Tag Archives: composition

Christmas carols make easy royalty free music projects

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Need some inspiration for your next round of production music tracks for Productiontrax? With so many Christmas carols in the public domain, it’s no secret that Christmas music is one of the most popular royalty free music genres out there.

However, that doesn’t mean we have too much. Companies and media producers around the world are constantly looking for fresh takes on the old classics. Afterall, Christmas happens once a year, every year. As one of the biggest holidays (ever), it makes sense that demand is so high. Clients are creating electronic greeting cards, holiday videos, goofy office party presentations, and so on. A new royalty free holiday track is a useful one, and probably one that sells.

So, my friends, take another sip of egg nog, light the yule log, and crank up the volume to 11 and prepare to Deck the Halls like no music artist has decked them before.

Just remember: just because it’s a Christmas song, doesn’t mean it’s fair game. Be sure to check that the song you’re planning to reinvigorate is actually public domain. To help you out, here are some public domain classics that are ripe and ready, and some not-so-public domain songs that are off limits.

Public Domain (OK to use):
Deck The Halls
Jingle Bells
Silent Night
Joy To The World
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Away In A Manger

Not OK To Use:
White Christmas
Silver Bells
Frosty The Snowman
Little Drummer Boy
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
Jingle Bell Rock

Editors Picks – New Media at Productiontrax.com

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We recently launched our new weekly email, which hopefully makes it easier for you to find more relevant tracks for your projects. Here are our picks for Sept. 13, 2011.

Intro (47 sec) – To The Last Breath
by Karol Sabat
Track ID: 260453 | Action & Adventure

This short intro track, which also has a full version here, reminds us of Avatar. Fuses orchestra and choirs to create an epic world music inspired orchestration common to many current action and adventure films.


tags: world, orchestra, action, adventure, epic, choirs, avatar

Happy Whistle
by Vess Ray
Track ID: 257685 | Pop

This track is just so happy. Reminds me of a pet food commercial, baby wipes, or anything family or kid related. Lively and fun, this track is the perfect mood-setter.

tags: bouncy, lively, fun, whistle, recess, comic, cartoon, sitcom, commercial

Ditto Darling
by Richard Brown, Soundsculptor
Track ID: 258085 | Easy Listening

This easy listening love song combines smooth jazz flavors with adult contemporary influences and a rather peculiar semi-sung vocal that will either woo you to tears or totally freak you out. Add a bit of mystery to your next romantic endeavor.

tags: easy listening, pop, vocal, romantic, piano, smooth jazz

Spooksville us with fx
by Alec Makinson
Track ID: 258307 | Horror

With Halloween around the corner, this track reminds us of ghosts and goblins. A bit Addams Family meets the Joker, this track is an easy way to get the sound of Danny Elfman on your project without the huge payroll expense.

tags: spooky, harpsichord, evil, witches, scoobydoo, tongueincheek, cartoon, Halloween

Moonshine
by Ian Hubbal
Track ID: 247038 | Bluegrass

Multiple banjos and strings sing of americana and the country. Whether you’re sitting on the porch whittling away, or stealing your cousin’s pick up truck, this is the soundtrack for your summer days out in the dust bowl. Constant build makes this track perfect for comedies or art pieces about Oklahoma.

tags: determined, marching, banjos, bluegrass, playful, escalating, americana

5 Cool Music Production Apps for iPhone

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As phones and mobile devices get smaller and smarter all at once, the nature of electronic music production and audio production is changing dramatically. Even more groundbreaking is Apple’s iPhone. As many of you know, I’m a big fan of the iPhone (I don’t leave home without mine). And now I’m an even bigger fan, as more and more apps are being developed for the iPhone that are geared towards music production, writing, and recording. Here are 5 seemingly random super-cool apps to get your iPhone rocking.

1) Studio Devil – The makers of the Virtual Guitar Amp tube modeling plug-ins have teamed up with Quixonic to create an authentic tube amp modeling app for the iPhone. (coming soon)

2) Quixpin DJ – Yeah, so Quixonic makes a few — this one’s a true DJ app that allows you to mix and beatmatch music without all the heavy equipment, and then output a stereo mix to use at parties, or even cue and beat match songs while another is playing. ($1.99)

3) Noise.io Pro Synth – by Amidio, has a deep learning curve, but gives you countless waveforms and processing tools to create your own sounds. Custom sequencer and effects processor make this one an awesome mobile instrument and production tool. ($14.99)

4) VoiceBand – so this isn’t really a pro app, but it is pretty cool stuff. Using your voice, this app plays a real sampled instrument that files what you sing. Control 10 virtual instruments at once using only your voice. ($2.99)

5) Xewton Music Studio – this is a complete music production studio in the palm of your hand. Full 128-track sequencer, 21 pro-quality sampled instruments, realtime effects, sustain, reverb, eq and more. Track settings include tempo and time signature, measure level copy/paste, delete, repeat, transpose, MIDI import and export…. This one is pretty wicked. ($14.99)

Film Composer Survival Guide

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I recently found this “white paper” from Filmmusic.net while perusing the filmandgamecomposers.com forums:

http://www.filmmusic.net/dlx/Getting_Your_Music_Into_Film_TV_in_Economy_Today.pdf

Mainly, it explains that, in today’s economy, the value of custom work is being diminished daily by over-saturation of talent and declining budgets and spending. The key to success in the creative field of composing relies heavily on a little financial savvy and a whole lot of networking.

While it’s an excellent practical guide for career survival in today’s marketplace, I have to disagree with their notion that music libraries are partially to blame for the devaluation of custom scoring work. Custom work and library music serve two distinct market segments that have traditionally been separated by budget and deadlines/production process. Low budget films, student projects, fly-by-night radio ads, low budget and local tv commercials, all call for quick, low-cost solutions that simply cannot be met by a composer who specializes in custom work. Extend that to personal slide shows, corporate office presentations and the like. The meetings, spotting, and time commitment, not to mention creative mind-power required for custom scores are simply not worth the allotted budget for these types of projects. Hence the need for low-cost library music. On the other hand, scoring a feature film, or a national commercial campaign, or a mass-market video game release all call for a huge time commitment and a high level of expertise.

The mentality that composers should avoid the music library business is ridiculous, especially if one wants to survive in today’s business climate. Creatives should embrace the opportunity to diversify their business, and expand into new creative markets. If devaluation is a concern, Productiontrax.com gives all of our contributors full price control.

It is true that there are a ton of composers and songwriters today, and it seems as though everyone with a Mac is a musician. But media buyers, music supervisors, and film directors are not stupid — they have ears for musical quality as well, and for both library music and custom scoring jobs alike, there is always room at the top for the uniquely qualified and super talented.