Songs and More Songs

[J. Clayton Stansberry]

I was wondering if you guys would want to share some of the songs/music you use or would recommend for any or all of the following video situations (whether in album format or with actual footage):

1. Graduations

2. Weddings

3. Family Events

4. Any other's that might have specific songs.


Thanks in advance.
Clay

[Dustin Waits]

I am curious as well...

[Keith Loh]

Find a commercial DJ's page. Often they have playlists.

[Patricia Kim]

If you're going to produce the video professionally (for compensation), you may want to think of the consequences of using music that you are legally required to pay for. Even though I don't produce video professionally, I bought a software program called SonicFire Pro, produced by SmartSound, for adding "filler" music to portions of my soundtracks. It has actually been discussed a bit in the audio forum. Not the height of creativity, but at least you don't have all the potential legal hassles. Smart Sound packages tracks for use in the kinds of events you mentioned, among other things.

[J. Clayton Stansberry]

I wanted this discussion to revolve around "hypothetical" situations and situations where all legal aspects have been taken care of where there would be no "legal repercussions." I currently use soundtracks for "filler" but wanted other ideas or examples of those that use "paid for" music. I realize this is a touchy subject. If anyone has examples or ideas of songs that work well, I would love to hear about them. Thanks.

[James Sudik]

Man, I think it varies so much the list could be endless, if copyright issues were not, well, issues. I have done some test shots with my new cam and played with several ideas, using my kids in different locations as subjects. I have been putting it together and using different stuff from Enya (Book of Days, etc) for a soundtrack. I really like that type of music for non-descript shooting like that, because it creates such a wonderful open mood, and seems to always fit.

[Patricia Kim]

Ah, sorry I misunderstood. In that case, I would probably buy the cheapie wedding music compilation cd I've seen at Tower Records just to get a starting point in the classical genre and would also browse through works by those you might call American balladeers like The Carpenters, James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel and Carole King. Probably Rod Stewart's "Great American Songbook" albums 1 & 2 have a lot of standards that would work for weddings and there are cheap compilation cds for the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc., often available at Costco, that make it easy to access pop tunes that bring a bit of nostalgia to family events.

[Matthew Eastwood]

final cut pro 4 comes with an app called "soundtrack" that makes it really easy to make yer own music that sounds increadibly good.

also, the new iLife ($49 USD) comes with "garageband" that will let you make music on yer mac as well.

the days of stock audio are over as far as i am concerned. i have been making my own for months now. no need for anything else, unless of course, you need s&g's "me and julio down by the schoolyard" for a certain specific situation.
(and if that's the case, you should just move on to a better project, IMHO.)

[J. Clayton Stansberry]

matt,

see my post above. i use soundtrack and from what i understand it is better than garageband. thanks anyway.

[John Britt]

OK, I'll bite:

1) School's Out

2) White Wedding

3) Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

4) The Haunnakah Song


(OK, so this one's a little tongue-in-cheek. But I had to derail this thread from the direction it was going :D )

[Jason Casey]

There are usually a lot of standard graduation songs.
-Time for me to fly - REO Speedwagon
-That song by Green Day ( i can't remember the title)
-The graduation song - Vitamin C

There are sooo many more!

For weddings, well that should be up to the bride and the groom what music they want. Most couples have a set list of a few songs that mean something to them that they want used for their wedding music.