Songwriting is an art, but for many songwriters it is also a business! Getting songs cut by a Major Artist, or placed in TV series and movies, as well as in ads and games is a great way of generating an income as a songwriter!
When pitching for media, you need to make sure to be well prepared though! You never know what version of your song will be required! The following four mixes are mandatory when pitching for sync projects:
Master Mix
This one should is pretty obvious! The Master Mix is the final mix for your song, so it can be officially released and distributed! This mix makes your song sound like it was meant to in the first place!
Make sure to have a high res WAV file of this songs ready! Ideally in a 24-bit/48 kHz version, if that´s how you had recorded it! Also, get a 16-bit /44.1 kHz version (which is CD quality). Last not least, your mp3 file will be important not only for pitching to music supervisors and sync agents, but also for releasing your music on streaming platforms.
So, make sure to have these various files on your computer!
Instrumental Mix
As the name suggests, the Instrumental Mix constitues a version of your song, that has all the instruments in it, except for the vocals! This version is important when pitching for sync, as there might be movie scenes that require background music, but that do not want any lyrical content to distract from the actual conversation going on in the scene….
TV Mix
Similar to the Instrumental Mix is the TV Mix. This one contains everything, except the lead vocals! But it will have backing vocals and ohs and uhs in the mix. The TV Mix was originally designed as a backing track for live TV performances, so singers could sing live, but the music was already pre-recorded! These mixes are often used in the sync world still! So better be prepared, if someone asks you to send over a TV Mix.
A Capella Mix
The A Capalla Mix is a “vocals only” mix and is pretty much the opposite of the Instrumental Mix. A lot of times in moving pictures, a song might start as an instrumental version and once the scene comes to it´s climax, the vocals are brought in to enhance the scene….
So, giving producers the option to decide when to bring in the vocals is super important!
Additionally, some producers might prefer to have the vocals really stand out or they might want to tone them down, depending on the dramartugy! So, handing them the instrumental and a capella mixes seperately, allows for producers to set the levels according to their own preference!
Hope this overview helped!
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