Why some great songs CAN’T get licensed
December 14, 2022
If there is one thing that stops music from getting a sync placement… it’s likely the same thing that will make you quit watching this video I shot for you.
Why is it way overexposed, wind in the microphone, and I’m squinting into the sun?
Watch the video to find out AND what it means for your best songs.
Chris
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Hey Chris. Thanks for the excellent video. I’m Jay, aka Rock Nurse. You said so many things that make perfect sense to me. I think that if this current generation of then playing,/writing would hear what you have to say, we wouldn’t be stuck with so much bad music. The computer has made it too easy for people without any talent to record this terrible junk. I know that I’m sounding like my parents who didn’t like Rock and Roll in the 50’s and 60’s but people who record computer programs who have no musical talent are ruining the music business.
Lol, you are totally right. I think being a musician should mean being able to actually play a physical instrument.
Or at least know how to bring your songs to fruition so they can make a splash in the world… whether you do everything yourself or get others to help you with it.
Hi Jay, I wouldn’t say there is anything wrong with computers in the music world, almost all the hit music you hear are done on them nowadays. I do think you are bang on though with the fact that the ability to put out music is not the same as ‘knowing’ how to put music out there.
I’m a drummer- wrote 45 songs. My band mates can’t produce the tracks properly. I may need a studio, so what are costs to fix rough tracks?
The costs are all over the place which is good for you. You have so much choice nowadays. I am sure you can find someone in your budget who can do this well for you. We unfortunately don’t work with prerecorded tracks and don’t offer fixing services. We produce, mix and master songs from the ground up so we have full control over the quality.
Thank you Chris, good to hear your message, will try to use those ideas.
Great to hear, Jane.
I’m a drummer- trying to record my next group of songs. My band mates can’t get the tracks done and I may need a studio. What are the costs to fix some of the tracks I have now?
The costs are all over the place which is good for you. You have so much choice nowadays. I am sure you can find someone in your budget who can do this well for you. We unfortunately don’t work with prerecorded tracks and don’t offer fixing services. We produce, mix and master songs from the ground up so we have full control over the quality.
Hey, Chris some really great perspective and I agree with what you are saying. I believe my productions are good but I hadn’t thought of putting my music in a play list and comparing to see if it moves me the same. Thanks, I’ll five that I try.
Ted
Cool!
lovin the playlist idea Chris. I always get my songs mastered by a professional, but vetting your mix is also a good idea b4 that happens I think. Takes time & patience though!!!
Good to hear, Jaquelina. Just be aware that your unmastered track won’t have the sheen or volume of the others in your playlist. Smart to do it ahead of time though while you have time to change anything.
So for my debut album, 4 of my original songs on the album got synced to a movie. One of those tracks I had arranged myself but had outsourced the vocal production and mix/mastering. In the past for my EP, I typically outsource mix/mastering cause I know I’m not the best at it. I’m currently trying to get better at producing and arranging so I can focus on that.
Hey congrats on the syncs, Lian! Great to hear and that you are working on becoming better in the studio. It will pay off no matter if you are producing yourself or not. You learn the language and what to expect.
Thanks Chris…good talk…BTW – How do you like it in the Sea of Cortez? Did you sail down or trailer it down… Anyway – looks fun…my music is always a work in progress….even when i finish the song, the recording, the mix…I go back and sometimes i feel like…Wow…I could have, should have, or…. mixed this different or re-recorded this… but sometimes we can also be over-critical of ourselves… I think using our ears, and other people’s ears always is a good thing! Cheers…
Thanks for asking, Mark. I sailed down Baja which was a lot of fun. Yes, vetting your music before you commit to the master is crucial. Good to hear you are on the right path.
I understand everything you are talking about because for a long time I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why my music just wasn’t sounding how it should and your right you have to get other people sometimes to come in and either help you or just for people to tell you what they don’t like about the way the track sounds so I just started getting feedback from different artists producers and I gathered all that information and used it and I was able to finally get my music to sound just as good as any other song out there
Love hearing that, Cory. I think you are doing things right!
Hey there Chris,
Yes, there was some wind mixing in with your video 😉
I understand what you’re saying time is money, but I can spend a little money to take the time to learn production cheaper than I can afford to hire someone to do it for me right now.
