u/K-Frederic

I just started learning film music, and I'm currently trying to make trailer music for the first time in my life.

https://youtu.be/cN5qcoijzvc

I feel like my mix sounds muddy, but I'm not really sure how to fix it.

I've been watching a lot of official movie trailers, as well as trailer-style music on YouTube and Spotify, including some royalty-free tracks.

One thing I noticed is that non-official trailer music often has much more high-end. It sounds more punchy, bright, and powerful, while the music in actual movie trailers sometimes sounds darker and less bright to me.

So I'm wondering if this is partly because the actual trailer mix needs to leave space for dialogue and sound effects. For example, maybe the music is intentionally mixed differently because it will eventually be combined with dialogue, impacts, whooshes, and other sound design.

If I'm making trailer music for sync licensing, such as stock music, or if I'm directly hired to create a trailer track for an actual project, how should I approach the mix?

Should I make the music itself less bright and less impactful to leave room for dialogue and sound effects, or should I make it as clear, punchy, and powerful as possible and let the editor or mixer adjust the EQ and levels later?

I'd also love to know if there are any general mixing guidelines for trailer music intended for sync or for actual trailer productions.

UPDATE: I just came up with...I feel like the percussions tend to stand out and have more highs than brass and strings. Would it be because percussions has less sustains and don't disturb the dialogue...? If brass and strings which play long notes a lot and have a lot of highs, it would be annoying? Not sure and it's just a guess though....

Hi! I recently started making Broadway-style jazz music, and I'm currently trying to make a track inspired by "Another Day of Sun" from La La Land.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgx1FKus-6c

I watched quite a few YouTube videos about making Broadway-style jazz, and many people recommended jazz horn libraries such as SWING by ProjectSAM, Broadway by Fable Sounds, and Vintage Horns by Big Fish Audio, so I bought them.

However, my track still doesn't sound nearly as big or cinematic as "Another Day of Sun."

When I listen to the original carefully, I feel that some of the instruments have more of a classic, almost vintage sound, especially in terms of the mix. The horns and orchestral elements feel warm, distant, wide, and like they're being played in a large hall, rather than sounding like close-miked virtual instruments.

So I'm wondering: what plugins, libraries, or mixing techniques would you recommend to get closer to this kind of sound?

I'm especially interested in how to achieve that warm, spacious, "big but not too dry" sound. I'm also wondering if the difference is mainly in the plugins themselves, or if orchestration, reverb, EQ, compression, etc. play a bigger role.

Also, I'm wondering why the bass brass section sounds from the right, and the acoustic bass on the center, but doesn't sound empty on the left. What bass sounds on the left and balance the frequencies?

Here is my demo track. It currently sounds quite cheap and small to me, but I honestly have no idea what I'm missing.

https://youtu.be/JoaYj8Kj-o

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

https://youtu.be/JoaYj8XKj-o

I'm looking for similar sounds of the low snare / tom sound that plays in reggaeton style rhythms.

https://youtu.be/WF7keH9XGCY?si=csGOa6A745pbfoJV&t=59

First I thought it sounds like reggaton so I looked over the reggaeton drum samples on Splice. But couldn't find that heavy and punch sounds. Almost sounds are like bright and thin snare. Next I though I can hear that kind of sounds on fills, so I looked over drum fill sounds but couldn't....What keyword should I use for searching?

I love this track and wanna use the kind of clap sound (from 0:07) on my track.

It sounds like time stretched sound but searching for 'stretched' in the EDM, techno, electro, and IDM genres on Splice hasn't turned up anything similar."

https://youtu.be/tJa3JLc40dE?si=zkXP6B9af4Nds2L9&t=6

Film scoring noob here. I watched this video and was really surprised by how perfectly he matched the music to the animation without changing the tempo at all. Whenever he does change the tempo, it seems to be only when a hit point comes up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiiDNusHdp0

Also, except the first one, the music in this video is almost entirely in 4/4, like popular music. If the music doesn't have a specific groove, like four-on-the-floor or a strong backbeat on 2 and 4, I would expect there to be moments where the music doesn't line up with the video—cuts, character movements, dialogue, etc. But somehow, his music doesn't seem to have that kind of mismatch at all.

Yesterday, I tried beat mapping in Logic Pro on a super short film (about 10 seconds) of a man running down the street. I thought it would be relatively easy to match the tempo to the video because human running has a fairly consistent rhythm. But the tempo track ended up getting really messy, with the tempo changing slightly every bar or even every beat.

So I'm wondering: how does his music manage to stay at such a steady tempo while still matching the animation so perfectly? Am I misunderstanding how beat mapping or film scoring works?

Film scoring noob here. I just found this video (one scene, different music) and it's so fun to watch and helpful to think about film scoring.

Any other interesting videos or youtube channel of film scoring?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSkJFs7myn0

I've heard that he published a book about his career, but forgot his name.

I love the female singer's voice (Lilly Choi) and wondering if Ace Studio has similar AI singer models. Does it have the kind of voice models? If they have, I'll buy it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4N1yxEnQFc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjFzjy3sZH4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viGaUXaRQ60