create an account
login
create an account
login
create an account
login

MUSIC

AUDIO NETWORK VINYL

TOP GLASTONBURY 2023 MOMENTS

MUSIC, OLD /
Contents
    Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

    Every year, for hundreds of thousands of fans (and for millions at home), Glastonbury Festival is one of the year’s most anticipated music events, with tickets sold out in minutes – even before the line-ups have been announced.

    So, what did the Glastonbury music festival 2023 deliver? Who were the headliners, the surprise guests and the icons, and what were the most memorable moments?

    Generations of Memories Made Down on the Farm

    Music forms the soundtrack of our lives, and live music in particular can create memories unlike any others. Glastonbury hosted its first festival at Worthy Farm in late summer 1970 – the day after Jimi Hendrix died. That year, it was called the Pilton Pop, Folk and Blues Festival, cost the princely sum of £1 to get in and included free camping and free milk (for anyone who doesn’t know, Worthy Farm is a working dairy farm.) The 1,500 attendees enjoyed Marc Bolan’s T-Rex – playing in place of the Kinks, who were due to headline.

    By 1971, the festival, which was inspired by the success of the Isle of Wight Festival and Woodstock in the US, had been renamed The Glastonbury Fayre and the date was changed to coincide with the summer solstice. Festival founders Michael and Jean Eavis saw the event as a place for the ‘expression of free-thinking people.’

    This is borne out by the location of the now iconic Pyramid Stage (a replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt), which was determined by the Glastonbury Abbey and Stonehenge ley line, an invisible line that runs through the Vale of Avalon and is believed to demarcate ‘earth energies’.

    However, Glastonbury as we know it really kicked off in 1979, with a three-day festival attended by 12,000 revellers paying £5 a head, and Peter Gabriel headlining. Glastonbury 2023 welcomed over 210,000 revellers – similar to a city the same size as Bath, providing a five-day home to its festival-goers.

    Over the decades, as the Festival grew in size and reputation, it attracted some of music’s biggest names – everyone from Van Morrison to David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Stormzy has taken to the Pyramid Stage – plus, of course, the Sunday afternoon ‘legends slot’, reserved for established, well-loved artists.

    In the early 90s, Britpop bands Oasis, Pulp, Blur and Radiohead all made their festival debuts at Glastonbury; it’s well established as a festival that embraces rising stars – this was also the place for the emerging dance and rave culture. The first TV broadcast by Channel 4 was in 1994 and the BBC took over in 1997.

    The Festival programme caters to every kind of festival tribe and music fan, from dance to jazz, cabaret to rock, rap to pop and world music.

    Memorable Moments From Glastonbury 2023

    Who were the Glastonbury 2023 headliners? Friday night saw the Arctic Monkeys deliver an – it’s fair to say – divisive set, combining both new tracks and favourite hits, headlining for a third time (they previously headlined here a decade ago.)

    However, frontman Alex Turner’s pivot from raw, authentic Sheffield accent to a kind of lounge-lizard, Vegas persona isn’t for everyone. Hardcore fans who’ve been with them from the start love it, but with so many other stages and acts on offer elsewhere, if you weren’t enjoying it, there were plenty of other options – especially with the BBC’s Glastonbury channel offering the pick of each stage.

    The Mystery Is Solved

    The Arctics were arguably overshadowed by one of the big moments of this year’s festival: the Foo Fighters. There’d been a lot of chat about who mystery band ‘The Churnups’ were when the 2023 lineup was announced. Could it be Pulp, who last played Glastonbury in 2011, Red Hot Chili Peppers – yet to ever play the festival after pulling out of a headline slot in 1993 – or Blur, set to play Wembley in a fortnight (with ‘churnups’ being a cheeky nod to bassist Alex James’ love of cheesemaking)?

    But no, after a cryptic message from Dave Grohl that referenced ‘churning up emotions’, the Foos took to the stage ahead of Royal Blood and the Arctics at 6.15pm on Friday for, as the NME said, ‘a brief but brilliant return for a band who’ve etched themselves into festival folklore.’

    Marking one of the band’s first UK gigs since their tribute gigs to late drummer Taylor Hawkins last September and the release of their first album since his death, But Here We Are, the set’s hour run-time was ‘refreshingly zippy for a Foos show.’ Just nine songs, including ‘All My Life’, ‘No Son of Mine’, ‘Learn to Fly’, ‘The Pretender’ and ‘Everlong’, which was dedicated to Hawkins. It was a special gig for other reasons too – it was the 25th anniversary of the band’s first appearance at the festival, even down to the stage and the slot.

    Dave Grohl also joined The Pretenders with Johnny Marr for their performance on Saturday and Saturday’s headliners Guns N’Roses for ‘Paradise City’, clearly making the most of his Worthy Farm weekend. Plus, he showed he really is one of the most down to earth rockers around, when he tweeted a pic en route, saying, ‘Even rock royalty knows that there is no better way to travel to Glastonbury than by train’, from one of Great Western Railway’s finest.

    dave grohl

    Photo Credit: www.bbc.co.uk

    Guns N’Roses

    The veteran hard rockers’ set featured 25 songs in two and a half hours, creating, as the NME put it, ‘a solid performance… to the wrong crowd… Guns N’ Roses’ sultry, whiskey-chugging, in-your-face brand of rock felt misplaced when delivered at the hippie nucleus of the world.’

    G N’R were a controversial booking, given the lack of female headliners for 2023, with Lizzo and Lana Del Rey being pushed onto other stages, and a dearth of support for emerging talent. (Think of Stormzy headlining in 2019.)

    As well as the hits (‘Welcome to the Jungle’, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, ‘November Rain’ and ‘Paradise City’), the band paid homage to some of their heroes, featuring UK Subs’ ‘Down on the Farm’, ‘TV Eye’ by The Stooges and Wings’ ‘Live and Let Die’.

    BBC News thought it was a ‘meandering, sporadically brilliant set that mixed stadium-level classics with less familiar deep cuts.’

    Lana Del Rey, meanwhile, was headlining the Other Stage, but was half an hour late (‘My hair takes so long to do… super sorry I’m so late’) and, having not started till after 11pm, ended up having her set cut by at least six songs, to the huge disappointment of her army of fans. (The setlist suggested that two of her biggest songs, ‘Summertime Sadness’ and ‘Video Games’ were among them.) The crowd made up for it in part by singing ‘Video Games’ a capella, with Del Rey singing along with them.

    Legends

    Yusuf/Cat Stevens played a nostalgic, slightly political set in the Sunday ‘Legends’ slot. The 74-year-old opened with ‘The Wind’ and later confessed that he was as nervous today as he was the first time he approached a microphone in public, in a small club in Soho in 1965.

    There was a medley of 60s classics and he paid tribute to George Harrison with a cover of ‘Here Comes the Sun’, followed by Nina Simone’s ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’. If you were feeling at all emotional, then closing out with ‘Wild World’ and ‘Father and Son’ would’ve done the trick.

    Rocket Man Takes Flight: Elton John Glastonbury 2023

    On Sunday evening, as the sun set over Worthy Farm, a true music legend took to the Pyramid Stage for, surprisingly, his first ever appearance at Glastonbury: Elton John. As the gig was also billed as his last ever live performance in the UK, following three years on the road for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour (now officially the highest-grossing tour of all time, with box office receipts of £697m), it drew a monumental crowd.

    The 76-year-old, dressed in a gold lamé suit, played a non-stop stream of total bangers with his band and special guests for two hours, kicking off with ‘Pinball Wizard’ and building to an emotional climax. On what would have been George Michael’s 60th birthday, Elton dedicated ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’ to ‘one of Britain’s most fantastic singers, songwriters [and] artists. He was my friend, an inspiration… I want to dedicate this song to his memory, and all the music he left us with, which is so gorgeous.’

    As fireworks echoed round the site, there was an extended version of ‘Rocket Man’ to finish a truly epic performance.

    Ahead of the show, there’d been all sorts of rumours of special guests – from Britney Spears to Harry Styles and Dua Lipa. In the end, Elton championed a new generation of musicians over pop stars who could’ve been headliners in their own right.

    He invited Jacob Lusk of US soul group Gabriels to sing ‘Are You Ready for Love’; newcomer Rina Sawayama took Kiki Dee’s part on a rousing ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’. Nashville’s Stephen Sanchez got to sing a song of his own – surely a huge honour in such a prestigious set – ‘Until I Found You’.

    The one exception was The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, who took to the stage for ‘Tiny Dancer’.

    Proving how highly anticipated it had been, Elton’s show was the most watched in the Festival’s history, with 7.3 million people tuning in, and social media going wild. (As a comparison, last year’s Sunday headliner, Paul McCartney, pulled in 2.7 million viewers.)

    SETLIST

    • Pinball Wizard
    • The Bitch Is Back
    • Bennie & The Jets
    • Daniel
    • Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
    • I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues
    • Philadelphia Freedom
    • Are You Ready For Love? (With Jacob Lusk and the London Community Gospel Choir)
    • Sad Songs Say So Much
    • Someone Saved My Life Tonight
    • Until I Found You (with Stephen Sanchez)
    • Your Song
    • Candle In The Wind
    • Tiny Dancer (with Brandon Flowers)
    • Don’t Got Breaking My Heart (with Rina Sawayama)
    • Crocodile Rock
    • Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting
    • I’m Still Standing
    • Cold Heart
    • Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me
    • Rocket Man

    Standouts & Surprises

    Other standouts from the Glastonbury 2023 lineup included dance auteur Fred Again…, who had queues forming to get into the field when he took to the Other Stage for his blend of dubstep, grime and house, brought together with a pop sensibility. If you were looking for a kick-start for an evening in the dance tent, Fred Again’s crowd generated enough mass euphoria to take you through till the early hours.

    There was a time when Rick Astley was about the furthest thing from cool. But he was definitely Glasto 2023’s biggest winner. He’d never even been to the festival before (he confessed the closest he’d got was dropping off his daughter there in previous years.) But he stormed it not once but twice this year.

    His solo show, opening up the Pyramid Stage at midday on a gloriously sunny Saturday featured his hits (‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, ‘Together Forever’ and ‘Whenever You Need Somebody’) of course, but also covers of Harry Styles’ ‘As it Was’ and – in a showstopper absolutely no-one expected – taking to the drums and singing AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell.’

    He later brought even more joy as he paired up again with indie band Blossoms for a set of Smiths covers. ‘This Charming Man’? Absolutely – Rick Astley is, it turns out, a musical genius living his best life.

    There was an outpouring of emotion for Lewis Capaldi who had cancelled his other June dates in order to prioritise his mental health. The Scottish singer-songwriter has Tourette’s syndrome and his Pyramid Stage crowd proved themselves to be, as the Guardian’s Laura Snapes noted, ‘keenly aware of his situation, and determined to buoy him at every possible opportunity.’

    His voice started to go and as he closed out his set with ‘Someone You Loved’, it went completely and the audience belted it out for him – ‘it’s palpable how much the crowd want him to know that he’s OK, it’s all OK, he is loved. Although I’m sure it’s not the main stage moment Capaldi dreamed of, it is beautiful, supportive, truly communal, and a testament to the complex bond he has built with his fans; a real human triumph.’

    Surely Lizzo’s got to be a headliner next year? (Insert your own ‘It’s About Damn Time’ gag here.) Killer costumes, long green mermaid hair, her all-female band the Lizzbians and dancers the Big Grrrls – plus wave-your-arms-in-the-air pop gorgeousness (and her trusty flute), the US singer was her usual mischievous self (‘Can we twerk at Glastonbury?’) bringing nothing but positive vibes and a hell of a good time.

    Other unexpected joys? The BSL (British Sign Language) option on the BBC iPlayer, not least for Guns N’ Roses and the Foo Fighters – ‘People watching Guns N’ Roses on iPlayer are missing out if they don’t choose the British Sign Language option’ tweeted one fan, with another praising the, as yet nameless, BSL lady for, ‘some of the best god damn air guitar playing I’ve ever seen’.

    glasto 2023

    Photo Credit: http://www.twitter.com

    And fans loved Cate Blanchett, who starred in the video for ‘The Girl is Crying in her Latte’, joining Sparks on stage in an incredible yellow suit and glittery red headphones to dance at a level of cool that left pretty much everyone else behind.

    The Power of a Soundtrack

    When it comes to creating a memorable moment, Glastonbury shows that you need the right music. How to translate that for your events, projects and videos? First of all, work out what emotion you’re trying to evoke – from excitement to joy, empathy to nostalgia – and pick the track or genre that will bring that to mind for your audience.

    Enhancing your storytelling with music will create a connection with them too – check out our Sound and Story playlist for inspiration. Here at Audio Network, we have a vast catalogue of licensed music to cater to all your creative needs.

    We’ve got as many diverse genres, moods and styles as there are on Glastonbury’s stages – dive into our hand-picked playlists, and if you want that festival feeling, then of course we have a playlist to fit, so give it a listen!

    Need Music for Your Project?

    At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

    SIGN UP

    TOP GLASTONBURY 2023 MOMENTS Read More »

    The History of Electronic Music

    MUSIC, OLD /

    Tinny music on the bus. Your movie’s favourite soundtrack. That moment when the club just goes off. It’s impossible to imagine life without electronic music. But how much do you know about electronic music’s origins? We’ve put together a history of electronic music timeline, from the first devices at the end of the 19th century to the pioneering electronic musical groups that shaped today’s myriad of electronic music genres.

    Check out our hand-picked playlist, and prolific electronic composer Alex Arcoleo’s tracks to get you started.

    Contents:

    • Electronic music history
    • Who first created electronic music?
    • Where did electronische musik originate?
    • Characteristics of electronic music
    • What was the first electronic song?
    • 1970s – from Kraftwerk to disco
    • Rise of the machines – the 1980s – electropop, synth pop and hip hop
    • The late 1980s and 1990s - EDM
    • The 21st Century – electrohouse and the electropop revival

    Electronic Music History

    The earliest electronic music instruments include electrical organ the Telharmonium, created in 1896. This was an instrument not only capable of altering or indeed synthesising sound, but also of spreading it across the newly created phone network. Other, later instruments included the theremin, invented in 1920 by a Russian scientist, Leon Theremin; the Ondes martenot, first built in 1928 by a French musician and scientist, Maurice Martenot; and the trautonium (an early electronic synthesizer), designed by a German, Friedrich Trautwein, in 1930.

    Phonographs (later known as gramophones) were invented around the 1870s and 1880s and were the first means of recording and reproducing audio files. Record players gradually became household items, with phonograph records introduced in 1925.

