Creative Commons Soundtracks: And Another 4 Weeks Worth

My project to take the free 8Pack released by Sony each week, to turn it into something else and then release it under the creative commons licence continues. I'm still not confident enough to think that they can stand alone but if you need a clip of music to back some video then I think they work and I have fun making them:

Suck It Up by the other Martin Taylor
Just Sit Back and Chill by the other Martin Taylor
Jigzag by the other Martin Taylor
Go With It Again by the other Martin Taylor

In addition I've been messing around with NanoStudio on my iPhone some more. These couple of tracks were also made with the intention of using them in video work and they're released under the same creative commons licence:
Go To Sleep by the other Martin Taylor 

The Return Trip Effect by the other Martin Taylor

Freesound: Give & Take

If you're a filmmaker at any level from just starting out to an industry expert you know that, in the edit process you always find a few sound effects, foley or ambient noises that you're missing. If you've been in that situation you've probably been to freesound.org. Freesound is a constantly growing library of Creative Commons licensed sounds. If you're looking for something their search engine usually returns a few hits of sounds that might be useful and it is often quicker and much more convenient than digging out your field recording equipment and hunting down the sound for yourself.

That said, I'm sure lots of us have a few eclectic sound recording languishing on our hard drives that we recorded for one project or another. If you have something you're willing to share the process of uploading them is a little geeky (ftp) but they do have a web interface too and it is a simple way of uploading a bunch of files at once. You simply upload your files, then describe and tag them and then wait a couple of days for them to be approved. What's in it for you? What goes around comes around and what good are those files you're hoarding especially if you're not going to use them again. I just uploaded some of the sounds I've collected in recent months and it felt good to share. I hope other filmmakers will consider doing the same and freesound will become an even more comprehensive and useful resource for everyone.

Creative Commons Soundtracks: Another 6 Weeks Worth

I"m still continuing my project to take the free 8Pack released by Sony each week, to turn it into something else and then release it under the creative commons licence. As before, these pieces aren't meant to stand alone but be used in video or other media pieces for soundtracks, although I've yet to hear of anyone using them for that purpose but me. But even if I'm the only one using them they serve as a great learning opportunity - I'm now confident I can go in and make something appropriate for a scene in little time.

Ready? Set.... by the other Martin Taylor

Hot & Heavy by the other Martin Taylor

Backyard Siesta by the other Martin Taylor

Lose Changeling by the other Martin Taylor

Forbidden DMZ by the other Martin Taylor

Reabsorbing The Infinite by the other Martin Taylor

Creative Commons Soundtracks: Even More Fun With 8Packs

I'm still sticking to my resolution to take the free 8Pack released by Sony each week, to turn it into something else and then release it under the creative commons licence. As long as it's fun I'll keep doing it.

I am working on a simple video tutorial on using Sony Acid to score video. Hopefully that will be available before I post my next bunch of 8Pack pieces.

I hadn't realized that it has been over a month since I last posted anything here so here's the last 6 weeks:

Voiceless Glottal Plosive by the other Martin Taylor

Rerolled Credits by the other Martin Taylor

Carried Away Again by the other Martin Taylor

Extensions Extended by the other Martin Taylor

Solar ReCycled by the other Martin Taylor

Simulcast Expressions by the other Martin Taylor

Creative Commons Soundtracks: Fun With Acid

I'm still really enjoying messing around in Sony Acid Music Studio. I claim to be a photographer and a videographer so there is often a stress to perform in those roles. I make no such claims to be a musician so nothing is expected of me and I can just play. Acid is like finger painting with sound and it takes no time to be able to create something out of nothing and isn't that the appeal for many creative activities?

I've continued to take the free 8Pack downloads each week and make something of my own out of them. Hopefully I'm not remaking the same piece over and over but I have noticed  a signature in the way I work: I trawl through the loops until I find one that really appeals to me , usually a drone, or percussive sound (but not full drum loop) that I can use as the backbone of the piece and build everything else around. Perhaps I should challenge myself to write something that does not have one loop that runs through almost the whole thing? As that one constant is what holds everything else together in my head that may be tricky for me but I'll give it a go.

Tales To Be Retold by the other Martin Taylor

Duality Reexamined by the other Martin Taylor

Even More Dynamic Low Z by the other Martin Taylor


I've also entered a couple of challenges; the first Soundcloud Soundbites challenge:

Sound Bites: Soundtrack for Train, Utility Poles & a Sunset by the other Martin Taylor


and Frequent Traveller's East Croydon Remix Competition:

East Croydon Taylor-made Remix by the other Martin Taylor

Again, there's something very low-stress about entering a competition and putting your work out there in a field in which you're an absolute beginner. By contrast, I have started assembling my entry for the next Blurb Photography Now book contest. Last time I poured days of time and effort into my entry just to be ignored and it destroyed me. It's taken me two years to recover the strength to consider putting myself through that again. Ignoring my music is fine because that is just messing around - I'm serious about my photography through; if I put my photography work out there and it get's dissed or ignored it's a whole other ball of wax.

