-60 hours in that week. And that was on top of day jobs and his new baby. It was exhausting. And it astonishes me that people routinely do this and don't get burned out.

It's not important to write more tracks. It's important to make the ones you do write, the best they can be. That being said:

-write to your strengths most of the time, because you don't have time to experiment.

-keep tracks of the calls for music that you see repeated over and over again, and work on developing a library in those areas. So if you see... positive uplifting tracks asked for several times, and this is something you can do, then work on creating several in this genre so you are ready to pitch the next time you see this call. With reference to #1, if you keep seeing something that you feel you might be capable of doing with a little work, then add that to your "projects for calls that are often repeated" work list. Make sure you listen to all the examples for the 'newer' genre and assess what instruments or sounds are being used and how they are being used, and think on how you can take your skills and tools to create something similar.

If you're writing for film/tv, one secret is to keep it short. Don't think of 3 and a half minutes or 4 minute instrumentals. Shoot for 60 to 90 seconds.

I'm not sure what your set-up is outside of the guitar, but if you can I'd get a synth so you can create some ambient tones for either tension or positive cues.

HTH!
Hummin'bird

[Casey H]

I'm not sure if anyone already mentioned it but our own Dean Krippaehne wrote a fantastic book about writing film/TV cues:

http://www.amazon.com/Demystifying-The- ... B00MR2MPBG

Dean is a very successful film/TV composer and long time Taxi member.

Best,
Casey

[88keys]

Since your main instrument is guitar, and orchestral cues are pretty much ubiquitous and as you say more successful, you might try and combine them and try writing rock/orchestral hybrid cues in the style of "300" etc...I hear this style of cue a lot !

But, yeah, I hear ya. Writing "quickly" is not my forte either. When I read about the output of some of the more successful library composers out there, I just ask...."how the hell do they do it ?" But, never mind, since I cannot do that, slow and steady will just have to do. If I get faster, so be it. Quality is more important than quantity for sure.

I also wonder whether or not we should chase success. That is, if you're getting residuals from a particular style of cue, whether we should go ahead and write more in that style as quickly as possible ? Or, is it too late ? Would we just be jumping on a bandwagon that is long gone ?