    The first compositions featuring electronica by composers such as Paul Hindemith and Ernst Toch saw them layering recordings of instruments and vocals at adjusted speeds. The origins of electronic music lie in these techniques. John Cage composed ‘Imaginary Landscape No. 1’ in 1939 by adjusting the speeds of recorded tones.

    Cage said of his ‘Imaginary Landscape’ pieces, ‘It’s not a physical landscape. It’s a term reserved for the new technologies. It’s a landscape in the future. It’s as though you used technology to take you off the ground and go like Alice through the looking glass.’

    This first piece was scored for four performers who play a muted piano and cymbal, as well as two variable-speed phonographs with amplifiers – it’s one of the first examples of electroacoustic music.

    By the 1940s, magnetic audio tape enabled musicians to tape sounds, then modify them by changing the tape speed or direction, leading to the development of electroacoustic tape music in the 1940s in Egypt and France. Germany pioneered music produced solely from electronic generators in 1953, together with musicians and engineers in the US and Japan.

    Who First Created Electronic Music?

    Many people refer to Edgard Varèse as ‘the father of electronic music’. Born in Paris in 1883, he relocated to Berlin in 1907, meeting composers such as Strauss, Debussy and Satie, all of whom were impressed by his interest in new instruments, particularly electronic ones.

    However, it wasn’t till 1953 that the use of new technology invented during the second World War caught on with composers in France and Germany that Varèse was remembered and became a celebrity, lecturing at Yale, Princeton and Colombia universities. His piece ‘Déserts’, for chamber orchestra and tape, is considered electronic music’s first important work, and became the first piece transmitted in stereo on French radio.

    ‘Poeme Electronic’, completed in 1958 for the World’s Fair in Brussels, made an impact in terms of early electronic music, and Varèse’s work began to be released on record. Frank Zappa, Charlie Parker, The Beatles and many other musicians of that generation credit Varèse with inspiring them.

    The Beatles were pioneers in this regard, introducing electronic instruments to their music – most notably the Moog synth that was used on their Abbey Road album in 1969.

    Where Did Elektronische Musik Originate?

    1953 – the radio studios of the NWDR officially opened in Cologne in Germany. This would become the most famous electronic music studio in the world. One of the studio’s founders, Werner Meyer-Eppler, had written his thesis on synthesising music entirely from electronically produced signals in 1949 – this was elektronische musik.

    Karlheinz Stockhausen was one of the electronic studio’s resident composers, creating pieces such as ‘Mixtur’ (1964) and ‘Hymnen, drette Region mit Orchester’ (1967). He said that his listeners told him his electronic music gave them an experience of ‘outer space’, being in ‘a fantastic dream world’ and flying.

    Characteristics of Electronic Music

    In its simplest terms, you can characterise electronic music as a genre that’s created and produced by using electronic and electromechanical music instruments. These can include everything from an electronic oscillator and a theremin to a synthesizer, through Hammond organ, electronic piano and electronic guitar. Add in computers and software, and you’ve got the full landscape of modern electronic music.

    What Was the First Electronic Song?

    1970s

    In the 1970s, electronically produced music began to really break through in terms of having a significant influence on pop culture and music. Genres such as krautrock, disco, new wave and synthpop emerged, adopting second generation synths (replacing the original compact synthesizer, the Moog, designed by Robert Moog), together with electronic drums and drum machines.

    Kraftwerk were, arguably, the first electronic band. The German pioneers, with founding members Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter became the godfathers of genres including synth-pop, EDM (electronic dance music) and post-rock. The New York Times summed up their significance: ‘they are what The Beatles are for rock music, a powerhouse for electronic dance music’.

    Their 1974 album Autobahn brought together synth melodies with vocals for the first time and marked the transition from their earlier, experimental krautrock style to a sound that was mostly comprised of synthesizers and drum machines. Despite a mixed critical reaction at the time, artists such as David Bowie cited the album as a major influence.

    Other artists who sowed the seeds of electropop were French composer Jean-Michel Jarre, and Yellow Magic Orchestra from Japan.

    Disco

    Disco artists also took advantage of the new electronic music tech that was being brought to the market in the 70s. Sly and the Family Stone’s hit ‘Family Affair’ incorporated one of the early drum machines.

    1972 heralded the appearance of Japanese-based electronics manufacturer Roland on the market. The drums on 1974 hit ‘Rock Your Baby’ by George McCrae were entirely courtesy of Roland’s TR 77 synth. In 1977, Donna Summer’s timeless disco classic, with its propulsive synth backing track, ‘I Feel Love’, was described by producer Giorgio Moroder as, ‘really the start of electronic dance.’

    Rise of the Machines

    Perhaps the most important development in electronic music is the use of digital computers; the 1982 International Computer Music Conference dominated the Venice Biennale – one of contemporary music’s major festivals.

    Early 80s music was dominated by synths, such as bass synth the TB-303, and programmable drum machines like the Roland TR-808.

    This was the decade that saw electronic dance music explode, and the evolution of its sound. The music industry was transformed by the musical instrument digital interface – aka the MIDI – which brought computers, instruments and other hardware together for the first time.

    In the UK, Human League were the first electropop group to score a No. 1 with their 1981 release ‘Don’t You Want Me’. UK New Wave also surfed the synth wave, with acts such as Gary Numan and Soft Cell; synth pop artists had a more polished sound, such as the Eurythmics and Depeche Mode.

    Electropop gained a global audience through Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’-era releases and the Pet Shop Boys’ hits.

    Hip hop continued to influence club culture, with famous artists using their turntables more like a musical instrument – look no further than pioneer Grandmaster Flash’s 1981 hit, ‘The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel.’

    Electro built on hip hop and German synthpop, bringing the TR-808’s unique sounds to the dancefloor. Afrika Bambaataa and Frankie Knuckles were instrumental in creating house music by uniting older disco, electro-funk and electronic pop.

    The Late 1980s & 1990s

    Electronic dance music started to really resemble today’s dance music in the late 80s. DJs at clubs, festivals and raves led the way in playing European music, leading to 90s electronic genres such as techno, trance, breakbeat hardcore, jungle, drum and bass and UK garage.

    Some of the best 90s electronic tracks were Daft Punk’s ‘Around the World’, Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ and ‘Insomnia’ by Faithless.

    Towards the end of the 90s, dubstep emerged in South London, as an offshoot of UK garage, and paved the way for grime. Its aggressive sound was based on 140bpm and a wild use of electronic instruments. The genre was headed up by Skrillex, Skream and Phaeleh.

    21st Century Sounds

    The dawn of the millennium brought producers like Tiesto, Daft Punk and David Guetta onto the scene. Tracks like ‘We Found Love’ (ft. Rihanna) and ‘Stay the Night’ (ft. Hayley Williams) hit the mainstream, proving that mixing EDM beats with some of radio play’s beloved icons was a recipe for global success. This was electronic music designed for super-clubs and festivals.

    Electronic music is constantly evolving, and as well as grime, electro house rose to prominence at the start of the new century. Characterised by prominent basslines, the tempo is between 125 and 135 bpm. Leading the pack were tracks such as Tom Neville’s 2005 remix, ‘I See Girls’ by Studio B and Fedde Le Grand and the D. Ramirez’s 2006 remix of Bodybrox’s ‘Yeah Yeah’.

    From there, trap music took over, having originated from styles like dub, Dutch house, techno and Southern hip hop.

    Electropop had a revival through stars such as Britney Spears (2007 album Blackout had a strong electropop sound) and a full-fledged electropop takeover was signalled by Lady Gaga’s 2008 debut, The Fame. K-pop, Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa and others have all kept the electropop flag flying recently.

    Dua Lipa’s second album is an electropop banger – Future Nostalgia has not only been certified double Platinum and spawned four top 10 singles, but was the tenth most successful album of 2020 worldwide, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. And it’s currently the sixth most streamed album of all time on Spotify with over 10 billion streams.

    Chartmetric.com posits that Covid-19, with a two-year hibernation in terms of clubs and venues meant that DJs in confinement explored darker, less mainstream subgenres such as techno and deep house, which have begun to have a resurgence. Chicago’s John Summit was named Beatport’s Best Selling Artist of 2021, for example; Rezz, meanwhile, is pioneering an experimental Space Bass sound:

    Fred Again… goes back to the earliest days of electronic music, when composers were splicing together audio collages. The artist’s ‘Actual Life’ project involves samples from sources like voice memos, social media clips and music by other artists, incorporated into original tracks, often centred on mental health and well-being.

    An Electronic Soundtrack for Life

    Want to license electronic music for your project? We have tons of original music to choose from, and a dedicated electronic collection.  Or discover one of our most successful electronic artists, Alex Arcoleo.

    Electro-supremo Alex Arcoleo is one of Audio Network’s most successful composers – he signed up with us way back in 2011. Alex grew up in a musical family and is a self-taught pianist, composer and producer, whose tracks have been used by some of the world’s biggest brands, including Puma, BMW, Samsung and Lacoste. Check out his latest album Juna, a heartfelt and uplifting set encompassing experimental breakbeat, ambient house, downtempo chill and quirky electro.

    Also head over to YouTube and check out the official visualiser for the track Marnie.

    Need Music for Your Project?

    At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

    SIGN UP

    The History of Electronic Music Read More »

    The Best Call of Duty Soundtracks of All Time

    MUSIC, OLD /

    When it comes to games music, who’s doing it better than Call of Duty? They’ve brought in everyone fm Hans Zimmer to Trent Reznor to make their soundtracks as immersive and thrilling as possible. But which are the stand-outs fm the series? We’re here to guide you through the killer (sorry) tracks and composers with our dive into the Call of Duty soundtracks, including:

    • Call of Duty: Modern War
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019 reboot)
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
    • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
    • Call of Duty: WWII
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies
    • Call of Duty Black Ops
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
    • Call of Duty Ghosts

    Best Call of Duty Soundtracks

    Call of Duty debuted in 2003, originally focusing on games set in World War II. Games since then have been set in the Cold War, futuristic worlds and space. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007 was the first to introduce a modern setting and proved to be the breakthrough title, creating the Modern Warfare sub-series.

    Modern Warfare also received a reboot in 2019, with a sequel released in 2022. The trailer’s soundtrack is J. Balvin’s hard-hitting ‘Wherever I May Roam’, featuring Metallica.

    As the longest-running sub-series, Modern Warfare has soundtracks featuring the talents of games experts Stephen Barton and Sarah Schachner, movie maestro Hans Zimmer and composers such as Lorne Balfe.

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

    Set in 2011, Modern Warfare takes place in locations from the UK to the Middle East, Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine.

    Most of the music for Modern Warfare was composed by Stephen Barton, who’s also contributed to film scores by Harry Gregson-Williams, who composed the game’s main theme. Barton’s also worked on the music for Titanfall and its sequel and co-composed the score for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The score was nominated for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media at the International Film Music Critics association.

    The 2019 reboot of Modern Warfare has a soundtrack composed by Sarah Schachner, who’s composed for Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and the newest Call of Duty release – Modern Warfare II. She also has music credits on Iron Man 3, and the two Now You See Me films.

    Schachner’s score won the Hollywood Music in Media award for Original Score – Video Game.

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

    The music for Call of Duty: MW2 soundtracks multi-national special forces unit Task Force 141 as they hunt Vladimir Makarov, leader of the Russian Ultranationalist party, as well as the US Army rangers defending the Washington DC area from a Russian invasion. The trailer deploys Eminem feat. Nate Dogg’s ‘Till I Collapse’:

    Excitingly, Hollywood legend Hans Zimmer composed the main theme for Modern Warfare 2. Zimmer has won Oscars for soundtracks including The Lion King and Dune, and Golden Globe Awards for The Lion King, Gladiator and Dune.

    The opening track has all Zimmer’s trademark epic orchestral tension, together with choral elements:

    The rest of the soundtrack was composed by Lorne Balfe – probably best known for his work on the BBC’s His Dark Materials. He’s also composed for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, the Skylanders series and worked on FIFA 19 with Hans Zimmer.

    FMM’s composer interview went behind the scenes with Lorne, to find out how he got to the emotional core of the music:

    Balfe told GameInformer.com that, ‘The music helps tells a story, and with game music, we have to help the gamer get into the character and that world.’ Plus, whilst the process might be the same, composing for games and films is different because of ‘the amount of music. With a film, you might compose from 30 to 70 minutes of music. On some games, I will have to write over five hours of music.’

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

    We’re back with Task Force 141, hunting Vladimir Makarov, which proved a massive success. In its first 24 hours on sale in 2011, the game sold 6.5 million copies in the US and UK and grossed $400 million, making it the largest entertainment launch ever at the time.

    Composer Bryan Tyler’s main theme is a thing of brooding beauty:

    Tyler’s extensive career covers film, TV and video games scores, from Transformers: Prime to seven installments of the Fast & Furious franchise and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. He was nominated for the International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for a Video Game for both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Lego Universe.

    A keen gamer himself (and a huge COD fan), Tyler offered an intriguing insight into the approach to composing to games to IGN.com, highlighting that it’s not a linear process, as it is for movie scores:

    ‘In a game, the way the music works in any particular level is determined by the gamer. The player ends up being the director, which means I have an infinite amount of directors. I really have to keep in mind that my music is going to be used differently depending on how the player plays the game. If they’re going in one direction or the other, if they’re doing poorly or very well, or if they’re going to different areas that require different types of music at different times; these are all scenarios that I have to really write the music around, because it’s going to change every time the game is played.’

    Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

    The 11th major installment came out in 2014 and had a futuristic setting between 2054 and 2061, following Jack Mitchell, a US Marine and his involvement with Atlas, a private military corporation selling its services to the highest bidder.

    Harry Gregson-Williams, who composed the main title theme for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, returned while Audiomachine composed the overall score.

    He told the Film Music Institute that, ‘One of the main goals that [studio] Sledgehammer Games looked to accomplish with Advanced Warfare was not to make it sound “futuristic” per se, but more “advanced”, as the title implies. They wanted the sound design and music to always be “grounded” through the use of natural and organic sounds/musical ideas in combination with more futuristic sounds. I think the score contributed these humanistic elements that emphasised the drama and story-telling aspects of the game.’

    The trailer features Kevin Spacey’s character, with epic choral elements towards the end.

    Call of Duty: WWII

    The first title in the series to be set primarily during World War II since Call of Duty: World at War in 2008, WWII came out in 2017.

    The trailer includes the operatic part of Ante Meridian’s ‘Glorious’, (feat. Maria Jordania Sable).

