Tag: sync licensing music

Boost Your Sync Licensing Potential with Our Expert Services

TL;DR

• “Sync licensing” = Lucrative opportunity to get your music in TV, films, games, ads, and more
• High earning potential: £300 to £30,000+ per placement, even for unknown artists
• Our new services help maximize your chances of landing sync deals

1. Sync Evaluation Service

• Professional mix notes plus sync-specific advice for your song
• Identify and avoid red flags in your tracks
• Optimize arrangement and sound selection for sync use

2. Sync Editing Remix Service

• Three options to suit your needs:
  a) Custom remix using stems: Tailored for sync, with strategic edits and arrangement
  b) Basic remix from stereo file: Effective edits to enhance sync potential
  c) Movie Trailer Remix: Completely transform your track to suit high-end trailers and promos, one of the most lucrative parts of the industry
• Our services provided by an industry veteran with 10+ years of successful sync experience
• Proven track record: Placements in major films, TV shows, and trailers

Don’t miss out on sync opportunities – let our expertise guide your music to success! Read more below.

In Detail

What is Sync Licensing? Getting your music used on TV, films, video games, adverts, movie trailers and sonic branding – and getting paid for it! Sounds great, but is sync licensing worth it? Yes! It is one of the few remaining ways to earn good money from your music, and best of all you don’t need to have a huge social media following, chart hits, or millions of streams.

How much does sync licensing pay? A wide range of fees. Decent syncs pay anywhere from £300 to £30,000+ for a relatively unknown artist depending on many factors – show budget, duration of use for the song, if it’s a background or feature use, title sequence or end credits use, length of time a campaign will be running, types of media it will be played on, territories…. so there is no magic number and every sync is different. Obviously £30,000+ is much rarer, but it can happen even for unknown artists with the right connections (we can also help with these connections, & have helped land numerous sync deals for our clients over the years). Often 1 sync license will pay as much as millions of Spotify streams, usually with ongoing back-end performance royalties too. This is why sync licensing is seen as the holy grail for musicians. All genres are used for sync licensing projects.

Sync Licensing 101 includes having a professional sounding mix and master. We’ve been helping with that for 18 years now. But there’s a lot more you can do to maximise the chances your song will be picked for a sync by a music supervisor – the person who chooses songs for the film, TV or advertising project).

What are sync licensing companies looking for? Other sync licensing requirements include good metadata organisation, no unlicensed samples, having accurate writer details, including Performing Rights Organisation (PRO) details for each writer (common PRO include PRS/ASCAP/SACEM etc. and differ for each country).

Probably the most important detail in sync licensing music is how sync-able is the song itself? There are certain considerations to consider for the arrangement and sound selection that music supervisors and editors look for all the time (and will reject a song if it doesn’t meet these specific needs). There are also some common timings that are key to make a song versatile for media. If you get these subtle aspects right, it will greatly improve your chances of landing a sync. It takes a lot of study to really drill down the subtleties of how to fine-tune your song to suit editors and music supervisors.

Breaking in to one of the most competitive areas of one of the most competitive industries can be daunting – how else can you increase your chances to be successful in sync licensing?

Here’s where our new services come in.

Two New Sync Services

Loz, our chief engineer has been active in the sync world for over 10 years. First going to Los Angeles in 2012 to hustle up some business, then making 5 more successful trips, plus regular networking sessions in London. Loz ran a 3rd party sync agency (Rinse The Sync) for a few years landing his artists over 40 placements, and is a composer for legendary LA based trailer music agency Pusher Music. He has been directly involved in placements for Star Wars: Rogue One (trailer), Underworld: Blood Wars (trailer + end credits track), Alien: Covenant (trailer), Antlers (trailer), Star Wars: The Book Of Boba Fett (trailer), and various placements with NBCUniversal, BBC, Canal+, Coca-Cola/Sprite and more. After deciding that running a music library would be more suited to his business goals, he set up Alternative Reality Music library, which is represented by an L.A. based sub-publisher, and has direct deals with 23 countries. He continues to compose for his own and other music libraries and agencies.

Sync Evaluation Service

We have expanded our ever-popular Mix Evaluation Service to include a Sync Evaluation Service.

We will carefully evaluate your track in our mastering suite, and give highly specific mix notes including detailed instrument EQ adjustments and level adjustments (as in our classic Mix Evaluation). On top of this essential info we will give specific advice tailored to your track to make it as sync-able as possible.

