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An Introduction to Sync Licensing

As a musician, you have most likely become aware of the word “sync”. Perhaps you have researched and feel you have a pretty good understanding of the basics. Maybe you’ve even had sync placements. This blog is going to cover the basics for those who are just hearing the term, but more importantly, I want to help you figure out if sync is for you. In my opinion, there are two clear pathways for a musician to take when it comes to seeking out sync licensing opportunities. Hopefully, this will help you determine if one of those paths is right for you.

First, some definitions

Sync is short for “synchronization” or “synchronization licensing” which is referring to the license music creators need to give to folks who want to “synchronize” video of any kind to recorded music.

Music Supervisor is the person who chooses music for every moment of a film or show. Sometimes the composer and the supe are the same person (lower budget films, usually)

A Music Library is like a library of music. People searching for music can search the database, filtered by various features, such as mood, tempo, genre, female vocal, male vocal, instrumental, and so on.

A Sync Agent is a person (can be independent or work for an agency) that is like the go-between for music supes and musicians. They will often take a cut of the sync fee and might also work in a percentage of the master use.

Production Music is the common term used for “background music”, but may have vocals. Music libraries will often compile “albums” of production music by theme, a specific mood or genre, etc. The licensing is already handled with the creator, which makes it much easier for music supes to quickly select a song without having to wait for agreements, approvals, etc.

What are “songs” that “work for sync”?

When music supervisors are looking for music, they are looking for a certain type of energy, a mood, a feeling. Surprisingly, a good sync song may not necessarily be a “hit” song and a “hit” song may not necessarily work for sync. Once in a while, a hit song is also a great sync song, but that is not the norm. Either way, when the perfect song is found for a particular scene or ad, magic can happen.

The best way to really understand what sync is all about is to do a little observation exercise. You are simply going to observe your normal day of Netflix watching or whatever way you watch your shows. Only today, pay attention to the music being played in conjunction with whatever you are watching. Whether it be a movie, a documentary, a reality show, a TV show from the ’80s, pay attention to the music. How many snippets of songs do you hear in each episode? Do any of the songs sound like “radio” songs? How many are instrumentals? Now, what about the ads? I don’t watch regular TV anymore but I do have a few shows that I love to watch on YouTube. So I still see ads quite regularly. How about you? What kind of music are you hearing in the ads?

Every piece of music you heard was composed, written, performed by a person or people. Each piece of music supposedly has a proper license. A cue sheet was also submitted to a songwriting organization so that the songwriters and publishers can be paid a royalty. The value of that piece of music varies from a penny to hundreds of thousands of dollars and everything in between. The amount paid is based on numerous factors; is it background or under dialog, is it playing on the radio or jukebox on screen, is it with vocals, without vocals, how much of the song is played, where in the film, such as opening credits, montage scene, etc., and is it a well-known song or major artist or an indie? Sooooo many factors play into the “value” of that placement. Some songs are paid an upfront sync fee in addition to the songwriting/publishing royalties. Some are not. Some of the songs (especially background, instrumental music) are composed by someone who might work directly for the company creating the show/movie, or the composer may work for the publisher or library that licensed the music. It’s a complex biz.

So, what about the two paths?

I landed my first sync placement back in 2006 ish and it was sort of a fluke. The long story short is that a co-writer/co-producer and I wrote the song specifically for a small, independent film after reading the film synopsis. The song made it into the movie, which aired on ABC Family (and is still streamed regularly on a variety of platforms). Then we shopped it to some music libraries and a music publisher. One of the libraries secured multiple placements for that song, plus several other songs we had already written. In recent years, I’ve tried to dive deeper into creating specifically for sync but seem to have no time for that. I’ve become crazy busy as a full-time music producer for artists. This has helped me clearly see the two paths.

Path one: you are a creator of hundreds of songs, beats, tracks and are pitching almost as much as you are creating. In this path, it is a numbers game. It’s all about quantity. The more “content” you have, the better your chances of getting a sync placement. This scenario is ideal for you if you;

On this path, you can start out by pitching to music libraries but the ultimate goal will be to network to the point where you are receiving briefs from sync agents and production companies directly. This path can take a lot of time before you begin to see the fruits of your labor. Time is needed to make connections, to find good collaborators, and to earn the trust of sync agents and libraries.

Path two: you are an artist who is focusing on building your artistic brand, creating songs that connect with your fan base, creating music that you love and intend on performing. OR you are like me and love producing with and for artists to help them build their career as artists. This path is ideal for you if you:

If this is the path for you, pitching to a sync agent or a manager or producer who has connections to sync agents or music supervisors may be your best bet. If your genre is very current, it may have a short shelf life so get going on that pitching asap. This path requires that you focus on the main goal (building your music business as an artist and/or producer) and perhaps spend a few hours a week on pitching, emails, metadata, and contracts.

