Getting Music

**ehingston** · August 3rd, 2003, 07:04 PM

Just wondering if anyone has any tips/advice on getting soundtracks for short films.

Is it realistic to think I can use something by Dennis Brown on a low-no budget project?

**titaniumdoughnut** · August 3rd, 2003, 07:13 PM

someone else will be able to tell you how to go about asking permission to use a soundtrack such as that.

i have found edgen (free and superb) and wayburn (cheap and pretty good) to be very good choices for royalty free music for films.

give them a try, preview some stuff, edgen is totally free for most cases i think.

cheers [img]smile.gif[/img]

**untamed_aggression** · August 3rd, 2003, 11:00 PM

Edgen is awesome... I've got his remix of the Terminator theme and in my opinion, it's better than any other version heard in any of the flicks.

I haven't used any of his music for a production, I was blatantly unaware it was entirely free. Nice one! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

**pauldrystonewall** · August 4th, 2003, 12:51 AM

there are plenty of composers out there who you could approach about scoring your films. and many will work for credit, or a percentage of any profits made.

i would strongly advise people to think twice about resorting to any form of "royalty free" site.

you woudln't make an entire film with bog-standard library footage...so why do so with the music?...and obviously these royalty free sites decide what music to have in their catalogues...so someone else has already taken a lot of control away from you before you start....the chance of finding a truly original piece of music at these places is pretty negligible.

i had a very quick look at the edgen site, although i didn't listen to any of the tracks.

one thing confuses me though...how can he give music away for free, when much of it is just remixes of someone elses work?

to use someone elses work you need permission from the publisher and the artist...which can be obtained...but i would be astounded if he has been given permission to remix a film theme, and then just give it away! everytime a song/piece of music is used, the artist/publisher is due a royalty payment...whether the track is a remix or not!

it sounds to me that he is defintiely breaking a lot of copyright laws, and if the wrong people find out he could be in serious trouble....and if you use his music on your film, i am pretty sure you would be liable for prosecution too.

my advice is just to find a friendly composer who is prepared to help you out....and besides, what could be better than having a proper custom written film score?

**untamed_aggression** · August 4th, 2003, 07:06 AM

Did you check out his page on MP3.com? He's got a load of original compositions on there, for some reason he doesn't link to all of them from his site.

But I agree, nothing beats an original score. I love film music and I can't wait to get my first original score composed but until I make a flick that deserves one, it just isn't an option for me.

**pauldrystonewall** · August 4th, 2003, 10:22 AM

i tried to have a quick look at his mp3 site, but i was having a few probs with my IE (i think i have some adware attached to it slowing it down)...and i couldn't be bothered to fire up netscape.

and don't be too concerned about your films "deserving" an original score...all films will benefit from specially composed music..the difference it can make is tremendous.

i have just started scoring a short for swiss films, and they wanted a "robert rodriguez" feel...so i have done a main theme with spanish sounding guitar and a twin trumpet melody.....i bet you would have trouble finding a library piece that works so well.

but thats just me blowing my own trumpet! lol

**Patriarch** · August 4th, 2003, 04:13 PM

precomposed music = evil

Any filmmaker with the slightest skill, and style would use an original soundtrack if at all possible... just my 0.05$ as a filmmaker and composer

**untamed_aggression** · August 4th, 2003, 04:36 PM

I intended put get an original score for Running Like Mad, but we lost our dialogue and effects only mix.

It's a cruel mocking world.

I'm determined to get a proper score for my next flick. I'm really confident about it.