Writing and Producing for Music/Media Libraries

This course covers advanced creative, technical, production, and business aspects of writing for music and media libraries. Its main purpose is to expose and train students to be proficient in writing and producing for a variety of media-related music libraries through style-specific assignments and scenarios. The course focuses on writing genre-specific music cues for reality shows, soap operas, talk/variety shows, documentaries, title sequences, infomercials, and web media such as miniseries, web advertising, and web-based tutorials. Students are guided through a thorough analysis and critique of each style and individual original writing assignments based on real case examples. For each style students master the creative process, library-specific production techniques, how to support different moods with appropriate music, how to communicate with media producers, and how to develop original material inside the boundaries set by the style and by the production team. This course focuses on how to compose and produce mood-based music libraries and cues that are not written to a specific picture. Each assignment is critiqued, assessed, and revised according to creative directions and style specific production guidelines. Discussions of business aspects include working with music libraries producers and companies, demo preparation, positive and quick response to feedback and comments from the music library producer and licensing scenarios. Through various projects students will have frequent opportunities to write music in different moods, styles, and lengths. Students must have a strong working knowledge and experience with hybrid production techniques and with MIDI systems and sequencing programs.