If you are on path two, you can try your hand at creating a song or two that are “you” as an artist and could be released on an album or as a single but would also work for sync. There’s nothing wrong with that approach! How do you know if your song would work for sync? Remember the statement above about songs for sync needing to capture a mood, etc? This is very important. What is also important is that there are no lyrics that are about a specific time, location, person, etc. Once in a while, a song with specific lyrics can work perfectly for a scene but it’s better to keep the lyrics “generic” enough to increase your chances for placement. Generic doesn’t mean boring! This is the actual struggle! Writing lyrics that are genuine, interesting, engaging but not specific is actually the hardest part.

Important Companies, Contacts and Resources:

If you are wondering if your songs are “sync ready”, I’m happy to give them a listen and throw my opinion at you. 😉 Send me up to 3 songs and put “Sync Songs?” in the subject line, to becky@voxfoxproductions.com

 

Shop Prep 101

 

One of the biggest things I had to learn about when I moved from working in regional theatre to working in NYC was the process of shop prep (also called “shop build” or just “build”). It’s a phase of the production process that is kind of particular and unique to doing theatre here, and there is a lot to learn and money to be made doing this kind of work. Almost everyone who works as an A1, A2, or audio stagehand in NYC takes shop calls from time to time, sometimes for shows that they are mixing or A2ing, and sometimes as an additional hand on another show’s shop prep. It’s not uncommon for a sound stagehand to be building one show during the day and running another one at night (though “double-dipping” like this can get exhausting quickly). So, for this blog, I thought I would provide some basic information about shops and shop prep: what it is, who will be there, what goes on there, and a few other things that I wish I had known before showing up more or less clueless at my first shop build in January of 2019.

Part 1: Definitions

What is shop prep?

Shop prep is the part of the production process where all the audio gear that the designer has specified for the show is assembled, labeled, and tested. It takes place before the load-in period, and the goal is to get the sound design package ready to be installed in the theatre.

Why do NYC shows do shop preps?

Unlike most regional theatres, Broadway (and many off-Broadway) houses do not own any gear of their own. Everything the show needs from every department is brought in on a per-show basis and spec’d by the respective designers, especially for use on that show. Rather than purchase expensive new gear for every new Broadway show that comes to town, practically all the audio gear (including cable) is rented from one of the 3 major NYC-area audio rental shops for a weekly fee that is paid to the shop by the producers. Prior to shop prep, the sound designer, production manager, and producers will often go through a bidding process to see which of these 3 shops can fulfill the order closest to what the designer wants and what the producers have budgeted for.

Does every show do a shop prep?

With very few exceptions, every Broadway show and most touring shows will do a shop prep process. Many Off-Broadway shows do a shop prep as well, though some own enough gear that the sound designer can put together the desired system using the venue’s “rep system” or gear that the venue already owns. Some regional productions will also do a shop prep, particularly if the show that they are mounting is a “pre-Broadway Tryout” aka a show doing a run out of town before hopefully moving to NYC. In both Off-Broadway and regional theatre, sometimes a venue’s existing gear will be supplemented by a shop rental, which may or may not be complex enough for the show to need to send a team of workers for a proper shop prep. This is often the case for venues that do mostly plays and therefore might not own the gear that they need for musicals, such as a large-format mixing console and wireless microphones.

What are the “Big 3” shops, and where are they located?

The “Big 3” shops that supply the audio gear for most Broadway and Off-Broadway shows are Masque Sound, Production Resource Group (PRG), and Sound Associates Inc (SAI). Masque and PRG are both in northern New Jersey, and Sound Associates is in Yonkers, NY, just north of The Bronx.

Part 2: Know Before You Go

Ok, I’ve booked my first ever shop prep! Where is the shop and how do I get there?

DISCLAIMER: this travel information is current as of March 2022, so check with a knowledgeable friend in case things have changed since then!

Masque Sound

Address: 21 E Union Ave, East Rutherford, NJ 07073

How to get there from NYC: If you don’t have a car (or a friend with a car), the NJTransit 163 bus from Port Authority Bus Terminal is the easiest way to get there. The bus lets out right by the Staples store on Union Avenue in East Rutherford, and the shop is just down the street from there.

IMPORTANT NOTE: for the morning commute, not every 163 Bus stops at the Staples! You must be on the one that leaves at either 7:40 am or 8:10 am. Look for other sound folks with Pelican cases at the bus station, and they will help you get to the right place.

How to get back: The bus is also an option for returning to NYC, but it’s much easier to walk to the East Rutherford train station and take the train to Secaucus. From there you can transfer to a train to Penn Station.

