The Ins and Outs of Making Original Music for Your Web Series

Frank Leone explains how to work with composers to make music for your series

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Still from In Retrospect episode 3

When I set out to write my first web series, I did not intend for it to be a musical. However, as I began writing the script, I also began envisioning various musical numbers. Nine episodes and nine original songs later, I found myself with a complete season. The script, the lyrics, and the melodies were all in place. The problem: I had no idea how to compose music, nor did I know how to find someone to arrange the music for me. The first thing I needed to do was to figure out how to get the right composer for my project.

If you‘re an actor or a writer, you are most likely stronger in a specific genre, i.e. drama or comedy. What I learned from this process, and this may sound naïve, is that musicians are the same. I had written songs from various genres spanning from EDM to a waltz to musical theatre, and had originally set out to find one composer to arrange all nine songs. As I began communicating with each composer and explaining what I needed, I realized that for this particular project, I would need to bring a few more people on board.

I began the process by figuring out my budget per song and what I’d be able to pay the composer to write the underlying music for the lyrics and melody that I already had. I researched online, as well as reached out to some friends, as to what an appropriate rate would be. Considering this was a low budget web series, the maximum I could spend per song was $100. They all said that this was a fair amount and that I would be able to find talented and up and coming composers at this rate. Once I found the composers, I was completely upfront from the start about my budget to see whether or not it worked with their normal rates. Some of them said that their fees were generally higher, but they liked the project and wanted to be a part of it, so they would work within my budget. Communication, honesty, and respect are everything.

My initial idea was to use musicians and record each song live, so I began researching rates for musicians, as well. However, as I continued to look, I realized that the cost of the musicians, along with the studio time, was way outside of my budget, and that wasn’t even including the amount set aside for the composers to arrange the songs. I came to the conclusion that I needed the composer to not only arrange the song but to also record the track. By talking with some friends, I learned that most composers already own some sort of music software program, so recording the track wouldn’t be out of the question. I added $50 to each song so I could also receive the track. Now, to find the composers.

Your best initial resource for finding composers is through your network of colleagues and friends. The majority of the composers that I had worked with on this project were referrals. I sent out an email, as well as posted on Facebook, stating what I needed, and if anyone had any contacts, to send them my way. I got a pretty large response from this and ultimately brought on a few of these individuals. However, I still needed a composer for three more songs. Desperate and running out of time due to my production schedule, I swallowed my pride and did the unthinkable (to me); I posted on craigslist. After a day, I had quite a number of responses. I knew exactly what I was looking for, so sifting through the emails wasn’t too difficult. There were a lot of talented people; many of which just weren’t the right fit for my needs. It’s important to be specific with what you want and what you are looking for in order to make the process slightly easier for you.

At the time of my craigslist posting, I was in a crunch and didn’t have the time to research other avenues. However, there are a number of resources to find composers including, but definitely not limited to, Reddit, ASCAP, ReverbNation, and local colleges and universities, as well as various freelancing sites such as Upwork and Soundlister. If you use the right search terms, you will find what you are looking for. Luckily, in my situation, I found exactly what I was looking for through the composer I met on craigslist. I now had the songs and the arrangers lined up and ready to go. The next challenge: three out of the five composers lived outside of New York City; two were in Chicago and one was in Oklahoma.

To be honest, at this point, I did not know what to do next or how best to go about making this work if I could never even meet any of the composers in person. Spoiler: it never ended up being an issue. We live in an age of technology, and with that comes every problem-solving solution. I spoke to the composers over the phone, and gave them each a more detailed outline of the series than in my initial introduction email. I also went more in depth with regard to their assigned songs and what I was looking for. I then sent over an email with an acapella recording of me singing the song, along with a pdf of the lyrics.

In the body of the email, I included and re-iterated elements from our phone conversation in regard to what I was looking for with each song (I like to have everything in writing.) I included YouTube links to three songs that were examples of the vibe I was going for with the song that they would be arranging. I explained after each example what I liked about that particular song and the elements of it that I wanted incorporated. I included a description of the atmosphere that I wanted to create, as well as the emotion and action of the scene. I described colors I associated with the song, costumes, and even set locations. For example, the song in episode five was a swing era song. I told the composer (Eli Wilson) that I envisioned a 1930’s-1940’s style dance that would have been held in a gymnasium with a trio of women onstage singing a la the Andrews Sisters, while the dance floor was filled with couples swing dancing the night away. (Sidenote: my description was way longer than a sentence, but for the purpose of this, I shortened it to a sentence. You get the idea.) I indicated where I wanted an instrumental break, as well as where I wanted the music to build and crescendo. The end result for this example is “Big Band Sound.”

Example song I sent to my composer:

The final original song:

After I sent out my song description email, each composer would come up with about thirty seconds of music for me to listen and give feedback to before diving headfirst into creating the rest of the piece. They would then complete the song, and email over a rough cut for more notes. Again, I’d listen, give my notes, and changes would be made. We would then start that cycle again. Sites like Dropbox, Google Drive, and WeTransfer were useful in sending over the larger files. These files were then used during our vocal recording sessions. Once finished in the studio with the actors/singers, the vocal files were sent over to the sound mixer to lay on top of the tracks. The cycle of notes and edits would begin again until the vocals were placed where they needed to be, the reverb was in a good spot, and the volumes of the voices and instruments were balanced.

Creating a musical web series, like any other production, is a bit of a roller coaster ride, complete with all of the unexpected twists and turns. Preparation, organization, and communication are essential throughout the process, especially when the people you are working with are outside of the state. Hopefully, by reading my experience, you’ll at least have an idea of where to begin, and that the seemingly daunting and impossible is actually both attainable and possible if you go into it with a mindset of success.