I'm screeeewed!! I just received a 2 disc set from the groom of hand picked music he insists I use for his highlight reels. I sh!t you not....It's real honest-to-God ELEVATOR MUSIC!!!!

He was not impressed with any of my suggestions; Corrine Bailey Rae, Michelle Featherstone, Mat Kearney, Pearl Harbor etc, etc, you know, the good stuff you see on this site by some of the masters of wedding video's.

Any suggestions on how to handle this issue?

One more thing...we're not talking about hip upbeat stuff here....this is "old school" elevator music you can almost fall asleep to if you were in an elevator longer than going up 3 floors!!!

It might cause one to blow their brains out if you listened to this stuff longer than 2 minutes.

As a 100 time veteran of Lonestars Amazed, I think I could handle anything now!

As a 100 time veteran of Lonestars Amazed, I think I could handle anything now!

I feel your pain..I think that is the only song these brides in Houston know.

alastair...oh jeez, i share your pain too...


tom: when you say elevator music, any indication of artists? it might give us a better feel of what you might have to slog through :)

40's through 80's stuff...mixed bag of orchestrated remakes from Sinatra, and that chick that did the song "Fever", some remakes of Temptaions, Beach boys, some country(if you can even imagine that) and some other crap I've never heard of.

Wait a minute...........................I'm having a stroke.

OK, I'm back now. This is that full violin section/piano type stuff. I swear, I would rather have someone scratch their fingernails on a chalk board than listen to this.

I'm thinking about send the CD's to the military so they can use it to interogate some terrorists.

"The customer is always right" Pffft.

I used to let the customers pick the music. I told this guy and his mom and fiance' I don't do that any more. (Their music usually never works, especially here in cowtown).

He must have not been listening when we were all at the cafe discussing the finer details of the big day.

I'm thinking of going ahead and doing it my way and hope I don't have to do a re-edit.

I just hate to waste such beautiful jaw-dropping venues on stupid elevator music. Someone posted on another thread about how music makes the video...no truer words have been spoken.

"The customer is always right" Pffft.

All joking aside, Dennis is correct.

So it won't be a part of your demo reel... so what?

We all know that the customer is seldom right, but the customer is always THE CUSTOMER! No one will make you watch it ever again after you deliever it, and you can choose to not put your logo or company ID on it if you feel strongly enough that it does not represent your level of work.

On a few occasions, when I've had opportunity, I've done 2 cuts, one with their music choice and one with mine. Only once did they choose to go with their original choice. Often people don't have sufficient scope of imagination to understand that music is perceived completely differently when put to images.

I feel I have an obligation as a professional to make recommendations which I believe will make for a better production, but at the end of the day, I am not the one writing the check! If they choose the "bad" music when offered "good" music then at least they have made an informed decision. Remember that musical taste is entirely subjective.

If a couple insists on providing me with music, no matter how much I don't like it, I will use it. That's not to say I won't council them and explain things from an editing standpoint, but if they still want the music then guess what ... it's their wedding video. Unless of course it's something you literally just can't edit to.

If I were you I wouldn't edit their video to something else with the hopes you won't have to re-edit, because you probably will, and that's a huge waste of time and energy.

Suggestions?...I think Frank's idea is the best...two edits, deliver both, let the customer choose one.

Because when all is said and done, the customer writes the checks that pay the bills...

Suggestions?...I think Frank's idea is the best...two edits, deliver both, let the customer choose one.

Because when all is said and done, the customer writes the checks that pay the bills...

There's only one problem with this. Tom is running a business, and he hasn't been paid for two different edits. So from a purely creative viewpoint this is a great idea, but from a business viewpoint it's a terrible idea.

I would say do your own edit only if you were pretty sure you could sell the client on it. Otherwise, do it as they requested and just get it done and move on to the next project.

Just my opinion.

There's only one problem with this. Tom is running a business, and he hasn't been paid for two different edits. So from a purely creative viewpoint this is a great idea, but from a business viewpoint it's a terrible idea.

I would say do your own edit only if you were pretty sure you could sell the client on it. Otherwise, do it as they requested and just get it done and move on to the next project.

Just my opinion.

I Had the same dylema with my first wedding edit (working on it now). I thought I will impose my will with the choosing but then change my mind. I don't want them listening to something they don't like or even hate..and that's important to me. They need to be happy with it.....its theirs..I will definetly use my choice when I use the footage for may demo.

Travis is right...somewhat...hard to get 'er done and move on when it is...and let me speak more slowly so everyone understands.....it's E-L-E-V-A-T-O-R M-U-S-I-C !!!!!

There can not possibly be anyone in these forums that would actually even TRY to edit highlight clips to this junk.

I can see doing it if it was just some over-used tired music we've all come to hate like Amazed by Lonestar.

So, back to my original question. There is probably no real answer to this I guess. I thought by some luck, someone could hand me a miracle solution and everyone would live happily ever after.

Wait, so these aren't actual songs with lyrics, it's like department store music remakes? Like lobby music, with no lyrics at all?

Personally this is why I don't ask clients for music anymore.
The reason is that I use as much of the actual live audio (music) from the day. This makes my job so much easier these days. I mean why recreate the wheel. The couple usually has gone through great lengths to plan their day (flowers, color schemes, right down to selecting their music). So they have already given me a playlist for their video just from the actual live audio captured (I record live audio separately using audio recorders taking board feeds or live micing and wireless audio as well).

So if they had strings or such during the ceremony, I use this as their musical score under the ceremony. The only music I might use that I supply might be something for the Bridal Prep through processional opening (this is why I use their ceremony music for a ceremony score as I don't use the processional music for the processional).

As for the reception it's all actual audio as it happened, although it might be layered with other elements. I simply layout my reception audio and pickup out what I want to use, lay it out on the timeline, then edit video clips to build the story.

Usually the highlight video will be either their first or last dance used as an anchor for the piece and the associated live audio that goes along with it. Then I simply edit in the other elements of the day with some additional natural audio when needed.

From time to time I find myself using some Smartsound music, they have added some real nice orchestral stuff over the last year, as well as some pretty cool alternative non-electronic grunge stuff.

Travis- You're right about doing 2 edits, and I would never suggest it as a regular way of doing business. I have only done it several times when it was a simple cut, and I had ample time to do it. And we all know how often "ample time" occurs, right?

I still believe, however, however distasteful it is to those if us who know better, it is our job to deliver what the client wants. I recently did a corporate video that was extremely weak, but it was what the client wanted. I tried to offer ideas to make it a more effective tool for the company, but he wanted what he wanted. And it was my job to deliver that. Of course, I delivered all the raw footage to him as well with the admonition that if he needs further work then he ought to find someone else to do it.

So if elevator music they want, elevator music they get.