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I'm about to submit to a listing that asked for 30 and 60 second instrumental cuts. I have a 3 minute song that fits the listing. The song doesn't have natural breaks at 30 or 60 seconds, does that matter? I'm assuming I just need compelling grooves and moods for those durations, but if anyone could give me pointers on producing those segments, I would appreciate it. I was absent the day they covered this in school...Thanks!

hi fholewelcome to the forums!basically you can cut an 30 / 60 sec version in any daw program, even with freeware.you can, for example, cut the end of your song to the end of the first chorus, cut the chorus to the half, etc - whatever you like.keep in mind that it needs to be EXACTLY 30 resp. 60 seconds, including the ring-out of reverb or instruments.best of luck,martin

Hi Martin,Thanks for your help. The technology is not a problem for me, but I'm curious - do the cuts need a tidy ending or can I, for example, start the song at the beginning and just cut it off at 30 or 60 seconds? I know that sounds like a stupid question and I would think the answer is "no", but wanted to make sure. Thanks so much for your advice. - Al

The answer is no as you guessed. It needs to be a natural "button" ending, meaning no fade-out either.If it's for one of the listings asking for "30 and 60 second segments for their premium library", then these really need to sound like they were composed to be that length, it can't be obvious that they were edited from a longer piece.HTH,matto

Thanks Matto!Cheers,Al

Here is an article by Michael Laskow you might find helpful.http://www.taxi.com/faq/ftv/tv-music.html

If you are off just slightly, you can always use the "fit to time" function in your DAW.

thanks gitarrero and nickfever, i recently submitted to one of those listings too and didn't realize it had to be exactly that amount of time or slightly shorter, i sent one that was 40 seconds and of course it got returned. should've read this first! now i know better.

live and learn

A lesson I learned from returned submissions is that I seem to benefit from writing uniquely for :30 and :60 secs. For me the longer versions that are knocked down to the time restriction often lack the 'perfection' that these listings call for. I have found that writing specifically for this lengths forces me to think differently and thus my final result is better suited for what they are looking for. I have found its easier to write for :60 then drop down to :30 or lengthen up to 2:00 or more. And I find that writing for :60 forces me to compose differently making sure I get in all of your 'song' elements and expression of your main theme. A lesson that I too have learned the hard way.