There are a lot of things that can result in people not making a success of achieving an income through library music. A lot of the time the issue I hear is, “Oh, there’s so much competition, libraries just aren’t taking tracks any more.” I can tell you that’s bulls**t. Yes there is competition. There’s …
Breakdowns are often important elements to a library track, but how do you give your breakdown just a little bit of background sparkle and magic? When done well, it’s a lovely trick, even if you’re not going for a magical angle – it just adds a nice element of sonic interest that can set you …
When we run comedy type listings for the Music Library I co-own, one of the biggest issues that results in us turning tracks down is that composers try to make the music funny. That may sound counter intuitive, right? After all, the client will be going to the comedy album to look for funny music, …
Ever bought a sample pack with melodic loops, only to find that the performances are locked to a specific tempo? In those situations, you can often find that writing a track around those loops can be the easiest way forward. You need it to feel natural and not that the melodic loop was forced into …
When starting your journey as a library music composer, you’ll need to write a bunch of tracks in preparation to send to prospective libraries. You know one of the biggest challenges about writing library music for sending to these companies before they’ve shown any interest? Finishing. I know that if you’re anything like me, finishing …
We happily spend time layering up Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards and Percussion, but when was the last time you layered up the Bass in your tracks? Yup, thought so! 😉 Below is a video guide on how (and why) to start layering up Bass in your music to get some interesting results that can make …
This post is super short. It’s also very important if you’re writing Production Music. I had a great email this week from a composer who has taken the “Library Music That Sells” course and watched the recently added “Deep Dive” video walk-through of one of my tracks that has done well for me regarding …
We all agree that TV and Film music needs to breathe. It often needs a rich, full sound whilst simultaneously staying out of the way for voiceover or sound effects. This is not an area of music production where you want to suffer from an overly-busy or cluttered end result! Layering your Percussion (with or …
“There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is resistance.” -Steven Pressfield Ever found yourself avoiding sitting down to make music, even though you love doing it? …
I’m currently in the midst of a heavy writing deadline for a 4-part TV series, having to write a lot of music as quickly as possible. I wanted to share with you two techniques I’m using to help me write and produce more efficiently within my DAW, (Digital Audio Workstation.) They are useful for any …