Here’s my latest, it’s a romantic Christmas song I cowrote with Jere’ Webber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXjDhs3SA4A
Good point, Jeff. Just keep in mind that learning to do something doesn’t translate into being able to implement it right away. You need to do it for awhile to get good at it which was really my point about hiring out pros while you get better.
Thanks again, as your videos are always instructive. Of course you are right, hire the talent you need to make recordings as good as we can get them. Without a doubt i am sure i have fallen prey to missing the mark producing my own tracks. I built up my studio very slowly because i didn’t have enough money to outfit quickly, and that has been part of the issue to swing to pro production, the lump sum. But i have to stop making excuses. So, i another savings envelope on the shelf 🙂
Good stuff, Josh, and also keep in mind that you don’t need much to make good recordings. This isn’t brilliant or anything but I did it in a boat with no treatment, on my computer with one mic, and mixed on a JBL Flip. It can be done. https://youtu.be/K9aIchn3LIQ
Hey Chris. Always a pleasure to see you living your dream with the boat life. Good for you! I have always felt that partnerships are king for success in any type of business venture. I have always carried that philosophy with me and am blessed to have a team of extremely talented artists and cowriters and producers. Thanks for the words of wisdom! Blessings Jim Vilandre
Great to hear, Jim, and thanks!
Hi Chris
i recently had that revelation that I need someone else better than me to mix my songs. I have made the arrangements to get that done and I’m hoping it works out.
Thanks
TomT.
👍
You make some excellent points. As a producer and specifically a mix engineer, I’m almost there. If Pros are between 8 and 10 then I’m 7ish. I like my musical ideas and arrangements but overall production quality isn’t quite there. I’ve been using other people’s projects as ‘practice’ meaning, I’ve been quite busy as a producer/engineer doing some great work but, like I said, the overall production is almost there. I’m now thinking that I’m gonna stop taking on new clients and just work on my own material and hire pros to produce my tracks and learn from them.
Hey, a 7 and climbing, I like that. I like your plan!
We’ve always used the best in the world that we can find/afford, outsourcing whatever we’ve thought we had to. Thus, production, in general, is never an issue. Thanks for the video, Chris. You sounded great, despite any wind disruptions you thought you had there.
Well good to hear that considering you choose us to work with as well. 🙂 Thanks, Ban.
Great video thanks! I took every song on the pop / rock / alternative billboards charts in this decade and am curating playlists for each to compare my new EP against
Haha, great to hear, Rane.
Great stuff Chris! Judging by the feedback I’ve been getting lately my productions are getting pretty good, folks have been saying they sound pro. For me the hardest thing is judging the vocal production, so maybe outsourcing that would put my songs over the top? Any advise for being able to assess the quality of my vocal tracks better Chris? Thanks!
Hi Jason, do you mean outsourcing for different vocalists or a producer/engineer that specializes in vocal production?
Thanks Chris! Your audio was fine btw, must be a good mic. Always enjoy your approach, and your tips. I have an atmospheric song, a moody country/bluegrass soundscape that I feel could sync well. However it’s long at about 6:21, and the longest instrumental passage is about 1 minute. Wonder if I should send an excerpt as well as the full tune when I send it out? Appreciate your thoughts.
Nope. Send the whole thing. They don’t listen from front to back at first anyway. They can always cut it down for a sync placement in post.
Good to know Chris. A couple of my more atmospheric type songs/instrumentals are upwards of 6 to 8 mins.
ps. cool t-shirt 🙂
Nice tips, thanks buddy
👍
Chris – thanks for the playlist suggestion – excellent idea!
Great to hear, Andy.
Hey Chris, Always look forward to your video’s. I completed my masters this year & have attained my licence. Always writing different genre’s to test myself each day to find my best sound. Always using the best sounds & referencing tracks that are similar to the song. A great set of ears helps to. Thanks for your words of wisdom…
Anthony
You are very welcome and glad I could help!
Hi Chris, my professional home studio is excellent, with Protools audio engineer course I did in 2004 , was my best investment learned from top record producers, and now learning from you and your friend Mivheal elsner.. regards Carlos Guerrero
Awesome to hear, Carlos!