    Composer Wilbert Roget II told Pushsquare.com that he listened to war film soundtracks to prepare for writing WWII, including Fury, Saving Private Ryan, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. He was also inspired by 20th Century art music such as Claude Vivier’s ‘Zipangu’, Toru Takemitsu’s ‘Requiem for String Orchestra’ and Krzysztof Penderecki’s ‘Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima’. He mainly wanted to avoid World War II ‘sonic stereotypes’ such as heroic trumpets, snare drums and high woodwinds, to enable the telling of ‘a very personal, relatable story.’

     

    Wilbert Roget II was a music editor at LucasArts and was a composer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, together with Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris.

    He revealed to Pushsquare.com that for the WWII soundtrack, ‘It was vitally important that we knew exactly where we were on a scale from “period” to contemporary, from blockbuster to personal, and so on. Most of these questions were answered with the main theme, ‘A Brotherhood of Heroes’ – I tried to use as many sonic ideas and experiments as possible within the piece, so that it could serve as a palette for the rest of the score.’

    Call of Duty Black Ops Zombies

    Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies is the sequel to Call of Duty: World at War – Zombies, released in 2011. The game’s setting originally takes place in a German bunker during World War II, from the viewpoint of a US Marine. SS soldiers who’ve become zombies attempt to infiltrate the bunker, and the players must defend themselves.

    For Call of Duty zombies soundtracks, supervisors looked to the post-hardcore, alternative metal of acts like Treyarch Sound, Brian Tuey, James McCawley and Kevin Sherwood. The lead track is ‘Damned’, featuring echoey, creepy piano notes and simple melody lines, together with menacing background growls and clicks.

    Call of Duty Black Ops Soundtracks

    The original Call of Duty Black Ops soundtrack was composed by Sean Murray and released in November 2010. The seventh title in the Call of Duty series is set in the 1960s, during the Cold War. The game’s campaign follows CIA operative Alex Mason as he attempts to recall combat memories in order to locate a numbers station to transmit broadcasts to sleeper agents.

    Tracks by the Rolling Stones (‘Sympathy for the Devil’), Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eminem and Avenged Sevenfold also feature. Lead track ‘Cube One’ has a ‘coded message’ giving numbers at the start and end, to ramp up the Cold War/sleeper agent aspect.

    The launch trailer featured snippets from the Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’.

    The game’s voicecast includes Sam Worthington (Avatar), Ed Harris and Gary Oldman.

    Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Soundtracks

    Composer Jack Wall is a veteran of video games soundtracks, having composed them for Splinter Cell and Mass Effect. He’s also known as an engineer for artists including John Cale and Patti Smith.

    The Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 soundtrack features over 40 intense orchestral tracks which were recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

    There’s also some Mozart thrown in for good measure (‘Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550’), and Avenged Sevenfold appear after the end credits for ‘Carry On’.

    The main theme was composed by no less a talent than Trent Reznor, previously the Nine Inch Nails frontman and now equally known for his award-winning film scores, including The Social Network. The theme begins sounding sparse and echoey, whilst also having plenty of atmosphere and builds the excitement from there.

    In an interview with USA Today, COD superfan Reznor explained his thinking on the theme:

    ‘What I learned in listening to the full story and the amount of effort that has gone into the back story and the characters and the full preparation, there is a lot of reservation and angst and sense of loss and regret and anger bubbling under the surface.

    ‘So it didn’t make sense to have a gung ho, patriotic-feeling theme song. It has to feel weighty. There is a lot of remorse and apprehension here.’

    The action’s set in two separate eras, the 1970s/80s and 2025, including some zombies, and the trailer has a soundtrack that’s suitably futuristic.

    Wall and Reznor received the ASCAP Film and TV Music Awards for Top Video Game in 2012, as well as a nomination from the GoldSpirit Awards.

    Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

    Black Ops 3 takes place in 2065, 40 years after the events of Black Ops 2, in a world facing upheaval from climate change and new technologies.

    The trailer kicks off in fine, typically explosive style, with The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint it Black’.

    Jack Wall returned to create the soundtrack, along with Treyarch’s Audio Director Brian Tuey. The game also featured an instrumental score entitled ‘Jade Helm’, provided by Avenged Sevenfold, for use in the multiplayer mode.

    Wall told Forbes.com that, ‘a big part of putting together the score for this game was grounding its particular vision of the future with “severe” electronic work and an attempt to conjure up sounds the player has never heard before.’

    He also revealed that developer Treyarch had built a new audio engine designed to be less reliant on scripted events, and to allow the soundtrack and cinematic elements to trigger based on contextual clues instead:

    ‘Let’s say you’re in a battle situation, and when you fire the last shot - on the next bar there would be a cross fade into an outro, which takes you down to no music, and that would crossfade seamlessly so that it feels like the same piece of music. Other times we might go into a cinematic right from battle, so we put a hit right on the thing to denote that something is dramatic is happening, and then fade out into the cinematic music. It works really well - their engine is way better than it was in Black Ops 2.’

    Call of Duty Ghost Soundtracks

    The trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts has racked up over 39 million views on YouTube since its launch in 2013, so it was obvious that COD fans were desperate for a fresh release. It introduced a new game mode, Extinction, and is mostly told through the eyes of Logan Walker. A fun element was the first non-human playable character in the franchise, a German Shepherd dog called Riley.

    Ghosts is set in the near future, following the nuclear destruction of the Middle East – the Ghosts are a force of US Special Operations personnel conducting clandestine missions behind enemy lines.

    David Buckley (The Good Wife, Netflix’s The Stranger) provided the game’s original soundtrack, which also featured Eminem’s ‘Survival’ as the credit song.

    Game On

    If you’re looking for more inspiration, then check out the major Japanese video game composers behind some iconic soundtracks, as well as the standout tracks on the annual NFL Madden soundtracks.

    And if you want music to license for games, we have literally thousands of tracks which would be perfect. From pumping rock and metal for action sequences, to motivational hip hop and more chilled tracks for those quieter moments.

    The Lorne Balfe Collection

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s composer Lorne Balfe has launched ‘The Lorne Balfe Collection’ through Audio Network. A definitive collection of hybrid orchestral music, this is the real sound of Hollywood, produced and curated for production music use.

    Balfe is a world-famous composer whose work has brought everything from Top Gun: Maverick to Dungeons & Dragons, Black Widow to Mission Impossible and Lego Batman to life. He knows his genres inside out and has personally picked a set of albums showcasing action, drama, sci fi, superheroes, spies, fantasy, adventure and thrillers. Get ready to be transported to a limitless number of worlds.

    lorne balfe campaign

    Need Music for Your Project?

    At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

    SIGN UP

    The Best Call of Duty Soundtracks of All Time Read More »

    AUDIO NETWORK VINYL

    MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE SOUNDTRACK REVIEW

    MUSIC, OLD /
    Contents
      Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

      Tom Cruise and the IMF gang are back with another Mission: Impossible blockbuster, set to hit the screen in July. And not only that, it’s going to be epic – Dead Reckoning is just Part One of the seventh film in the franchise – you’ll have to wait nearly a whole year for the second part to drop.

      In the meantime, what can we expect from the soundtrack, and what’s made the music from Mission: Impossible’s previous scores and soundtracks such an essential part of the MI experience?

      Plus, Scottish composer Lorne Balfe – who will become synonymous with Mission: Impossible following his work on Fallout and both parts of the upcoming Dead Reckoning –has been working with us. Balfe’s exclusive collection of music means you can get ahead of the competition by licensing that ‘Hollywood sound’ for your own projects…

      • Mission: Impossible (1996)
      • Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
      • Mission: Impossible III (2006)
      • Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
      • Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
      • Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
      • Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
      • Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two (2024)

      Mission: Impossible (1996)

      The original Mission: Impossible was a TV series that ran in the US from 1966 to 1973. It was revived in 1988 for two seasons, but it was Tom Cruise’s reboot that really put the story of a covert team of secret government agents on the map in 1996. Not to mention kick-starting a franchise that’s earned over $3.5 billion to date globally.

      Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force (aka the IMF), tasked with taking down some of the world’s biggest bad guys. The first film was directed by Brian De Palma (Scarface, Carlito’s Way) and used Lalo Schifrin’s iconic original ‘Theme from Mission: Impossible’, together with a score by composer Danny Elfman. The latter composed new themes for the characters of Ethan Hunt, Claire and the IMF.

      Mission: Impossible music of course has to begin with one of the best-loved theme tunes of all time. U2 bandmates Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton were fans of the original TV show and knew the theme well. Clayton put together a version, as did Mullen – Polygram were thrilled with both, and ended up with seven tracks (including remixes), which appeared on a limited-edition vinyl release.

      Mullen revealed that, ‘The initial request came for U2 to do a version of it and we couldn’t because we were in the middle of recording Pop. Adam and I thought it might be worthwhile having a bash at it (alone). There was no reference to U2, so it took the pressure off us on one level and the expectations that this was going to be some rock track, basically giving us the licence to do whatever we wanted.’

      Clayton’s way into the theme was that, ‘it’s got to have that slightly exotic feeling of going to a foreign place and being in danger. It’s got to get your heartbeat going. Certainly, the music that Lalo wrote fitted that bill. Even when I was a kid, I’ve always been able to remember it.’

      U2’s version, as well as Schifrin’s version, as performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, were nominees for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

      The full soundtrack album contains 15 tracks, as below; however, only five are heard in the movie – the theme music, the Cranberries’ ‘Dreams’ and the three Danny Elfman score suites.

      Track Listing:

      1. ‘Theme from Mission: Impossible’ – Larry Mullen & Adam Clayton
      2. ‘Spying Glass’ – Massive Attack
      3. ‘I Spy’ – Pulp
      4. ‘Impossible Mission’ – Danny Elfman
      5. ‘Headphones’ – Björk
      6. ‘Weak’ – Skunk Anansie
      7. ‘On and On’ – Longpigs
      8. ‘Claire’ – Danny Elfman
      9. ‘Dreams’ (Radio Edit) – The Cranberries
      10. ‘You, Me and World War III’ (‘Big’ Single Remix) – Gavin Friday
      11. ‘So’ – Salt
      12. ‘Trouble’ – Danny Elfman
      13. ‘No Government’ – Nicolette
      14. ‘Alright’ – Cast
      15. ‘Mission: Impossible Theme (Mission Accomplished)’ – Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen

      In the final scene, as Ethan flies home having saved the day, a flight attendant approaches him and offers him a new mission… Cue theme – heralding the start of a billion-dollar franchise going forward.

      Want to know where it all began? The original Mission: Impossible theme composer Lalo Schifrin revealed to CNMS Archive that for the TV series, he suggested, ‘one theme only, like a paramilitary operation with a suspenseful march’ to emphasise the team aspect of the show. His brief from the director was ‘something very exciting; something really light, not like the background music, which is really serious.’ He wanted a theme with ‘a lot of rhythm, vigour… something rhythmically exciting’. There are Latin jazz influences (Schifrin was a jazz musician who played with Dizzy Gillespie), together with its distinct percussion and odd 4/5 rhythm.

      Mission: Impossible II (2000)

      The second Mission: Impossible outing was directed by action maestro John Woo (Hard Boiled, Face/Off) and added Ving Rhames to the IMF crew, playing computer-hacker Luther Stickell. Ethan Hunt joins forces with professional thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandiwe Newton) to find a genetically modified disease held by rogue IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott).

      The sequel became the highest-grossing film of 2000 and featured the kind of action sequences that fans have come to love – including that jaw-dropping free-climbing opener, at the end of which, Ethan receives his mission and then the theme tune and title sequence kicks in.

      The trailer showcases Limp Bizkit’s punched-up version of the main theme; the film’s original score was composed by Hans Zimmer and features vocals performed by Lisa Gerrard.

      The tracks by Zimmer are:

      1. ‘Hijack’
      2. ‘Seville’
      3. ‘Nyah’
      4. ‘Mission: Impossible Theme’
      5. ‘The Heist’
      6. ‘Ambrose’
      7. ‘Bio-Techno’
      8. ‘Injection’
      9. ‘Bare Island’
      10. ‘Chimera’
      11. ‘The Bait’
      12. ‘Mano a Mano’
      13. ‘Mission: Accomplished’
      14. ‘Nyah and Ethan’

      Together with a track by Zap Mama, ‘Iko-Iko’.

      The metal and rock-heavy soundtrack album features tracks by Metallica, the Foo Fighters and Brian May, Chris Cornell and Tori Amos.

      Track Listing:

      1. ‘Take a Look Around (Theme from M:I-2)’ – Limp Bizkit
      2. ‘I Disappear’ – Metallica
      3. ‘Scum of the Earth’ – Rob Zombie
      4. ‘They Came In’ – Butthole Surfers
      5. ‘Rocket Science’ – The Pimps
      6. ‘Have a Cigar’ – Foo Fighters and Brian May
      7. ‘Mission 2000’ – Chris Cornell
      8. ‘Going Down’ – Godsmack
      9. ‘What U Lookin’ At?’ – Uncle Kracker
      10. ‘Backwards’ – Apartment 26
      11. ‘Karma’ – Diffuser
      12. ‘Alone’ – Buckcherry
      13. ‘Immune’ – Tinfed
      14. ‘My Kinda Scene’ – Powderfinger
      15. ‘Carnival’ – Tori Amos
      16. ‘Nyah’ – Hans Zimmer featuring Heitor Pereira

      Mission: Impossible III (2006)

      Mission: Impossible III, or M:i:III, if you’re into abbreviations, stormed the box office in 2006. JJ Abrams, previously known for appointment TV such as Lost, made his directorial debut with the third installment. Tom Cruise was joined by Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing elusive arms dealer Owen Davian, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Laurence Fishburne and Michelle Monaghan.

      Way back in 2002, David Fincher was slated to direct, but departed owing to ‘creative differences’. Cruise was a fan of Abrams’ Alias, and he was brought on board to shepherd the production around Shanghai, Berlin, Rome, LA and the Vatican City.

      The director wasn’t the only thing that MI switched up – the third composer to take on the Mission: Impossible score was Michael Giacchino, who’s since won an Oscar for his work on Up and has scored everything from Doctor Strange to Star Wars Rogue One, Jojo Rabbit and The Batman. And in another break with tradition, there wasn’t a soundtrack featuring the movie’s contemporary music – but there is a Kanye West track, ‘Impossible’, which also features Twista, Keyshia Cole and BJ.

