How I Write My Own Music for Travel Videos: Full Breakdown

Ask any filmmaker, and they’ll agree that choosing the right music for travel videos is essential.

I’ve been playing guitar and writing music my whole life. But when I discovered travel filmmaking while living in Japan as an English teacher — it was instant love.

Naturally, these two hobbies joined forces…and I got a bit obsessed.

Fast forward a couple years (and one pandemic), and my new pursuit is now my full-time passion (job? I don’t know, that still feels strange).

So I write this post to share my basic (film) songwriting process and how to write music into a script.

I had a lot of fun putting together this “blueprint”, and I think there’s some pretty helpful stuff in here – especially if you’re at all interested in creating your own melodies for films.

So without further ado, let’s get it!

Why I Write My Own Music for Videos

Let’s start with the why I’m writing my own tunes – when it would be a hell of lot easier to just use something like Epidemic Sounds or something.

As a side note, using platforms like Epidemic Sounds are seriously a filmmaker’s goldmine (I use them all the time for sound clips and difficult footage that I can’t get on my own). And their music library is on point, so no shame there!

OK, back to my post.

So if I had to break down the core reasons for these travel video goals I’ve concocted, it probably comes down to four big motives:

• I have more control

• I can use and apply my music in different and unique ways

• It’s a point of differentiation (check out The Unfair Advantage – good book)

• And finally, I’m a musician at heart, and I simply love writing music

The Purpose of This Post

I want this post to provide some clarity to the (my) songwriting process. If I’m lucky, you’ll find at least a few nuggets between words.

So think of this post as a springboard. A point of inspiration with some structured guidance.

You’ll be getting a sort of 10,000-foot view of my personal songwriting process (i.e., I’m not getting into the nitty gritty of music production and software technicals).

I will however be providing some helpful links and resources (at the end) — if you’re looking to fasttrack any of your songwriting and music production ambitions.

So let’s start with a quick theoretical discussion. You know, get our heads in the right place.

My Take On Songwriting

“Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.”

I love a good music or travel quote, and Picasso was spot on here (there?). 

Songwriting has a lot of templates and best practices to follow. Plenty of scripts and roadmaps to help us create “correctly”.

No doubt, these collegiate concepts are well worth learning.

But at the end of the day, you’re the one making all the magic.

Writing music is personal and there’s no one strategy or you-must-follow-this-rule way of doing things. So templates are great, but don’t forget that all that magic happens once you start customizing things.

For me, visualization helps as a writing strategy – sort of imagining and feeling what the music will sound like before it’s actually written.

You can practice this bush-league manifesting by watching travel videos with the sound turned off or by creating a script and adding your mental soundtrack to it while you read it aloud or act it out in your head.

I could go deeper into the theoretical, but I say, it’s high time we move things along.

So let’s shift gears and look at the more practical side of things: my basic songwriting process.

Writing Music for Travel Videos: My Process

The process below is a script. But sometimes songwriting is completely unplanned.

You know how it goes – accidentally stumbling into melodies while casually playing guitar, or singing scales in the shower when suddenly BOOM!, you’ve gone off script and haphazardly written a strong melody.

I digress…

Let’s talk about how to make some travel video music.

As noted above, I’ve included some links for further reading on these topics (at the end), as it can be a bit daunting if you’re new to music composition.

So think of these steps as more of an overarching roadmap. Here are my directions.

Step One: Get Inspired

• Mood is everything when writing good music

• Try watching travel videos of styles you’d like to emulate

• Now pay attention to the sound design and the music choices – pick up on the subtleties, the different noises and effects…the music

Step Two: Define Your Film (+ Music) Goals

• What are the video vibes you’re going for?

• Are you writing music for an upbeat travel adventure?

• Or maybe you’re going for that film noir, slower paced drama about travel

Step Three: Sandbox Stage

• Now is the time to take stock and explore your DAW (digital audio workspace)

• Knowing what your software can do and what sounds you have available to you is half the battle

• So spend some time learning your music software – inside and out 

• It’s the key to being able to quickly translate all those epic sounds that you hear in your head

Step Four: Build A Simple Foundation

1. I like to start with a simple chord loop or drum beat – less is more here

2. Again, imagine your finished video – what’s that intro sounding like?

Tip: If you’re not a musician (or having some totally acceptable writer’s block), try using software or plugins to hack your songwriting (more on that below).

