Soundtrack Secrets: Fumble Dimension Episode #2
Let’s take a look at some of the reasoning behind the episode’s music
Fumble Dimension takes some time to make because we treat our videos like science experiments. We do preliminary research, testing, video capturing, data recording, chart making, script writing, shooting and editing to name a few things. Some of the most interesting questions we get (besides “When is the next Fumble Dimension coming out,” which is a question I can almost never answer because I’m often mid-work on it) are about our music.
So today I’m going to share my music process, as well as some of my favorite songs from Episode 2 part 1: Head Coach Hell.
At Secret Base we use a licensing site called APM Music so that we don’t get sued into oblivion/demonetized on YouTube. While we can’t use the newest and most popular songs, APM gives us a treasure trove of unique music that we can use for our videos. The only catch is that there isn’t a set playlist for “weird video game show science experiment music,” so I have to find all that myself.
Usually I spend a few work days just zoning out and listening my way through the library until I find enough songs that I like to be able to fit into my video. For Head Coach Hell, I initially wanted to stick to some 1980’s style synthwave, but eventually brought in some other genres too. Here are some of my favorites from the episode. Since I can’t embed the songs, I’ll drop the timecodes so you can follow along.
Adriana Bilardo - Strange Idea (2:05)
I usually have a little trouble finding the first song to drop after the intro. The intro is a nice fade out to black, but the viewer doesn’t know to expect after that. USUALLY I like to ease in with something chill and Strange Idea gave us that here. I liked the song so much that I let it ride for a long time. (I usually change the music every two minutes to signify that progress is being made or make a subtle mood change.) I know letting the song stay doesn’t sound like it means a lot, but I often find myself having to cut songs early because there’s some shit in the song that doesn’t really work.
Strange Idea was able to seamlessly stay through both the voiceover and the studio segments. For Fumble Dimension that’s one of the highest compliments you can get.
Rolf Anton Krueger - Oregon Spirit (7:13)
This is my favorite APM song that I’ve found because it’s used on “The Eric Andre Show” and on the TV Show “Atlanta” for that one episode. Oregon Spirit is one of the few song choices where I intentionally wrote a joke around the song. Usually I put the music around a script that I had already written, but for this case I decided to keep Kiv telling us that no one uses the slants. Usually when I want to make a joke hit more I take out the music entirely or use a quick cut.
When the music is powerful enough, however, I decide otherwise. This is one of those times.
Geoff Bastow - Heavenly Hair 1 (15:17)
The last song that I want highlight from this episode is Heavenly Hair 1. If you go through other Fumble Dimensions, you’ll see that I use Geoff Bastow a lot, and that’s because I think his music really goes well with our aesthetic. This is also one of those song choices that I make extra special to help us transition into Jon Bois’ data segments. I try to hit chill, serene mood of a Dorktown video without using the same instruments.
Jon’s narration also magically sounds good over any music so that makes my job that much easier.
Well I hope that this gave you some kind of idea of how important music is to me in terms of setting the mood and carrying the video. I have a weekly music newsletter full of music that I can’t put in my videos and it’s for the best. If I could you would have to hear Fumble Dimension over my favorite albums... and nobody wants that.
Trust me you don’t want that.
No.
Stop.
Stop thinking about that.