What are Musical Elements?

The term "Musical Elements" refers to musical production elements. They can include a short musical melody, a brief musical chord sequence (also known as a "riff" or a "lick"), or the sound of a recognizable musical instrument being played without accompaniment.

How are they used? These short clips of music and instrumentation are often used to introduce the beginning of a presentation or to bring it to a close. Musical Elements are also used to provide backdrops to voiceovers or as transitions that take the listener from one section to another of a broadcast, a feature film, or any other kind of audio-visual presentation or promo.

Musical elements, like those available from Sound Ideas, can take several forms, including:

Fanfares & Intros

musical elements used to announce or introduce the beginning of a presentation or promo - these can be traditional (trumpet calls or drum rolls), or not (a screaming rock guitar riff)

Beds, Bumpers, Pads & Stagers

musical production elements used to provide a background to an announcement - this music is usually built as a seamless loop to provide a constant musical underscore that can continue playing for as long as required

IDs, Logos & Tags

used as a musical signature to specifically identify a recurring event - common for broadcasts, where the identifying signature tells the audience that a familiar sequence is going to be presented next ("Call in now to win!")

Bridges, Dissolves & Segues

musical production elements used to move from one segment of a production to another - these elements are often built with a swell at the beginning and a fade at the finish in order to help the transition

Accents & Stingers

used to provide audio punctuation and grab the audience’s attention - these elements can be simple - like a single triangle "ting", or they can be take the form of a full strength layered musical composition - but they are usually quite short.

See the Sound Ideas Musical Elements Collections.