Work and Methodology
Music for media: Production, Implementation and Strategy
Music for libraries, Youtube videos, music-databases, A/V and media in general is as much subject to SEO, CMS and keyword searches as anything else on the net. But beyond simple metadata, fan-engagement and platform optimisation, music composition has to keep up with its audience.
Production Music is created on the assumption that the audience that it will be used by will add it to a much larger product, a piece of A/V media.
The careers of production music composers and supervisors are spent trying to guess what kind of video it could be used for, and what piece of music might fit with it.
Tasked with optimising the functionality of the music for media, I’ve discovered that this work is often carried out under the mistaken assumption that the audience of production music is the same audience that the media company is selling their product to.
In fact, to first understand the difference between Production and Commercial music is that you are writing for the editors who will implement and music into the piece of media, and the producers and directors who direct them.
The functional difference between commercial and production music is linearity. One is written to be listened to from A to B, the other is to be chopped up, rearranged, and implemented rather than simply consumed.
This is, therefore, is a significantly more technical task than simple commercial music production, and sales and creative representatives are losing money by not formally systematising their content creation.
I have spent the last 8 year developing strategies and techniques to condense these ideas into a comprehensive method that maximises the value of music I work on, which in turn maximises the value of media.
Below you can check out some examples of music that I have either supervised and composed myself:
Supervision
Composition
Mindgamers
To prove that my A&R, music supervision and content creation ideas are valid, I took my ideas to the next level whilst working with the Red Bull imprint Terra Mater, on their feature-length film Mindgamers.
You can clearly hear in the soundtrack, created by my first ever A&R signing; Ben Fowler, that the influence of the exciting, adrenaline-laden feel of Sounds of Red Bull pulses through the entire body of work, showing the development of a signature sound, and the ability to sell and communicate it effectively to external companies and products.
The KPI of content that a company can sell as a a piece of the brand in each piece of content is one of the strongest promises a company can make if that company is diversifying into the media and music industry. This was is my central focus when developing content or content creation strategy for brands.
The film itself touches upon the themes of digitisation, humanity and futurism, wrapped up in a compelling teen-drama. The director desired a unique mix of old-school funk, Dubstep and traditional orchestral, epic themes, all of which we delivered swiftly and smoothly in the final product:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4sKtDp0fOpLnRV8PaOmPSw?si=1bpyfolXSUWMJXehFh7qlQ
I also wrote the creative brief for, supervised and co-mixed the single from the soundtrack, a cover of Heard It Through The Grapevine.
BCONE Sample Packs
Download samplepack from bittorrent now (external page)
In 2015 I spearheaded the initiative to create a sample-pack of "old-school" drum samples, for composers to create tracks for the BCONE breakdance product.
Though company connections at the famous Studio Baumgarten in Vienna, I personally selected a drum kit out of individual drums, tuned them, supervised the production setup, and directed the drummers in creating lines of beats. I then aided the post-production and mix of the drums samples, that were then sent to composers all around the world to create music for the BCONE ciphers.
This gave the entire project its own unique sound, while still working within the rigid adherence to "old-school beats", and repetitive tracks, year on year, that the DJs and producers of the product demand.
In addition to this, a composer was hired to create wholly owned tracks for the Red Bull Audio Library, but the final product was rejected by the company. I was asked to create remixes and re-conceptualisations of the tracks, under the pseudonym The Supervisor. My remixes, and the original tracks for comparison, can be found here:
https://www.redbullaudiolibrary.com/playlist_mobile.php?ids=71807
