Film Composers:
How Do You Find the Right One?

By John William Doryk

In my 25 plus years of composing for television and film, I’ve worked on all kinds of projects and have had all kinds of experiences. However, some common threads have ensured either a wonderful final product – both visually and musically – or a challenging, frustrating experience for both the composer and producer/director. The common threads I’m referring to are … Continue Reading

Composing Music for Film Trailers

By Brian Steckler

Though I’m generally hired to produce artists, write songs, and mix music, I’ve scored tons of commercials and have created my fair share of library film and TV music in all sorts of musical genres, from big sweeping orchestral cues to in-your-face modern rock. The library that I do most of my cue writing for focuses mainly on film trailers. Their main clientele is a group of trailer editors at the major studios.

My job is to write generic trailer music that can be used in whatever way is useful. Most often, I’m asked to write aggressive rock, hip-hop, or electronica with full orchestra on top, for action or thriller-type movie trailers. That said, I’m also frequently asked to replace a temporary cue that the editor used in an initial cut of the trailer that has the right sound or energy, but is either unavailable or too expensive to license in the end. Those cues can be any style.

Brian Steckler’s studio, The Stickhouse

Typically, I’ll write cues that are from 40 seconds to … Continue Reading