100% agree. I can overlook a production, but I am not an engineer and prefer to leave that work to the professionals. I am too busy writing, rehearsing and playing music nevermind doing the band administration like treasurer, bookkeeper, booking agent, promoter and archivist.
Haha, yes a lot of hats to wear. Good to hear you are outsourcing the production for your particular situation.
Hi thanks – and Merry Christmas – Happy New year ! I´ve had 2 of my songs in Finals in UKSC – INSC and HMMN — (song contests) – does it mean that I´m on the right track ??
I would certainly say so!
Hi Chris, I agree 100%, I am retired on a fixed income and don’t have any free money to spend, not that I don’t want to or need yo, but I actually don’t have it.
I understand that in some circumstances it is more difficult. Here is hoping you find a way to get the seed together to start your journey.
Hi Chris and thanks for the video! I appreciate the playlist idea. Just wondering if you have input re authentic recordings from the 1980s and 1990s? Although my mixes sounded good back then, they are not as pristine as what is happening now. and sometimes we used 8 track and bouncing rather than 16 or 24 track. Do you think that that disqualifies those retro mixes? Do music supervisors take into account any sound differences between then and now? Do supessometimes prefer that retro sound? Should I explore remixing and remastering or should I send the recordings with an asterisk or do you have any other thoughts? Thanks very much, Chris!
Retro sound can work great as long as the production level is good. If the sound suits the times you are good to go in TV & film. I wouldn’t bother remixing if they sound good already.
Oops, sorry for typos. Tried to delete and repost, but can’t from my phone. Thanks for any input, Chris!
You bet, Ria!
Hi Chris,
The only thing I would add to your good production advice is once is not enough. I did this with a number of my songs. I thought (at first), "OK, I’m golden – I’ve got it down." But then I did it again a couple of weeks later with the same songs and decided, "Hmm, the vox is somewhat muffled, the snare doesn’t pop . . . needs more work." Actually, it took a few iterations before I decided the production was satisfactory – Not up to something like Dynamite by BTS (no matter what you think of the song, it’s a production masterpiece), but good enough.
But, I’m still not done. Now, I’m listening to the songs and comparing the arrangements to contemporary songs. Eight bar intro, instrumental solo, etc. . . . This stuff is rarely present in modern pop tunes. I’m still struggling with keeping everything down to 4 chords max, no modulations, no rhythm change-ups – all the stuff that makes most modern music frightfully boring – but that’s just the way it is. Thanks Spotify, with 30 seconds playing time being stream. I can’t reduce every song of mine to this minimal standard, but almost all of my songs can be tightened up.
So of course, there’s a difference between what might be acceptable for streaming and what might be appropriate for sync. They are not identical. But there is quite a lot of common ground. Actually, my more "dated" sounding songs might find a sync placement more easily than garner a high streaming count.
Good points, Peter, and we are always getting better so at some point we have to let it go once we know we are over that magic production threshold.
Thanks Chris,
Always dig you videos. As a musician, engineer and producer. I’ve been blessed with working with many incredible people in the recording and music industry. I’ve learned that each song, and especially each Artist I work with is different and the biggest mistake that can be made is to try to formulate some sort of cookie cutter procedure process to record and produce music. I am learning al lot form you and your incredible staff about targeting and the organizational necessities need to gain some success in this wacky sync world. so far my productions have been well received and I hope to continue to grow and learn as this journey continues. have a GREAT holiday!
P.S. I LOVE the Sea of Cortez!
Love hearing that, Jimmy, and thanks for the kind words.
hey sir Chris of SD,
I’m an old dinosaur I don’t do playlist thingy. I listen to CDs or SirrusXM or links a friend may send me of a cool song they found. Guess I gotta change that so I can make a comparison as you suggested. Though so far I’ve not gotten any negative comments about production. I’ve submitted songs that I’ve produced here at home and songs from my Cd recorded in a studio and mastered. So I may not be doing too bad as far as production goes. But Like Peter G said. The more I do it the better my ear gets. One of the keys is a standard workflow that you default to and some go to plugins that you use consistently enough to get the best out of them for your sound.
I’ve had several positive responses to my songs from "whoa I really like that" to "dude, just send anything you got" to "try a different drum beat" or "be interesting to hear a female sing this" Some of my songs were taken into the MS’s production meeting. But no placements yet. I guess I keep writing what I write, record what I record and something will fit somebody’s music needs eventually.
