Firstly, what is podcast intro music? Well, it’s the music that plays at the start of your podcast that acts as the introduction to your show. It’s how your podcast opens up and can be where you may want to introduce yourself and the show to your audience or it’s the little jingle that plays before you start talking.
As a jingles composer (check out some of my jingles), I often get asked to create podcast intro music and outro music for different shows, which includes podcasts, web-series, videos, TV shows and more. It’s important to think about what kind of music you want for your intro because it is usually in those first few seconds of a podcast, that people decide whether or not to continue listening or not.
So here are a few things that you may want to consider when deciding on your podcast intro music in order to make sure you make a great first impression:
1. What style of music do you want?
There are many different kinds of music and so one of the things to try and get clearer about is what sort of sounds and style would represent you and your show best.
Do you want instrumental music or do you want some singing and lyrics in the intro? Are there certain instruments that you really love the sound of, or do you want electronic sounds or some other kind of music?
2. What might your listeners like to hear?
Who will be listening to your podcast or who would you like to attract to your show? Is there a certain kind of music that might work well for them and that they would enjoy listening to? Ask your target audience and get a feel for what might be good.
Do you run a gaming podcast for example? If so, perhaps some game music would work best to represent you and the show e.g. several gaming channels that I’ve created intros for have gone for an 8-bit / chip-tune style intro to give a retro-gaming vibe to their show. These seem to work really well and get people excited and hyped up about the podcast.
3. What kind of mood do you want your podcast intro to set?
I’ve just mentioned that for some of the intros I’ve done, they were about hyping people up and putting people in a good mood for the rest of the show. Is this the kind of mood you want for the show or would something else work better?
Think about what your podcast is about, the type of content and topics that you cover and from that determine what sort of mood you want people to be in when they listen to your podcast.
If you’re podcast is all about de-stressing, yoga or meditation for example, then the music for your podcast intro may want to be calming. Otherwise many tend to want to set people in a good mood but still figure out what this means for you e.g. do you want people to simply feel happy, or inspired, excited, uplifted, ready-for-action or something else?
4. Decide how long you want your intro to be
How long are your overall podcast episodes and how long should your intro be? Most of the podcast intros I’ve done have been between 30-60 seconds. Some are shorter e.g. 15 seconds and other shows have longer theme tunes.
Think about how long you feel is long enough to grab people’s attention and get them hooked into your show, however, I’d recommend keeping it fairly short and sweet to maintain that interest.
5. How do you want your intro to start and end?
This may sound like an odd question but can be quite important in the development of your podcast intro music. Do you want the intro music to gradually build up, or to start with a bang, or maybe end with a bang? Or, would it work better to maintain the same feeling, mood and pace throughout?
These are all hopefully useful questions to think about in order to ensure that you are making the most out of your podcast intro music.
Want some help with your podcast intro music?
It'll be great to learn more about your podcast and to work on the intro music for your show. Contact me now and let's talk! Let's see what we can do together! OR explore my music catalogue for a variety of ready-to-use royalty free jingles (intros and outros) created especially with gaming channels and podcasts in mind.
What to read next: How to Create An Effective Podcast Intro or Jingle
About the Author:
Ninichi is a freelance jingles composer, game music composer and film music composer. She has created theme tunes, intros and outros for various adverts, podcasts and shows, as well as composing original soundtracks to different indie games and films. Learn more about Ninichi here.
If you need help with music, contact her now to discuss your project and music needs.
