Composer for animation
The toughest audience in the world is four years old and leaves without warning.
What it involves
Music and songs for animated series and children’s content: episode score, original songs with lyrics, and adaptations into other languages for international distribution.
With the composers of Reseda Estudio we’ve written the music for Pocoyo season 5 (episodes 27 to 52), Pocoyo Songs, and the Lingokids series and songs: Baby Bot, Lucas & Me, Backyard Tales and I Know Nothing.
Animation has a quirk no other format has: the music often arrives before the final picture, and often sets its pace. That means working to animatics, hitting accents to the frame and talking a lot with the studio before recording anything.
What you get
- Episode score, synced to the animatic and adjusted to the final edit
- Original songs with lyrics, produced and recorded with vocals
- Instrumentals and playbacks for dubbing and other-language versions
- Lyric adaptation into other languages, minding metre and lip sync
- Stems and separate elements for the animation studio’s mix
- Season-long consistency: character themes that are recognisable episode after episode
Some examples
See all animation work
FAQ
- When does music come into an animation production?
- Earlier than in live action. The usual approach is to work to the animatic, and even to write the songs before animating, because the animation is then fitted to the music. The sooner a song’s tempo is locked, the less gets redone later.
- Do you write the songs too, with lyrics?
- Yes: lyrics, composition, production, vocal recording and mixing. On Pocoyo Songs and Lingokids, much of the commission is complete songs, not just background music.
- Can the songs be adapted into other languages?
- Yes, and in children’s animation it’s almost a must. We deliver playbacks and instrumentals and adapt the lyrics, minding metre and stress so the translated version doesn’t sound forced. It’s a writing job, not just a translation.
- How do you keep the music from wearing kids out?
- Repeat just enough and vary just enough. A four-year-old watches the same episode fifteen times: the music has to survive those fifteen viewings and still work for the adult in the room. The answer is recognisable themes with arrangements that keep shifting underneath.