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Chapter 8: Soundtrack Composing Templates

We've covered a huge array of topics in this book. Now it's time to make everything efficient and production-ready. In this chapter, we'll learn how to
overcome writer's block. We'll then look at a series of templates you can use to ensure your music is production-ready. Finally, we'll discuss resources
for continuing your musical adventure beyond this book for further learning.

In this chapter, we'll cover the following topics:

Overcoming writer's block

Soundtrack composing template checklists

Sharing your music

Resources for further reading

Conclusion

Overcoming writer's block

Struggling to come up with ideas for songs? Encountering writer's block? Feel like you've used up all your creative juices and there's no more music
in you? Don't worry; I've got you covered. Having writer's block is a normal part of composing. It happens when you first start, and it happens to
professionals too. But it's okay; you can and will overcome it. You just need to try a few creative tactics.

Fortunately for you, I've compiled a list of strategies you can use to get started making music whenever you're lacking inspiration. Feel free to refer
to this whenever you get stuck:

Improvise music on an instrument or even try a new instrument.

Play around with your MIDI keyboard or drumpad.

Experiment with FL Studio's Scale feature and try out new scales.

Lay down a drumbeat.

Go through the routine. Open the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), set up the project, and add the key sections you intend to write. People think
accomplishment comes through the cycle Inspiration -> Motivation -> Action, however, really the cycle is Action -> Inspiration -> Motivation ->
Action. Get started and the ball will start rolling.

Use an existing song as inspiration. Listen to a song on YouTube and figure out the key chords in the DAW. Shift the chords up or down a few keys,
make some chord inversions, and adjust the tempo of the song to something slower or faster. Bam! You have a starting point for a song that already
sounds good.

Use a previous song as inspiration. What if you were to add another verse to your last song?

Identify music themes. Think about a character from a TV show or movie, for example, Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, or Superman. Then think about
the key characteristics they have. If there was a soundtrack for that character, what would it sound like?

Look at a physical image such as of a place – perhaps somewhere you went on vacation, a location in a video game, or a vivid picture in a magazine
or online. Then craft your song around making a melody to fit that image.

Preset scrolling – pick a synth and scroll around the presets. Play a few notes until you find a sound that feels good.

Sample scrolling – scroll through samples until you find a tune you can build on.

Design a new sound by choosing a synth and experimenting. Even if no melody comes up, you'll have a cool new instrument ready for next time.

Pick a track you like and remix it.

Try using pre-existing MIDI files. Some people say this is cheating, but I disagree. You can't use a MIDI file on its own and expect a finished song,
no matter how good the MIDI file is. MIDI files are a wonderful way to spur some chords to get started. Shift the chords up or down a few notes, add
some chord inversions, change the tempo a little, and voil•, you already have something ready to work on.

Collaborate – bounce ideas off a friend.

Try a new instrument plugin.

Try experimenting blindly. Under pressure? Nothing sounding good? Getting frustrated? The mind is more creative when it's having fun and relaxed
than when it's under stress. Give yourself permission to fail. Failure is a key step in learning. Add random elements together and see what you come
up with. Inspiration sometimes strikes when least expected.

Experiment with new techniques. Check out YouTube tutorials and learn something new.

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Check out a genre you wouldn't normally try and see what you can come up with.

Build around the vocal. Do you normally compose a song and add the vocal melody later to fit the song? Try it the other way around – record the
vocal, and then craft the song around it.

Begin with the rhythm. It's often a lot easier to come up with a groove and baseline than it is to come up with a melody. And often the melody
magically appears once the baseline is going.

Use a motif. What's a motif? It is a short musical idea or fragments of notes. Write a few notes. The full melody will form later.

Go to a new location. A new location can give you inspiration. Check out music events and meetups near you.

Listen to a song you like and think about how you might make something like it.

Record sounds. Pick a location or an object and record its sound; for example, a café, the store, the beach, the park…

Set a timer and force yourself to work until the timer ends (30-60 minutes should work).

Write it out. Sketch out your musical idea on paper or a whiteboard with diagrams, arrows, and colors.

Think up a story to be told through your song. What's the overall message and feeling you'd like to convey?

Listen to new music. Consider music from another country or language.

Consider using the Scaler 2 plugin to come up with melodies:

Scaler 2 is a music theory plugin that helps you build chord progressions. The following screenshot shows Scaler 2:

Figure 8.1 – Scaler 2

Features offered by Scaler 2 include the following:

Import an existing song: Scaler 2 can identify the chord MIDI notes used in the song so you can use them in your own composition.

Given a chord, Scaler 2 can come up with suggestions for chords that logically fit next based on the key. It can suggest these based on a genre or an
artist's style.

To learn more and get Scaler 2, visit https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/3-Studio-Tools/93-Music-Theory-Tools/6439-Scaler-2.

Soundtrack composing templates

I'm a big fan of checklists – ordered lists to ensure you perform all the prerequisite steps. Checklists allow you to make sure you've paid attention to
each step, especially those that are easy to overlook. Some steps feel quite small but, if forgotten, can lead to big problems down the road. The book
The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande, provides compelling arguments for the benefits of using lists to improve your workflow. I highly

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recommend reading it.

