Move over Shark Week . . . it's time for crazy Americans month. Although I never thought music libraries would ever get a chance to re-use their cheesy epic orchestral and driving, apocalyptic catalogs . . . I guess I never contemplated I would be seeing (and enjoying) a show quite as nuts as Doomsday Preppers. I would love to believe its a comedy in the style of a Christopher Guest movie, but the people aren't joking around and they are literally preparing for the world to end. Anyhoots, enjoy the show and we'll be listening for those extra saucy synth stabs, swells and dirty guitars over string sections.
Name: Eric Hillebrecht Title: Creative Director, Senior Music Supervisor, President Companies: The Music Playground (www.themusicplayground.com) The Lodge (www.thelodgemusic.com)
1. Song I Wish I Synched: Ou Est La Femme - Louis Vertigo Remix (Hear it below). Also, Incredible Eyes by Ben Hartley from Special Blend Records. This is one of the most synch friendly tracks I have ever heard.
2. Favorite Music Placement: Not something I placed, but rather wrote for a short film called Carrot Vs Ninja (See it below).
3. Most Requested Creative Direction: "I'll know it when I hear it
4. New/Emerging Artist/Bands I Am Listening To: Pretty Lights. These guys are well known through a cult following and I just can't get enough of their sound. Their music just makes me feel cool walking down the street. Watch it here.
5. Last Concert I Attended: Dapuntobeat a funk, disco, dance band out of Mexico City. Tonight I am seeing Wishes and Thieves and next week Jviewz.
6. My Favorite Online Music Web Site: I like Tumblr cause its just for the people by the people and exposes me to more then just music. It's like a content friendly twitter feed.
7. My Favorite Mobile Music App: I use my ipod to conserve battery life.
8. Number of Music Tracks I List To Everyday: Roughly 200.
9. My Favorite Music Synch Curveballs: Mah Na Mah Na (The Muppets).
10. Favorite Cliche Movie Trailer Music Track: Not sure what this means.
11. Favorite Cliche Action Sports Music Track: Not sure what this means either.
12. Music Track Least Likely To Be Used Mom/Daughter Movie of The Week: I Touch Myself - The Divinyls
13. Music Track Most Likely To Be Used in a Pharma Commercial: "I've Want A New Drug" - Huey Lewis and The News
14. Instruments I Play: Guitar, bass, drums and some piano and trumpet.
15. Radio Station I Listen To Most: I don't in this market cause it smells like payola. If I hear Adele one more time I will cry. Radio is misused.
16. Favorite 80's Song: "We Dont Have to Take Our Clothes Off" Jermaine Stewart is up there:
17. Most Un-Licensable Track Ever: I Touch Myself - The Divinyls.
18. Biggest Licensing WTF Ever By A Major Artist: Not sure.
19. Desert Island iPod Mix: Ratatat and Trentemøller. Cinematic non-lyrical stuff cause the same lyrics would probably drive me insane. The break at 2:12 is sick.
20. Desert Island Film Soundtrack: Punch Drunk Love, and I Heart Huckabees cause Jon Brion is the best.
When it comes to choosing a production music library does size really matter? If you are in film, television or advertising production chances are you've hit the google search before to see what pops up when you enter stock music or music licensing and it's an overwhelming digital ocean of choice and claims . . ."900,000 Royalty Free Tracks" . . . "The Biggest Music Library in The Universe Ever Created" . . . "500,000 Music Tracks in 400 Genres" and so on. Yikes! How is a creative professional supposed to navigate all of this to find what they need?
Chances are, you are looking for the right track and chances are you need one piece of music in that moment.
Unequivocally, our vote is to choose QUALITY over quantity every time.
Two reasons:
1) Music Search Fatigue. There are some libraries out there with 100,000 tracks but only a fraction that are even worth a listen. More likely than not, you need to sift through lots of subpar tracks in order to find anything decent and that takes way too much time. The result, you either settle for something less than great, convince yourself you found something better than you have because the search is taking so long or wind up giving up altogether because you cant find what you need. Exhausting.
Good libraries have a deep bench of well meta-tagged tracks. Search should be easy, quick and the quality high (even fun!). You shouldn't have to weed out bad tracks to get the one you want, rather come away with a few choices and options that you feel great about.
2) The Human Touch. Most large music libraries are music mills. They are run by webmasters and not music supervisors or creative professionals, they are automated and lack meaningful human input and might as well be selling toasters, socks or books. Robots don't make music. Composers do. Databases don't care about your project, but a high quality music library will go out of their way to help you make it amazing. Smaller and mid-size libraries typically have a terrific staff of creative professionals standing at the ready to assist you. These people live and breath their music catalogs and often times have the right music knowledge to help you find the gems that fit your project. Hug a music supervisor (we hug back)!
The Diner Music