I think about 3 or 4 in the past 4 days have gone to music supervisors. Maybe more. There have been a lot this week.

I think I have been shortlisted about 20 times now, something like that. Some of my early stuff was not right, but I think I am getting the hang of it now. You just have to dive in and start learning, and I am enjoying the learning process.

Here are a few things I have learned along the way.

1. ) When you are submitting, try and get as close to the exact sound and tempo of the sample as you can. Use a tool to inspect the BPM. If the sample is at 120 BPM and goes G C D, send them something at 120 BPM that goes G C D. Don't send anything at 80 BPM that goes Bm, Dm, Am, C#m7

2.) Send in various takes or different styles. Why not? One of mine taken for steel guitar was really stripped down but the other was a full country band. You can never be sure exactly what they are looking for, so try and get close and then send a few different approaches.

3.) Be REALLY careful on the mix. They use algorithms in this industry to test for loudness, BPM, dynamic range, things out of tune and everything else. Anything out of spec will not make it.

I am a big fan of Xtra Styles because they are sort of "pre-mixed" if you will. Everything I have had that was accepted used an Xtra Style and I applied only the most gentle mastering to it in Ozone, just the very light polishing stuff, none of the harsher ones that make it loud and over-compressed. That is the kiss of death. It has to be gentle on the ears even if it is rock. Make sure your .wav looks like a wave and not a brick. I am sure they are using an algorithm to see if the music rises and falls and has nuances and is not all at the same brick like loudness all the way through.

4.) It is totally possible to do work in BIAB with a home studio that will pass all the barriers to entry in music supervision. You just have to "trust" Band in a Box to do its thing, and be super careful in the mix. Spend a lot of time working out your drum, bass and guitar presets and get it down to a science. Then, go EASY on those mastering plug ins.

David Snyder
Songwriter/Renaissance Man
Studio + Fingers

https://davidsnydersongs.com/
https://spoti.fi/359Gigs
www.davidsnydermusic.com/
www.reverbnation.com/davidpsnyder
www.soundcloud.com/davidsnyderchannel
https://www.songtradr.com/user/profile/david.snyder