The steps in composing music are a repeated process that you'll go through again and again for each music production project. Music production
steps can be broken down into a sequential list. This section will provide you with a series of lists you can adapt and use to ensure you've paid
attention to all the important things while composing. For organizational convenience, there are three checklists for three different stages of the music
production process.

The following are checklists for collecting the soundtrack requirements, composing music, and mixing music.

Soundtrack requirements checklist

This checklist is designed to handle the business aspects of soundtrack composing. Using this checklist should help you cover many of the important
business tasks you can expect to encounter when consulting on music projects for clients:

Walk through the project with the client:

If scoring a video game, ask what intensity and mood are desired in each level. Create a list of items in the game that require sound effects.

Figure out if the music needs to be interactive.

Arrange a system of keeping track of the status of music for submission to the client. Chapter 1, The Business of Composing for Clients, provides a
method using a Soundtrack Planner document.

If the client provided temp music for the project visual, go through each of the temp tracks and ask why the client chose them for the scenes. Ask
what the user experience goal is of each scene. This will help you avoid getting overly attached to any particular temp track.

Send the Soundtrack Planner to the client for approval to make sure you identified all the items that need music and sound effects.

If consulting for a client, draft up an invoice itemizing the services you intend to provide:
Identify all expected costs you expect to incur.

Negotiate the budget. Send the invoice to the client and get their approval.

Get their agreement in writing.

Save copies of receipts of any expenses you may incur so you can be compensated by the client and/or for business tax expense deductions.

If collaborating with other musicians, establish how you plan to share your music when collaborating. Agree beforehand how you'll notify each other
regarding changes to the project. Chapter 1, The Business of Composing for Clients, suggests using the Splice software for version control
management. Do a demo run with any collaborators to ensure you are both on the same page and can share your projects with each other without
issue.

Discuss with the client how to deliver music. What format should be used, how should it be labeled, and how should sounds be organized for mutual
convenience?

If you were able to retain the rights to the soundtrack music you created, it's time to register your music to collect royalties:
Locate the organization that collects royalties for your geographic region. For example, in the United States, you would use the American Society of
Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), or the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers
(SESAC).

Register your music to collect public performance royalties using your regional collection body, such as SoundExchange.

Upload your music to a digital distribution service of your choice to get your music onto streaming platforms to collect royalties. If you choose to use
DistroKid as your digital distribution provider service, the following link provides you with a discount on your first year: https://distrokid.com
/vip/seven/701180.

Composing music checklist

This checklist is designed to handle the composing aspects of music composition. Using this list should help you come up with better-sounding
compositions for any song:

For each song, go through your requirements (such as set out in the Soundtrack Planner described in Chapter 1, The Business of Composing for
Clients) and identify the key emotions, intensity, and purpose for your music.

Consider identifying music motifs/themes for each character or setting of significance.

With your desired emotion in mind, select a music scale to use in your song.

Select an appropriate tempo and time signature for your song.

Create a chord progression.

Select/create instruments that can deliver the sound you want to use. You can reuse these instruments for multiple songs if you save your song

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projects and presets in an organized manner.

Spread and transpose instrument notes up or down so you achieve a nice balance of high and low sounds. If all your notes exist in the same octave,
you're likely missing out on a much larger and more pleasant sound that could be achieved by spreading out your notes.

Explore ways to add rhythm and movement to your composition. Add vertical note movement and spacing rests to make your melodies more
interesting. For example, if your melody movement goes upward, you can have your chords go downward. Done strategically, you can make your
melodies sound like they're feeding off each other.

Layer your instruments' sounds with other instruments.

For each live instrument, add articulations, expression, and velocity to increase the realism and interest of the sound. If your note timings are coming
across as too robotic, consider whether to add some randomness to your note timing to mimic the random variation that comes with human playing.

Add volume dynamics to your instrument melodies. Add crescendos and decrescendos to fade instruments in and out.

Mixing music checklist

This checklist is designed to handle the mixing and mastering steps for each song you compose. Following this checklist should help you achieve
polished music that is production-ready:

For each instrument, consider applying compression, saturation/distortion, or other effects to achieve the desired sound.

Balance the volumes of each instrument to emphasize your main melody.

Identify whether instruments are drowning each other out and use EQ to give space to each instrument. Check for phase interference between
instruments.

For each instrument, apply subtractive EQ tweaks to remove offensive resonant sounds.

Consider adding reverb effects to make your instruments feel like they are being played in the same room to add realism.

Master your music. If you don't have mastering software already, I recommend Izotope's Ozone plugin. In the mastering chain, you'll likely want to
do the following:
Identify frequency range zones for your song: low, mid, and high frequencies. Most mastering plugins use three or four frequency ranges.

Using a stereo image plugin, improve the stereo width.

Apply EQ to balance out your low and high frequencies.

Add compression to the overall mix.

Use a dynamic equalizer and apply subtractive EQ to your mix.

Add a limiter/maximizer to prevent peaking and increase the overall volume to the desired loudness.

