We were fortunate to have
Studio West managing the
sound effects and sound mixing for
Well Done (photo on the right is the epic control board in Studio A at Studio West).
We did face the task of designing
the soundtrack for our film. Kyle composed three pieces and two musical transitions; the rest of the music was purchased through online resources.
Music licensing was new territory for us. We wanted to share the following resources:
Using Music - the Basics
http://www.ascap.com/filmtv/faq.html - This page is from the site for the American Society for Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). It discusses the licensing rights you will need to pursue.
http://www.ascap.com/filmtv/movies-part1.html - Another page on ASCAP's site that goes in depth on music usage in film.
Mainstream Music
One question we faced early in our soundtrack design was "Should I pursue music rights from a popular artist?"
We spent about nine months tracking down the various parties for one song by a very popular artist. While working up a "Plan B", we found a song that was even better. We went with our new song and saved money to put towards other aspects of post-production.
At about the same time, we knew a fellow filmmaker who fell in love with a song by Peter Gabriel. Her film dealt with social issues that he wanted to support. In the end, she obtained permission from Mr. Gabriel to use the song in her film.
Going forward, we will carefully weigh the cost in time and money of pursuing these rights, and be aggressive about developing alternative plans for our soundtrack.
Links for Music Tracks/ Sound Effects
These sites have music and/or sound effects that are available for a fee. We used several of these sites for our music. Because music needs vary so much from film to film, we packed a lot of extra links on this list.
http://www.neosounds.com/ - We used this site the most. We also discovered that we really liked the work of one artist, Erik Haddad (see Erik's site below in individual artists).
http://www.sounddogs.com/ - site for sound effects
http://www.beathive.com/searchLoops.html - contemporary music (urban, trance, techno, house etc.)
http://www.omnimusic.com/ - We found some really great tracks here
http://www.uniquetracks.com/
http://www.youlicense.com/
http://magnatune.com/
http://www.hollywoodedge.com/
http://www.stock20.com/commerce/index.php
Individual Artists
We found it extremely rewarding to work with individual artists when possible. Here are a list of some of our favorites to date:
http://www.erikhaddad.com/index.html - Erik's site (see photo). We contacted Erik for some original work in addition to the piece we purchased on Neosounds. He was wonderful to work with, had reasonable rates, and got files to us very quickly. We will definitely work with Erik again.
http://www.astrakelly.com/ - In addition to Astra's own wonderful work, she has a small catalog of pre-cleared artist's songs that she is exclusively representing
http://www.amybaer.com/AmyBaer/Home.html
http://www.myspace.com/cesarbenito
http://www.christopherfarrell.com/