PRG

Address: 915 Secaucus Rd, Secaucus, NJ 07094

How to get there from NYC: Take the NJTransit 129 bus from Port Authority, Gate 314. You’ll want to make the 7:50 am bus if your build starts at 8:30 am. The bus stops right outside of PRG!

How to get back: The same bus will take you back to Port Authority from the same stop where you got off. But check the schedule because if you miss it the next one might not be for a while!

Sound Associates

Address: 979 Saw Mill River Rd, Yonkers, NY 10710

How to get there from NYC: A friend with a car will be your best bet here. Often shows will rent a car for the Production Audio to get to the build, so reach out and see if you can ride with them. There is a Metro-North train that goes from Grand Central Station to Yonkers (also you can take the subway most of the way there), but neither of these options leaves you within reasonable walking distance, so you will still have to take a cab or rideshare from there to the shop.

IMPORTANT NOTE: if you are driving to SAI from NYC, put “Star Auto Spa” (999 Saw Mill River Rd, Yonkers, NY 10710) in your GPS, not Sound Associates itself! The shop is literally right next to exit 9 on the northbound side of the Saw Mill River Parkway, but you must get off one exit earlier (at Exit 7 – Tuckahoe Rd) to actually get there. Otherwise, you will arrive at the off-ramp for exit 9 only to find that you are on the wrong side of the fence, and Google/Waze will think you have arrived at your destination when in fact you’ve gone too far.

IMPORTANT NOTE WHEN TRAVELING TO ANY OF THE SHOPS: many productions (particularly Off-Broadway) will reimburse your travel costs, so ask your Production Audio if this is the case on your show, and be sure to save your tickets and receipts!

Who all will be there?

On the show side, your team will likely consist of some combination of these people:

On the shop side, your main players are

What tools should I bring?

Most of what you need can be provided either by the production or by your fellow shop hands, so definitely don’t feel like you have to go spend all your money on nice tools before you’ve even gotten your first shop paycheck! That said, once you do a few builds you may find it nice to have your own tools for certain tasks. A great way to carry them is in a Pelican case, and you will see many sound folks bringing theirs into the zone on the first day of a build. But do whatever works for you and your budget. Perishables such as tape, tie line, and zip ties will be purchased by the production; there is no need to bring your own.

Here is a list of the tools and other accessories that I like to have on hand for shop use: screw gun (plus a variety of bits); multi-tool; crappy knife for cutting electrical tape without gunking up your good knife; good knife for non-electrical tape jobs; tape measure; crescent wrench,; headlamp; flush cutters for cutting zip ties; scissors; screwdriver; a good pair of work gloves; Allen keys; jeweler’s screwdrivers or other precision bit set; pens/pencils, P-Touch label maker; cable tester; BNC tool; and my personal favorite: knee pads (for when you’re stuck on the ground building a rack or holding something).

 

Here’s the inside of my Pelican case with most of the above-mentioned tools in it! My label-maker is in the red bag off to the side.

 

Part 3: Let’s Get to Work

Ok I’m at the shop! Now what?

Rather than describe the tasks of shop prep based on how much time they take, I find it helpful to think of the prep process in phases. Shop preps can vary drastically in duration, depending on the show’s budget, how big the rental package is, and how many crew members are available. Typically, a Broadway show or 1st national tour will spend 3-4 weeks in the shop, but some builds may go for even longer if there is a lot of specialty equipment and assembly needs. Smaller Broadway shows and off-Broadway shows might spend between 2 days and 2 weeks in shop prep, so it totally depends. But in most cases, there are some universal tasks that will need to be done, and usually, they go in this order:

Phase 1: Bundling, Labeling, Rack Building

When you arrive in your zone on the first day of your show’s prep, you will likely find a smattering of gear, some empty rack boxes, and lots of cable. To make the load-in process smoother and more efficient, a set of cables that runs from point A to point B (for example, from ampland to front of house) will be loomed together into a bundle. Every single cable will have a specific label, and most designers (or associate designers) will include spare runs for anything fragile like network and video cables. XLR runs will typically be done using G-block multi-cables, which come in varieties from 3-pair all the way up to 19-pair. The associate designer will have put together some version of a piece of paperwork called a “bundle sheet” which tells you the name of the bundle, what cables go in it, and, very importantly, which ends need to be grouped together so that no cable is run backwards! The associate designer will also sometimes generate cable labels using a database program such as FileMaker Pro. Many production audio people and associate designers have spent years putting together their databases to make this process easier for themselves and to avoid having to start from scratch on every new production they do.

A new-ish development in post-pandemic shop work is that show build crews are often doing the actual bundling of cables themselves. Some shows may pay to have the shops do the bundling for them, but this has not been the norm in 2022 in my personal experience. The act of bundling is done by flagging all the ends that begin at one origin (such as ampland) with colored gaff tape, then wrapping friction tape around the entire “girth” of the cable bundle every 3-ish feet, so that all the cables in the bundle can then be easily coiled up and run out together as though they were one very thick cable. It’s gonna feel like major “arm day” by the time you’re done, so prepare yourself. I personally recommend wearing long sleeves and gloves for when you’re laying out 250’ of cable and inevitably getting various dirt and schmutz all over yourself!

