Right on the heels of Tiger Woods return to glory at the 2019 Masters, the NFL Draft, and the start of the NBA Playoffs, this edition of the Weekly Cues couldn’t be timed better. Let’s take a look at how to write music for sports related TV projects.
Hearing your song play out on television is truly an epic feeling. For me it’s an adrenaline rush I like to think is similar to your favorite athlete coming up big in a clutch moment. Mixing the two together is an added rush.
Once you get a taste of this feeling, it’s something you want to experience over and over again. Is there a trick to writing music to fit the vibe of some in-game sports action? Below is a technique that I came up with that will dramatically increase your chances in getting a placement on a sports related broadcast. If you follow these simple guidelines, along with connecting with the key decision makers who will place your track, your songs will absolutely be placed.
Writing Music for Sports
- Take a mid to up-tempo instrumental you recently produced that has a nice strong and powerful energy to it.
- Edit that instrumental down to around a minute and a half in time.
- Think of some strong and powerful phrases a professional athlete may say in a hype-up video or post-game speech. (e.g. Feet Don’t Fail Me Now, Listen to Your Heart Beat, Always Compete, This is Our House, etc.)
- Have a singer or rapper come into your studio and record these phrases as a chant-based hook or chorus.
- Make sure your chorus sounds full with layered vocals and reverb/echo added.
- On the final mix down, make sure the performers cadence on the hook fits that same powerful and energetic vibe along with some swagger and edginess. Keep your lyrics clean.
- Reach out to the key decision makers on all major sports networks with your polished track. If you read my book, you already know how simple we make this with our automated solution.
Producers of sports packages love hooks and choruses. You may have an awesome full track, but they are likely not going to use it. It is common for a song to be edited down to a minute to two minutes max. So, why not make it easy for them and just deliver the mix down with the hook?
An example of this technique is a track I wrote and produced called “Listen to Your Heart Beat” (stream below) that’s still showing up on my quarterly statement. That’s how to write a song for sports related TV projects.
