What happens to trailer music? Anyone mix trailer sound?

audiomichael · 5th May 2007

Do any on you mix trailers. I'm curious what happens to the music (aside from getting burried under tanks, rockets, explosions, and machine guns). I've had my music in many trailers and often, it seems to sound better than when it left my grubby hands. I've heard other trailer libraries that didn't sound too good, sound amazing on the big screen. My partner and I always joke about some magic trailer music box that makes music sound better.

Is it just the mix guys adding some EQ or is it multibanded or ??? I've never been asked for stems, or a remix...so I don't think it's that.

Pedro_vde · 6th May 2007

I do...

and when mixing those trailers I tend to make a small 'click' in my head that the mix should be a little punchier than I would do with a feature or a TV-program. So (multiband)-dynamics and EQ are the tools of the trade.

On the other hand I do think music in trailers is often buried as you write, but that's not always a mixers decision. Don't underestimate the influence of all the people throwing in opinions and suggestions about the trailer mix. Producers, Directors, Sales Agents, Press Relation Managers and all the other people 'they' tend to drag in a room to give there opinion.

I rather prefer to mix with one or two people so you can work together instead of doing politics and mixing something that has the opinion of 30 people in it but sounds like crap.

Kind regards from Belgium

Pedro

Pedro_vde · 17th June 2007

I use most of the time the mastering algorithms from the System 6000 that I've tweaked to suit my own taste.

EQ comes a lot out of the box and for mastering trailers I rely a lot on the George Massenburg TDM plug and the Sony Oxford EQ-plug-in for the EQ on the stems. On the individual channels I do a lot with the waves renaissance stuff (EQ & Dyn)

On the other hand most of the feature film trailers are mastered on a Neve DFC and the internal (not multi-band) channel compression sounds really great. For mastering on the DFC I use stems so I can tweak them separate before mixing down to AC3 or whatever...

Kind regards from Belgium

Pedro

5th May 2007	#1
audiomichael Lives for gear Joined: Mar 2005 Location: L. A.-ish Posts: 2,165 Thread Starter	What happens to trailer music? Anyone mix trailer sound? Do any on you mix trailers. I'm curious what happens to the music (aside from getting burried under tanks, rockets, explosions, and machine guns). I've had my music in many trailers and often, it seems to sound better than when it left my grubby hands. I've heard other trailer libraries that didn't sound too good, sound amazing on the big screen. My partner and I always joke about some magic trailer music box that makes music sound better. Is it just the mix guys adding some EQ or is it multibanded or ??? I've never been asked for stems, or a remix...so I don't think it's that. __________________ Michael David Nielsen - Composer / Producer / Lover ...of gear http://michaelnielsenmusic.com/

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6th May 2007	#2
Pedro_vde Gear maniac Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Belgium Posts: 195	I do... and when mixing those trailers I tend to make a small 'click' in my head that the mix should be a little punchier than I would do with a feature or a TV-program. So (multiband)-dynamics and EQ are the tools of the trade. On the other hand I do think music in trailers is often buried as you write, but that's not always a mixers decision. Don't underestimate the influence of all the people throwing in opinions and suggestions about the trailer mix. Producers, Directors, Sales Agents, Press Relation Managers and all the other people 'they' tend to drag in a room to give there opinion. I rather prefer to mix with one or two people so you can work together instead of doing politics and mixing something that has the opinion of 30 people in it but sounds like crap. Kind regards from Belgium Pedro

17th June 2007	#3
Pedro_vde Gear maniac Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Belgium Posts: 195	I use most of the time the mastering algorithms from the System 6000 that I've tweaked to suit my own taste. EQ comes a lot out of the box and for mastering trailers I rely a lot on the George Massenburg TDM plug and the Sony Oxford EQ-plug-in for the EQ on the stems. On the individual channels I do a lot with the waves renaissance stuff (EQ & Dyn) On the other hand most of the feature film trailers are mastered on a Neve DFC and the internal (not multi-band) channel compression sounds really great. For mastering on the DFC I use stems so I can tweak them separate before mixing down to AC3 or whatever... Kind regards from Belgium Pedro