Creative Commons Soundtracks: 8 Pack Remix

If you happen to be in to Sony Acid Music Studio (or Pro) you'll know what the 8-Packs are. For the rest of the world the 8-Packs downloads are a song and all the source loops required to created that piece that Sony releases to the world, generally each week. You have one week to download the current 8-Pack and then it's gone forever. With the help of my handy RSS reader I've been religiously downloading the 8-Packs for a year ot more. The loops they contain are valuable. Deconstruction the songs is inspiring. The fact that it's all free, Royalty-free music that you can customize easily yourself makes them invaluable.

However, I've recently been thinking that I should be doing more with each 8-Pack than downloading it to my Acid resource repository on my PC, rendering out an MP3 and then forgetting about it. I should take advantage of these little collections of loops and see what I can come up with using them as opposed to the 'official' song that comes with them. I've done this for the past 2 weeks and I'll try to keep doing it for the next 50. It's a great way to learn how to score for your own movies - even if what I come up with is not as good as what a real musician would make at least I'm learning the techniques and language and that has to be worth something doesn't it?

I've looked around and I'm surprised that no one else is doing this but here are my first two efforts. In the future I'll post a month's worth at once. Of course, if you want to use anything they're all available under the creative commons licence from SoundCloud.

Post-Apocalypse Revisited by the other Martin Taylor

They Rise Again ... Again by the other Martin Taylor

Creative Commons Soundtracks: Part 3

I am having trouble finding much in the way of tutorials for Sony Music Studio. Not that there's a lot out there for the pro version either and what little there is largely works in the consumer version too. Luckily, if you're a Vegas user already, Acid is very intuitive but I thought there'd be a huge fan base especially among semi-musically literate film makers looking for royalty free scores they have control over. I'm still only playing with the looping part of the program but I am trying to find a midi controller keyboard on Craigslist to start playing with that third of the program and I'll look at the audio recording part of the program too. Until then here are my latest creative commons efforts:

Saturday Morning Drive by the other Martin Taylor

Nothin' to be Blue About (Acoustic Blues In E) by the other Martin Taylor

Creative Commons Soundtracks: Part 2

I try to lead a creative life; as much as I can fit in around the wage-slave mundanity of the 9-to-5. Part of that is I allow myself to play and dabble in as many fields as I want. I know the cliche "Jack of all trades, master of none"  may apply to me but I do consider myself a reasonable accomplished photographer. The danger of mastering a craft is feeling stale. I can knock out pictures of a reasonable standard but I've lost a little of that wonder and magic I felt when I first saw a print fading out of the ether in a developing tray, or when I first realized what I could do with my first digital camera and an early version of PhotoShop.

It's a feeling I've rediscovered playing at making soundtrack music. The last time I recorded something was on cassette on a hissy 4-track. Like all arts and crafts, technology has changed all that and lowered the bar to entrance and participation. Instead of having to patch a load of things together with midi cables and bounce down tracks I can now just mess around for a few minutes here and there on my laptop. I'm sure what I'm coming up with is the equivalent of those first Photoshopped pictures I made: cliqued, over-saturated, over-sharpened, amateurish messes but I am having as much fun as a kid with finger paints. And to get past those musical, amateurish messes I first have to make them. Lucky you can even hear my fumblings thanks to SoundCloud which seems to be to music what Flickr is to photography. Just like a newbie on Flickr I am lost in the crowd on SoundCloud and am having a hard time working out how to separate the wheat from the chaff but the novelty is still working in my favor.

Deep Dive Drift by the other Martin Taylor

Wednesday Loopy Blues by the other Martin Taylor

Creative Commons Soundtracks: Theme for the Digerati

Theme for the Digerati (v2) by Martin Taylor
I'm not much of a musician but, like many filmmakers and other content creators, I do sometimes create a soundtrack when I need something specific and I can't find what I need with a creative commons licence (I never use music without having the licence even for the smallest job). It feels a little hypocritical to always be taking others creative work in this field but never putting anything in the pot myself. So, for what it's worth, heres a little something I came up with for the background of a technology video.

Here's an older theme I created for a short architectural rendering video:
WFH Cottage Theme by Martin Taylor

Finally, a short orchestral theme I created with Sony ACID Music Studio just to see if I could create something traditional for a soundtrack if I need to:
Theme For An Imaginary Prairie by Martin Taylor
I might not be a musician but I still like to mess around with my guitars, Sony ACID Music Studio and various iPhone apps.