Here are some of the completed bundles for the Broadway production of “A Strange Loop.” This is a relatively small Broadway musical, but it still had 70+ bundles!

 

In most cases, the ends of a bundle will find themselves getting plugged into racks. Racks of gear will be designed on a per-show basis by the designer and associate designer and be articulated in a series of rack drawings. These can be made in software such as Vectorworks, Excel, OmniGraffle, or sometimes just sketched out by hand in a pinch.

Building racks means wrangling up all the gear that goes into that rack, screwing it into the slots where the drawing indicates that it should go, then elegantly labeling, running, and connecting the gear’s power supply (if applicable) and short cables known as interconnects that go between the front of the rack (where most of the gear is) and the back of the rack. On the rear side of the rack, you will usually add some sort of panel mount or Stek (brand name) panel with connector barrels on it that merge the bundle ends to the interconnect ends. That way once the crew in the theatre gets the bundles, all they have to do is plug the labeled ends into the back of the rack at the labeled ports without having to dig around inside the rack to find the right port for each connection.

“L: the rack drawing for the Deck Automation rack for the Broadway production of “A Strange Loop”. C&R: the finished rack viewed from front and rear! Rack drawing by Sam Schloegel.”

 

Phase 2: Testing

Once most of your racks and bundles are built, it’s time to move on to testing! Basically, this will involve setting up a mock layout of your show’s ampland in your prep bay, then running out all your bundles between ampland, Front of House, and the other various rack locations. Simultaneously, your A1 will likely be setting up a mock-up of the mix position, both building FOH racks and setting up the basic console file. Just about everything in your bay should be tested before being brought to the theatre in as close to “show conditions” as you can get it. So, for example, to test the conductor camera, you will plug it in near your mock band area, run the bundle that goes between it and ampland, run out any other bundles out from ampland that carry the conductor image to its various destinations, then plug in every video monitor to make sure you see the image. To keep things neat and clear, a common trick when testing cameras is to stick a post-it in front of the lens labeled with what the shot should be, that way when you have 4 monitors all next to each other you can easily diagnose which camera is “MD” vs “FOH IR” vs “LADDER 3” etc. Additionally, all wired inputs, band mics, monitor mixers such as Avioms, wired and wireless com, and program feed sends will be tested, plus any other equipment that is pertinent to your show’s design.

 

A big stack of com racks for tech rehearsals all ready to be tested!

 

Phase 3: Packing and Pushing

Finally, your build is coming to an end, and it is time to prepare the gear to be transported to the theatre for load-in! Racks will get packed into foam-lined rack surrounds with wheels so that nothing gets damaged on the journey. Hardware, such as mic stands and speaker yokes will usually get packed into gray road cases known simply as “greys.” Cable will get packed into road cases. Then your Production Audio will advise on where everything should be packed so that each road case can get pushed to the most relevant location upon arrival at the venue, and you aren’t carrying cable from one location to another excessively. Every box will have a box label with a box number, the contents of what’s in the box, and, for large shows, which truck the box goes on. This also helps streamline the load-in process so that things you need first, such as feeder cable, arrive before things you don’t need until later, such as spare cable.

Depending on the shop schedule, the shop may ask you to leave your boxes packed and labeled in your prep bay, or you may push them to the loading dock yourself before leaving on your last day. Whatever the case is, hopefully, you have set the show up for success so that when the truck arrives for the first day of load-in everything is ready to go!

 

Truck 3 for the Broadway production of “A Strange Loop” is lined up at the dock and ready to get packed!

 

I hope this article will help you feel less overwhelmed than I did at my first shop prep! Please feel free to reach out with any additional questions you have about this process. If there is interest, I would be happy to dive deeper into any aspect of shop prep in a future blog entry.

 

Mixing Music Live Course Discount

Looking for a quick start in Live Sound? Need to improve your mixing skills? Check out MixingMusicLive.com Created by veteran concert sound engineer and Soundgirls.org co-founder Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato, MixingMusicLive.com offers online video courses where you’ll learn the fundamentals of live sound with Mixing Music Live and real-world techniques for creating great-sounding mixes with LISTEN!

Soundgirls members receive a 50% discount email us for the discount soundgirls@soundgirls.org

Mixing Music Live course:

Mixing Music Live is an intro to live sound and mixing. Through this online video course, you’ll learn the fundamentals like signal flow, gain structure, microphones, dynamics, and effects, how to set up and operate a soundboard, and much more.  Created by veteran concert sound engineer and Soundgirls.org co-founder Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato, MML will teach you the essentials you need to get out there and start mixing live sound. Find out more here:

https://www.mixingmusiclive.com/mixing-music-live-course

SoundGirls members receive a 50% discount on courses email us for a discount at soundgirls@soundgirls.org

LISTEN!

