Creative tools

Writing better music prompts

Music prompts work best when they describe the cue's dramatic job, not just a genre. That might be an underscore, a transition, an end credits song, or a musical number for screen or stage.

Start with the scene purpose

Lead with what the music should do: build tension, warm the scene, make a transition feel comic, sit quietly under dialogue, or carry a character's emotional turn in song. This usually gives better results than naming a genre alone.

Quiet suspense underscore for a character waiting alone in a dark apartment. Sparse low piano, soft pulsing synth, restrained, uneasy, no big hits.

Add mood, instruments, and movement

The model understands both plain emotional words and specific musical language. Use mood words like tense, wistful, playful, or ominous. Add instruments and texture when you need more control.

Good: "warm, nostalgic, gentle acoustic guitar and piano"
More controlled: "solo felt piano in A minor, slow arpeggios, soft room tone, intimate and fragile"

Control tempo, key, and duration

Include BPM when rhythm matters, and a key when harmony matters. For short cues, keep the prompt focused on one clear arc.

60-second comedy transition cue, 115 BPM, bright pizzicato strings, light brushed drums, quick playful ending button.

Decide whether vocals belong

Music generation may include vocals unless you steer it away. For cues under dialogue, use Force instrumental in the form, or write "instrumental only" in the prompt. For musicals, end credits, or diegetic performance moments, leave it off and describe the vocal arrangement, character, and delivery clearly.

Dreamy end credits song, female vocal, breathy and intimate, 80 BPM, soft drums, electric piano, bittersweet but hopeful.

Prompting musical numbers

For a musical, be explicit about point of view, performance style, and where the number belongs in the story. If you have lyrics, include them and describe when they should begin. If you only need a rehearsal-style demo, say so.

Musical theatre "I want" song for a young lead on a bare stage. Warm piano, light strings, clear tenor vocal, hopeful but nervous. Start intimate, then build into a bigger chorus after 30 seconds.

Screen musical duet, two singers trading lines, 96 BPM, romantic comedy tone, acoustic guitar and brushed drums. Playful at first, then sincere by the final chorus.

Use timing cues for structure

If the cue needs a shape, describe when changes happen: a quiet intro, a rise at 20 seconds, a hit at 45 seconds, or a clean ending. This is especially useful for intros, transitions, and trailer-style builds.

90-second noir cue. Start with solo muted trumpet and brushed snare, add upright bass at 20 seconds, grow darker at 50 seconds, end unresolved.

Try shorter prompts when you want surprise

More detail gives more control, but it can also make the result feel constrained. For exploratory work, a few vivid words can produce more interesting first drafts.

"eerie children's music box, broken memory, winter hallway"
"sunlit indie road trip, loose drums, hopeful guitars"
"glitchy panic pulse, surveillance room, cold electronics"

Prompt patterns

Dialogue underscore

Instrumental only, quiet emotional underscore for a breakup scene. Felt piano, subtle strings, slow tempo, intimate, restrained, leave space for dialogue.

Scene transition

Short energetic transition from office chaos to city night. 130 BPM, punchy drums, clipped synth bass, sharp ending.

Musical demo

Stage musical eleven o'clock number, mezzo-soprano lead, piano and full strings, starts restrained and confessional, builds to a powerful final refrain.

Opening atmosphere

Slow atmospheric opening for a coastal mystery. Low strings, distant piano, soft wave-like synth texture, ominous but beautiful.