Thanks for all the work you and the team do. I know I’m paying you, but you give good service and one doesn’t always get what they paid for.
Good to hear, Rod, I just want to make sure you are doing what you need to do to target your music for the opportunities. If you can, try to compare your music in playlists and vet it with others. This is the next step once you know you have well written and well produced songs.
Great video, Chris, thanks! That’s my short answer. 😊
Absolutely the best feedback and downloads of the songs/music I’ve submitted to the sups’ have been those done in pro studios, such as yours. In talking frankly with the amazing sups’ you have given us access to through Sync Club, I have gotten amazing feedback on some of my “almost” productions. Bottom line: no matter how much they may like the song/music, it just has to meet the “how’s it sound test.”
I have had songs put into buckets submitted to directors. That’s just awesome, thank you!
You also really hit home with the mention of Legacy. I’ve been writing music my whole life, and it has mostly been for myself, family, and friends as I wasn’t so concerned with its overall consumption. But when I had a stroke, I realized that I NEEDED to leave my 3 daughters “my voice” so that if I were no longer upright, they could have me in their ears in a different kind of memory.
So I went back and had a friend select some 30 of my songs out of probably twice that number to record. (David Snider has a Gold Record playing guitar on Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen”—he’s incredible!) I made sure I was on each track in multiple ways as instrumentalist/vocalist, etc. Afterwards I decided to make them a Christmas present YouTube video of my song, “Once Upon A Time”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubff-65J8dM
My rambling point is that, yes, it’s all about production, and those songs done in the pro studio sound great.
I’ve since and currently been honing my home studio, and I’m getting close to achieving Sync-ready music. I HAVE had hits from the sups’ on my own home productions, especially if they don’t include vocals. It’s the vocals that still have me frustrated (recording myself singing leads, not backgrounds), but I’ll get there… Ha!
I still haven’t submitted a song to your studio to produce, I can’t decide as I keep writing new ones. But I know that whatever I submit to you, I can take that one to the bank on never having to worry if it sounds well enough to fit the appropriate brief.
Thank you for putting up with this scattered ‘like’ of your post!
Happy Holidays one and all!
Paul
Hey thanks Paul. We are here any time for you.
Great video – love your creative perspective/analogy and good advice!
Thanks Karen!
Covid gave me lots of time with my music. I feel the growth in the recordings over a period of years and think it’s time to release. When I listen to others in my genre, I think , "Wow I sound as good as that!" Then I start doubting myself. Releasing one song a month for 2 years, an album at the end of each year and a couple EP’S along the way. 73 years young, and still lots of music left in this head.
Great to hear, Ron. Keep at it!
Hi Kyli here AKA FindinWhy. I believe my song "Will Always" is a good example of quality of production for my upcoming album, which is mixed and mastered by an engineer at a studio/s. Have listened to it on different speakers and headphones and in the car and am thrilled each time when I hear it hold up well, and as also told by others it does, in a playlist. Hoping to get it in more playlists so send me a dm on IG Kyli_of_findinwhy (maybe will change to aka instead of "of") if you have names of some playlists for a cool or chill vibe and let me know if I can help your music. Also was thrilled to hear it played at a club in NYC (called club PHD at the Dream hotel) and see strangers and also the Djs reaction to it!
That’s great to hear you got such good feedback Kyli. You are on the right path!
I’m a songwriter/ghostwriter. Can you dm me your prices of to mix and master?
Hi Elvin, sorry we don’t do individual services, just full productions.
Hi Chris
I compose and perform my music on my golden age Steinway grand piano, I record it with my very good mics from Neuman and a very easy recorder from Roland then sent it to my sound master Bryon Harris president of BWH Music group.
Excellent, Karen. Great to hear!
Thanks for the video, Chris. The song you did for me, definitely sounds good along radio tracks. The best I’ve done on my own, though, is almost there, but not quite. I had them put it on spotify at the gym I workout at. What kind of sloop do you have? I had a Tanzer 22, but nothing now. You always shoot from your boat, but we never get to see the whole thing.
Haha, yeah I guess I don’t want to give a boat tour. It’s a Beneteau Sense 50. Thanks for the kind words.