A spotting session is a meeting, usually in post-production, where the director and composer watch the film together and decide where music goes, where each cue starts and stops, and what it should do 128. The music editor is often there too, and the decisions get written up as spotting notes: the cue list the score is built from 238.
That's the short version. In practice, this is the meeting where a director's feeling about a scene becomes direction a composer can write to 16. If you want the wider map of how a score gets made, start with our guide to what film scoring is.
“the main forum for exchanging ideas and making decisions about the music”
Who's in the room
The core pair is usually the director and the composer 46. Who else attends varies by project 69.
| Person | What they do in the session |
|---|---|
| Director | Brings the vision and has the final say on what the music should do 4 |
| Composer | Turns the scene's emotion into musical decisions, and always takes notes 1 |
| Music editor | Attends, then writes up the spotting notes that become the cue list 238 |
| Picture editor | Has often cut the film against temp music already, and sits in on some sessions 7911 |
| Producers | Sometimes present, depending on the project 69 |
| Music supervisor | Sometimes present; handles songs and their rights 616 |
Table: Who attends a spotting session, and why
The director knows what each scene is supposed to make an audience feel, even when they can't say it in musical terms 6. That's normal, and B&H's guide notes some score decisions may already be made before the composer is hired 4.
The composer is there to understand the director's vision and to be clear about their own goals and capabilities 6. Packt's Scoring to Picture in Logic Pro says the composer always takes notes, whether or not the director hands over notes of their own 1.
The music editor is, in Berklee's description, the person who guides the music from conception to the final mix 3. They attend spotting, keep the composer updated as the picture changes, and later represent the composer at the dub 3. CineMontage, the Motion Picture Editors Guild's journal, describes a session where the director, post-producer, picture editor and music editor go through the film scene by scene to find where music is needed 7.
The music supervisor works with the director or showrunner to choose songs, then clears the rights to use them 16. Source music, the songs and on-screen music, often comes up in spotting too 10.
What actually happens
Everyone watches the cut, and the team stops to discuss where music starts, stops and changes 9. For each cue, they settle on when it begins and ends and the general mood and direction it should take 6.
The questions get specific fast. B&H's guide lists the kinds of choices made scene by scene: the style of music, the characters' emotional states, how music sits against dialogue and sound effects, whether to hit the cuts, and whether a moment should be silent 4. Deciding where music stops matters too 14.
There are also bigger calls. Packt notes the session can settle how the score will be delivered, produced "in the box" on a computer or recorded with a live orchestra, depending on budget 1. Style and instrumentation are best discussed only in general terms at this stage, according to composer Scotty Vercoe 6.
Score versus source
Not all music in a film is score. Diegetic music, often called source music, comes from something inside the story, like a radio or an instrument a character plays 6. Vercoe points to Rear Window as a film where all the music comes from on-screen sources 6. B&H's sample spotting chart has a column just for this, marking whether a moment needs composed music or another element such as diegetic music or sound effects 4.
The temp track in the room
Before spotting, the editor or director has often laid in existing music, called temp, to show the mood they want 1. The composer then has to match its feel without copying it 1. Post Super, a post-production community, warns that after repeated listening a team can find it very hard to separate the story from the temp 10. Its advice: ask "why this, why now?" about each temp choice, and pay close attention when the director can say what isn't working 10.
What comes out: spotting notes
The session's product is the spotting notes, usually a detailed spreadsheet 5. B&H describes this document as the one master source both director and composer pull from 4. On many projects the music editor compiles it 28, though the composer or an assistant may log the timecodes instead 5.
- Cue number, such as 1M1
- Cue title, a short descriptive label
- Timecode in and out, where the music starts and ends
- Duration of the cue
- Scene description, including what drives the music
- Music description or mood, in words both sides agreed on
- Temp or reference music for that cue
Reading 1M1. In Packt's example, the first number is the reel, "M" stands for music, and the second number is the cue: 1M1 is reel one, music cue one, and 1M2 is the next cue in that reel 1. For TV, B&H shows a scheme like S1E2S1, for season, episode and scene 4.
Reading timecode. Timecode runs in hours, minutes, seconds and frames 14. A cue 13 seconds into a program that starts at hour one is written 01:00:13:00 1. A burnt-in timecode window on the video lets you check that your DAW is locked to picture 1.
The notes also mark hit points: the cuts and on-screen events the music needs to line up with 16.
When it happens
Spotting comes before composing 45. Packt warns that writing before this meeting wastes time 1. Saltzman's book places it in post-production 8, and B&H describes composing beginning once the film is picture locked and the music chart is complete 4.
In practice the picture can keep moving after spotting, which is why Berklee lists keeping the composer updated on picture edits as part of the music editor's job 3.
How TV is different
A 2006 Mix feature on episodic TV scoring described a pressure that comes every week, with no option to skip one 11. In that piece, Criminal Minds composers worked from spotting notes supplied by the show's music editors 11. On Invasion, the composers had stopped attending spotting sessions and spotted scenes together on their own 11. It also reported that picture editors often temped episodes with the composer's own earlier cues 11.
“Spotting is, in some ways, the biggest part of the job.”
How games are different
A 2007 Game Developer article put the contrast simply: film music is linear, written to fit a scene of fixed length 14. Game music often has to score moments whose timing and outcome aren't known in advance, because the player controls the action 14. Michael Sweet, who wrote a composer's guide to interactive music (2014), describes game scoring as organized around gameplay events instead of a set order 13.
Spotting still exists, but it looks different. Sweet's book describes spotting a game as working through the storytelling of each level with the developer 12. Writing in 2014, he noted game development can take two or more years, against generally under a year for a feature film 12.
How to prepare for your first spotting session
Everything below comes from working professionals' published advice.
- Watch the film first. Vercoe says that ideally the composer isn't seeing the film for the first time at the session 6.
- Know the story cold. Post Super notes that most questions in a spotting session are about story, not music 10. Be clear on what each cue reacts to and why it starts and stops 10.
- Frame every cue three ways. Decide whether the music sits inside a character's head or watches from the audience's seat, whether it backs the spoken emotion or the subtext underneath, and how intense it should be 10.
- Bring questions about the vision. B&H suggests covering the film's goals, where silence belongs, the themes, the characters' motivations and the audience 4.
- Speak the director's language. Don't expect a director to know musical terms 6. Talk in story and emotion instead of jargon 10.
- Ask for temp on its own stem. Post Super recommends delivering dialogue, effects and temp as separate stems so the temp can be muted 10.
- Think about the sound team. If the sound design lives in a known range, like a low rumble, the music can be arranged to stay out of its way 10.
- Confirm you have the right cut. Vercoe once sent a draft based on a cut that wasn't final, and the work was wasted 6.
- Take detailed notes on every cue 16.
Where to go next
- How people get these jobs: How to Become a Film Composer in 2026: Programs, Assistant Jobs and Real Paths.
- How a 1913 ballet scandal ended up in Fantasia: Tradition: 'The Rite of Spring' Caused a Scandal in 1913, Then Scored Dinosaurs in 1940.