Using music soundalikes can be much less costly than using the real thing. A sound-alike or Pastiche is a long used technique used by composers. For example, using the original James Bond theme in your project would be very expensive, but using a track that sounds like it will be much more cost-effective. For example, […]
Why Can’t You Make a Song with Royalty-Free Music?
People often ask whether they can sing over a track and sell it as their own. There is a lot of incorrect information out there regarding this. This article covers the facts and the reasons that you cannot use royalty-free music, stock music or library music as your backing track. Why do people want to […]
Sampling & Permission Explained
What is sampling? In music technology, sampling is the technique of digitally encoding music or sound and reusing it as part of a composition or recording. This started to become popular in the 1980’s but synthesisers and samplers were limited by the ability of the technology of the day and early samplers would only be […]
The One-Shot Movie
If you are interested in the process of filmmaking this film is a must-see. The behind the scenes feature (below) suggests that you will be following the main characters in one long shot. No cuts, just one long scene. The concept of producing a movie in one shot is mind-blowing to me. While I am […]
Why Are We Still Using 44.1kHz 16bit for Music?
Somewhere in digital music history, audio at 44.1kHz 16bit became the accepted standard for CD. Our stock music library uses this standard (as do most) and all consumer music still uses it in 2019. However, it is an old standard now. It is believed that these sample/bit rates were established from a balance between two […]
Get Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Say Whatever You Like!
Well, almost! Clearly, this is not actually possible as our new Prime Minister will be very careful with his words. And he won’t be voicing for Media Music Now any time soon – unless being PM goes really bad. However, we have the next best thing… a talented impressionist on our voice roster… have a […]
The Zoom Shot Explained
This is part of a blog series to cover all of the main types of camera shots. In this post, we are looking at the Zoom shot. Probably one of the most widely known camera shots, but often misunderstood and can sometimes be confused with other shots. A zoom shot happens in two ways and […]
Is YouTube’s Content ID Still a Problem for Music Libraries in 2019?
Yes and No! In the early days, YouTube’s Content ID system was a real pain for royalty free music libraries and stock music libraries like ours. However, over the years it has become quite a good thing. Although, it still has its issues. Back in its early days if your music triggered a Content ID […]
Guitars, Effects and Pedalboards
If you are a musician or composer you will understand that guitar is an essential part of so much music. Whether as a main feature or as a supporting instrument the sound of the guitar has been with us in modern music since the 1950s. Music producers have a need for guitar parts and we […]
Clipped Michael Bublé Track: Poor Production or the Modern Way?
Writing music can be a challenge creatively. With today’s tech you have a plethora of options available, thousands of sounds and the ability to layer instrument tracks and apply processing beyond anything you could have even dreamt of back in the 1990’s when I was working with midi and tape (DAT, ADAT). I am 2 […]
