I have spent a lot of the last month listening to new and exciting trailer music.

Anyway - this month I'm handing over to one of my students Marlon to share his thoughts and experiences:

Trailer music is a genre unto itself. There are so many sub-categories! and so if you are thinking of taking the plunge into trailer music, I wholeheartedly recommend Rich's bundle - I bought every course separately and was still worth it. You need to be prepared for whatever style is asked of you which is why the bundle makes sense.

There are two additional offerings: track feedback and one-on-one coaching.

The track feedback response is literally my favorite day of the month. Rich spends on average 20 minutes breaking down your track on what works, what doesn’t, and concludes with a game plan for how to take it past “the finish line”.

If you are working for a trailer music library you will get, at most, a few sentences of critique vs 20+ minutes of detailed feedback with Rich that will take your track to the next level!

Rich is my secret weapon! Which is why I DON’T really want to share my experience, but I am because he deserves it.

Maybe it’s a coincidence, but I got accepted into a trailer music library within the 1st month I signed onto Rich’s Gold Tier, which is one on one coaching.

No matter what stage you are in, Rich has you covered. He does the research and finds what is trending in trailer music and supplies a detailed brief. And if you’re like me, actually working to a brief for a trailer music label, he will help you at every stage of the process - with humor and experience and warmth.

He makes it sound easy - and that’s because it IS - with his guidance. Your success rides on who you spend time with. If you know a seasoned trailer composer down the street from you who will take you on as a mentee, that’s awesome! Otherwise, look to what you have available to you online and jump on it!

Thank you Rich from the bottom of my heart.

This Month's Featured Trailer

The Corner Office trailer is an absolute masterclass in writing intriguing, tense, minimal string-based trailer music. Filled with space, riffs, stops, percussion, and of course a great sense of build and drama.

The choice of instrumentation is a brilliant tongue-in-cheek reflection of this dark and humorous story of a man who finds a secret room that allows him to do anything.

The way the strings are recorded and played closely enhances the almost claustrophobic feeling of this black comedy that takes John Hamm back to the office but not quite like the glamorous setting of Mad Men.

8 Trailers Worth Watching

Love the swagger hip hop track that drives this trailer for The Out-Laws so nice to hear tracks that feature brass played like a guitar - sounds awesome.

1. The creepy waltz in the Cobweb trailer is a great example of slightly jaunty, just-a-little-bit-scary style waltzes we can compose.
2. Driving action drum cues are still as useful as ever. I really like the different take on the ticking clock in this Mob Land trailer.
3. The One Piece trailer is an absolute masterclass on great family adventure trailer music. It is filled with excitement, awe, and most importantly makes you feel like you can achieve anything.
4. This Heart of Stone trailer is a really refreshing take on action thriller trailers and a perfect showcase of trailerised hip hop. I love the vocal signature sound too.
5. Happiness for Beginners. No matter how "serious" I try to be. I still love hearing hopeful acoustic tracks on movie trailers; they are always repetitive and filled with claps, 4-to-the-floor kicks, and a simple uplifting and driving feel. Don't underestimate the acoustic trailer music genre!
6. Dune Part 2 | Trailer 2  is rather unusual in its approach, feeling a lot more "scored" than most. It is worth watching for this moment in the music, it gives me chills and fills me with excitement all at once.
7. The way that the Killers of the Flower Moon trailer have taken the stomp swagger genre and given it a Native American twist is absolutely brilliant.
8. The first act of the Painkiller trailer is a wonderfully rhythmic showcase of percussive sound design enhancing the edit (and vice versa).

❤ Rich's Favourite Track This Month

Composers: Ben Knorr / Paul Dinletir

I LOVE how this track marries the quirky world of Wes Anderson with the close-mic, gritty playing styles of horror trailer music. This got me wanting to get my violin out and start making some quirky thriller cues.

🎙 Latest from the Trailer Music Composer's Podcast

I enjoyed interviewing the up-and-coming young composer Jiri  Nemec about how he managed to land a Star Wars placement at just 17 years old!

Landing a Star Wars Placement at 17 with Jiri Nemec

In this episode of the Trailer Music Composer’s Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jiri Nemec. Jiri reached out to me via email with the subject line “Star Wars placement at 17 thanks to your podcast”, and I knew I had to have him on the show to explain

Richard PrynRichard Pryn

I also got another Ask Rich request which I always love answering!

🎹 Trailer Music Tool of the Month

In almost every piece of trailer music I compose, I use at least one of the tools in Soundtoys. Not surprisingly whenever I have conducted an interview for the Trailer Music Composer's Podcast these tools are almost always one of the "go-to effects plugins". If you don't have any of them I strongly suggest you get your hands on them.

Soundtoys 5.4

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Soundtoys

New Placements

I am proud to have my track Ode to a Nightingale used on this powerful trailer for Freedom on Fire.

Just for your interest, you can hear the full track below and compare how it was written and how it was used in the trailer.

Practice Brief

If you are one of my Silver or Gold tier subscribers. You get access to a practice brief and professional track feedback from me each month.

If you want monthly practice briefs and track feedback from me then sign up below.