Trailers: Music

{ January 5, 2011 @ 12:40 pm } · { A2 Work, Trailer Planning }
{ Tags: music }

Basically, I know a few good sources for trailer music that people can use – the proof is that they are artists who make professional trailer music. So, this is them.

1. Corner Stone Cues (sometimes also spelled Cornerstone Cues). These guys go first because they are brilliant. They are good for anyone doing action trailers, but generally their music sets a great atmosphere. I would strongly suggest checking out ravenhpltc242′s work on YouTube – she has some excellent examples of using their music to the best of its ability. (Doesn’t matter if you don’t understand the content – several of her trailers are about introducing the series, though, so you shouldn’t be too lost anyway.

Some easy examples of Corner Stone Cues and ravenhpltc242 are: Boiling Rock Trailer (using ‘Forest Chase’ by CSC), Series Finale trailer (using ‘Ten Years Kashmir’ by CSC and another track, ‘Pinnacle’ by Studio Orchestra, which is okay because that’s awesome too), and Mojave (using ‘Mojave’ by CSC).

Other Corner Stone Cues tracks that I HAVE to reccomend include: Madokara Meiru (instrumental version here), Frigga, Sultana, Wicked, Petra and Requiem For A Dream (also known as Requiem for a Tower, or Lux Aeterna)

2. Audio Machine. These guys are pretty cool too Once again, ravenhpltc242 has used them, most notably in her Series Finale trailer no.2 (using ‘Out of Time’ and ‘Bad Blood’). Other tracks you should check out include ‘House of Cards’,

 

3. E.S. Posthumous. Again, they’re epic. They use quite a few chorus parts, but some of the instrumentals in their work is fantastic, so I definitely wouldn’t write them off. (A good example of this is Lepcis Magna – not my first choice for the chorus in it, but an awesome beginning.) Ravenhpltc242 has used them in the Back From Hiatus trailer (using ‘Unstoppable’). Other tracks include: Nara, Pompeii, Harappa, Lepcis Magna,

Miscellaneous:

1. ‘New Beginnings’ by Future World Music. There’s a Strings Version and a Guitar Version. Both are cool, they just give different atmospheres. The Guitar Version’s a little more ‘showdown’ I would say, but I like them both. The strings version is used by ravenhpltc242 here.

2. ‘Prometheus Rising’ by Immediate. Definitely for a dramatic trailer. The music kind of demands that you plan the trailer around it, so I don’t know if it would ever get used in school. But I don’t want to leave out a great bit of music, so here it is. (And here’s ravenhpltc242′s input: here. Sorry. Eventually I’ll run out of trailers to link you to. Promise.)

Slower Songs:

Corner Stone Cues, Audio Machine and E.S. Posthumous are really better suited for action trailers, or something really dramatic. But there’s plenty of great music out there for other types of trailers. Your basic comedy trailer is going to use more mainstream music, but if you want something strange for your horror trailer, or to make something dramatic without using such ‘big’ music as the above three, there are alternatives.

1. ‘Teardrop’ by Massive Attack.

Many of you may know this from the ‘House’ opening theme, but you really need to listen to all 5-odd minutes of it. It starts a little slow, but once it picks up it’s a great piece of music that builds up an atmosphere without crashing drums and a full orchestra.

2. ‘Massive Attack by Sonic Librarian.

Anyone who’s thinking of using ‘Teardrop’ should have a listen to this one too. The two songs are similar, but there’s enough difference that you may like this one more. But it’s still a good piece on its own.

3. ‘Noir Melodie’ by Yuki Kajiura.

Again, fairly slow building – it starts off as sweet (but creepy) music-box chimes for about a minute and a half, before the bass comes in and it gets more hardcore. Could be good for a horror trailer, depending on how you use it – I’ve used it in my trial trailer ‘The Child’ here.

4. ‘Cells’ (instrumental) by The Servant. (Sin City theme)

The full version isn’t a bad song, but the rhythm of the instrumental version makes it suitable for trailers. Slower, but with a really nice pace to it. Used by Ravenhpltc242, with the link below under ‘Cells‘.

Pop songs in trailers:

I should add that ravenhpltc242 uses music from lots of different sources, including pop/rock music, so you can use more mainstream music just as effectively – try looking at Numb, Cells and 7 Rules.

Final note: more music (and more artists) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIb0cx8AQCQ

You may also find my previous post on Horror-trailer music (including Music Box music) here.