Save any complex mixing and/or mastering chains as a preset so you can quickly apply them later on if the client requires adjustments.

In the FL Studio Mixer, it's very easy to save or copy all the effects on a mixer track to another track. You can save any selected mixer track by going
to Mixer Options | File | Save mixer track state as…. The following screenshot shows an example:

Figure 8.2 – Saving a mixer track

Doing the preceding step can save the preset to a file on your computer, which can be opened up in an entirely different project. Alternatively, you
can click the Save mixer track state as… button and drag it onto another mixer channel. This will copy the selected mixer track effects onto another
track.

Submit music to the client and receive feedback/approval frequently. Remind the client to provide feedback or approval after submitting each song.

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Sending all the songs at the end and hoping that they will like everything is a recipe for disaster.

You may be unfamiliar with some of the terminology discussed in the music mixing checklist. Topics on mixing and mastering go beyond the scope
of this book. If you're interested in learning the fine details of mixing and mastering, consider checking out my book The Music Producer's Ultimate
Guide to FL Studio 20. I also offer courses teaching these topics at https://www.chestersky.com/.

Summary

In this chapter, we learned how to overcome writer's block. We also looked at several template checklists you can follow to check you've paid
attention to important steps in the music creation process.

Share your music

If you'd like to share your music with other readers and students and ask for feedback from fellow musicians, feel free to post your music in the
following Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/musicproducerandcomposercommunity.

Figure 8.3 – Facebook page of the Music Producer and Composer Community

The group is intended to share music and resources for musicians.

Next steps

If you enjoyed reading this book and are wondering what your next steps could be, there are lots more resources available to continue your musical
journey.

More from the author

If you'd like to deep dive inside FL Studio and learn about mixing, mastering, and music marketing/publishing, check out my book The Music
Producer's Ultimate Guide To FL Studio 20: Create production-quality music with FL Studio, by Packt Publishing.

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Figure 8.4 – The Music Producer's Ultimate Guide to FL Studio 20

In this book, you'll explore FL Studio's vast array of tools and discover best practices, tips, and tricks for creating music. You'll learn how to set up
your studio environment, create beats, compose melodies and chord progressions, mix sounds with effects, and export songs. As you advance, you'll
find out how to use tools such as the Piano roll, mixer console, audio envelopes, types of compression, equalizers, vocoders, vocal chops, and tools
for increasing stereo width.

The book introduces you to mixing best practices and shows you how to master your songs. Along the way, you'll explore glitch effects and create
your own instruments and custom-designed effect chains. You'll also cover ZGameEditor Visualizer, a tool used for creating reactive visuals for your
songs. Finally, you'll learn how to register, sell, and promote your music to earn royalties.

Video courses

I offer a variety of bestselling courses on music production, FL Studio, and soundtrack composing. If you're interested in enrolling in my courses or
checking out additional products I offer, visit the website https://www.chestersky.com/.

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Figure 8.5 – Chestersky.com

On the website, you'll find courses on music production and soundtrack composing.

Social accounts

If you enjoyed this book, feel free to get in touch. I also regularly post music production resources on my social accounts:

Website: https://www.chestersky.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealChesterSky/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealChesterSky

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamchestersky/

A few final thoughts

There's an unlimited supply of great music to use as inspiration. Pay attention to music in films, games, and songs you like. It's a good habit to try to
identify tools and techniques that might have been used in songs.

Try to keep your eye on the big picture and not worry too much about the little problems that show up along the way. Setbacks and uncertainty
should be expected. Most skills are hard when new, but they become easier through experience. Projects, clients, and tools come and go. What stays
is your ever-improving ability to create slightly better music with each song you work on. Each musical piece you create helps make your next piece
even better. What you're able to do now is nothing compared to what you'll be able to do down the road.

Soundtracks are meant to be emotional listening experiences. If your music isn't generating an emotion, you probably need to go back to the drawing
board.

Although academics may try to argue otherwise, there's no such thing as perfection in music. Music is an art form. You don't have to be great when
you start. You get good through experience. Whether or not other people like your music now is not an indicator of whether you'll make great music
in the future. Just focus on making music that sounds good to you and the rest will sort itself out.

Make music you like and care about. You're the composer, so you're in charge.

Remember to enjoy the process. Making music is best when it's fun. Have fun making music!

Conclusion

You've reached the end of the book. I hope you had a fun adventure learning how to compose music. With a little practice, you'll have widely
applicable music composition skills to design emotional experiences. You're now fully armed with tools and techniques to compose music for any
project you dream up.

Further reading

If you want to learn about the business side of a music career, I highly recommend the book How to Make It in the New Music Business: Practical
Tips on Building a Loyal Following and Making a Living as a Musician, by Ari Herstand. This book is hands down the best book I've read on the

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music business. I cannot recommend it enough.

In this book, we briefly alluded to services that collect royalties. You may be wondering, how exactly do royalties get collected and what share of
royalties do you get? On the surface, this sounds like a simple question. It turns out the legal details are really complex. If you want to learn how
royalties are collected, read the book All You Need to Know about the Music Business, by Donald Passman.

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