Avoid any red-flags in your song, optimise the arrangement, get advice on any sounds that clash with the subtle requirements of sync, and receive suggestions to create alternative versions relevant to your track and goals.

ACTUAL MIX EVALUATION EXAMPLE POINTS TAKEN FROM PREVIOUS JOBS:

• “I think the piano is slightly too overpowering. Just drop it down by -2dB & that should balance it nicely with the vocal & strings”
• There’s some low-end resonance on the low synth bass/elec piano sound that’s making things a bit muddy. Try an EQ cut of -3dB @ 162Hz, Q of 0.67. This sound could also come down a further -0.5dB afterwards.
• “I think the hi-hats coming in at 1 min are a little sharp & overpowering due to the sharp Q on a filter. Reduce the Q level to mellow it out while keeping the intention. Adding a second EQ afterwards in the chain will smooth it & keep the overall filtered effect. Try an EQ cut of -5dB at 8.8kHz, Q of 1 should ease back the volume & tone nicely. The high end can all be brought up together during mastering, which will restore a little brightness to the hats here but keep them balanced with the rest of that section. Only apply this EQ to the filtered hi-hat section 1:00-1:21, as the rest is fine”
• “Love the intro. I wonder if the Ebow guitar & the harp conflict ever so slightly around the same frequencies. I suggest you approach this with EQ – Put an EQ cut of around -2.5 or -3 dB @ 500 Hz on the Ebow Guitar, Q of 1, thus letting the harp come through clearer.”
• “The fast roll snare sample is a bit muffled. I suspect this is an artistic choice, so that’s cool. But maybe try it a little brighter & it would sound more natural. If it has a little snappy energy restored around the 2kHz mark that should cut through nicely.”
• “The short cello solo line (1:18, 1:40 etc.) doesn’t sound integrated fully, kind of sits on top a little muddy. Could it be brighter & quieter? Try a dual EQ approach. Cut of -2.6dB @ 363Hz, Q of 0.7. Then do an EQ boost of +1dB @ 1911Hz, Q of 0.7. This should go a long way to making it sound more natural with the track. Also is it a little dry? What would it sound like with maybe 5% less dry balance on the reverb?”

Sync Editing Remix Service

If you want an expert approach to optimising your tracks for sync use, Loz can remix your tracks into various edits that are precisely tailored to hit the most commonly needed requirements of music supervisors and editors.

We offer 3 flavours of sync remix:

• Sync remix using stems (£250) Loz will create a custom remix tailored specifically for sync use, crafting an arrangement that is versatile for editors, including (where appropriate for the genre) artfully placed stop-downs, filtering, fades and edits to craft a narrative arc to your song and deliver different edits that will increase your opportunities to land that elusive sync deal. Uses up to 6 supplied stems. Includes final Mastering.
• Sync remix from stereo file (£140) A more basic set of edits, but still highly effective. Includes stop-downs, filtering, arrangement adjustment and building a narrative arc to suit sync use. Bear in mind we’ve been editing audio professionally for 18 years, so we can do a lot with just a stereo file! Includes final Mastering.
• Movie Trailer Remix (£1500) A very specialist service that requires a distinct set of skills. Loz has honed these skills for years, and learned directly from the best in the business. He has personally landed his own music in the trailers for Star Wars: The Book Of Boba Fett, Alien: Covenant & Antlers, and crafted trailerized remixes of several Ludakris tracks for season 1 & 2 of the Netflix series Karma’s World, and numerous trailerized remixes of classic original songs for Universal Music. This service is done from stems only, and will open the door for you to the most lucrative market in the sync world. Trailers land the biggest fees due to coming from the marketing budge – not the production budget where music is usually a financial afterthought. Whatever your genre of music we can transform it into an epic production ready for high-end trailers and promos, including final Mastering. The service may seem expensive, but with trailer budgets around $20,000 – $50,000 even for unknown artists, this is a door that is worth opening if you are serious about making a living from music.

Screenshot From A Sync Remix Job

Showing precise arrangement optimisation, filtering, FX, fades, stop-downs etc. in a Sync Remix from Stems. Perfectly tailored for editors. Each remix is crafted bespoke to suit the best sync-fit for your song and goals.

Try Our New Sync Services Today!