Danielle Kaheaku

BTW, I see that folks are responding to your inquiries about budgeting for the music. Yeah, I know there's a lot of stuff to consider, huh?

Once I pass along my take on what music would really work your film and is in the style you want, and if you like it, I'd like to work up a budget proposal for you which has several different options balancing cost, sound quality, and instrumentation. If that's something you will still be requiring.

Hope your other projects are going well!

~ Paul

No - vocals have absolutely nothing to do with it. How much is the budget of your film and about how much music is going to needed? That is more the determining factor in cost. Plus who the composer is. A composer is going to be paid differently for a 50 million dollar film, then a 500k dollar film, then a 20k dollar film. Pay peanuts get monkeys. That is the Universal Rule. There are too many questions that need to be answered before you can get an answer. Scoring a film is not at all the same cost process as hiring production sound mixer or DP who gets a day rate. Is it an Orchestral score? If you're looking for someone to write Ennio Morricone type music then that answer is yes. Can you afford a live Union Orchestra for 2 or 3 days:? Can you afford one playing remotely in Budapest? Can you only afford to have the score completely played and recorded by the composer in his studio using state of the art orchestral sample instruments? Is it 10 minutes of music or an hour? Are you trying to make an entire film for 300k? Say goodbye to any Orchestra. Etc.

Hi Danielle- I've been a composer and sound designer for over 30 years now and projects and their corresponding budgets do run the gambit as to pricing. I have done micro-budgeted projects with 2-4 music cues in stereo only for $2-4K. And that's all with digital samples in my studio. If its a medium budget film ($300 to 800K) I also rely on what the producer is looking for. Live players, copyists, or digital score with some live solo instruments, incidental or thematic?, on and on. This larger , more involved projects are really more in line with what Matt said above. 5-10% of overall budget depending on a lot of factors.

I have also acted as post audio supervisor on a number of features and developed a basic line item budget form I use for the producer. be glad to send you the .XLS spread sheet if you like.

Having been born in this industry during the analog days. (Giving my age away i suppose), I appreciate the score of films on a sound stage as a John Williams still does or even Morricone did back in the "hang em' high": days. Now, with the advent of digital recording and sampling instruments, these type scores can be produced for a much smaller budget and accommodate the Indie film maker best. In recent years (last 10) i have only done one manuscript film score. All others have been digital samples of orchestra and synths. I collaborate more too with other composers who write a score but don't have the better samples as I have to realize the orchestra. I do a lot of MIDI editing, arranging and orchestration as well. Which is yet another facet of post audio score.

Hope this helps and if you'd like that budget form. Give me a shout at jimsounddesign@gmail.com

best success- Jim Rieder

Thanks guys for the info. This is probably the one area I'm having the most difficulty in budgeting for. I already have access to several cameras, trailers, booms, sound mixers, etc., and have several crew on hand that I've worked with before, but music for past films were always prerecorded songs purchased from indie bands or the like. I've never been directly involved in putting together or managing a new score for a film, and this is a learning process.

I appreciate the insight, and will keep all this in mind. I assume one of the best ways to go about this would be to put together a plan of what I'm looking for, and then just submit my proposed score ideas/concepts to composers for quotes?

Yes you can do that. But the composer needs a lot more info to give you a bid. you can also use that 5-10% rule and just say, "This is my budget" and put it out there and collect demos and start narrowing it down to a few you can talk to directly about the film. Also, don't look for your score in the demos they send. These tracks were for other films and by direction of the music supervisor or producer. Instead, look for feel and how the composer matches the scene with the score. Does the score draw you into the film, compliment the dialog.Or is it off and not matching what you're watching?

Usually what happens with my workflow is this; The film has been in final cut and a work print sent to sound editor and composer (in this case, me). Then what happens is if its a producer that likes the one on one contact with me, we'll sit down in the studio and do a spotting session with the time code window burn of the final cut. Meaning that we'll spot sections of the film he/she wants score and i take notes as to what feel is needed. atmospheric, orchestral slow, fast, etc. and maybe we'll get into instrumentation a little. then i start doing sketches of the cues to bounce off the producer and see if i'm going in the right direction for the film. usually this takes a couple of whacks before we lock into a groove. then I do a full mock-up of the score with all instruments (digital at first). Then, depending on budget, i hire players, book a large room to record and print out the parts. Now, if the producer can't be in my studio for the spotting session, i just have them fill out a music cue sheet with as much detail about each cue as they can think of and go from there.

After the spotting session is done (and i don't charge for that either) i can better give an idea of overall budget for the project. Very rarely before that because i have no idea what they're thinking of other than "Think John Williams and Hanz Zimmer".

best- J. www.suiteaudiosounddesign.com

Likewise.