Moho Forum

My daughter and I are just starting to learn AnimeStudio.. One question I have is: where do you get background music from? Are there any free sources?

Thanks

-Matthew

Make your own...http://www.acidplanet.com

Download the FREE Acid Xpress software and go to Downloads and pick-up the weekly FREE 8-packs (music loops).

Is this what everyone does?

Certainly there is music already available that we can just pop in and use..

-Matthew

Try here: Absolute Sound Effects Archive -- or you could try Flash Kit

Have you seen this post?
viewtopic.php?t=7244
-G

There are plenty of Royalty Free music out there, some good, some downright terrible. There are also corporate music libraries like Carlin - you have to pay for that but they have several hundred thousand tracks to work from - If you listen to their catalog long enough, you will hear plenty of familiar tracks which are used on TV series and other radio programming.

There some good sound programs like Adobe Audition which come with their own loops library - these can be very good for subtle background M&E. But don't expect to be able to make a masterpiece overnight - it takes much experience and experimenting.

Alternatively, try the local musicians: I know several filmmakers who teamed up with local musicians keen to collaborate on films - they would like to break into the competitive film music scene and anything they can use on their demo reel is very much appreciated.

Good luck with the AS program learning. It can be a love/hate process, one little victory followed by a brick wall, the how the heck do I get this to do that.

This forum is great for those brick wall moments.

Rhoel

3DPiper wrote:Is this what everyone does?

From what I have seen, I think quite a few of the films use music from one of their friends bands. This way not only do they get the music for free to use in their film but they also promote the band at the same time. Its a win-win situation if you know someone that produces decent music.

You've gotten some good answers but let me try and clarify a few things for you.

First of all, if you are not seeking to make a profit from your animations AND you are going to show them to friends and family then you can use any music you want. You can even host such animations on your own web site without problems (the likelihood you could get into legal issues would be so small as to be ignored).

If you are doing this for profit OR you are seeking to have your stuff hosted by large sites (such as YouTube) that come under ASCAP (the main association to protect music producers) scrutiny then you do need to find a source that is free. Now, some people even use copyrighted sources on the larger hosting sites, but they can get pulled (you won't get sued, though, as the main focus will be on the hosts themselves, which is why they are trying to be more diligent lately).

It might seem a lot to make your own music, but many folks do just that. Creative people are often creative in a number of fields, and you'd be amazed at how many folks who do graphics also make music (or at least play an instrument). There are tons of programs out there that simplify the process.

And, as others have noted, there ARE some music collections available for free use -- however, the best of these cost $$$ upfront (with no further royalties needed).

It's like the old adage -- good, easy, cheap. Just pick any two. I'm afraid that is very valid when it comes to music for your productions.

What this mostly means is you need to scale back your expectations based on your ability and your resources. It's unlikely you'll have a full orchestral score a la John Williams soaring behind your creations for viewing on the big web hosts. However, a simple guitar solo or perhaps some drums is very doable by nearly anyone.

You can try Sonic Fire Pro that will make a complete sound track to any length you need. You need to purchase the songs and this software will get you the ability to custom fit it to whatever length you need.

http://www.smartsound.com/

Here is another good site for royalty free music but you will have to edit the length yourself as it isn't as easy as Sonic Fire and doesn't come with an editor. You just get the music to use and is available for immediate download. A little pricey though.

I'm usually quite the Nazi on insisting that graphic artists ought to respect the rights of musical artists, but oddly enough, mkelly has the correct reading on this inquirer.

The inquirer wants something super super easy and super super free.
Also, the inquirer seems to regard music = music = music, no matter what it is -- if it's cheap and easy, it's all music, isn't it?

For crying out loud, just rip a WAV file from any CD you like and get on with your animation work.

If you're using Windows, use SndRec or SndRec32 and chop off the end to the length you want.

End of story.

as the story continues...

I doubt he is still around as he has only posted twice and no more?