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Writer's pictureChristopher McHale

Don't be a creative wimp. Go pro.



When I listen to soundtracks sometimes, the heavy, cliche, ear-draining ordinariness of it all irks me to no end. I never get why so many creatives throw in the towel when it comes to creativity on soundtracks.


A heavy, boring voice. A flat-watered down fake Hollywood score. Lame sound effects. I mean, what up?


I saw a trailer for a video game the other day. A giant scene of mayhem, blood, destruction, a real edgy story all brought to boringville by this voice, like bad v/o guy mailing it in, working his low end like some pipes are going to make up for the fact his read is dishwater dull. The score was John Williams Lite. The sound effects were not too bad, but the mix had no depth. Any bets the mix was done on a laptop in an office?


The picture was a couple of years in production, but the soundtrack sounded like it was done in a day. I'm sure the voice casting a cursory affair. The creative needle lay there like road kill.


Don't give up on your creativity when it comes to finishing your work. Find people with a passion for the work, the skill to pull it off and the desire to challenge the project with break-through thinking. They're out there.


Looking for a voice? Hire a casting director. Agents have stakes in the game and are limited to their roster, but a casting director's job is to find the right voice for the project no matter where that voice might be. Looking for music? Hire a composer. Find a reel that connects with you. Hire that person. And deliver everything into a mixer's hands. Mixing is magic. It will bring the work alive.

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