3 Tools For Finding The Perfect Music For Your Short Film

This article was written by Musicbed, who is an official sponsor of My RØDE Reel 2020. With $1 million in cash to be won, plus heaps of awesome prizes and filmmaking gear (including 1-Year Personal Subscriptions from Musicbed ), this is the biggest My RØDE Reel edition yet. Got an idea for a short film? Head to myrodereel.com to find out more and download your starter pack. Entries close October 7, 2020.

We know that finding music for a film is not easy. It’s a little bit like a treasure hunt, and not always the fun kind—it’s the kind that can really slow your edit if you don’t have the right tools at your disposal. We know because we’ve been there. You’re in the middle of a project and it’s time to start thinking about the soundtrack, then it all comes to a screeching halt.

There’s a sound in your head, but you’re not really sure how to translate it into a song.

This entire scenario is the reason Musicbed exists. Since we started, it’s been our job to eliminate as many of the unknowns as possible. We’ve brought hundreds of artists, bands, and composers together under one roof—each of them handpicked as a great choice as music for your films. But that’s only half of the equation.

As we said before, you already know the perfect song is in there. You just need the tools to find it. There are more than 20,000 songs on our roster and you can’t listen to all of them. Even if you narrowed it down to a specific genre, it still leaves you with far too many options.

In this post, we’re going to run through a few clever tools to help you track down the perfect music for your My RØDE Reel submission, to help you find the song you’ve been hearing in your head.

Get Outside Advice

Music is inherently personal, but when it comes to filmmaking sometimes it helps to get out of your head. We all know tunnel vision is a real thing, and by including someone else in your process, you’ll be opening your film to new perspectives. Plus, your ultimate goal is to make a great reel not show off your music taste, right?

There are plenty of great services and music supervisors out there, and we even offer free song pitches from our Music Specialists. This is may be the most underutilized service we offer, maybe because it just seems too good to be true. Our Music Specialists know the roster better than anyone and they’ll offer free song pitches to you at no charge. Yep, completely free.

So, why does this matter to you? Well, you can tell our specialists what you’re looking for and they’ll spend the time finding it. Simple as that. They can tell you what’s trending right now, offer some hidden gems other people may not be noticing, and give you a well-rounded list of songs that fit the vibe you’re looking for. It’s like having an extra member of your team who you don’t have to pay.

Articulate Your Sound

Beyond being personal, music is also inherently indescribable—or at least difficult to describe. But, it’s important for you to make an attempt so you can begin to hone in on a sound for your film.

Instead of starting with the music, begin the process by describing your film in ways that could translate to music. Words like ‘dark’ or ‘angry’ or ‘uplifting’ will help you begin to build a mood for your project, which you can then translate into specific genres and songs as well.

Once you’ve articulated your sound, you can use our search tools to track it down. We’ve built the industry’s most robust search engine, designed to help you navigate our extensive roster in just a matter of seconds. So, to start narrowing down to the perfect song, use filters like Genre, Mood, Artist, Attribute, Instrument, and more.

With our set of filters and search tools, you can begin to narrow down more than 20,000 songs to exactly what you want in just a matter of seconds. The combinations are limitless and so are the opportunities.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

No need to be a martyr for your film. No one’s going to fault you for taking a shortcut so you can spend more time in the editing bay or working to find distribution. And playlists are a great starting point.

This may seem obvious, but platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Musicbed are built to help curate a taste for you, so chances are they’re going to be pretty good at curating a sound for your submission as well. Start your song search by listening intentionally for your film and Spotify will begin to recommend music that matches up.

Even one step further, our A&R team has its hands on every aspect of our roster—and our Playlists are an example of it. They’re curated within curation, the perfect place for any filmmaker that needs a faster option or just wants a shortcut to where they’re going.

We’ve even created a playlist specifically for those participating in this year’s My RØDE Reel competition.

There’s also 100+ playlists for you to explore right now, with more being added all the time. Our specialists curate each of them with new music so you’re always seeing the latest and greatest. You can explore our Genre playlists if you want a broader view of a certain type of music, or you can really hone in with our Vibe playlists, curated with a certain feeling or mood in mind.

All in all, our playlists are the perfect place for straight-up inspiration. There’s no better way to start a project than by picking your favorite playlist and discovering something new.

So what are you waiting for? Your submission deserves incredible music and we’re here to make sure you find exactly what you’re looking for. Whether you sign up for a Free Trial to choose from our entire roster or decide to choose from our curated My RØDE Reel playlist (sign up for My RØDE Reel to access), we know you’ll find a great song to accompany your film. Start listening here.

Entries for My RØDE Reel are open now and close Wednesday, October 7th, so get filming! Head to myrodereel.com to find out more and download your starter pack.