Learn how to create great sounding mixes with LISTEN! Created by veteran sound engineer and Soundgirls.org co-founder Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato, LISTEN! is an online video course that teaches Michelle’s proprietary HIT production process.  You’ll learn how to really hear what’s going on with your mix, how to identify what needs to be adjusted in the mix, and how to tweak it to get the professional results you want.  Find out more here: https://www.mixingmusiclive.com/listen

SoundGirls members receive a 50% discount on courses email us for a discount at soundgirls@soundgirls.org

FIX THE MIX

SoundGirls, together with other leading music industry organizations (We are Moving the Needle, shesaid.so, and Change the Conversation is launching FIX THE MIX, an initiative that seeks to streamline the process of finding and connecting with recording industry professionals who identify women and GNC.

To enable this connection, Jaxsta, the platform powering FIX THE MIX, pledges to prioritize the inclusion of gender pronoun identifiers as well as foster opportunities aimed at creating parity. Jaxsta is the world’s only official music credits database, home to more than 220 million credits by 13 million creatives: producers, songwriters, engineers, artists, and musicians. Those creators who identify as women or non-binary are encouraged to claim their Jaxsta profiles and add their pronouns. All recording professionals who are credited on released music automatically have a Jaxsta profile compiled from metadata that is sourced from Jaxsta’s official Data Partners (Record Labels, Distributors, Publishers, The Recording Academy, RIAA, and more).

Jaxsta will be the first music industry credits database of its kind with gender identifiers, through which the industry will be able to search and connect with engineers, producers, mixers, and songwriters who are women or non-binary. FIX THE MIX is hopeful that this resource will lead to increased work opportunities for SoundGirls.

We recommend you search and claim your profile on the world’s ONLY official music credits database, Jaxsta.com. It’s FREE to claim and verify your profile. If you have been a part of creating music that has been released, you will already have a Jaxsta profile in the database. Once you have claimed your profile you can add a link to SoundGirls as well on your profile.

If you search for yourself and find multiple profiles in your name or variations of your name, simply email support@jaxsta.com and their friendly team will merge them for you. If your credits are missing or incorrect you can fill out a support ticket to resolve the issues and If you do not have credits YET,  sign up here. Jaxtsa will be in touch when they can enable you to publish yourself for opportunities.

As part of the FIX THE MIX launch, Jaxsta’s CEO and Co-Founder, Jacqui Louez Shoorl, is offering a limited-time offer to all SoundGirls members.

Use code FIXTHEMIX2022 for SIX MONTHS FREE access. More details here

Join the movement and together we will FIX THE MIX!

Learning Curves – Self Reflection is Key

 

It’s almost impossible for me to not think of things philosophically. That’s why when I experienced my first Sound-theory class at Abbey Road Institute, Johannesburg, I was blown away by the concept of sound being something that fluctuates up and down – in cycles.

At times these cycles occur more frequently, at others they seem long and drawn out. This concept inspired my topic for this blog post – The ups and downs of life, and its continuous learning curves.

What I hope to share with you is the learning curves in my audio career over the past month, and what they meant for me. You may relate and be able to apply some of these thoughts to your own experience.

The first thing that stood out for me this month was the concept of taking on too many jobs at once, just to pay the bills. Even work that wasn’t paying me nearly what I should have charged. It left me at times often resenting the work I was doing because I had this internal conflict going on:

Did I compromise the quality of my work because the client couldn’t afford what I was capable of doing? 

Should I have rejected the opportunity of the project completely knowing that it would drain me? 

Should I draw from all my energy resources to deliver a pristine final product at the sacrifice of my mental health?

How could I have approached this all differently?

The second learning curve this month was committing to a project without having any written contract or agreement beforehand. I know this one can be tricky, but I know how important it is to get agreements in writing. Even if I have a half-page document for the client to sign, it would help make things a bit more formal, as I found myself doing work for a client that “needed it done today”, and I didn’t see any financial return initially promised.

This left me feeling resentful as well. This also happened to occur when a client I had a retainer with just randomly decided to drop me, meaning my financial fear for the month sunk in.

The last major learning curve was taking on a project I thought I could perform better on, only to find my efforts less than what the client needed to be delivered. I had to approach the client and let them know that I hadn’t been able to deliver, that I wasn’t going to get paid for the work I had done. Perhaps I could blame the fact that I don’t have the gear that would make my job easier, perhaps I could get discouraged about not feeling skilled enough, but no…that was not the answer.

