A Trailer Music Supervisor’s Day
Nick Martin from Flyer Entertainment describes a typical day of a trailer music supervisor.
I’m the trailer music supervisor at Flyer Entertainment, a trailer house and marketing firm in Los Angeles. It’s my job to find the music for our trailers, give it to our editors, and producers, and license it. I use Trailer Music News to discover new music and chat about trailers, and I was asked to walk your readers through a typical day at my job.
Every morning, when I come into the office, I have a pile of mail waiting on my desk- albums from labels, publishers, and trailer music libraries. Since listening to every second of music is impossible, I put some on the shelf for later, place some aside to give to editors/producers, and make a small pile near my computer- music to listen to today. It’s crucial that I have the latest material loaded in and organized so that, should a project arise, I can get editors the most current music quickly. I have labels and libraries I’m fond of, but I try and give everything a chance. You never know where the next great cue is going to come from.
Once I’ve organized my CDs, then it’s on to the projects. I’ll finish watching the Quicktime of our latest feature, writing down the music they chose for the soundtrack. Soundtrack music from the film is sometimes licensed for the campaign, and it tells you about the musical style the filmmaker chose, so it can be an excellent starting point for marketing material. Then I begin pulling music. Trailers, generally speaking, have three “Acts” – an opening exposition, a development, and a back end. The next time you watch a trailer, see if you can pinpoint the “turn”- a scene is set, a world established (Act One), then a problem is introduced, new characters come into play (Act Two) and we build towards a climax with cards, titles, cast runs, and pounding music (Act Three). These acts are generally punctuated by musical changes. So I make folders of music that say “Opening” “Development” and “Back End”. Often, I’ll subdivide the folders into Commercial Rock (music with lyrics) and Trailer Music (from music libraries). If I can’t find what I’m looking for, I call around to the various music libraries and labels and explain the project. They point me towards the right folder, and sometimes will give me tracks they’ve been working on and haven’t officially released yet.
Then I give these folders to my colleagues in their editing bays, and we begin to select the music we will use in our trailer. As a music supervisor, I have to cater to several people’s musical tastes- the editor, the producer, the client. I’ve made it a point at Flyer to figure out everyone’s musical tendencies, so when I pull music for a campaign, I can at least be aware that this editor loves cues with big hits or this producer is partial to the piano. I’m also, even on major projects, working within a budget. What I pull at this stage will come into play months later, when I have to clear the cues.
Once the editors and producers are happy, I do my paperwork. We usually have a backlog of projects where the music is close to finish. On smaller projects, it’s my job to get quotes, negotiate rates, and obtain licenses for the various cues we’ve finished in our home entertainment projects. Also, when you’re working on a trailer, studios need a cue sheet telling them what music we’ve chosen, and whom to contact to clear it. Cue sheets, licenses and quote requests are an un-glamorous but crucial part of the trailer music business.
If I have free time in the afternoon, I will begin going through the pile of albums on my desk. I load them into a database and will sometimes “tag” tracks that I like with descriptions in iTunes like “fun action track” or “fast comedy intro” or “beautiful string build”. Libraries generally tag their tracks for me, making them easier to find, but I find that tagging smaller indie bands or more obscure soundtrack cues makes me more likely to find them later. In the evening, I’ll walk around with a producer and look at spots, and we’ll see how the music that we’ve chosen works. If it doesn’t work, I will find a folder of cues and attempt to replace the track with something similar. We usually show the client our work at the very end of the day. If there are music changes, I stay late or come in early, and the whole process repeats.
After work, I’ll put on a new CD while I’m doing the dishes, or while I’m driving to see a band around town. Even when I’m not at work, I make a point to keep music a part of my life.
I find this job to be challenging and rewarding. It’s especially exciting for me that there are fans of trailers and trailer music, analyzing our choices, thrilled by some efforts and underwhelmed by others. I’m constantly amazed to log onto YouTube and find someone has broken down the music in my trailer without the benefit of a cue sheet. It’s also exciting to think that trailer music is growing into its own unique style and aesthetic, and continuing to attract creative and talented composers from all over the world. Thanks for continuing to support trailer music, and for your passion for trailers and the craft of trailer-making.
-Nick Martin, Music Supervisor, Flyer Entertainment
