Where do you usually get your music?

[The Gopher]

I'm starting my search for soundtrack quality music. Where do you guys usually get yours? Any personal favorites? I need it to be, at the very least, moderatly modern sounding (techno, punkish, ect....) and it should to be Royalty Free. If you get it over the net, feel free to PM me the link. Thanks.

 

[DerekEastham]

Hiya Gopher.

As for me, I go about it one of several ways.

I have several musically oriented friends, including a few people I know through other friends of mine who compose their own music... lucky for me they have an interest in film and are willing to do it for free.

Also, and my latest musical venture, included licensing a song for a festival license. Ended up working, and I managed to work myself out a good deal in the process. All together, the license was about 300 bucks, the fee I paid to Evan M Greenspan Inc. to discover who owned the synch rights was another 80 bucks, then the money I spent UPS-ing checks & license copies totaled around another 60 dollars (though I overnighted things to expedite the process)... and in the end I have a music license that allows me to distribute my short film to film festivals world wide and on the internet (non-downloadable content)... the film will be premiering on my website in the next few hours when I've re-created the non-downloadable streaming file and uploaded it.

Anyhow...
there's also the route of finding royalty free music... but honestly, that is usually the crappiest music I've ever heard... everything sounds like the evening news... lol... which can be good if that's what you need.

Well, good luck with the music... and if you think you'd like to find yourself a free composer... try posting on Mandy or other job sites that allow free posting.

 

[MarkG]

We normally get music composed by friendly composers: there's no shortage of people who are good at composing music and eager to get into movies. Plus, here in the UK, even if they don't make any money from the movie work itself, if it should get shown on TV they're guaranteed a small payment from the broadcaster (unlike anyone else who works on the movie!).

 

[Suitcase]

i really like what the other two people had to say. however if you dont really feel like going through the hassle of contacting other people simply because its probably not worth the effort for the scope of film youre making, i find the software called Soundtrack wich somethimes comes bundeled with final cut pro to usally be just what i need. its pretty fun and and easy, plus you get a chance to feel kind of like a musician. one can certinally achieve a "techno/punk" feel along with a number of other interesting mixes.

 

[MarkG]

I haven't tried it yet, but Avid Xpress Pro now comes with some kind of soundtrack generating program as well. I'd be surprised if it's ever as good as music from even a half-decent composer though.