Now, the reason I am telling you all this is not to sound as if I am complaining or to shed a negative light on the past 30 days, it’s to inspire you.

Hear me out…

Upon reflection on these learning curves, I had to take a look at myself. Where was I getting resentful at others or myself for things that I might have been able to avoid or change?

How could I take responsibility for the decisions I had or had not made? How could I use these learning curves as a means to better my skillset and knowledge, reflect on my resentments, and seek internal personal growth. For there is no use just being upset that things “aren’t going my way”.

What I needed to see, was that there were a few “dips in my soundwave” this month and that I had the choice to recognise the natural upward progression of the wave – I got to choose to gather my thoughts and actions and learn from my errors.

There is never a low point that you cannot move on upward from, that you can’t learn from. Don’t dwell in defeat, anger, frustration. Rather move toward introspection, maturity, and emotional growth.

One tool I use to reflect on things that don’t go well, is to sit with myself, lay out all my thoughts, actions, feelings onto a piece of paper and try to see where I could improve or do things differently next time. And if I get stuck, I go to someone I trust and ask for their guidance.

So today, I encourage you to take a look at the “dips” in your life right now and ask yourself:

“How can I learn?”
“How can I improve?”

“How can I let go?”
“How can I grow?”

Know that when you answer these questions and then follow through with actions in alignment with the things you learn, you will soon see yourself on an upward trend, even if it’s only measurable on an internal basis.

Turning Quarantine Joys into Career Desires

I went to my first concert when I was 15. Against my better judgment, and to my mother’s anxiety, my dad dropped me off at the venue, alone, as I had told my parents that I would be meeting up with my friends. What they didn’t know is that I would be meeting up with my friends INSIDE the General Admission 5,500 capacity outdoor venue. Long story short, I found my friends, and in a roundabout way found my passion. I remember the feeling of first discovering the collective joy and community that a packed pit brings. I spent many nights after that attending any concerts that were in the drivable distance of my small city in the midwestern center of the United States.

It was memories of these live event nights that I hung on to and longed for deeply in the days of quarantine 2020. As I searched for my joy in times of reflection, in between tiger king episodes and whipped coffee, I always went back to videos and pictures of concerts of days past.

As I reflected on these images of joy, I also reflected on what I wanted my life to look like when we exited the world of lockdown. While my degree I’m working on is in international relations, I found myself increasingly drawn to the idea that I wanted my life to exist in the world of live events, more than the world of international politics. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy learning about international events, but I realized that my joy was in live events, and my future was creating this joy for others through working in the live music industry. However, as I realized this career path switch, I realized I had no idea how to find a place within my new desire.  Just as I had marched into my first concert with no understanding of what I was doing besides a belief that I was going to enjoy the music, I realized I needed to march into the music industry with the understanding that I had the skills to navigate the industry and find my place and community. This meant I needed to be brave a simply jump into any opportunity I could that would help me find my place and my joy.

I started by looking into what I could do on my university campus that would give me experience in any aspect of the music industry. I searched lists of clubs at my University, looking for creative and musical outlets where I could join communities of music lovers and expand my understanding of the industry. I applied to write for the student radio station as a music blogger and reviewer. In this space, I found others who could introduce me to new ideas, and interests within the music industry. I found that when you follow your passions, you fall into new places with others from who you can learn and grow.

I also found that I did not have to try all new things. Because the music industry is so multi-disciplinary and vast, I could take current involvements and include my passion into them. In the semester before Spring 2020, I had been a writer for the education law column for my university’s pre-law journal. As much I loved education law, I knew that entertainment law was an area the journal could expand into, and I could learn and grow in. Starting in the Fall of 2021 the journal added an Entertainment law column that I lead as head editor. Not only did my push for this column helps me grow my understanding of music law, but also created a space where four other students on campus could grow in their passion for music through writing article for the column. This showed me that when we advocate for communities where we can foster our passions, we can help uplift others around us.

Even though I’ve been to more concerts than I can count, I still get giddy every time I walk through the doors of the show. The anticipation of the joy, community, and enjoyment of a concert will never get old. I know that as I continue to work towards my career desire to work these shows, my anticipation and excitement of walking through the doors will only grow. As I learn more and understand the skills behind live music production, my understanding of the hard work that goes into these communities will only deepen in respect and appreciation. It is that understanding that continues to drive me to jump into new spaces and involvements that will lead me to that understanding.

Commercial Music Publishing

Have you ever wondered what you can do with that hard drive full of composition that you didn’t use on a show or project?  A few years ago, I discovered a fun and easy way to get some of my music published.  AudioSparx is a music library and stock audio website where users can license music and sound effects for commercial productions such as film, television, corporate, and more. AudioSparx also operates a commercial music streaming site called RadioSparx which provides background music for businesses such as spas, hotels, and retail shops.