      Track Listing:

      1. ‘Mission: Impossible Theme’
      2. ‘Factory Rescue’
      3. ‘Evacuation’
      4. ‘Helluvacopter Chase’
      5. ‘Special Agent Lindsey Farris’
      6. ‘Ethan and Julia’
      7. ‘Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall’
      8. ‘Masking Agent’
      9. ‘Voice Capture’
      10. ‘See You in the Sewer’
      11. ‘Davian’s Brought In’
      12. ‘Bridge Battle’
      13. ‘Davian Gets the Girl’
      14. ‘IMF Escape’
      15. ‘Disguise the Limit’
      16. ‘Shang Way High’
      17. ‘The Chutist’
      18. ‘Hunting for Jules’
      19. ‘World’s Worst Last 4 Minutes to Live’
      20. ‘Reparations’
      21. ‘Schifrin and Variations’

      Abrams wasn’t playing with the cold open for M:i:III, which cranks the tension and mystery up to 100% within the first three minutes:

      The third outing ends with Ethan and wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) heading off on their honeymoon – complete with suitably romantic music – and Ethan pondering a job offer from the White House on his return.

      Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

      The fourth M:I film was directed by Brad Bird, in his live-action debut. The IMF are shut down after being publicly implicated in a bombing of the Kremlin and must clear their names.

      The trailer promises all the explosive action and fight sequences we’ve come to expect, with Eminem’s track featuring P!nk, ‘Won’t Back Down’, crunching into a beats-loaded version of the theme.

      Michael Giacchino once again took on scoring duties, having worked with Bird on The Incredibles and Ratatouille. The soundtrack has a Russian influence, tying into the plot, and the theme tune was reworked, with Bird asking the composer to make it as ‘modern and hip and energetic and oppressive as you possibly can, and that will just keep the audience busy.’

      Variety said that, ‘Giacchino once again supplies jazzy, propulsive riffs on Lalo Schifrin’s classic theme’.

      The highest-grossing film in the franchise to date featured Jeremy Renner as intelligence analyst William Brandt, and new IMF field agent Benji Dunn, played by Simon Pegg.

      Track Listing:

      1. ‘Give her my Budapest’
      2. ‘Light the Fuse’
      3. ‘Knife to a Gun Fight’
      4. ‘In Russia, Phone Dials You’
      5. ‘Kremlin with Anticipation’
      6. ‘From Russia with Shove’
      7. ‘Ghost Protocol’
      8. ‘Railcar Rundown’
      9. ‘Hendricks’ Manifesto’
      10. ‘A Man, A Plan, A Code, Dubai’
      11. ‘Love the Glove’
      12. ‘The Express Elevator’
      13. ‘Mission Impersonatable’
      14. ‘Moreau Trouble Than She’s Worth’
      15. ‘Out for a Run’
      16. ‘Eye of the Wistrom’
      17. ‘Mood India’
      18. ‘Mumbai’s the Word’
      19. ‘Launch is on Hendricks’
      20. ‘World’s Worst Parking Valet’
      21. ‘Putting the Miss in Mission’
      22. ‘Mission: Impossible Theme (Out with a Bang Version)’

      The opening scene features a dramatic killing in Budapest by an assassin (Lea Seydoux), followed by a prison escape orchestrated by computer expert Benji (Simon Pegg), including Dean Martin’s ‘Ain’ that a Kick in the Head’ soundtracking a massive running brawl through the corridors. ‘Light the fuse’, Ethan tells his colleague, ushering in the theme.

      The standout scene is undoubtedly the stunning Burj Khalifa sequence, which showcases an almost Bond-esque soundtrack, Giacchino’s ‘A Man, A Plan, A Code, Dubai’, which also brings in elements of the classic Schifrin theme.

      The final scene has Ethan revealing to Brandt that he faked Julia’s death to keep her safe, with a solemn piano and strings score (‘Putting the Miss in Mission’) as he watches over her from a distance.

      Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

      Anti-IMF The Syndicate, an international black ops terrorist organization composed of rogue government agents from all over the world, are the team’s newest enemy in Rogue Nation.

      The trailer uses an ominously re-worked version of the Fugees’ ‘Ready or Not’, as well as the theme, and introduces a fabulous plane stunt to hook you from the get-go.

      And when that plane sequence is the first thing out of the Rogue Nation blocks, you know you’re in for a wilder ride than ever before.

      The fifth installment was directed by Christopher McQuarrie, with Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames all returning to the fold, joined by Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris and Rebecca Ferguson.

      The musical score was composed by Joe Kraemer, who’d previously collaborated with McQuarrie on The Way of the Gun and Jack Reacher. Three tracks, ‘Escape to Danger’, ‘A Matter of Going’ and ‘Finale and Curtain Call’ all interpolate Puccini’s Nessun Dorma aria from Turandot in the key opera house scene, which definitely ranks as one of the best uses of classical music on the big screen:

      Kraemer wanted to put his own spin on Lalo Schifrin’s theme by paying homage to the original TV show: ‘So, I went back and looked at the pilot, then many episodes from the early seasons. And decided that I would make a score that could have been recorded for the pilot, in the sense that I didn’t want to use any sounds that weren’t available to Lalo Schifrin when he scored it. Which meant no synthesisers, no drum machines, no techno loops. Everything was done with acoustic instruments recorded in a symphonic setting. Which is essentially how Lalo did the pilot. What I felt was that it would help me sound sort of retro, but it wouldn’t limit what I could write. It would only limit how I could achieve it.’

      For the rest of the score, Kraemer was inspired by minimalist composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich, using instruments in unconventional ways to create new sounds. For an underwater sequence, for example, he used a piano with an extra octave at the lower end and muffled the lowest string with a towel to produce a repetitive thumping sound like an engine.

      Track Listing:

      1. ‘The A400’
      2. ‘Solomon Lane’
      3. ‘Good Evening, Mr Hunt’
      4. ‘Escape to Danger’
      5. ‘Havana to Vienna’
      6. ‘A Flight at the Opera’
      7. ‘The Syndicate’
      8. ‘The Plan’
      9. ‘The Torus’
      10. ‘Morocco Pursuit’
      11. ‘Grave Consequences’
      12. ‘A Matter of Going’
      13. ‘The Blenheim Sequence’
      14. ‘Audience with the Prime Minister’
      15. ‘A Foggy Night in London’
      16. ‘Meet the IMF’
      17. ‘Finale and Curtain Call’

      The final scenes show the team outwitting Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) and capturing him, then Ethan saying farewell to MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), which includes elements of both Turandot and the theme.

      Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

      Christopher McQuarrie was back to both write and direct the sixth installment of Mission: Impossible, in which Ethan and the IMF go head-to-head with the Apostles, a bioterrorist offshoot of the Syndicate. The first director to return to the franchise delivered what fans and critics hailed as not only the best installment, but also one of the best action films of the decade. It also became the highest-grossing film of Tom Cruise’s career until Top Gun: Maverick.

      The core cast was joined by Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett and Vanessa Kirby, with Sean Harris returning as Solomon Lane.

      Composer Lorne Balfe was brought in for Fallout, and created an epic, inspiring score, with many comparing it to Hans Zimmer’s The Dark Knight Rises. For our money, it’s one of the best Mission: Impossible soundtracks.

      The Scottish composer has worked on everything from movies to TV and video games, including The Lego Batman Movie, The Dark Knight, His Dark Materials, Dopesick, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and FIFA 19. Balfe has collaborated with Hans Zimmer on a variety of projects, including Tom Cruise’s other epic blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick.

      Light the Fuse podcast interviewed Lorne in his studio about composing the score, and how he’s been thinking about different things to do with the theme (‘one of the most memorable themes of all time’), as he’s watched each film in the series, together with the challenges of writing at the same time as Fallout was being edited:

      Balfe brought in choral elements to the main theme for the closing credits, taking inspiration from a Tavener piece, with the vocals sung in Latin; the score overall shows off a much ‘darker’ side of Ethan, as the stakes get ever higher. (Do stakes get much higher than the nailbiting final sequence as Ethan and the IMF battle to stop a nuclear explosion?) Lorne Balfe ups the ante with a percussion-driven piece, ‘Cutting on One’, as there’s a call-back to Mission: Impossible 2’s rock-climbing sequence.

      Track Listing:

      1. ‘A Storm is Coming’
      2. ‘Your Mission’
      3. ‘Should You Choose to Accept’
      4. ‘The Manifesto’
      5. ‘Good Evening, Mr Hunt’
      6. ‘Change of Plan’
      7. ‘A Terrible Choice’
      8. ‘Fallout’
      9. ‘Stairs and Rooftops’
      10. ‘No Hard Feelings’
      11. ‘Free Fall’
      12. ‘The White Widow’
      13. ‘I Am the Storm’
      14. ‘The Exchange’
      15. ‘Steps Ahead’
      16. ‘Escape Through Paris’
      17. ‘We are Never Free’
      18. ‘Kashmir’
      19. ‘Fate Whispers to the Warrior’
      20. ‘And the Warrior Whispers Back’
      21. ‘Unfinished Business’
      22. ‘Scalpel and Hammer’
      23. ‘The Syndicate’
      24. ‘Cutting on One’
      25. ‘The Last Resort’
      26. ‘Mission: Accomplished’

      Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

      When M:I director and writer Christopher McQuarrie, who, let’s not forget, oversaw Tom Cruise jumping out of a plane over 100 times for Fallout, tells Empire, ‘If we’d known the challenges, we’d never have done it’, you know Dead Reckoning Part One is going to be the most ambitious Mission: Impossible yet.

      With each Mission: Impossible, the action stakes get ever higher, and for this seventh outing, McQuarrie and Cruise are promising end-to-end, edge-of-your-seat thrills:

      The core cast is joined by Captain America’s Hayley Atwell, Guardians of the Galaxy’s Pom Klementieff and Esai Morales playing villain Gabriel. Ethan and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission to date: to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands.

      Dark forces from Ethan’s past are also closing in, resulting in a deadly race around the globe, and he’s forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most… This summer’s biggest movie? You wouldn’t bet against it.

      Plus, composer Lorne Balfe returns to take on scoring duties.

      Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two (2024)

      The Dead Reckoning sequel was shot back-to-back with Part One, but you’ll have to wait ‘til the end of June 2024 to see it on the big screen. Will this be Tom Cruise’s final outing as Ethan Hunt? By the time the film’s released, he’ll have been playing the character for over 28 years; everyone’s expecting this eighth outing to be the last.

      So far, all we really know is the cast list, with everyone from Part One returning, together with Mark Gatiss, Janet McTeer, Hannah Waddingham and Lucy Tulugarjuk, in undisclosed roles. Plus, Lorne Balfe will be composing another incredible soundtrack.

      The Lorne Balfe Collection

      Curated by blockbuster film, TV and video games composer Lorne Balfe, this is the real sound of Hollywood.

      Experience hybrid orchestral music on an epic scale, recorded at the world’s finest studios with industry-leading musicians, and created in collaboration with the collective behind scores for Top Gun: Maverick, Mission Impossible, Black Widow, Black Adam, His Dark Materials and more.

      The Best Soundtracks in Cinema

      Want more deep dives? Check out the biggest-selling movie soundtracks in history; the best love songs in cinema; the names to know in terms of movie composers and some names to rival Mission: Impossible for fantastic action movie soundtracks.

      Need Music for Your Project?

      At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

      SIGN UP

      This page was updated 28/05/2024.

      MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE SOUNDTRACK REVIEW Read More »

      How to Collaborate with Other Musicians

      HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER MUSICIANS

      FEATURED, MUSIC, OLD /
      Contents
        Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

        With an estimated 60,000 songs uploaded to Spotify every single day, it’s harder than ever for artists to get their music heard. One of the best ways to cut through that noise is to become an active member of a musical community, aligning yourself with like-minded artists through collaboration. In doing so, you’re giving yourself a head start in finding an entirely new audience.

        And the benefits of music collaboration don’t stop there. In addition to extending your reach, working with other creatives can be cost-effective, allowing you to pool resources – including studio time – as well as knowledge. Crucially, keeping your horizons open can only help widen your vision, encouraging you to reach new creative heights you might never have scaled solo.

        In this blog, we look at some of the different ways in which you can collaborate with other artists – both in person and remotely – and look closer at some of the best collaboration songs that have helped break new artists.

        HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER MUSICIANS

        Breakthrough Collaborations

        • Lil Nas X – ‘Old Town Road ft. Billy Ray Cyrus (Remix)’
        • Wizkid – ‘Essence ft. Tems’
        • Powfu – ‘Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)’
        • Rema – ‘Calm Down ft. Selena Gomez’
        • Justin Bieber – ‘Despacito ft. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’

        Lil Nas X – ‘Old Town Road ft. Billy Ray Cyrus (Remix)’

        Peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking 19 consecutive weeks, ‘Old Town Road’ saw Georgia-raised rapper Lil Nas X redefine the parameters of viral success.

        Built from a beat bought online for $30, the song blends country music with trap, a novel combo that helped Lil Nas X play the algorithm on TikTok.

        To take things up a gear, he reached out to country music legend (and Miley’s dad) Billy Ray Cyrus to feature on the remix and – voila! – music history was made.

        Wizkid – ‘Essence ft. Tems’

        In linking up with Afrobeats legend Wizkid to co-write ‘Essence’, Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems increased her clout tenfold. The first Nigerian song in history to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, the track was subsequently nominated for a Grammy for ‘Best Global Music Performance’ and received a remix featuring Justin Bieber.

        Tems has gone on to collaborate with Drake and Future, and to write Rihanna’s recent comeback single ‘Lift Me Up’.

        Powfu – ‘Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)’

        In a collaboration between two emerging artists, Canadian singer/rapper Powfu intepolated parts of ‘Coffee’ by Filipino-British singer-songwriter Beabadoobee into this alt-pop smash.

        Since going viral on TikTok, the track has amassed more than 1 billion streams on Spotify, while both artists have become household names.

        Rema – ‘Calm Down ft. Selena Gomez’

        ‘Calm Down’ by Nigerian artist Rema was already one of our standout tracks of 2022. But when Selena Gomez jumped on the remix, the track’s success was taken to another level entirely.

        At the time of writing, it’s still riding high on the BBC Radio 1 playlist.

        Justin Bieber – ‘Despacito ft. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’

        While Puerto Rican artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee have long been legends of the Latin music scene, this link-up with pop prince Justin Bieber helped propel ‘Despacito’ to an even wider audience.

        As well as hitting the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (and being placed at number 2 in the year-end chart), the remix was nominated for three Grammys. More importantly, it helped kickstart a wave of Spanish-language pop that continues to this day, paving the way for a host of other Latin American artists to achieve breakout success.

        Food for thought for anyone contemplating making songs with multiple artists.

        Different Ways to Collaborate

        • Co-write a song
        • Contribute a guest verse
        • Sample an artist
        • Share a tour
        • Swap gigs
        • Do a remix
        • Produce a track
        • Cover each other’s songs
        • Make music videos together
        • Collaborate on a live session
        • Do Instagram Live performances

        From co-writing and remixing to live social media broadcasts, there are lots of different ways in which you can collaborate with other musicians.

