PRODUCTION MUSIC
Video:
Rumble in the Jungle
Snazzy
Spoontime
Sunny Day
New Orleans Strut
Audio:
HumouresqueBoomtownNutty CrackersDiggin in the DirtDiamonds & RubiesWhitechapel WhistlerGorillaMr PlodNEWS! SOS magazine Feb 2008
See the first part of an article I have written on production music in the February Sound on Sound. Part 2 next month concentrates on the techniques involved in composing production music.
Production music has evolved from library music. In some respects it is the same thing: pre recorded music available to production companies for use without negotiating copyright clearance or composition fees. Generally there are fixed fees payable for a synchronisation licence depending on length of music, territory and type of use. The term library music
is used as publishing companies would build up a library
of such music and make it available for use on televison, film, radio and other media. Library music was often looked down on as inferior, cheaply produced background or mood
music. As music (and sound design) has become increasingly important in television advertising, the quality expected of library music has increased in order to compete with the use of existing pop and jazz tracks, and the companies that produce this music are increasingly using the term production music
partly to distance themselves from the previous downmarket connotations of the phrase library music
I have recently composed and produced several production music CDs for BMG music library, one of the biggest publishers in the world. The music which works best and earns the most money seems to be the music which sounds like it is an authentic pop, jazz or blues recording. In order to do this composers may need use different methods from traditional soundtrack composition way of working. I have sometimes been asked to make the instruments out of tune or less rhythmically tight to sound more street
rather than like a polished performance by session musicians.
FEATURED PRODUCTION MUSIC
Instrument Amnesty (BBC Promo)
The Cosby Show
Eurotrash (Rapido TV)
Barry Norman’s Film Night (Sky Premier)
The Tottenham Ayatollah (Channel 4)
Pier On Film (Meridian)
Under The Moon (Channel 4)
Home Front (BBC)
Cannes Film Festival(BBC)
The Lying Game (Torch Productions)
Monkey Business (Meridian)
BBC1 Christmas promo music trails
Sky TV promo trails