Music Think Tank

Getting a song into a film or TV show is one of the most exciting things an artist can experience. It can be lucrative, and it can be one of the best ways to get discovered in this over-saturated world of DIY music releases. Unfortunately, the cat is out of the bag and everyone wants a sync placement, making the competition fierce. But you might be surprised what kind of singing has the best chances of getting used on a film or tv show (hint - it’s not the songs that show off your incredible range). Read on for some singing strategies that might help you nab a sync!

Be Authentic. The shows want unique, “artist” sounding voices - not generic sounding studio singers or imitations. Maybe your voice is gritty and unpolished, but expressive and distinct. Celebrate that, you have just as great a shot (if not even more of one) as a singer that can sing circles around you. Listen to this song by Lucinda Williams and you’ll get exactly what I’m talking about. Distinct? Expressive? Evocative? Authentic? Oh yeah!!!
Check your classical/musical theater training at the door. Musical theater vocals do get used on television shows like Glee, and Disney shows/films, but these are very specific markets. Opera arias occasionally get used, too, but again these placements are much fewer and further between. If you come from a singing background where you’ve been trained in classical or musical theater, the main thing to be aware of is vibrato. There is a certain sound to musical theater and classical vibratos that don’t mesh well with pop styles of singing (including Singer/Songwriter, EDM, R&B, Hip Hop, Country, etc). While many artists in the wide field of pop music have little to no vibrato, it doesn’t mean you can’t have it at all. Billie Eilish is a great example here, her voice has a very distinct, wobbly, slow vibrato.
Save the big, belt-y, range-y stuff for your live performances. Now, you would think that the more obvious the talent, the more likely your voice would be used in the background of a movie or television show. But the keyword here is background. The vast majority of song placements are meant to be in the background, and not draw attention away from the scene, but rather enhance it subtly with the mood and energy of the song. So huge high notes and complicated runs will definitely eliminate your song from the running, unless it would be used for a closing credit or other special circumstance where the music is meant to be upfront and noticed. Jose Gonzalez’s beautiful song “Heartbeats”is very upfront and featured in this scene of One Tree Hill - but you’ll notice the range and dynamics of his vocal performance never changes - that way the audience’s attention can drift between the song and the actors whenever dialogue is spoken. By the way - “Heartbeats” has been used in not one, not two, not three…..but TEN television shows. This is the voice (and song) to study!
Use pitch correction. There is no shame in cleaning up your vocal, and it is essential that your voice doesn’t ever hit a sour note, because again it could distract from a scene. You can sound as unpolished as you want to, but you cannot have a pitchy vocal. After you’ve recorded your song, make sure that you or your engineer go through it with Melodyne to clean up any stray notes. Don’t overdo it though, the voice should sound natural unless an overly processed sounding vocal is the sound you’re after - commonly used for dance and melodic rap genres, for example.

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