These are the questions producers and directors ask before they commission music from the studio. If yours is not here, ask it directly on the brief page and we will answer it in writing.
Do you write original music only?
Yes. Everything DeepSound Audio delivers is composed, arranged and recorded for the project that commissioned it. We do not pass along existing tracks under a new name, and we do not repackage material from other clients. Originality is the whole point of hiring a writing studio.
Can we license music instead of commissioning a score?
We can licence cues the studio has written and owns, where the terms suit a production. That is a different route from a bespoke score, and the licensing page explains how sync, publishing and clearance fit together. Many productions start with a licence for a temp, then commission a full score once the cut locks.
How long does a score take?
A short film with a handful of cues can move in two to three weeks. A feature with a full orchestral palette usually runs six to ten weeks from spotting to stems. A series depends on episode count and how much of the music can be built from recurring themes. You get a schedule in the first conversation and a checkpoint at every stage.
Do you record real players?
Where the music asks for it, yes. We keep a live room for strings, brass, woodwinds, voices and rhythm section, and we bring in the soloists and section players a cue needs. The players page lists the families we record most often.
What files do we receive at the end?
A full mix for picture, separated stems for the dub stage, an alternate version without a lead line where useful, and the paperwork: a cue sheet and a signed licence. Everything arrives named to match your scene list so the editor is not guessing.
Who owns the music?
Ownership and licence terms are set in the commission agreement before recording starts. Most productions take a licence for the agreed media while the studio retains authorship; some buy the score outright. Either way, the terms are on paper before a note is written, and the licensing page describes the choices.
Can you match a temp score?
We can match the feeling of a temp without copying it. A temp tells us what the picture has been cut to, and we honour that rhythm and weight while writing something new that is yours. We never reproduce borrowed material.
How does a project start?
With a short brief: the story, the cut, the deadline and the delivery formats. Send it through the brief page and the studio replies with a plan and a schedule. There is no obligation in asking.
Working remotely
Distance is not a barrier to a score. We regularly write for productions we see only through a screen, with the cut arriving as a file, reviews happening over a call, and the finished music going out as stems to a dub stage in another city. What matters is a clear brief, a stable picture, and a shared understanding of the deadline, and all three survive a long-distance workflow comfortably.
For projects close to Boston we are glad to sit in the room with the director and watch the cut together, and for a recording day it is often worth the trip. But a production that never visits the studio loses nothing artistically; the habits that keep a remote score honest are the same ones that keep a local one on schedule.
Revisions and feedback
Every commission includes a stated number of revision passes, and the number is agreed before recording so nobody is guessing. Feedback is most useful when it is specific: a note that a cue feels too heavy for the scene tells us more than a note that says it is not right, and a note about timing tells us exactly where to work. We take notes in writing so nothing said on a call is lost.
Revisions are handled in order of importance to the picture, and if a change would push the schedule we tell you the same day rather than absorbing it quietly and missing the date.