        We detail some of the key creative options below.

        HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER MUSICIANS

        Co-write a Song

        To co-write effectively it’s essential you leave your ego at the door: it’s a collaboration not a competition. Take advantage of the invaluable opportunity to receive constructive feedback. Be prepared to discard ideas that aren’t working, or to reshape them entirely for the greater good. And don’t let the fear of rejection limit you – the more uninhibited your creative process, the more likely you’ll create something memorable.

        The cornerstone of collaboration is ‘Yes, and…”, an improvisational technique in which you run with one another’s ideas, expanding on your partner’s line of thinking. Why not try it in your next co-writing session.

        Contribute a Guest Verse

        Looking to branch out beyond your current fanbase or genre? Why not write a guest verse for another artist. Not only can you take advantage of each other’s clout, very often a feature can help carry songs to heights they would never have reached solo.

        Some high profile examples include Burna Boy’s turn on Asake’s ‘Sungba’ and Cardi B’s contribution to Kay Flock’s ‘Shake It’.

        Sample an Artist

        One great way to collaborate is to interpolate a portion of an existing song into a brand new recording. Recent hits built around sampling include Central Cee’s ‘Obsessed With You’ (featuring portions of PinkPantheress’ ‘Just For You’) and Beyoncé’s ‘Alien Superstar (sampling both ‘Moonraker’ by Foremost Poets and ‘I’m Too Sexy’ by Right Said Fred).

        As ever, it’s essential that you obtain permission both from the owner(s) of the copyright in the recording you are sampling, and from the owner(s) of the work’s publishing copyright. For more information on the legalities of sampling, head to the Musician’s Union website.

        Share a Tour

        Whether it’s a co-headline or a support slot, sharing a tour is another great way to pool fanbases and extend your reach.

        Not only that, you can split the overheads and take advantage of the opportunity to collaborate onstage every night. It’s a no-brainer.

        Swap Gigs

        Another opportunity for live collaboration is to swap gigs. For example, you might invite an artist to open for you at your hometown show, and they’ll return the favour in their hometown. As with sharing a tour, swapping gigs is a brilliant way to widen your audience.

        Do a Remix

        Remixing an existing song is another surefire way to extend your reach.

        Nowadays, the remit of a remix extends from contributing a guest verse (see Justin Bieber hopping on ‘Essence’ by Tems and Wizkid) to putting a new spin on the original production (hello to Cornershop’s 90s classic ‘Brimful Of Asha’, as remixed by Fatboy Slim). Whichever path you choose, be sure to put your unique stamp on the song.

        Produce a Track

        Producing a track for another artist gives you the opportunity to be creative while glimpsing someone else’s creative process and extending your creative network.

        Artists who double up as producers include Jeff Tweedy of Wilco – who produced Low’s 2013 album The Invisible Way – and Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff, who has produced everyone from Taylor Swift and Lorde to St. Vincent.

        Cover Each Other’s Songs

        They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but if Radio 1’s Live Lounge has proven anything, it’s that a cover version can unlock an entire new meaning.

        Whether you’re offering a like-for-like interpretation or a radical twist on the original track, covers are a great way to collaborate.

        Make Music Videos Together

        The music video remains one of the most powerful promotional tools at an artist’s disposal, and it’s the perfect arena for some artist or band collaboration.

        You could make a cameo in another artist’s video a la Phoebe Bridgers with Muna or even direct for them, as Lava La Rue did for Wet Leg’s song ‘Ur Mum’. Read our blog on how to make a music video.

        Collaborate on a Live Session

        Why not document that creative chemistry in real time? Find out everything you need to know about capturing the best possible sound in our blog, How To Record A Live Session.

        Do Instagram Live Performances

        Creating a collaborative social media broadcast provides the opportunity for artists to pool audiences while offering their fanbases unique content.

        Not only that, fans can interact with artists in real time, thereby feeling part of the performance.

        How to Collaborate Remotely

        • Set up a home studio
        • Reach out to musicians
        • Use the same software as other musicians

        If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that collaboration is not only possible at a distance, it can be a brilliant way to unlock brand new creative avenues.

        Whether swapping files over email, or undertaking co-writing sessions over Zoom, suddenly the parameters of who you can practically work with are widened exponentially: all you really need is a decent internet connection and some great ideas to connect with musicians.

        But practically, how do you go about online music collaboration? What hardware should you have at your disposal? And what music collaboration software is available to you?

        HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER MUSICIANS

        Your Home Studio-Set-up

        First up, you’ll need your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). If you’re completely new to home recording, why not try out free software like Apple’s GarageBand or Cakewalk by BandLab? If you’re ready to invest in your set-up, there are a plethora of paid options at your disposal, including Ableton Live, Apple Logic Pro, Avid ProTools, Cockos Reaper 6 and Steinberg Cubase.

        In addition, you’ll want to get your hands on some studio monitors, a MIDI keyboard, an audio interface and a decent quality microphone or two.

        Reaching Out to Musicians

        DMs are a great way to reach out to musicians you admire about potential collaborations. Of course, it goes without saying that you should always be respectful and never harass an artist – rather, build up a rapport over time with like-minded creatives. It might help to approach them with an idea so that you have something to tempt them, as well as a starting point for your collaboration.

        Using the Same Software

        You can either collaborate within the same DAW, using different DAWs or in collaborative software. In the former instance, you simply export and swap zipped folders containing the project files. If you’re using different DAWs, you export and swap your stems (AKA audio files).

        The biggest benefit of this approach is that it doesn’t matter which plugins you use as every sound is rendered to audio. Finally, there are now some great options for online music collaboration software, including Satellite Plugins 2.0 and Splice Studio.

        Sharing is Caring

        In conclusion, there are no downsides to collaboration. From building your knowledge base and skillset to splitting costs and creating a community that empowers you, working with other musicians is a win-win.

        For more tips and tricks head to our blog The Edit, which features articles on a huge range of subjects, including How To Come Up With A Stage Name and How To Make A Music Video.

        Discover and sample our playlists and collections, or browse the latest albums and our very own top 40. Each and every one of our high-quality background music tracks is licensed for use in you in your next production, whether you’re working on TV programming, films or advertising.

        Want to Get Your Hands on Our Latest Releases?

        When you need to license music for your production, we have thousands of original, high-quality tracks to discover. Including some of the greatest ever artist collaborations!

        new releases

        For example, if you’re after a west coast sound with a UK twist, then we definitely encourage you to check out our latest release from Johnny Lloyd and Clif Norrell.

        Titled Reanimate, this is an uplifting and laid-back collection of guitar and vocal led indie-rock. Take a listen below.

        REANIMATE

        Need Music for Your Project?

        At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

        SIGN UP

        HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER MUSICIANS Read More »

        The Greatest Latin Music Festivals in 2023

        THE GREATEST LATIN MUSIC FESTIVALS IN 2023 & OVER THE YEARS

        MUSIC, OLD /
        Contents
          Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

          Who has had more of a global impact on the music scene recently than Latin artists? ‘Despacito’ by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee remains in the top five most-viewed YouTube videos, having clocked up an astonishing eight billion views in five years – it’s currently at No. 2, behind ‘Baby Shark Dance’.

          And Latin music is a guaranteed money maker: Music Business Worldwide were reporting in the middle of 2022 that the recorded music market for Latin artists in the US was on course to generate over $1 billion in revenue for the year.

          Speaking with MBW, Alejandro Duque, President of Warner Music Latin America, said, ‘Latin music has gone mainstream in the US, and is having a huge creative and commercial impact.’ Duque said that it currently represents around 6% of the market, so there’s still plenty of room for growth – including crossovers and collaborations. Brazilian superstar Anitta, for example, has featured guest artists from Cardi B to Ty Dolla $ign and Saweetie – the latter on her hit ‘Faking Love’:

          High streaming numbers and winning new fans around the world – together with cross-cultural collaborations, not just with Anglo stars but also with African music artists – mean that Latin genres will continue to lead the way. And, of course, live music and festivals are a big element of awareness and success for Latin artists and producers. So, which are the best Latin music festivals to book tickets for this year?

          Latin Music Festivals 2023

          Rio Carnival

          Can anything beat a trip to Rio for the annual carnival? The world-famous event, from February 17th-25th, is billed as ‘the greatest show on Earth’, is the biggest event of the Brazilian cultural calendar and is surely on many a bucket-list. The parades at the Sambadrome are the main attraction – the stadium seats more than 80,000 and can accommodate more than 5,000 participants.

          The samba is at the heart of the Carnival, and the top samba schools are judged by 40 judges whose eagle eyes aren’t just looking at the dance moves, but also the costumes, which form part of the story.

          It’ll definitely take you longer than five minutes to perfect your moves, but if you want to shake a tailfeather along with the performers, then watch this video explainer:

          You’ll need to perfect your ‘samba bounce’ to join in with the street parties – no two are the same.

          Lollapalooza Chile

          This year’s line-up has everyone from indie darling Billie Eilish to Lil Nas X, Drake, Armin Van Buuren and The 1975, alongside Latin artists Polo & Pan, Elsa Y Elmar, Danny Ocean and Alvaro Diaz. The festival takes place at the Parque Cerrillos in Santiago from the 17th-19th March. Get your tickets now!

          Suenos

          New reggaetón and Latin trap festival Suenos is going to be headed up by some of Latin music’s biggest stars – J Balvin, Ozuna and Wisin Y Yandel all appeared at the inaugural festival last year. Suenos is taking place at Grant Park in Chicago from May 27th-28th (Memorial Day weekend). Presented by the producers behind Baja Beach Fest and Lollapalooza, the Suenos line up will feature 20+ artist performances, alongside experiential activities.

          Suenos will be joined by three-day reggaetón fest Mas Flow in Chicago from July 15th-17th, featuring headliners Don Omar and Ivy Queen. Latinos are the second-largest racial or ethnic group in the city, and can also enjoy Ruido Fest, a Latin alternative music festival that launched in 2015.

          Tickets for Suenos will be available from February 11th at www.suenosmusicfestival.com

          Calibash

          This downtown LA festival is one of the year’s hottest Latin music festivals. Myke Towers, Arcangel, Ivy Queen, Jhay Cortez and Nio Garcia are all on the bill.

          The festival takes place January 21st and 22nd at the Crypto.com Arena – follow the link to buy tickets.

          Cosquin Rock 2023

          Taking place from February 18th-19th in Cordoba, Argentina at the Aeroclub Santa Maria de Punilla, this is a rock and pop festival featuring a massive array of artists, including Bandalos Chinos, Fiesta Katana, Las Pastillas Del Abuelo and Tiesto.

          Last year’s festival won the award for Best LATAM Festival at the Fest 2022 Awards, held in Bilbao. This will be Cosquin’s 25th year.

          Check out the festival’s Spotify lists for a taster, then grab your tickets.

          La Linea

          The London Latin Music Festival returns in April and May across Central London. Time Out said that, ‘La Linea has spent years building an impressive international reputation as one of the world’s most eclectic celebrations of Latin music.’ Expect artists such as Emicida and Jorge Drexler and book your tickets through the venues – both are playing at the Barbican.

          BigSound Festival

          Taking place on the 29th June in Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Valencia, Spain, BigSound will be showcasing Latin, reggaetón and urbano artists including Duki, Lali Esposito, Beret and Juan Magan. Tickets are available through the BigSound website.

          Puro Latino Sevilla Fest

          Head to the Cartuja Center Cite in Seville, Spain on the 30th June to catch Maluma, Dellafuente, Jowell & Randy and DJ Jose de las Heras.

          Baja Beach Fest

          Aaron Ampudia is the co-creator of Suenos, and of Mexico’s Baja Beach Fest. He says that, ‘it’s a new era [for Latin music]. There’s never been this big of a crossover. There’s never been a Latin artist like Bad Bunny, crushing all the records in the history of streaming, beating Drake and American artists. That’s never happened for Latinos.’

          Ampudio founded Baja Beach Fest in 2018, 20 miles south of San Diego and it was the first of the sole reggaetón and Latin trap festivals in the region. With its mix of established and upcoming musica urbana stars, BBF doubled its attendance from 15,000 to 30,000 in its first two years. It also expanded to two weekends, following in Coachella’s famous footsteps.

          Baja Beach Fest 2023 takes place from August 12th-14th and 19th-21st at Rosarito Beach – there’s everyone from Daddy Yankee and Wisin Y Yandel to Maluma, Anuel AA to Natti Natasha on the bill. Get your passes through the website.

          Latin Music Festivals 2022

          Following the slew of Latin Music festivals 2021 offered up, 2022 proved a bumper year for Latin music fans. Last year, LatinoLife in the Park was billed as the UK’s largest Latin music festival and featured the Candela Stage – Britain’s ‘first and only festival stage dedicated to homegrown urban Latin music’. The La Clave Stage featured classic Tropical Latin Big Bands and there was a Salsa Stage and a Brazil Stage. Artists included Angelo Flow, Ava, Lisey Tigra and Alvarez Funk.

          Rumbazo

          Kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month in September, Rumbazo proved the quintessential Las Vegas Latin festival 2022. Stars who lined up to celebrate Latin rhythm and pride included Maluma, Prince Royce, Natanael Cano, Ivy Queen, Omar Apollo and Yendry.

          Pal Mundo Festival

          The Zuiderpark in Den Haag, Netherlands, hosted the Pal Mundo Festival in July 2022. Spanning Latin, Caribbean, Reggaeton, tropical dance and urban genres, Pal Mundo brings the heat of Central and South America to the heart of Holland. J Balvin was the 2022 headliner at what’s billed as ‘the biggest Latin and Caribbean festival in Europe’.

          Ruido Fest

          The Ruido fest 2022 line up featured Tijuana-based alt-pop-rock artist Bruses, Carmen DeLeon, Nortec Collective, Cuco, Carla Morrison and iconic hip hop trio Cypress Hill. The celebration of alternative music from different Latino backgrounds brings together some of the biggest artists across the Latin music scene to Union Park in Chicago.

          Lollapalooza Chile

          The Chilean iteration of the famous music festival has been held in Santiago since 2011. O’Higgins Park plays host to alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands from both Chile and abroad. It was the first edition of Lollapalooza to take place outside of the US and was followed by Lollapalooza Brazil in Sao Paulo in 2012.

          Lollapalooza Chile has featured everyone from The Killers to the Foo Fighters, Bjork to Calvin Harris and has also provided an important platform for Chilean music, bands and artists. Featured bands have included Chico Trujillo, Los Bunkers and Joe Vasconcellos, many of whom have then gone on to play at the original Lollapalooza in Chicago.

