Do you remember "public?" It was gross! We used to touch each other's hands all the time, and breathe the same air, and sometimes people would hand us drinks and we'd just put our mouths on the glasses like another person wasn't just holding it. We'd take groceries right off the shelf at the store, bring 'em home, and just throw 'em in our cabinets like they weren't covered in life-threatening pathogens - do you guys remember this? Elevators, guys. Elevators! Just packin' folks in, everyone touching buttons.
The Newsletter, however, has always been a sterile and pristine institution. It remains safely in the digital world, where the only viruses that threaten us are man-made creations designed to steal our credit card info or track our browsing habits. Not that this newsletter is a virus. It's not. It's a newsletter. You can tell by the sections, take a look below, all the telltale signs are there: News, Recent Work, Trends/References, Q&A. A newsletter. Don't be so paranoid!
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
|
|
Hey, maybe we take a break from "news" for this month. I've been looking at graphs and headlines driving myself crazy all month, maybe we don't need more news at the moment. The team here is safe, healthy, working hard and grateful for the opportunity to keep repping great material from all of you. Since we've been lucky enough to largely continue with business as usual - no news is good news! Besides, the Q&A section is long, we'll keep this one light.
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
This trailer for Capone, a biographical crime-film chronicling notorious gangster, Al Capone's final days, features a dark and elegant cue off of composer Joni Fuller's debut trailer album with SAS. It's one of my favorites on the album for its virtuosic violin performances, played by Joni herself!
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
Look, the team here is making me do this, I personally prefer to toil away in anonymity but the truth is that this Apple spot features a collaboration between myself and composer Steve Sopchak from a few years back when I was on the SAS roster. It really goes to show ya that you never know when a track might get plucked out of the catalog to find its home!
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
|
|
Florence + The Machine - Dog Days - This track has, and may be responsible for, many of the qualities that make a perfect ad song. It's quirky, driving, uplifting, anthemic, percussive, and soulful with eclectic instrumentation and a blend of modern and throw-back production. Look at all those key words! This one really covers a lot of ground!
|
Submit ideas inspired by this ref HERE with playlist name "#27 Cat Weeks"
|
|
|
|
Gotye - I Feel Better - No, not that Gotye song! This vintage, soulful track feels authentically aged with stylish production and a strong, passionate vocal performance. It's upbeat and fun without being too cute and has a positive, uplifting message. As always, if you choose to include vocals please also send an instrumental!
|
Submit ideas inspired by this ref HERE with playlist name "#27 Second Hit"
|
|
|
|
|
Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters (Album) - If you haven't listened to this album yet it's worth spending some time with it and some nice speakers or headphones if only to find out what seemingly everyone is talking about. It's jazzy, quirky, emotional, eclectic and percussive; esoteric but infectious, with spacious production and endearing, imperfect performances.
|
Submit ideas inspired by this ref HERE with playlist name "#27 Get Scissors"
|
|
|
|
Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm - 20:17 (performed by #coversart) - This light, sparse piece feels hopeful and sweet but not saccharine, with a dramatic, uplifting build that layers in driving, polyrhythmic pulses to move the piece along. The clean, dry piano sound on top of the distorted, ethereal, electronic elements keep your focus on the melody while giving the track a little edge.
|
Submit ideas inspired by this ref HERE with playlist name "#27 8:17 PM"
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
"What and how many different versions/lengths should I submit for each track?"
Generally speaking, one is enough unless a track includes any vocal elements. For tracks with vocals, we always ask for an instrumental to have on hand as well since the bulk of our pulls are for instrumentals. Otherwise, just choose your strongest version. If you're really on the fence we can always help you choose as well!
As for lengths, I A-ed a Q a few newsletters back about common track lengths but I'd just like to add that for the searches we send out, unless otherwise specified, we'd prefer to get one version per song, provided its length meets or exceeds the longest spot listed in the "Length" section. The terms of the potential license might involve cutdowns but generally speaking the client will handle those on their end, and if not we'll always get in touch with you to edit should your track be selected.
"What's the deal with song titles and file names?"
Our catalog has grown to be very large over the years and continues to grow every day, so in order to easily find your tracks when we need them we spend a lot of our time keeping it organized. Apart from metadata (which you can read about in the Q&A section of this newsletter) there are a few best practices that can be a big help when submitting new material, even if you're having trouble getting metadata to "stick."
To illustrate, I'm going to try to come up with a song name that hits as many of our naming faux pas as possible. Without further ado, I present to you the worst submitted song name:
"Ben_Santoro-Upbeat-Rock-Burger_King-FULL_MIX_(2020)"
Wow, okay, where do I begin.
1. We don't need the artist name in the title. Your name should either go in the artist field of the metadata or in the playlist name when submitting. 2. Tracks should have a unique name, not be a list of keywords. "Upbeat" and "rock" are better suited for the genre field. 3. Don't include the brand name in the title, we'll want to re-pitch the track to other clients and they don't want to know you made it for someone else! 4. All those dashes and underscores! Our system can handle spaces, and it's a much cleaner look. 5. The "Full Mix" should be the version with just the song title, any alternative versions can include labels (i.e. "(Instrumental)," "(30),") 6. No need for dates!
Keep in mind that we do our own clean up following these rules so you can rest assured if you submit a track we'll make sure it's presentable to clients and easy to find on our end. No need to resubmit just because of a titling or metadata error!
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
And there ya have it, like clockwork, another newsletter in the bag. I know for many/all of you, this newsletter is the one sole pillar of normalcy you're clinging to to keep you sane in these strange times; the mast you're tied to while the sirens' song lures your fragile psyche to be dashed against the rocks of uncertainty and fear. Well, you can count me, weary non-travelers, see you in newsletter 28!
Happy Scoring everybody!
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
linelinelinelinelinelineline
|
|
|
|
|
11766 Wilshire Blvd., Ste 500
Los Angeles, CA 90025
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
