Favorite Movies or TV shows to learn styles?

[Casey H]

Movies are largely scored but there is fill in with vocal songs and cues from libraries in scenes that need something different. Often it's what is called "source music", a song playing in the BG in a restaurant, bar, from a car radio, etc. I have a good Taxi friend here who has had piano cocktail lounge pieces in scenes that require that (set in a cocktail bar, jazz lounge, etc). Sometimes it's world music such as a unique Asian or Latin piece of music that's easier to get from a library than have scored. Or a dance pop song for a scene in a club and so on.

Yes, your best bet is probably writing cues and getting them into libraries who in turn pitch the cues to TV shows and movies. So I would look at listings for cues and listen carefully to the reference tracks provided. If you can make tracks that are similar to the references using good sound libraries and production, you have a shot. If you find that you can't make tracks like the references or prefer not to try, then this isn't for you.

JMHO. FWIW.

Casey

[Casey H]

A lot of times when I do my treadmill workout I watch mindless TV shows to pass the time. I DVR Catfish and Catfish UK (a new British spinoff) and watch episodes during the workout. Catfish isn't as hard to sit through as other so called reality TV shows (not that the bar is very high ).

Anyway, today I watched an episode of Catfish UK. In this episode, there were mainly guitar cues, some electric and some acoustic. Most of them seemed like they'd be fairly simple to write and produce for folks who play guitar and have a basic recording setup. This is just one example of watching a show and taking note of what you hear as far as production library music.

Anyway, even if you can't stomach some shows, there are always others. Networks like TLC, Discovery, MTV, E! and more have tons of shows that feature cues. Surprisingly, my PRO payments on "Impractical Jokers: Inside Jokes" on truTV are decent. And they rerun the sh*t out of the episodes. That's one of the nice parts of TV cue placements- the gift that keeps on giving as they rerun.


Casey