Get this right before you license your song
February 11, 2024
There are many reasons your track can fail to get licensed.
Even if it’s a great song with good production.
This mistake is an easy one to avoid that most musicians don’t consider.
Watch the video above to find out how to fix it.
Chris
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Hey! Give us a shout about anything really.
contact Sync Songwriter
Our goal is for you to start getting your music into TV & film.
super insightful! Thank you
Good to hear, Ben!
How do I find a person to teche to properly use tascam 24 sd. I have some live stuff that is worth listening to.
Used to have a cassette tascam. I always blended my vocals with my music
You can hear it but not under powered but clear & distinct . Your advice was spot on.. my problem is I am not real tech saavy with just words or some language they use .
This has been a complete roadblock for me..
Any help or advice
Please. Thank you
Sincerely WILL
I am going through that shortly with my students, but that is unfortunately too big a topic for this comment box. You might need to put some money into hiring someone if you can’t figure it out yourself.
Thank you so much for this tip! You need to be a genuine insider to know this. I’ve been overlooking it.
There are a lot more pitfalls people who aren’t on the inside can fall into, but I wanted to tackle at least one of them for you. Glad you found it helpful!
Many of the comments I’ve heard from you sound helpful and like you have a genuine interest in our success. Then I look at the cost of your program and am totally put off. Without knowing what responses we will get from our songs, it’s much like buying a very expensive pig in a poke. I purchased a Taxi membership 3 different times (yes, shame on me) and have come to the conclusion, it is most likely a scam. I’ve found they give song examples that don’t really match their descriptions. Critiques are usually so generic as to be meaningless. I mention this because their sales pitch reminds me of what I’m hearing from you. Up front is seems to have our interests at heart, and though a completely different approach, I can’t help but be rather skeptical with such a high up front cost.
Hi Mel, I completely understand you being skeptical. I certainly am too when it comes to offers online I know little about. That is one of the reasons I bring on actual music supervisors who place music from my students. It’s also why I released a page with a big selection of our success stories. I think the only way to be sure about something is seeing actual results, which we have a lot of them.
We filled up the class for 2024 so registration is unfortunately closed now. Maybe I will see you next year and you will have an opportunity to see more of my student’s sync placements in TV & film. Wishing you the best of luck with your music in 2024!
Excellent advice Thank you
Paul L Blyton
Good to hear, Paul.
Great advice – a detail so small yet so significant. Thanks for the EQ tip and especially the subliminal delay – I will use this for sure.
You got it, Andrew!
Wound it be better to have a full mix version (music & Vocals), music only version and a vocal only version?
Stew
Yup! You want an instrumental version and a full mix version. What I talked about is for the full mix version to make sure your vocal is in the right spot. They aren’t necessarily going to mix your vocal for you so it’s best to have it ready yourself.
Great video! Good insight on the vocal volume which I’ve never heard before and then plenty of tips on how to correct it. Thank you!
Glad to hear it’s helpful, Dan!
Thanks, Chris, wonderful tips on EQ that make total sense.
I will share your technique with whomever I mix with moving forward!
Nice!
I always do a sync mix but still crickets.. 🦗🦗🦗. This is an extremely difficult market to get into. Years ago everyone was vying for a record deal! To be honest, if you had good songs, were are a good musician and could interact well with people, it was much easier to get a record deal vs a sync licensing deal! I got a record deal but still nothing in the sync world. Crickets.. 🦗🦗🦗🦗. Just making music for people wanting to get closer to the Lord and myself.. other than that, I’m fine with crickets! 🕺🏻. Thanks as always for the great advice Chris!
Hey Paul, it’s all about relationships and that is how we get so many sync placements at Sync Songwriter. I introduce my students to actual music supervisors. Otherwise yes, it’s super hard and is crickets for most people unfortunately no matter how good the music is.
Great info Chris, I don’t record or produce my songs, I live in Canada and I work with a producer that works out of a studio in Mexico, gotta love technology , but my question is would this be something I would convey to him and get 2 mixes one for platforms etc and one for sync and do most producers know how the whole thing works mixing for sync? 🙏
Unfortunately most producers do not know about what is required for sync. There are a bunch of things. They aren’t huge but critical. If you already have direct connections with music supervisors then it’s important to learn what those pitfalls are. If you don’t have relationships with supes, then that is your biggest priority by far once you have your sync mixes down.
