Using a Song in a Project

D

Denialorcoped

Well-known member
I'm a director, not a sound guy, but have a question on importing music into your editing software. I just got an mp3, converted it to a wav, and brought it into editing workflow. I'm not sure if there was a better way to do this to get a higher quality sound upon export; I know an mp3 is already a compressed format, but I don't have the original disc to make a copy from...
 
If mp3 is the best you have, it's the best you have. A more important question is do you have the artist's permission to use the music in your project? Unless you don't plan on showing this work to anyone else, you are not allowed to use someone else's copywrited work without their permission.
 
Yes, we have the artists permission and the publisher's permission to use their music in my short film.

I suppose I can purchase the cd's off of amazon, but I'm not sure if the difference in quality would be worth it?
 
It really depends on the overall quality of the final sound. How big of a budget are you working with? I'm guessing that since you are questioning the need to buy a CD, then the budget is fairly low. If the MP3 sounds good to your ears in the editing suite, then I'd say go for it. In the end, if needed, you can always replace it with something ripped directly from the CD.
 
If you know the artist and they want you to use their music you could ask them for a file. They probably want it to sound the best it can. If that isn't an option and buying the CD is a hardship you could post in Craigs list or something similar for the CD. Offer to give the owner a credit "executive music producer"? ;~), if they will let you rip the song from their CD. You have permission so there is nothing illegal about it.

And lastly if the MP3 was a decent bit rate it probably sounds fine and yu could just use the converted file.
 
If you know the artist, maybe they could give you (or let you borrow) a copy of the CD. Just on principle, I always try to use the highest quality formats to start with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top