Step Five: Find Your Melody

• This is where the creativity really starts to kick in

• Everyone’s different, but here’s one way to practice creating melodies:

  • Start by looping a short section of your intro chords or beats 

  • This loop will continue to play over and over — so sit back and start to feel the vibe, then just play around, humming random melodies or words (literally, anything goes here)

  • Eventually, you’re probably gonna stumble onto something cool

  • You can also use a MIDI keyboard or prebuilt melody loops instead of humming

Tip: If you’re writing words or singing, I usually don’t focus too much on the lyrics at this stage (but that’s just my process, you do you).

Step Six: “Grow” Your Song

• I call this next part “growing” your song

• Essentially, we’re adding more and more layers and sounds to our foundation

• I layer on more instruments, different sounds, chord nuances, and the vocals

Tip: I usually start with a simple intro and first verse, then I slowly add more and more layers (or complexity) as the song progresses.

Step Seven: Do Some Light Mixing

• I usually do a little comping and arrangement next — you know, finalizing the structure, cutting things together and getting everything in order

• When I do mixing, it’s usually just some light compression, maybe a little EQ and checking that my volumes aren’t at full blast or clipping anywhere

Tip: Logic Pro (and other popular DAWs) come with already-mixed effects you can add to your projects – similar to using Instagram filters on your photos.

Step Eight: Send It!

• Finally, I send all my raw stems (all the individual tracks of your mix) to a mixing artist for final mastering

• Learning to confidently mix and master music can be pretty overwhelming, time-consuming and difficult to learn (outside the basics, that is)

• Personally, I like to outsource this part – I mean, I know my lane, plus I’m pretty busy with all my other projects!

I guess it’s worth noting here that travel videos don’t generally use a full song, start-to-finish. Right?

So if you’re writing music solely for travel filmmaking, you could probably get away with just writing the parts you need music for.

But either way, creating music is a super fun process and extremely rewarding.

Awesome Tips, Gotta-Have Tools & “Cool, Thanks!” Resources

This last section is a collection of tips, tools and resources to help you get over any learning curves and obstacles along the way.

Rest assured, all these assets are designed to make your life easier.

So let’s start with some basics: how to actually write music.

Lucky for us, there are a ton of resources online to learn songwriting, theory and music production (all for free).

Let’s start with some resources that teach songwriting and music production.

Neat Resources

• Berkeley School of Music’s library of free resources

  • Berkeley is leader in music, so this is great place for exploring songwriting and theory

• Charles Cleyn’s Logic Pro YouTube tutorials for beginners

  • He makes things simple — great for learning all the ins and outs of the Logic Pro software

• 20+ Essential Songwriting Tips for Beginners

  • This one is another post of mine — it’s got some sweet tips, if I do say so myself

• 10 Logic Pro Tips Every Producer Should Know

  • Another helpful YouTube video with some great Logic Pro tips

Next up, let’s cover some of the must-have tools (and nice-to-have plugins) to create your full-fledged bedroom studio. 

Tools and Plugins Ya’ Just Gotta Know About

• Logic Pro

  • I use Logic Pro myself, but there are plenty of other options out there

  • Your DAW is your hub. It’s where you'll do all your recording and mixing

  • Logic Pro is a professional software, so if the interface looks a bit intimidating, you could also start out with their more beginner-friendly music-making kit: GarageBand

• Condenser Studio Mic

  • To record vocals (and any other live sounds or instruments)

  • You may not need this if you’re not tracking vocals or recording live sounds 

• Audio Interface

  • Again, you may not need this if you’re not recording live takes

  • It’s a device that basically converts sound waves into audio files that your computer can read

• MIDI Keyboard

  • Basically a mini keyboard that connects to your computer and DAW

  • This lets you make all the cool sounds and noises

• Captain Chords, by Mixed In Key

  • This plugin automagically creates limitless chord progressions, melodies, bass lines and drum loops – all in key.

  • Zero music background or knowledge of music theory required – super fun.

• Vochlea

  • Write music with your voice – shower singers and beatboxers rejoice!

  • This software literally turns your voice and humming into beautiful, in-key music – a complete game changer.

• Epidemic Sounds (or similar)

  • I know this post is about writing your own music, but still, there’s no denying this awesome resource

• Computer

  • Ideally greater than a core i5 processor (speaking from experience here).

Just Really Nice Tips

• Take a shower – for better or for worse, some of our (my) best ideas come while rinsing

• Step away for a breather — don’t sit in frustration, waiting to get unstuck

• Make small goals and celebrate small wins

• Don’t compare yourself to others

• There’s no shame in using loops and software to shortcut melodies and songwriting

• Embrace the copycat stage — your unique voice will naturally come out eventually

• Don’t stress too much and remember to just have fun

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