          Last year’s 10th anniversary show featured the Foo Fighters, Jane’s Addiction, Jhay Cortez, Miley Cyrus, Pablo Chill-E, Doja Cat, and Princesa Alba among its star-studded line up.

          Vibra Urbana

          Vibra Urbana, which has positioned itself as ‘the biggest reggaetón festival in the US’ grew from a small backyard event in Orlando to an indoor Miami venue in 2020. Festival co-founder David Adan said that he started it ‘out of love for the music and seeing an empty gap where we felt like we could provide for our city.’ The Miami-born Cuban American revealed that ‘Miami is full of Latinos, full of the love for Latin music. Everywhere you go out, you’ll see clubs playing Spanish language music. We needed to make something happen.’

          In the first year of the festival, Jhay Cortez, J Quiles and Myke Towers – all then in the early stages of their US breakthroughs – played sets. The organisers’ ambition for the next five years is to ‘expand it across the globe, to make an impact globally.’

          So, as you can see, Latin music festivals are not only experiencing a huge boom worldwide, but also bringing different genres and subgenres into one place for fans. Coachella 2022 saw more Latin acts than ever performing there, (its roster has doubled in Latin acts since 2020) whilst Grammy.com reported that half a dozen exclusively Latin music festivals debuted in the US last year.

          Samba, Son & More

          Latin music has a huge variety of genres – read our deep-dive blog to find out their roots and rhythms and most importantly, check out our incredible Latin Series collection. These are the diverse musical stories of Latin America. From reggaeton to rumba, son to tango, discover authentic Afro-Latin music shaped by its African, European and Indigenous origins and its evolution in the Caribbean, North, South and Central American continental regions.

          If that isn’t enough, our World Lifestyle series has even more Latin tracks for you to license for your content, from YouTube videos to TV shows.

          Check out our Latin Series collection below –

          latin series

          Want more? Listen to our hand-picked Latin playlist on Spotify:

          Need Music for Your Project?

          At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

          SIGN UP

          THE GREATEST LATIN MUSIC FESTIVALS IN 2023 & OVER THE YEARS Read More »

          How Did African Artists Influence Latin Music

          HOW DID AFRICAN ARTISTS INFLUENCE LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC?

          FEATURED, MUSIC, OLD /
          Contents
            Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

            African and Black music has both created and influenced a huge array of music genres worldwide.

            From jazz to hip hop and country to R&B, disco to techno, some of the connections may surprise you. So, how did African artists influence Latin American music?

            African music originally spread around the globe largely because of the transportation of enslaved peoples, who took their music and instruments – mostly from Western Africa – to the ‘New World’.

            In the Americas, the earliest forms of music were probably within ceremonial contexts, such as religious worship. As with many cultures, percussion instruments such as drums and rattles were the first inventions.

            African & Latin American Music

            Many Latin American instruments, like drums, bells, rattles and flutes, are traceable to religions and ceremonies in Africa.

            The influence of African music can be most clearly seen in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Brazil, in the Latin American music genres of Afro-Cuban rumba, Brazilian samba, Jamaican reggae and Colombian cumbia.

            Afro-Cuban Rumba

            Afro-Cuban rumba originated in the northern regions of Cuba, mainly in urban Havana and Matanzas, during the late 19th century.

            There are three traditional forms of rumba – yambú, guaguancó and Columbia – based on African music and dance traditions. Its main African roots are Abakuá and yuka.

            Abakuá is an Afro-Cuban men’s fraternity akin to Freemasonry, the first of which was established by Africans in Havana in the 1830s. Its rhythmic dance music, combined with the Congo’s Bantu traditions, contributed to the rumba’s musical tradition.

            Yuka is another Afro-Cuban musical tradition based on drumming, singing and dancing, developed in Western Cuba by enslaved Kongolese people during colonial times. The Bantu word ‘yuka’ means ‘to beat’ and also refers to the drums used in the performances. These are traditionally made from hollowed-out avocado tree trunks; leather is nailed to one of the open ends and the player hits the skin with both hands. Alternatively, the drummer can use a small mallet to play rhythms on the drum body. The songs have a simple structure, with singing based on call and response.

            The rumba was traditionally performed by poor workers of African descent in streets and ‘solares’ (courtyards). It’s characterised by vocal improvisation, elaborate dancing and polyrhythmic drumming. Recordings began in the 1940s, and successful rumba bands include Los Papines, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas and Yoruba Andabo.

            The core instruments of a rumba ensemble are the claves – two wooden sticks struck against each other – and the conga drums.

            Other common instruments include shakers such as maracas, scraper percussion instruments (e.g. the guiro), bells and the guagua, a wooden cylinder.

            Samba

            Samba’s roots can be found in 17th century Bahia, where descendants of enslaved Africans combined their percussion techniques with Latin American folk music.

            It then developed in Rio de Janeiro, where the earliest recordings were made in the 1910s, starting with ‘Pelo Telephone’ in 1917. In the late 1960s, samba had a renaissance, led by Brazilian artists such as Nelson Cavaquinho, Guilherme de Brita and Cartola.

            Samba groups (baterias) use steady, hypnotic rhythms and repetitive chord progressions, with simple harmonies and call and response vocals.

            A large percussion ensemble is joined by guitar, bass and the cavaquinho – a four-string Portuguese instrument. Modern baterias also feature brass instruments such as trumpet and trombone and woodwinds, e.g. clarinet and flute.

            Cumbia

            Cumbia is a blend of musical traditions, including indigenous, African and European, all of which mixed together to create something new. In the early 1500s, the Spanish came to Colombia, as part of their Latin American conquest. They brought more than 100,00 captive Africans with them, some of whom eventually managed to escape and to build their own communities.

            Cumbia’s main ingredient is the drum beat that the enslaved peoples brought over from Africa, but the music evolved to include the instruments from the indigenous people of Colombia, such as the gaita, a flute, together with a European influence in the form of Spanish vocals.

            Cumbia is ever-evolving, with DJs now using the underlying beats and fusing them with electronic beats.

            Latin American Music Genres

            Latin American music influenced by African music doesn’t stop there, though – if you look at bachata, batucada, cha-cha-cha, conga, funk carioca, mambo, tango, reggaetón, rumba, son and tropicália, you’ll find the rhythm of Latin American music across the board is underpinned by African music.

            Son

            Son is a musical style that emerged in Eastern Cuba, gaining popularity in the early 20th Century. Son conjuntos – ensembles – are usually trios (three guitars, or two guitars with maracas or clave); sexteto (guitar, tres, bass, bongo, maracas and clave) or septeto, which is the same as the sextet, with an added trumpet. The percussion instruments can be primarily traced to central Africa’s Bantu region.

            Son Cubano (‘the Cuban sound’) also forms the bedrock for most forms of salsa music and Latin jazz. Top Cuban bandleaders like Arsenio Rodriguez and Beny Moré and bands like Sexteto Habanero and Septeto Nacional helped build the genre’s popularity in Havana.

            Present-day Son Cubano ensembles are known as son conjunto and incorporate a wide variety of instruments, as well as vocals.

            These include piano, tres – a Cuban variation on guitar – trumpet, double bass, claves, guiro and timbales.

            Influential Artists

            ‘First and foremost, music is political. It’s societal. It’s resistance. It’s survival. Black people and Afro-descendents from all countries in Latin America have held on to music and dance as a means for joy and liberation,’ music journalist Jennifer Mota told Refinery29 Somos. Here’s our pick of the artists and bands you should know.

            Celia Cruz

            Cuban legend Celia Cruz, aka the Queen of Salsa, proudly embraced her Afro-Latina heritage through her music.

            Beginning her career in Cuba in the 1950s, she took salsa music to the US and around the world, receiving the National Medal of Arts from Bill Clinton in 1994. One of her most famous songs is ‘La Negra Tiene Tumbao’ (‘The Black Woman has Rhythm’.)

            Chocquibtown

            Chocquibtown is a Colombian hip hop group that draws influences from hip hop, electronica, salsa, reggaetón, ska and Afro-Latin rhythms.

            Their track, ‘De Donde Vengo Yo’ won a Latin Grammy in 2011. Lyrically, they discuss Afro-Latino identity, with a common theme of attaining more inclusion for Afro-Colombians in the rest of Colombian society.

            Combo Chimbita

            Combo Chimbita refer to their sound as ‘tropical futurism’. They explore Afro-Caribbean rhythms and traditions such as sacred drumming.

            Novalima

            Peruvian band Novalima blend Afro-Peruvian music with electronica and Latin American beats and chants (many from times of slavery).

            They’ve released six studio albums and have played prestigious festivals such as Womad, and the Montreal Jazz Fest.

            Aloe Blacc

            Songwriter, musician and philanthropist Aloe Blacc’s parents hail from Panama.

            Global hits such as ‘The Man’ and ‘I Need a Dollar’ have their roots in meringue and salsa.

            La Tribu de Abrante

            The New York Times described La Tribu de Abrante as, ‘a high-energy, 12-piece fusion orchestra [that] has blended the sounds of bomba with reggaetón, reggae and hip-hop.’

            They’ve also been credited as being part of the resurgence of the traditional Afro-Puerto Rican music and dance known as bomba.

            More Latin Music

            Latin music has a huge variety of genres – read our deep-dive blog to find out their roots and rhythms and most importantly, check out our incredible Latin Series collection. These are the diverse musical stories of Latin America. From reggaeton to rumba, son to tango, discover authentic Afro-Latin music shaped by its African, European and Indigenous origins and its evolution in the Caribbean, North, South and Central American continental regions.

            If that isn’t enough, our World Lifestyle series has even more Latin tracks for you to license for your content, from YouTube videos to TV shows.

            latin series

            Want more? Listen to our hand-picked Latin playlist on Spotify:

            And for more on Black music and its place in history, check out our Black History Month playlist.

            Need Music for Your Project?

            At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

            SIGN UP

            HOW DID AFRICAN ARTISTS INFLUENCE LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC? Read More »

            Most Notable Classical Female Composers

            THE MOST NOTABLE CLASSICAL FEMALE COMPOSERS

            MUSIC, OLD /
            Contents
              Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

              Being a female composer has always been a challenge; even now, a Classic FM survey last year of 100 of the world’s top orchestras revealed that only five percent of the music scheduled in their concerts is composed by women. The study took in 4,857 events scheduled by orchestras and over 88% of them didn’t represent female composers at all.

              Chief exec of the Royal Philharmonic Society, James Murphy, said, ‘Music can enliven and empower us all. But people are less inclined to engage with it if they don’t see themselves in it. That risks marginalising and diminishing something that ought to be universally cherished.’

              He added, ‘History’s done a brilliant job of making us think classical music is white and male. It’s not.’

              So, who have been the most famous female composers through history? Our list takes in everything from a medieval abbess to a Turkish pianist who’s bringing classical and rock music together.

              • Hildegard von Bingen
              • Francesca Caccini
              • Barbara Strozzi
              • Isabella Leonarda
              • Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
              • Marianna Martines
              • Louise Farrenc
              • Fanny Mendelssohn
              • Clara Schumann
              • Teresa Carreño
              • Cécile Chaminade
              • Ethel Smyth
              • Lili Boulanger
              • Florence Price
              • Anne Dudley
              • Judith Weir
              • Debbie Wiseman
              • AyseDeniz Gokcin

              Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

              Hildegard was a true trailblaizer – an abbess, a visionary, a poet, a dramatist, herbalist and composer. She has a musical legacy of nearly 80 surviving works – one of the largest of any Medieval composer. She never formally studied musical notation or singing, but her music is tremendously bold, with ecstatic melodies and a dramatic use of flowing lines. One of Hildegard’s compositions, the Ordo Virtutum, is acknowledged as the oldest surviving morality play.

              Francesca Caccini (1587-1640)

              The daughter of the great Renaissance composer Giulio Caccini was a singer, lutenist, poet and teacher known as ‘La Ceccina’. She became one of Europe’s most influential female composers, but sadly, little of her music survives. Her work, ‘La Liberazione di Ruggiero’ is considered to be the first opera by a woman, first staged in 1625.

              Francesca is known to have composed 32 songs and at least 16 stage works; she also provided music for court and liturgical settings.

              Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)

              Barbara Strozzi was said to be, ‘the most prolific composer – man or woman – of printed secular vocal music in Venice’ in the mid-17th century. She was the composer of 8 volumes of dramatic vocal music during the Baroque period. Her first book of songs were settings of her father’s lyrics. Guilio Strozzi was an enlightened dramatist and librettist who encouraged both Barbara’s performing as a singer and her composing. Her works – three quarters of which were written for soprano – have a lyrical sound and her lyrics were often poetic; she published one known work of religious pieces.

              Strozzi also broke new ground as the first woman to publish her music under her own name, instead of using a male pseudonym.

              Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704)

              Leonarda spent her life – from the age of 16 onwards – in a convent, where she worked on her compositions and taught her fellow nuns. Her published compositions span a period of 60 years – she’s credited with producing nearly 200 compositions in the Baroque era. She wrote music in nearly every sacred genre, from motets and sacred concertos to sacred Latin dialogues, psalm settings, Magnificats and masses. Her ‘Sonata da Chiesa, Op. 16’ was the first published instrumental sonata by a woman.

              Leonarda’s music is notable for its intricate use of harmonies; she was educated in formal counterpoint, and uses it in many of her pieces. Her sonatas were unusual, often departing from the standard four movement form; Sonata 4 has as many as 13 movements.

              Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665-1729)

              Parisian harpsichord prodigy Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre was born into a family of musicians. She played for Louis XIV at the age of five and a contemporary chronicler described how, ‘sometimes she improvises one or another for a whole half hour with tunes and harmonies of great variety and in the quite the best possible taste, quite charming her listeners.’

              She mainly composed for the harpsichord, and Cephale et Procris in 1694 was the first opera by a woman to be staged in France. She also created dramatic violin sonatas, noted for their bold, structural freedom.

              Marianna Martines (1744-1812)

              Marianna Martines’s neighbour in Vienna was Joseph Haydn. Her family arranged for the precocious Marianna to have a wide-ranging education – including piano lessons from Haydn – and the prodigy performed in front of the imperial court and played with Mozart.

              Marianna wrote everything from masses to motets and three litanies for choir. She wrote in the Italian style, which was typical for the early Classical period in Vienna. Her music became known throughout Europe and she became the first woman to gain admission to the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna in 1773. Her list of surviving works comprises two oratorios; four masses; six motets; psalm cantatas; secular cantatas; three keyboard sonatas, three keyboard concertos; and a symphony.

              Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)

              France’s first major female composer of the 19th century was also influential as a performer and Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatoire for 30 years. She married flautist Aristide Farrenc, and he founded Editions Farrenc, which led to the publication of her works – it became of one of France’s leading music publishers for nearly 40 years. Farrenc’s compositions in the Romantic period include three symphonies, a few choral works, numerous chamber pieces and a wide variety of piano music.

