Music / Scoring: Royalty-free or Composer?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
I am sure this has been asked before, but I need to face a decision-- shell out $750 for 1500+ tracks of royalty-free music for the entire soundtrack collection on twistedtracks.com, or find and pay film composers to score my wimpy little 5-10 minute short films I am doing for the next year. Thoughts? It seems to me I am going have a very very hard time finding composers willing to create original music from scratch (film score) for a 5 or 10 minute short film--and I do not want music from a first year music student played on a cheap synthesizer. Wouldn't the royalty free music route be my best path for now, until I prove myself with short films, and graduate to 20-40 minutes shorts that might attract a film scorer with some some talent?
 
there are lots of talented musicians out there, willing to do the job for 1500 ! its a matter of finding one...I suggest music colleges/schools of a certain reputation. I would ALWAYS favour that route instead of the prefabricated muzak for sale.....
 
I would say keep looking for a composer. If you can't find one just shell out the $750.00. and there is nothing wimpy about short film. Some composers do them for less money just to make a few dollars between projects. Try googling Single Barrel Productions out of NYC they are awesome, They co-own a huge studio with Lenny Kravitz and they do all kinds of stuff. Dave, one of the owners has the 2nd largest keyboard collection in the untied states. If you can find them, call them.
 
filthrich said:
I would say keep looking for a composer. If you can't find one just shell out the $750.00. and there is nothing wimpy about short film. Some composers do them for less money just to make a few dollars between projects....
Click to expand...

yeah I am thinking for $750 i get a sh&tload of royalty-free music, plus I have about a dozen royalty free CDs of Sony ACID loops, so with all that I could put together some type of relatively good soundtrack . But I know original film score is always better if done by someone with talent, I would prefer that if affordable; then in terms of $$$$ it is going to cost a lot more per film for original score. I was thinking something like $100 per minute of film would seem fair, so $500 for a film score for a 5 min film, $1000 for a film score for a 10 minute short. Does that seem like a fair amount to work a feal with a film scorer?

I just do not want cheesy synthesizer music, I want computer orchestration or nice piano if called for, stuff like on Simon Wilkonson's site (http://www.thebluemask.com/) but I am afraid he is out of my league, out of my budget; I emailed him none the less just in case he might do shorts. He is probably laughing his arse off today reading my email request.
 
Last edited:
Hi Randall,

I saw this thread just on the off-chance through the referral stats on my website. Firstly, many thanks for listening to my music and your kind comments. I don't think I've seen your email you said you sent me - strange, I've had a few emails not turn up recently - I imagine it got filtered into my junk mail for some reason so apologies if you think I've ignored it.

Just to give my quick opinion on your question, I certainly don't dismiss shorts at all and I know many other composers who also treat them with the same degree of respect as any full length feature. The only thing I can't afford to do is completely unpaid projects. As I'm sure you appreciate, it takes time and a certain degree of experience to write, record and produce the music but I always try and be as flexible as I can within a budget.

But I'd be more than happy to discuss things with you if you'd like to email me again.

Incidentally, on a similar topic, I've been thinking of producing an album (or series of albums) of tracks aimed specifically at short-film and documentary makers on a complete shoestring budget.

The idea would be to produce maybe 20 or so royalty-free tracks of piano/atmospheric ambiance (or similar themes) that can be used with no further royalty worries. The downside would be that it isn't written specifically for your film, but the upside is that it would probably be relatively cheap and hopefully with some cinematic feeling.

I know it's certainly not a new idea, but it's maybe a halfway point between stock music and custom composing. Perhaps you guys can offer me your opinion if you think it would be of any interest and the sort of price a short filmmaker might be willing to pay. Or does existing stock music cover your needs in those circumstances?

Cheers,

Simon

www.thebluemask.com
 
Thebluemask said:
Hi Randall, I saw this thread just on the off-chance through the referral stats on my website. Firstly, many thanks for listening to my music and your kind comments. I don't think I've seen your email you said you sent me -......degree of respect as any full length feature. The only thing I can't afford to do is completely unpaid projects. ......
Click to expand...

Simon, wow, incredible that you came into this thread. Cool. Yes I did email you, yesterday I believe, it must have gotten spam filtered. I will try emailing you again. The email I sent certainly stated that I do not expect a free unpaid project, I expect to pay for a film score whether for a five minute, ten, or thirty minute short. I am just hoping to find a composer willing to do so. And I do not want cheesy 1980s synthesizer music. Simon your compositions stand out as about so many other film scorer sites. So I can dream, hoping maybe I could afford you. I will try emailing you again. I really do NOT want to use loops or royalty free tracks if possible, a film score would be so much better. But I might have to use loops/tacks for shorts, but certainly not for an indie feature (my goal in a few years).
Randall
 
Last edited:
Thebluemask said:
...Incidentally, on a similar topic, I've been thinking of producing an album (or series of albums) of tracks aimed specifically at short-film and documentary makers on a complete shoestring budget. The idea would be to produce maybe 20 or so royalty-free tracks of piano/atmospheric ambiance (or similar themes) that can be used with no further royalty worries.... I know it's certainly not a new idea, but it's maybe a halfway point between stock music and custom composing. Perhaps you guys can offer me your opinion if you think it would be of any interest and the sort of price a short filmmaker might be willing to pay. Or does existing stock music cover your needs in those circumstances?
Simon
www.thebluemask.com
Click to expand...

