Cold opens:music for the first thirty seconds

A cold open is a clip from the episode, usually its most dramatic moment, played before the intro. It is a promise: stay, and you will hear how we got here.

Keep it short

Twenty to forty seconds is typical. Long enough to hook, short enough that the listener still wants context.

Music sets the stakes

Under a cold open, music tells the listener how serious the moment is. Tense, dark music says "this matters". It also smooths over the fact that the clip is out of context.

• The Ticking Void on the Mystery & True Crime shelf
• The Final Ticking on the Mystery & True Crime shelf

The Ticking Void is hollow and ominous, for cold opens that should feel unsettling. The Final Ticking is urgent, for ones that should feel like a race against time.

End with a cut, not a fade

The transition from the cold open to the intro is a key moment. A hard stop on the music, a beat of silence, then your intro, makes the cold open feel deliberate. A slow fade makes it feel like an accident.

Start with the music already moving

Do not use the quiet intro bars of a track here. Start at a point where the music is already tense, cut on a bar line so it sounds intentional. The first three seconds covers opening choices in more detail.

Keep a consistent approach

If you use cold opens every week, use the same style of music each time. Listeners learn the pattern: dark music, a clip, silence, intro. That ritual becomes part of your show.

More tracks for this are on the Mystery & True Crime shelf.