              She progressed from composing exclusively for the piano in the 1820s and 1830s to branching out into orchestral and chamber music – the latter is regarded as her best work.

              Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847)

              The German sister of composer Felix Mendelssohn composed more than 450 works, including a piano trio, 250 lieder (art songs) and several books of piano pieces and songs. She grew up in Berlin and received a thorough musical education from teachers including her mother and composers Ludwig Berger and Carl Friedrich Zelter. Zelter wrote to Goethe that Fanny, ‘could give you something of Sebastian Bach. This child is really something special.’

              In 1841, Fanny composed a cycle of piano pieces depicting the months of the year, Das Jahr. In a letter she revealed that, ‘I have been composing a good deal lately, and have called my piano pieces after the names of my favourite haunts, partly because they really came into my mind at these spots, partly because our pleasant excursions were in my mind while I was writing them. They will form a delightful souvenir, a kind of second diary. But do not imagine that I give these names when playing them in society, they are for home use entirely.’

              Her music was strongly influenced by Beethoven’s later music in terms of form, tonality and fugal counterpoint. There’s been renewed interest in Mendelssohn and her works from the 1980s onwards, with the Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn Museum opening in 2018 in Hamburg.

              Clara Schumann (1819-1896)

              Clara Schumann composed virtuoso piano music from a young age, including her Variations on a Theme by Bellini when she was just 16. Married to Robert Schumann, Clara’s career as a composer was undoubtedly hampered by having to support their eight children.

              Clara enjoyed a 61-year concert career during the Romantic era, but lost confidence in her composing in her mid-30s: ‘I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea. A woman must not desire to compose – there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?’

              Nevertheless, Classical-music.com declared that, ‘A towering musician, Clara Schumann’s influence on the repertoire, on the recital format and on an approach to the piano that favoured searching musicianship over display are as important legacies as her music.’

              Having written piano pieces in her youth, after her marriage, she turned to lieder and choral works. Most of her music was never played by anyone else, and largely forgotten until a resurgence of interest in her work in the 1970s.

              Teresa Carreño (1853-1917)

              Hailing from Venezuela, Carreño was a pianist, singer and composer who performed for Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1863. She composed at least 75 works for solo piano, voice and piano, choir and orchestra and instrumental ensemble.

              Carreño had a 54-year concert career and became internationally famous, often referred to as the ‘Valkyrie of the piano’, as she played the works of Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Schumann, Beethoven, Schuber, Mendelssohn and more.

              Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)

              Chaminade was a French composer and pianist who in 1913 became the first female composer to be awarded the Legion d’Honneur, and of whom Ambroise Thomas said, ‘this is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman.’

              In 1869, she performed some of her music for Georges Bizet, who was impressed with her talents. From 1878 onwards, she only performed her own works at concerts. Having performed concerts in the US in 1908, her compositions became favourites with the American public. She went on to compose the ballet music for Callirhoe and other orchestral works.

              Her most popular piece is the Flute Concertino in D major, Op. 107, composed for the 1902 Paris Conservatoire Concours. Describing her own style, Chaminade wrote, ‘I am essentially of the Romantic school, as all my work shows.’

              Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)

              Ethel Smyth was an English composer and suffragist – her 1911 composition, ‘The March of the Women’, became an anthem of the Suffrage Movement (she even served to months in Holloway Prison for breaking a window.)

              As you’d probably expect from a suffragist, Smyth wasn’t interested in composing ‘feminine’ songs or piano miniatures. Her work instead embraced ambitious, large-scale forms, including the Double Concerto for horn and violin, the Mass in D and six operas. Der Wald was staged at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1903; it remained the only opera by a woman composer produced at the Met till 2016.

              Smyth’s opera The Wreckers is considered by some critics to be ‘the most important English opera composed during the period between Purcell and Britten.’ In 2022, it was performed at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera – the first professional production in its original French libretto.

              Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)

              Marie Juliette ‘Lili’ Boulanger was a French composer and the first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize at the age of just 19. Lili was a prodigy whose talent burned brightly – but was extinguished when she died aged only 24.

              Gabriel Fauré, a friend of the family, discovered that Boulanger had perfect pitch when she was two years old, and her parents encouraged her musical education.  Boulanger and her sister, Nadia, were both influenced by Debussy and her music fits easily into what was becoming defined as a post-Romantic style.

              Florence Price (1887-1953)

              Price was a pioneering force in the US, overcoming tough odds to become the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and, in 1933, the first whose work was played by a major orchestra.

              Her prolific output resulted in around 300 works – including four symphonies, four concertos, choral works and chamber music – many of which weren’t discovered until years after she had died. In 1940, Price was inducted into the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for her work as a composer.

              Anne Dudley (b. 1956)

              Anne Dudley originally made her name as a session musician, working with producer Trevor Horn on albums such as ABC’s The Lexicon of Love. She was a founding member of Art of Noise, who helped to pioneer sampling within pop. After a lengthy career working with and producing pop acts, she turned her hand to composing for the orchestra, with Northern Lights, a 14-minute reflection of Norway’s Aurora Borealis for a full orchestra, in 2005.

              As well as claiming an Oscar, Dudley also has a Grammy award, two BRIT awards, and three Ivor Novello Award nominations.

              Judith Weir (b. 1954)

              Judith Weir CBE trained with John Tavener, and her music often draws on sources from medieval history, as well as traditional stories and music from her native Scotland. Best known for her operas – Blond Eckbert and Armida – and theatrical works, she has also composed orchestral and chamber works.

              Weir became the first woman to hold the office of Master of the King’s Music when she was appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth (when the post was known as the Master of the Queen’s Music.) She was commissioned to compose an a capella work for the state funeral of Elizabeth II and wrote a setting of Psalm 42, ‘Like as the Hart’; her piece ‘Brighter Visions Shine Afar’ was performed at King Charles III’s Coronation. She won the Ivors Classical Music Award at the Ivor Novello Awards in 2015.

              Debbie Wiseman OBE (b. 1963)

              Classic FM’s Composer in residence is one of the UK’s most successful female music ambassadors. Over the past 20 years, she’s amassed over 200 credits for both the big and small screen.

              Debbie has been nominated for two Ivor Novello Awards and won an RTS Award. She was one of 11 composers chosen to compose music for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant and was the official composer and musical director of the Platinum Jubilee Celebration at Windsor in May 1922.

              In 2022, Debbie was voted the most popular living British composer for the first time in Classic FM’s Hall of fame, with seven entries, including The Mythos Suite.

              AyseDeniz Gokcin (b. 1988)

              AyseDeniz Gokcin is a Turkish classical crossover pianist and neo-romantic composer. She started playing piano aged five and was considered a child prodigy. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Eastman School of Music, she completed a master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music in 2011.

              She has recorded an EP of her arrangements for solo piano in the style of Liszt of Pink Floyd tracks, Pink Floyd Lisztified, a Nirvana album and a classical album recording of Chopin, making her one of today’s composers who are taking inspiration from the classical greats to push the boundary of what it means to be a ‘classical composer’.

              She told NetInfluencer.com that she feels strongly that everyone should be able to listen to as many types of music as they’d like, which is why she does a lot of rock covers and composes her own music – to inspire others to listen to different genres and styles of music.

              When it came to her own compositions, she said, ‘I started doing more original compositions because I thought, “Okay, why not? Since I’m doing all these arrangements [that] are very different than the originals, I could definitely compose my own things”… the album I recorded became top two in the US classical charts and in the UK as well.’

              Take a listen to her new tracks on her album, Patterns, which includes tracks such as ‘After Bach’.

              Looking For More Inspiration?

              If you want to learn more about the history of women in music then we have a wealth of articles, from the top female Nigerian artists to the key women in hip hop, the trailblazing women in music, film and art to the female directors you need to know.

              Need Music for Your Project?

              At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

              SIGN UP

              This page was updated 24/04/2024.

              THE MOST NOTABLE CLASSICAL FEMALE COMPOSERS Read More »

              Why Is Music So Powerful in Video Games?

              FEATURED, MUSIC, OLD /

              You’ve nailed the perfect heist. You’ve stormed the villain’s lair and decimated a horde of henchmen. You’ve suffered the loss of a beloved character. When it comes to the components of a good video game, alongside fantastic graphics, involving plots and stellar characters, is there something that you’re not paying as much attention to?

              Movies can be taken up a whole level by a brilliant soundtrack, and the music for games is equally important. Why is music so powerful in video games? Read on for our deep dive on the effect of music in video games, and some of its most celebrated composers.

              Regular gamer? Bet you can hum composer Koji Kondo’s chirpy theme for Super Mario Bros, or recognise the cinematic score for Medal of Honour (composer Michael Giacchino later won an Oscar for his score for Up). Want a blockbuster feel? Look to the Halo franchise – its soundtrack is still the best-selling video game soundtrack of all time. The NFL’s Madden soundtracks have even become an annual event, with artists clamouring to be featured and often releasing tracks only available in-game.

              But what would the gaming experience be like without these iconic soundtracks? They’d definitely be a lot less engaging and fun to play.

              Early Video Games

               

              During the 8-bit era, developers brought in composers to score the games – however, they were pretty simple (as were the games themselves, to be fair.) The move to 16-bit meant that games music could be more than catchy little jingles and use better quality music, with many using full orchestral arrangements.

              Soundtracks changed forever, though, in the 64-bit era, when new tech capabilities enabled game designers to be more influenced by the movie industry. Game music emerged from the background and was used to drive forward the experience, by being integrated with each part of a game’s story and play.

              In this new era, music could turn games into unforgettable experiences – and transport gamers to somewhere else entirely, immersing them fully into the world.

              Music + Games = Global Success

               

              When it comes to games with good music, Madden NFL has been building its reputation for a long time. And the President of EA Music, Steve Schnur, told EA.com that no-one should underestimate the impact of its soundtracks: ‘Over the past decades, Madden NFL has become a platform for fans to discover new music, launching new stars and establishing trends that have changed the way players play the game and how they experience NFL football itself.’ The soundtracks are innovative and, ‘connect gaming, football and music culture for the next generation.’

              For their ground-breaking 2022 album, EA worked hand-in-hand with Interscope and their artists to create 11 custom songs from scratch, conceptualising, writing and ensuring the tracks worked on every level to fit – and elevate – the vibe of Madden NFL 22, which promises fresh experiences with every kick-off.

              Good game music has to fit in with gameplay, as well as connecting with the visuals. When the two come together, it can really contribute to a game’s overall success. Video games composer Winifred Philips, who created the soundtrack for Assassin’s Creed: Liberations, and the original God of War, revealed that the energy levels and rhythm of the gameplay are particularly important to lock into:

              ‘Gameplay is, for a composer, very much a structure that we wrap our music around. There is an inherent energy level and a visual kinetic rhythm to gameplay that as a composer I try to pay very close attention to. If I’m doing my job correctly, my music is going to kind of jigsaw well into the overall visual rhythm of gameplay, it’s going to feel like it really marries well to the energy level and promotes the players’ immersion and involvement.’

              How to Make Music for Video Games

               

              When you’re watching a film, the story is linear. Shots are edited into a set order, accompanied by pre-defined musical cues. Within a game, however, the player is, to varying degrees, much more in control of how the story plays out. So the music needs to adapt to the player’s choices within the narrative.

              Music in games, much like music in films, acts as a guide to the player. You’re not just watching out for visual cues, but also listening to the sound and music to see if there’s danger approaching. Are you in fight or flight mode? Is there time to just enjoy the world you’re in and wander around, as in Animal Crossing, guided by the sound of bees, or apples falling from trees?

              A games music composer talks to the game’s developers about what emotions they want to evoke from the player and also, where possible, they play the latest version of the game to get a feel for it. Video game composer Grant Kirkhope told Mashable that, ‘the images tell the story, but the music tells you how to feel.’

              Gareth Coker composed the soundtrack for 2020’s Ori and the Will of Wisps and stresses the importance of creating defined ‘moments’ for games players, when thinking about video game background music: ‘Having that differentiation between combat music and boss fight music and then regular gameplay music – and there being quite a wide dynamic range between all three of them – is the key to building an emotional experience. If you have everything at ten all the time, it’s just not going to register.’

              With platform games, where you may have to try, try and try again to make it through each level, the music also provides an encouraging backdrop to keep players motivated. Games music can create the subliminal messages that you’re on the right track, or that something is about to change – i.e. that you’re progressing.

              This is where it helps if a composer can play the game; a level may need far more music than you think, if it’s going to take hours to complete. The gamer doesn’t want to be hearing the same thing over and over, leading to a sense of monotony.

              The Last of Us Soundscape

               

              Argentinian composer Gustavo Santaolalla has become famous worldwide for his distinctive soundtracks for The Last of Us games. For the second game, as well as the ronroco (an Andean instrument like a mandolin) and the Fender bass and acoustic guitar he’d used to create the themes for the first part, he brought in a banjo to create a new element, tying into the game’s American setting.

              He discusses the similarities between composing for games and movies (he took home an Oscar for his original score for Brokeback Mountain) and the thinking behind his choice of instruments for The Last of Us.

              Santaolalla highlights the fact that, as a games music composer, you’re tasked with creating many hours of music – not all of which may be used.

              Plus, as Gramophone highlights, ‘compositions today are primarily interactive: composers cannot know in advance how players will react – each will have a different approach. This entails complex work with audio tracks; whether it’s menacing layers of strings that glide into the soundtrack when players put themselves in danger, or brass fanfares when they’re successful.’

              Lorne Balfe is one of the most prolific video games composers. The Grammy Award winner earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Original Music for his soundtrack for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations while Assassin’s Creed III earned him his second. Together with Beyond: Two Souls and Skylanders: Swap Force, Balfe has also made his mark with Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2.

              Balfe, who composes for TV (His Dark Materials) and films as well (including last year’s all-conquering Top Gun: Maverick) told PCPlayerHub.com that if you want to try your hand as a composer, you don’t necessarily need to be a hardcore gamer:

              ‘A lot of people think you’ve got to be a gamer to do game music, but I have worked on a lot of games and I know a lot of the guys who make them and they don’t have free time to play them. Just like I know people who act and don’t have TVs. I don’t think it makes a difference, as long as you understand the technical points of what it has to do. I don’t think anyone wants me to write game music, they want me to write music that matches the game.’

              He also flags that games and movie music have diverged in recent years: ‘When I first started, games used to reference film. Music was a reference from films. Now, in the last year or two, I haven’t gone into a meeting with a game company where they’ve referenced a film. They want their own identity. Now it’s a role reversal.’

