Finding music?

R

rackley

Member
I know this may sound like a silly question, but I'm new to crafting videos (pictures are so much easier!) and I'm having difficulty finding appropriate music to use with video shots.

Where do you guys/gals go to try to find music that suits a particular mood without already knowing of a specific artist/album/song/etc?
 
I goto vimeo site and search keyword that represents my need. Then try to see what other people used for their videos. I queried "amusement park" and found a video using John Lennon's Watching The Wheels.
 
You don't find music, music finds you. ;)

First of all, treat music with the same respect and care as your video. Maybe listen to some underground/independent webradios and once a track starts 'talking' to you, write it down and contact the artist. Or browse through Myspace and Soundcloud (lots of cinema-oriented music). There are probably a lot more unheard musicians than filmmakers out there and the internet is a wonderful place to connect. Or try experimenting with an audio program like Ableton Live or Reason and try to make your own music. Grab a virtual synth, mess with its parameters and have fun. Even if you're not a musical genius, you should be able to make something that works with your video and the best thing: it's personal. Good luck!
 
The problem I have is finding music that doesn't have a copy right. I just go to one of the sites like Rumblefish or SectionZ and use of the songs off of there.
 
I wouldn't be able to connect with a piece of music that some website proposed to me through a search by keyword. It's like if someone would interior-design my appartment, maybe giving me a few options but actually imposing his/her own taste. I wouldn't want to be that limited and there's no way I would ever feel comfortable. I guess it depends on the relationship you have with music. To me, music is something spiritual rather than pragmatic. What are your thoughts on this? Do you guys choose 'generic' music temporarily until you 'get serious' or do you really feel that music's sole purpose is to be 'functional'?
 
Network...

Any friend that I have that has a band I ask for rights to use their music. It doesn't matter what type of music. Just find anyone you know who has a band and start asking for their tracks. Build a Library of tracks before you start your projects is less stressful then hunting for the song afterward.

It also helps that your best friend growing up is now Vice-President/Legal Counsel at a majorish label. ;)

I also have success with the looperman website. Lots of people making their own mixes from loops. I registered and just asked a bunch of people there if I could use their compositions.

I see music for videos sometimes as functional "I need a beat for this edit" or sometimes it is more than that. I would find it hard to create anything if all the music had to be spiritual to me. But when it does function on a spirtual and functional and artist level that makes the best work.
 
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There's plenty of composers around waiting to score nice images.

Visit northernsounds, soundsonline, vi-forum, .. you name it and ask around.

If your photography is breathtaking and you have a good story, you can pm me.
 
I use Sonicfire Pro/Smartsound for all of my royalty free music. I wouldn't use it to score the next big Hollywood blockbuster, but for my event/wedding/commercial/home movie stuff it's awesome! But it does cost a little money...which might be a disadvantage for an indie film maker. But for paying gigs, it's well worth the cash, and makes my job a zillion times easier and dramatically improves my workflow efficiency...which saves me a lot of money/time. They've got some really cool stuff...and some cheesy stuff. You can save a few bucks by just downloading the individual songs you want, but I always just buy the whole CD full of music instead to build my library. (You also have to buy the SonicFire software to use it, of course.) I guess if I were actually making a feature length movie, I'd probably just try to find an aspiring artist/band to score the movie for me. Good luck either way!

http://www.smartsound.com/sonicfire/music.html
 
All good content here. I've bought a few royalty free collections off ebay and itunes and they've been surprisingly useful and paid for themselves time after time. There's also a bunch of loops and other things if you like to tinker youself....
 
Well unless your making a music video the music in a film IS there for a function.

I'm not sure that the suggestions of a website search are going to be off the mark more than suggestions by a friend.

But most of this comes down to what the film is and what it's about and your personal style and time and budget.

The last two may well be THE driving factor if this is a commercial project.

In a narrative film you have Score and music that is part of a scene. The later is often found music that already exists that you license. The former is composed for your film (if you have the budget or talent or connections) or assembled from production music etc.

On non budget films usually both are "found" since the time and money for scoring is just not available.

There is a no-budget "style" that pretty much smothers the film in music, mostly because they spent no time/ money on sound. I personally hate this style in most cases. To me it's just lazy. There are exceptions. Wedding video's for instance are mostly done that way but that is on the verge of a music video anyway. But usually if there is a massive amount music in a film it's because they had crappy production and nobody to do post sound so they just slathered music everywhere. It doesn't help the story telling.


Pharao said:
I wouldn't be able to connect with a piece of music that some website proposed to me through a search by keyword. It's like if someone would interior-design my appartment, maybe giving me a few options but actually imposing his/her own taste. I wouldn't want to be that limited and there's no way I would ever feel comfortable. I guess it depends on the relationship you have with music. To me, music is something spiritual rather than pragmatic. What are your thoughts on this? Do you guys choose 'generic' music temporarily until you 'get serious' or do you really feel that music's sole purpose is to be 'functional'?
Click to expand...
 
rackley said:
Where do you guys/gals go to try to find music that suits a particular mood without already knowing of a specific artist/album/song/etc?
Click to expand...

If you are looking for stock music, fairly short, and royalty free, look up the term "buyout music". There's some interesting stuff out there. My current favorite is the Music Bakery. They put an index right on their home page to make it easy to sort by "purpose", "genre", or "mood" so it's fairly easy to find what you're after. Listen to samples on-line, and you can buy it and download it on-line too.
 
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