Recommendations for a good but affordable music library
 

I was recently told that there was a very good site for buying royalty free music for about $10 a track, though he was not able to recall the name of the site.

Previously I have used jewelbeat.com which has some very good tracks at just $0.99 so I am curious to see what else is available if I pay a little more.

Re: Recommendations for a good but affordable music library
 

Hi Cameron

The ability of SmartSound to cut the clip exactly to the length you need has always made it my choice plus you can have variations too. You have to buy a whole library of 16 tracks but it's still well worth it. For weddings I have managed to use just 4 libraries and never run out of decent audio tracks and that's over many years too. If you have vision that runs for say 1 minute 31 seconds it's nice for the music to finish off with a proper ending instead of having to fade out a conventional track.

Chris

Re: Recommendations for a good but affordable music library
 

A search her on DVInfo for "royalty free music" will find you many lists of all kinds. This field changes. FootageFirm runs interesting specials every once in a while.

Re: Recommendations for a good but affordable music library
 

Having many versions is always a bonus. Some of the Apple production music is very good considering it's free with the package but some tracks only have one version and I have to cut out a middle section and line up the waveforms to make a shorter track which is a pain.

I'll look into both those sites, thanks.

Re: Recommendations for a good but affordable music library
 

Cameron,

I have to agree with Chris. SmartSound is an incredible source of very, very good music that can almost always be manipulated to fit what you exactly want.

I have a huge collection of SmartSound material gathered over the years. Everyone comments on the quality of the music that I use in my work and they often ask what movie soundtrack it comes from.

Sign up for their emails and you'll find out about new music and also about their sales which is a great wayu to pick up full collections. You can download their music one piece at a time if you wish, but I tend to purchase full collections when they are on sale -- generally for about the same price (or less) of the regular price for one piece.

Their customer service has always been great, too. Once they sent the wrong CD in a rather large order. (That's the ONLY time they've ever made a mistake on an order, by the way.) I emailed them and they immediately sent out the correct one plus a pre-paid mailer to return the incorrect CD.)

Go top their website and check out the quality. They have samples of everything. Keep in mind that for much of their work, you can manipulate not only the length of the final piece, but also the particular instruments playing at any given time. There are lots of other manipulations that are available using their software, but I haven't had to take advantage of most of it.

Phil

P.S. As I proofread this post I must sound like an SmartSound employee, but I promise I'm just a customer!

Re: Recommendations for a good but affordable music library
 

There are a number of websites that sell royalty-free music. Prices do vary quite a bit, as does the quality of the music. The licenses also do vary within those sites. It is a good idea to read these so you are well informed as to what you can and can't do with music you download. Most of them have separate license options for either commercial or non-commercial uses, and the price varies accordingly. Some have subscription or bulk buy options also that cut costs if you are likely to use more than just a track or two.
Here are two possible sites to look at:

Rocksure Soundz | Royalty Free Music, Sound FX, Production Music New Zealand
Royalty Free Music, Sound Effects, Stock Footage & Photos | Productiontrax.com