              Licensed Music for Video Games

               

              However, if you’re looking to create atmosphere, then you can also use licensed music, rather than getting music composed from scratch, which can be an advantage if you’re dealing with a smaller budget.

              Games such as Crazy Taxi, Gran Turismo and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater used licensed songs. As well as tapping into pop culture, licensed music has been used in innovative ways in games. The Grand Theft Auto franchise is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever game series. Its in-game radio stations let players choose the songs they wanted to listen to as they drove around, making the whole scenario feel even more ‘real world’.

              Saints Row 2 took this even further: you have the option to create your own mixtapes.

              If you need music to license for a game you’re developing, then look no further than the Audio Network catalogue. We have literally hundreds of thousands of tracks to choose from – and a ton of specially-chosen playlists for inspiration and to get you started. From blockbusters to action, whimsical comedy to otherworldly fantasy, you’ll be levelling up in no time.

              Using our original, high-quality music will make your games stand out from the crowd. Plus, we’ve got a variety of different subscriptions, depending on how much music you need. Why not have a free trial of our Essential Edit?

              Discovering Music Through Gaming

               

              Games can be an entry point for discovering all kinds of music. According to YPulse.com, two in five Gen Z-ers say video games influence the music they listen to – and with 96% of them playing video games in some capacity, that’s a huge opportunity to introduce them to music.

              With its mix of artists on the cusp of huge success and globally established names, NFL’s Madden soundtracks are almost as eagerly anticipated as the annual game release itself. FIFA also got in on the action last year, showcasing their music from video games by collaborating with Spotify to release a playlist of players’ favourite songs from their soundtracks over the past 25 years.

              Gen Z gamers spend an average of five to seven hours a week playing games and 30% of them overall say they use video games to listen to music. Fortnite and League of Legends have joined Madden NFL in collaborating with major artists for game songs and events.

              A poll by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra suggested that computer games are an important ‘access point’ for young people to experience classical music for the first time, as the orchestra’s managing director James Williams told the Telegraph:

              ‘It is encouraging to hear that there are platforms and opportunities for young people to engage with orchestral music, albeit in different mediums. It is about sparking their interest. What we are finding is once we have lit that fire there is a real desire to carry that journey on and explore. If [computer games] are the trigger and the catalyst that can only be a really positive thing.’

              Children aged six to 16 were asked about how they experience classical music; around one in six said they listened to it, ‘when it’s part of a computer game I’m playing.’

              Winifred Phillips thinks that games music is, ‘essentially a form of contemporary classical music, but it has a connection with a more immediate contemporary culture, so that it’s more identifiable, accessible to a more mainstream audience.’ Her music for Assassin’s Creed, for example, has a definite baroque feel to it.

              West Australian Symphony Orchestra ex-principal conductor Paul Daniel believes that the best video game scores, ‘reference great symphonic composers like Wagner, Mahler, Shostakovich, Holst and John Williams’.

              Similarly, many of the most celebrated Japanese video games composers have revealed that they’ve been influenced by classical composers in the same way. Pokemon‘s Junichi Masuda, who cites Stravinsky and Shostakovich as inspirations, to, ‘the Beethoven of video game music’, Nobuo Uematsu, who based the lyrics for the intro to ‘One-Winged Angel’ from Final Fantasy VII on the medieval poetry Carl Orff used for Carmina Burana.

              Awards for Video Game Music

               

              In 2012 Journey became the first ever video game to be nominated for a Grammy for its score, proving that game music is now celebrated for its quality and popularity outside of the games industry. The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Videogames and Other Interactive Media was first presented at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in 2023. This award was introduced to recognise the impact of music specifically written for video games (it’s a sister category to the Grammy for Best Score soundtrack for Visual Media, which covered film, TV and video games).

              The winner of this inaugural Grammy was Stephanie Economou’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok.

              At the 2022 Game Awards, Bear McCreary won Best Score and Music for God of War Ragnarok. Clearly there was something about Norse mythology that caught the judges’ ear this year.

              McCreary’s work for the God of War saga brings in an Icelandic choir, Nordic instruments like the nyckelharpa and hurdy gurdy, together with plenty of orchestral bass to create an epic feel that’s also tied to its Norse roots.

              The 2022 BAFTA Games Award for best music was taken home by the night’s big winner, Playstation 5’s Returnal. The soundtrack was written by British composer Bobby Krlic, aka The Haxan Cloak. Krlic has worked with Björk, Father John Misty and Goldfrapp, and composed the soundtracks for horror film Midsommar and TV series Snowpiercer.

              On the Playstation blog, Krlic explained his approach to Returnal’s soundtrack:

              ‘[The game] is really about one person’s determination to get to the bottom of this mystery that’s surrounding her. There are so many different things to speak to: there’s determination. There’s sadness, confusion. An ever-lingering threat and horror that never really subsides through the game. It’s figuring out how to then have all these things complement each other and theoretically have them be a bit like a liquid jigsaw; everything tessellating together but also keep moving along.

              Building things, custom synths, using a theme, then breaking that theme down to its DNA and reassembling it… there’s so many musical elements to this that I’ve just found really stimulating. I think it made something that – for me – sounds really fresh to my ears, in terms of my catalogue.’

              Live Music

               

              As well as games music being showcased by awards ceremonies, its importance as an art form is demonstrated by the fact that live performances, staged in concert halls around the world, have become hugely popular over the last couple of decades. Video Games Live is an immersive event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Top orchestras and choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, live action and unique interactive segments.

              Japanese conductor and composer Koichi Sugiyama kick-started the trend with his first Family Classic Concert in Tokyo in 1987. He wanted to bring families to classical music, so took the unusual approach of combining music from Camille Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals with his own work – the music from the Dragon Quest video games series.

              In Europe, a 2003 performance at the Leipzig Gewandhaus launched a series of world tours with renowned orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

              Plus, artists are seeing the value of connecting with games audiences, creating even more of a crossover. In 2019, electronic musician Marshmello played his set to 10 million people in the multiplayer battle royale game Fortnite, and Lil Nas X has performed live in Roblox.

              Level Up

               

              Find out more about the wonderful world of games music with our deep dive articles on iconic Japanese composers, NFL’s Madden soundtracks and different types of animation.

              Or check out our music for games for inspiration:

              Plus, listen to acclaimed Call of Duty-composer Lorne Balfe’s new tracks for Audio Network.

              The Lorne Balfe Collection of hybrid orchestral music brings you the real sound of Hollywood, produced and curated for production music use. Whether you need a track for an epic trailer, a huge action set piece, music to create a world of fantasy or adventure, this is the collection that consistently delivers, creating an impact as well as setting the scene.

              Need Music for Your Project?

               

              At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

              SIGN UP

              Why Is Music So Powerful in Video Games? Read More »

              How to Record High Quality Audio on Set

              HOW TO RECORD HIGH QUALITY AUDIO ON SET

              FEATURED, MUSIC, OLD /
              Contents
                Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

                When it comes to recording high quality audio, for music, video or podcasts, what are the tips that will help you to minimise things like hum, buzz and hiss, and maximise your sound?

                Read on for our top tips on equipment, location, editing, testing and more.

                Equipment

                If you’re aiming for a really clean sound, then investing in the right microphone is your key starting point. But how to choose which one is the best for you?

                It’ll depend on whether you’re recording vocals or instruments. One way to decide is to book a session at a professional recording studio and try out a variety of microphones. Then listen back to your recordings and get some feedback. (Make sure to note down which mics you used on which track!)

                Check out mics from brands such as Rode, Shure, Sennheiser, Blue and Audio Technica. Plug in an external microphone into your camera’s microphone jack if you’re recording video as well, or record your audio completely separately.

                NPR Music’s video shows you how to mic up speakers and amps in the same way as they do for their ‘Tiny Desk’ performances, which have featured everyone from London’s Ezra Collective to cast and musicians from The Lion King and Santigold:

                 

                Get the microphone – or your speaker/amp – as close as you can to you, to minimise crowd noise if you’re playing at a live gig. And unless you’re aiming to record ambient sound, the closer your mic is to the source of the sound you’re recording, the lower the sensitivity setting can be on your microphone. Which means that any sounds you’re not trying to record will sound fainter.

                Audio for Video Content

                What kind of mic is best for YouTube or podcasts? Javier Mercedes has you covered, across a variety of budgets:

                 

                Ideally, mics should be at a distance of around 6-14 inches from your subject. If you can’t get that close because you’re using an overhead mic and it’ll appear in the shot, then just get as near to it as possible. This will then avoid picking up ambient noise or any reverb that’s bouncing around your space.

                Different Microphone Types

                To record sound on a set, depending on what you’re shooting, these are the microphone options: handheld, mounted, suspended, boundary, lavalier (or lav) and wireless. Most handheld mics can also be mounted to stands, booms or camera attachments.

                Videomaker.com advises that ‘stage productions use a blend of suspended overheads, dynamic boundary mics along the front of the stage and flesh-coloured wireless headsets.’

                Lavaliers are the small, clip or tape-on mics that you often see newsreaders wearing – you attach them to clothes. They have the advantage of being discreet and portable, and they’re easy to conceal under clothes if you don’t want to see them on-screen.

                If you’re shooting music videos, where people are moving around a lot, you’ll need a boom operator to track your subject(s) to keep the mic as close as possible.

                Where possible, always have at least two mics, so that you have a back-up recording if anything goes wrong!

                Location

                Not everyone gets to record in spaces that are specifically designed for it. Which was something that a lot of broadcasters and podcasters realised when they had to broadcast from home during the pandemic lockdowns.

                To make audio sound better, you need to be really attuned to the acoustics and subtle sounds in the background – whether these are in the room, or coming from outside.

                To check if you’re in a room with a lot of echo, or reverb, you can do a quick clap test – see how much sound bounces back from things like hardwood floors, bare walls and ceilings.

                How do you record clear and crisp audio? Here are some options:

                • Try to eliminate or minimise those hard surfaces – the sound will bounce off them
                • Books can be a good option for covering hard surfaces – making a study a good place to record, if you have one
                • With hard floors, try to cover them with a rug or carpet
                • Add curtains or blankets to the walls. Or put up acoustic materials like sound dampening panels or acoustic foam
                • Put up lights stands, with blankets over them
                • Furniture also works, if you have room – a big couch will block echo
                • Are there things in the room that are generating noise? Look out for computer fans, heating, air con or fluorescent lights.
                • What about outside noise? Think about how to screen out traffic if you’re near a road

                For outside noise, try to choose the best location for recording. Think about somewhere that’s out of the wind (it can sound surprisingly loud!), away from traffic or noise such as building work and other street sounds. You can even record later at night, when most people are at home, have stopped working, or are sleeping, if you’re recording in a flat or building where there are lots of other people around.

                If you’re recording audio indoors, then if you don’t need a huge amount of space, using a small room – even a closet – is often easier than trying acoustically treat a bigger room.

                For podcasts, tutorials or video content you’re recording at home, or in an office, try noise-cancelling tool Krisp, which removes background voices, noises and echo.

                How to Improve the Audio Quality of a Recording

                So, you’ve tried as hard as possible to follow all the advice above, but your audio still has a few problems. Or, you had to record something on the fly, without being able to go through all your usual noise-reduction hacks. What are the best ways to remove background noise from your recording?

                Repairing damaged audio files is called audio restoration. Engineers most often recommend audio repair plugin bundles, such as iZotope’s RX 7 bundle. BlackGhostAudio.com recommends RX 7 Elements, which will remove clicks, clips, hum and noise: ‘Most music producers dealing with controlled environment recordings will be happy with RX 7 Standard, while post-production engineers dealing with problematic field recordings will want to take a look at RX 7 Advanced.’

                They also recommend Waves’ Restoration bundle and Accsuonus’ ERA Bundle PRO. Clicks and other digital impulse noise can be fixed using a de-click plugin. Vinyl crackle or dry-mouthed dialogue on podcasts can be tackled with iZotope’s De-crackle, or Waves’ X-Crackle.

                If you’re dealing with the kind of ambient noise from recording in a flat or house, then de-noise plugins are your friend. Ideally, you want to capture a ‘noise profile’ by analysing a section of your audio recording in which there’s only noise, and nothing else. The plugin will then use the profile to remove that noise from beneath vocals or instruments. iZotope’s RX 7 Voice De-noise and Waves’ Z-Noise will both do the trick.

                Other recommended software includes Camtasia, which has a built-in noise removal feature, or use Audiate, which also makes audio editing easy.

                If you’re recording podcasts, then you need to get close to the mic. However, this can result in ‘plosives’, the air from consonant sounds. Grab yourself a pop filter – the screen that goes around or in front of the microphone – and you’ll have instantly improved your audio quality. (Some mics have a built-in pop filter.)

                Editing

                Videomaker.com advises that, ‘editing means lining up your tracks, creating your timeline, stripping away silence, removing unwanted sounds and checking for correctness.’ Quality editing and production will massively improve your audio quality. If you’re creating podcasts, then hire a producer if you have the budget. Alternatively, check out Auphonic, a useful piece of software which helps you to level your audio and remove background hiss and noise.

                Audacity is a free, cross-platform audio software for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux that’s a multi-track audio editor and recorder. Check out this beginner’s tutorial to get started:

                Using a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and editing tools in post-production will help your audio sound the best it can. You can use these tools to fix common problems such as changing audio levels through a recording, from very loud to very quiet. If you’re using Premiere Pro, then try the EQ (parametric equalizer) and compression tools.

                Simply put, compression closes the gap between the loud and quiet parts of an audio track by making the loud parts quieter, and the quiet parts louder, evening out the audio track so that it’s playing at a consistent volume. The Premiere Pro tool you’re looking for is ‘Dynamics’.

                A top tip when you’re editing and mixing is to listen to the audio through different headphones and speakers. Studio monitors will have a lot more ‘low end’ than cheap laptop or phone speakers.

                Expert Guides

                So there you have it – how to record high quality audio in a few easy steps. Want more expert advice? Check out our articles on how to make a great YouTube video and tips on making music videos, or the ultimate guide to starting as a podcaster.

                Want to Get Your Hands on Our Latest Releases?

                When you need to license music for your production, we have thousands of original, high-quality tracks to discover.

                For example, if you’re after a west coast sound with a UK twist, then we definitely encourage you to check out our latest release from Johnny Lloyd and Clif Norrell.

                Titled Reanimate, this is an uplifting and laid-back collection of guitar and vocal led indie-rock. Take a listen below.

                Need Music for Your Project?

                At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!

                SIGN UP

                This page was updated 28/05/2024.

                HOW TO RECORD HIGH QUALITY AUDIO ON SET Read More »