To submit your music as a vendor, there are just a few easy steps which you can read more about at https://www.audiosparx.com/sa/module/alliance/default.cfm.  On this page of their website, AudioSparx will post about the styles and genres of music they are currently looking for.  At the time of writing this blog, some of these styles included:  Pop Vocals, Contemporary Brit Pop, Hip Hop Dance, K-Pop, and Future Soul.  If you’re submitting your music for the first time, submitting something within one of these “need now” genres can definitely give you a leg up on getting your music published.

AudioSparx offers two kinds of license agreements:  AudioSparx Perpetual, Non-Exclusive, and RadioSparx-Only Non-Perpetual, Non-Exclusive.

With the AudioSparx license, artists can participate in all three of their websites, as well as an option to participate in multiple additional distribution and monetization options.  With this type of license, you agree to a perpetual commitment, which means that AudioSparx can license your music forever, but it is a non-exclusive license, which means that you are free to also license the same tracks to third parties at any time.  The major benefit of using this license type is that you earn money on any of your music that is used in commercial projects or productions.  You can also earn residual performance royalties for the use of your music in broadcast productions, and also for any commercial background music use when your tracks are included on subscription-based playback.  Even if your music is used in YouTube videos, you earn residual money.

With the RadioSparx only license, your music is not licensed forever, and you are not bound to license exclusively with RadioSparx.  Your music will be added to the RadioSparx website where users can license it as background music for their commercial businesses.  Users pay RadioSparx directly, and artists are then paid through direct licensing.  Residual income is also possible through subscription-based playback of your music.

You only need a minimum of 3 tracks to submit an artist application, and you can add tracks at any time, but the process becomes a lot more lucrative if you have at least 20 tracks available in your catalog at all times.  You can organize your tracks as individuals, or group them together in a mini-library when they share a common factor like style or instrumentation.

Getting paid is also easy to track.  You can run reports at any time to see where your music is getting played and how well your tracks are doing.  After the end of each calendar quarter, AudioSparx will email you a commission report, and 45 days after each quarter, they send payment via PayPal if you have earned commissions of $25 or more.

Ok, so that all sounds easy enough.  Here’s the hard part.  If you really want to make money in this way, you really have to stay on top of it, and it’s a lot of work if you want to do it right.  With every submission, you are prompted to add lots of details about the music, and the more details you add, the more successful you will be at getting picked up.  You also will be more successful if you can keep collections of multiple genres on your profile.  The more you have to offer, the more distribution is possible, and the more money you make.  In full disclosure, it took me several years to gain $9.64 from the 3 songs I have uploaded, but seeing anything at all gives me hope that if I put a lot more effort into this process, I might see more favorable returns.

Whether you are looking for a good side hustle, or just dabbling in music licensing, AudioSparx is a great and safe way to dip your toe in the water.

 

Making a Radio Documentary During Lockdown

A few weeks ago I got a nice surprise in the post: my finalist certificate from the New York Festivals Radio Awards for a documentary I made called Lennon: 40 Years On

The documentary was broadcast in December 2020 to mark the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s senseless murder in New York. It was, therefore, eligible for entry in the 2021 awards and ended up placing as a finalist in the Music Documentary category. I was absolutely thrilled. For radio makers, it doesn’t get much better than having your work recognised by some of the world’s most respected industry professionals. For me personally, it was also an incredible honour to be considered alongside some major broadcasters — especially for a programme that was made entirely remotely, by myself, during lockdown.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way. As a huge Beatles fan, I first came up with the idea for the documentary one day in 2019, while musing that next year would be John Lennon’s 40th anniversary. I already knew at that stage what I didn’t want to make: a profile of Lennon’s life and career (there are plenty of those already), or an in-depth account of the murder itself. Instead, I wanted to find a way to reflect on how that tragic event had influenced his legacy, and how fans understand him today. I decided to look particularly at how he has been remembered in his birthplace of Liverpool and his adopted city of New York. The plan was to visit both cities to record interviews on location.

But then COVID happened.

When working from home became a requirement, I had to decide whether or not to carry on with the idea. I’d done so much research that it seemed crazy to give up. I spent the next few months contacting contributors and arranging interviews, then recorded all of them remotely. Zencastr was my lifesaver. I was able to set up a free account with eight hours of recording time per month, safe in the knowledge that each audio file was being recorded locally without the pain of internet connection dropouts and poor quality. Sure, you still have to hope your guest will have a decent microphone, but this is all stuff you can talk through with them beforehand.

Then came the process of listening through to hours’ worth of audio and highlighting the parts of each interview I would potentially use. Once that was done, I scripted and recorded my narration and began editing everything together. There was quite a bit of archive audio to work with, as well as music. Mixing took several weeks. As everything had been done remotely, with no access to studios or different locations, I wanted to devote plenty of time to getting it right and making sure it was as close to broadcast standard as possible. There were times during that six-month period when I didn’t think it would all come together. But it did, and by the time the 40th anniversary arrived, it was ready to air.