Hi Chris,
My tracks are created in a professional studio by an engineer. They are mixed and mastered by the engineer for radio. I have no idea if they’re sync ready but I have not received one offer from tracks I’ve been submitting for sync. My music is placed in several sync libraries that are supposedly pitch my songs, with no success thus far. How can I know if the reason for no response to the pitches is because my songs are not sync ready?
Hi Calvin, the most likely reason by far that you aren’t getting placements is because being in libraries with hundreds of thousands or millions of other tracks, you are basically playing a lottery.
Love the eq advice. Your thoughts on file formats? Disco is suggesting aiff.
If you have connections to music supervisors to submit to them they will always ask for mp3s. The full res file (usually .wav) is for once they place your track.
Hi Chris. Thank you very much for the tips. I confess that with today’s technology at the disposal of every studio in what relates to a possible “rebalancing of the mix”, I was supposing supervisors went to sync songs just based on their intrinsic value (general quality of the music/song including its global production) and not such fine details (like vocals slightly prominent). I even thought that would be an eventual circumstance to be asked for the stems of a mix, in order that a rebalance could be done quickly at the sync destination. But it seems I was wrong 🤷♂️
The supervisors will pick songs based on their intrinsic value, but there are some details that are important too. If you are in a library or using a site open to the public, they will have many many choices of songs that sound very similar to yours and will pick the ones that tick all the boxes.
Once in a while music supervisors will ask for stems, but not usually. Most times they want to the master you give them to be ready to go. They want to be able to put it straight into the show, movie, or ad.
great
👍
Tricky one this Chris, a good mix is a good mix and would you change the vocal sound/level if you thought it would compete with dialogue in a film? Might’nt the Sync person/ producer suggest it to the writer after they enthused and accepted the track. "Could you change the mix by doing this please?" Anything you say boss! …..Anyway, like these little short golden nugget presentations. Thanks.
Hi Alan, the idea is that the sync mix shouldn’t sound much different than the regular mix. Just use some of the techniques I talked about to make sure the vocal is still present. You just want to make sure that the music isn’t left behind. Unfortunately no, a supervisor won’t usually have time to ask you for a remix. You have to get it right the first time. That said, if you are feeling like your vocal is already sitting in the music nicely then you are probably good to go.
Wow, Chris, you even have good advice for mixing! I learned from the Bobby Osinski mixing course very similar tips to those you presented here. In short, any time we add another track to what was already there, the aggregate increases. That’s why adding a track with effects or a track with altered EQ brings more attention. But, your point here is to blend the vocal into the music, so it does not become competitive dialog for the sync. Thank you!
You got it, Mark!
Hi Chris,
I hope you’re having a good day.
If anything, I think I err on the side of the vocal being too loud. I had never thought of doing a sync mix though, or that the vocals or anything distracting from the subject could be the reason a work doesn’t get placed. Thanks for all the information, tips and being so generous with your time.
Best Regards,
Russell
Great to hear this is useful for you, Russell!
Hi Chis, great advice. I self-produce all my songs based on a melodic idea. I first create the instrumental in the DAW with VST sound generators, and I create the mastering. Next I record and mix my voice. I export the instrumental, the vocals and the final master mix.
Thanks,
Johnny Betancor
Thanks for sharing, Johnny.
Hi Chris huge thanku for the tip the point at hand I know about bring vocal up against instruments rythmn section what ur actual saying have the vocal more sitting in the mix but what I’ve learnt in starting out with a recording start with example kick drum bass and vocal first then build up bye for now
There are many ways to build a mix, Tony and each mix engineer has their own technique. Glad you found that helpful.
Hi Chris, I hope you are doing great. When I drop the vocal back in the mix the lyrics are not understood as well. I believe that it is imperative that the lyrics can be heard. Sometimes when I increase the vocals again to make the lyrics stand out better, it gets too loud once again. Any suggestions? When mixing from scratch do you start with vocals first? Thanks much.
Bruce, this is why I gave you a few tips on how to make the vocal intelligible again when you turn it down. Maybe review the video again and try some of them.
Hey Chris, interesting points you made, but isn’t giving the vocals more presence the goal of most pop songs? For example, I already knew this delay trick, but for "normal" mixing. So, if I already do this in my "normal" mix then the sync mix would be this with the fade volume a little low?
You would just add a little more presence than your normal mix so the vocal retains its power. I hope that makes sense.