Others here have way more experience than me, so here is my nickel's worth of thought and I still will owe you some change (grin). Such stock music might work if it had a unique style and instrumentation compared to the plethora of stock royalty-free (royalty-upfront) soundtrack music that abounds at sites such as twistedtracks.com soundtrack collections (1500+ soundtrack tracks of varying lengths and genres for about $800 with a newbie 25% discount). After previewing their stock footage, so much starts sounding the same. If a film composer has a unique style I think there could be a market, especially if that composer shows that their music has been used for actual film scoring of a variety of films, show the film clips with the music which let's the filmmaker actually see the music in action; you already do that on your site Simon which is great (by the way Simon I think your website is extremely well done; my only critique is that when I visit it the music player on the left is just off the screen, off view, so I have to scroll down the page a bit to see it--that likely has to do with my font / zoom settings of my browser, probably not an issue for others, but still it is an easy HTML edit to have that table / cell content vertically aligned closer to the top (use or lose the idea, no biggie).

Or you could produce a collection of loops, phrases, beds, etc and market them as a CD with your name on it, have Sony market it under their sountrack CD collections (I bought quite a few of these, fun to play with, mix, "compose" songs with):
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/loops/cinematic

Okay I am rambling now, time to quit, go back to writing my screenplay's lame B-story
:) randall
 
Last edited:
A dream some time off in the future in a galaxy far ... okay I digress. But I am writing this to express my complete shock and awe at the Roland Fantom G8 keyboard I just played at a local Best Buy (they have a new instrument section in the store). My god, I tried the preview button for many of the instruments, and it can sound exactly like real orchestral flutes, strings, cello, or a zillion other options. Light years beyond my crappy $99 Casio keyboard. Now I see how musicians and film scorers do it these days; with one of these keyboards you can score cinematic orchestral music if needed, full orchestra; just $4000 and a heap of keyboard playing ability (I am up to about 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' myself). So I have a ways to go in learning keyboard first. Yeah, great, another expensive hobby. Filmmaking, a fricken money pit, always something else, LOL. But seriously, if one could learn keyboard, and had the extra coin to pick up these advanced keyboards, one could have some serious fun playing with film scoring one's owns films. If you get to see one, check it out, very impressive. Be sure to use the Preview button for the instruments otherwise it is very overwhelming and intimidating, large LCD with lots of info, many buttons, on board mixer, etc.
 
Just wanted to say thanks to the filmmakers that contacted me through this thread.

After some interesting discussions, I've updated and clarified the licensing details of my music. My music can now be licensed at (what I hope is) a reasonable set price, especially for student/non-commercial films, festivals etc. as well as commercial use.

I've also put up the first in what will probably be a series of royalty-free collections that might be of interest to documentary/filmmakers:

Royalty-free music for films and documentaries

Music licensing info

If you want to clarify anything or discuss anything music related, feel free to get in touch.

Cheers,

Simon

 www.thebluemask.com
 
Randall,
I'm Alex Beard, an independent, professional composer that provides music for film, television, commercials, and more, and I don't have the slightest problem with taking on a student or short film. Whatever projects I work on, regardless of length or quality, I simply try to make the film better by providing the highest-quality music I can.
I usually score student films for much less than I would a professional project. I've been a college student, and I know how tight money can be, especially these days. I also regularly score independent short films.
You can listen to music on my web site, www.composeralex.com, under the "Listen" tab. Also, I'd be happy to send you a free demo CD. On the "Original Music" tab, you can also read about the benefits of working with a composer and using original music for your projects.
Whenever you're working on a project that needs music, please feel free to get in touch!
God bless,
Alex
 
Nice music Alex! At first I listened to your samples and was thinking--- they sort of all sound similar, dramatic movie style; then I continued to scroll down your samples page and found your other genre samples (thriller/horror/orchestral), very nice. I sent you an invite to my myspace page. Anyhow, wondering what you would charge to score a five minute short supernatural thriller film (my first film; just rendering out the video today actually, getting ready to do sound editing, Foley, Adobe After Effects CGI / FX, and soundtrack); sure would be nice to have someone score it, otherwise I am stuck using my Sony ACID loops and perhaps twistedtracks.com material.

Drop me a private message if you prefer, or a message to me through myspace.
Randall Oelerich (http://myspace.com/r_oelerich)

composeralex said:
Randall,
I'm Alex Beard, an independent, professional composer that provides music for film, television, commercials, and more, and I don't have the slightest problem with taking on a student or short film. Whatever projects I work on, regardless of length or quality, I simply try to make the film better by providing the highest-quality music I can.
I usually score student films for much less than I would a professional project. I've been a college student, and I know how tight money can be, especially these days. I also regularly score independent short films.
You can listen to music on my web site, www.composeralex.com, under the "Listen" tab. Also, I'd be happy to send you a free demo CD. On the "Original Music" tab, you can also read about the benefits of working with a composer and using original music for your projects.
Whenever you're working on a project that needs music, please feel free to get in touch!
God bless,
Alex
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top