Fast forward 15 months and people I don’t know are still contacting me to tell me they’ve listened and enjoyed it. I’m not normally one to pat myself on the back for a job well done (though I’m trying to get out of the habit of being too hard on myself), but in this case, I don’t mind saying I’m incredibly proud of what I achieved with this documentary in spite of the challenges. I’m also beyond grateful to everyone who contributed, or who simply offered words of encouragement along the way. In retrospect, the pandemic probably forced me to be twice as productive. Being at home all day long instead of commuting to and from work meant I had more time to focus and get things done.

It was a massive undertaking, but I’m so glad I did it.

Link to the documentary: https://www.todayfm.com/podcasts/the-paul-mcloone-show/lennon-40-years-on

Pros and Cons of Formal Audio Education 

I remember seeing a tweet a couple of years ago from Grammy-winning producer Finneas O’Connell about going to school for music production. He believed that it wasn’t necessary to succeed in the music industry. While he proves his own theory, my first instinct when I read this was to defend my own education. At the time, I was studying audio engineering at Berklee College of Music, and I knew it was one of the most valuable programs for audio education in the country. Now that I’ve stepped out of academia and into the professional world of audio post-production, I thought about O’Connell’s tweet again, and how my perspective on his opinion has evolved.

I chose to study audio engineering and sound design at the undergraduate level for a number of reasons. First of all, it was my goal to earn my undergraduate degree, which isn’t particularly common for students where I went to school. Berklee’s latest statistics show a 67% graduation rate, and this is mainly because most students start working in the music industry before they even need to graduate. Nonetheless, I found an academic space to study music production and audio engineering to be really beneficial for my style of learning and for the previous experience I had. I started my first semester with no background or knowledge of audio technology, recording techniques, sound design, or music production. I only knew how to write songs and record in GarageBand. So going to classes to learn these fundamentals and having assignments and deadlines really served what I needed as a student. I also knew that I wanted to take the time to absorb all the information, so I didn’t feel rushed to enter the industry immediately.

Being a part of music production or audio education program provides step-by-step guidance and access to a huge amount of resources. I had the chance to connect with professors who specialized in my interests and to connect with other students who wanted to practice the concepts we tackled in classes together or plan out future networking opportunities. Having access to equipment and studio facilities meant that I didn’t have to buy my own until I graduated. Once I did purchase my own gear, I had some ideas of my own opinions on the gear I wanted like which equipment I liked the most or didn’t need. Furthermore, the variety of classes gave me insight into different fields, histories, and techniques, which led me into post-production sound editing, even though I started the program wanting to focus on producing my own music.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I submitted many job applications, received some interviews, and ultimately the job searching process was long and grueling. It made me think about how the process would have changed if I didn’t pursue a bachelor’s degree, and what kind of cons balance out the pros. The first and most considerable disadvantage of studying audio at the undergraduate level is the enormous financial decision it entails. Not everyone has the financial support to complete a degree, especially when audio engineering and music producing involves purchasing expensive gear such as software like DAWs, synthesizers, and plug-ins, an audio interface, headphones or monitors, a microphone for recording, and any make-shift room treatment to name some valuable home-recording equipment. Paying tuition or student loans on top of all of this equipment is really overwhelming, and most likely will impact your view of which expensive items or programs to prioritize. Also, for some producers or engineers, learning while working on the job can be a better method for learning than lectures, homework, projects and quizzes. Not all starting positions at recording studios require a college education, and starting out earlier in the music industry and in the right city where interests align is a great way to get started and build momentum. Even though I like to learn by viewing lectures and reading manuals, many people are stronger kinesthetic learners who will pick up on recording consoles and signal flow by working through the physical movements of setting up a recording at a studio. Furthermore, like any other field, improvement in music production or audio engineering comes with practice. However, in a college program, practice is assigned in the form of homework and projects. While it’s possible to cover concepts of interest in a syllabus, having the freedom to choose what you practice in your own home setup lets you focus on specific skills to achieve your own goals in the music production industry.

From what I’ve learned since graduating from college, it doesn’t really matter how you acquire your experience and abilities as an audio engineer or music producer. What does matter is that you choose the process that best suits your style of learning and your own goals, and that you can see improvements as you practice and continue to work on recordings or sound edits or MIDI programming. There is no pressure to follow anyone’s path to education but your own because the right method will serve your needs as you step into the industry. I don’t think Finneas O’Connell is wrong to say that formal audio education is unnecessary. However, I do think it’s too narrow of a belief for the diverse, creative minds that want to begin a career in music production.

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