Falling for the temp track

No scene is watched without music in the cutting room. The editor puts something under it, often the score of a film they love. We call this the temp trackTemp trackMusic borrowed from another production and laid under a scene temporarily during the edit.. It is called temporary, but it lives a long time. The scene is cut to it, shown to the producer with it, and approved with it.

By the time I come in, weeks later, the scene is already breathing at that music’s tempo. The cuts sit on its beats and everyone’s ear is used to it. What I’m usually asked for is this: the same thing, but ours.

Hear a piece of music with the same picture dozens of times and the two get stored together in our heads. Whatever comes next, however good, sounds wrong on first listen. This is called demo loveDemo loveGetting attached to the first version of a piece of music simply because we have heard it so often.. Musicians get attached to their own demos in exactly the same way, me included.

The temp music was written for the feeling of another film. Other actors, other light, another story. If it fits your film this well, part of the reason is that the edit has been shaped around it for weeks.

I’m not against temp music. It gives the editor a rhythm and the producer an idea. It also tells me what you want more clearly than words do. The point is how you use it. Roughly, this is what I suggest to directors working with a temp track:

1. Write down in one sentence why you chose it

   Is it the tempo, the colour, the instrument, or just what it makes you feel in that scene? That sentence tells me more than the piece itself.

2. Watch the same scene with two or three different pieces

   The ear doesn’t lock onto one track. You also see more clearly what works in each.

3. Bring the composer in before picture lock

   If an early sketch arrives, the cuts keep taking shape around your story. Music that arrives after picture lock is always trying to catch up with something.

4. In the first meeting, let’s also watch the scene in silence

   Show me the temp track, then we turn the sound off and watch the same scene again. What the scene really needs is easier to hear in silence.

5. Don’t judge the new music on first listen

   Wait a day, listen a few times. You gave the temp track weeks; giving the new music a few days is only fair.

I can write something very close to the temp track, and sometimes that’s exactly what’s wanted. Then your film sounds a little like another film. My job is to find what the scene itself needs, and for that we have to set that music aside for a while.

Working with a song is no different. Even when the lyrics and melody are fixed, the arrangement decides how the song will be heard inside the series, how big it gets and where it meets the scene.

The track below is the soundtrack song of the Netflix series Another Self, with vocals by Selin Geçit. I made the music for the series; the song’s lyrics and music are not mine, but the arrangement is. The song is epic in feel and sung in English; as far as I know, there weren’t many songs of this kind made for a Turkish production.

Another Self

Netflix · 2022 · Vocals: Selin Geçit · Arrangement: Aytaç Bayladı

The waveform is drawn from the track’s actual audio. Tap to seek.0:00 / 4:02

If a temp track is playing on your edit right now, this is the right moment to talk about the music. In the first meeting, we watch the scene with sound, then in silence. For new projects, see contact.