I'm tired of getting laid off, but I'm also starting to get used to it. When such bad news first arrives, I like to panic. It seems like the appropriate response. Church projects quickly go on hold. This time around, that included this blog. But I'm getting a handle on the situation and simple projects are seeping back onto the to-do list. And even simple projects need music, so let's talk about that. Namely background music added to montages and dramatic video productions.
The quickest and easiest source of music is CDs and iTunes downloads. Familiar film music and Christian songs may already fill your music library. But the music track of a church YouTube video may be muted by the copyright holder. Or they may add a link over your video to promote the song. Using short clips of music or mixing it under dialogue may get through, but unless you have a blanket license to use such music in live presentations, including them in videos shows for church services isn't quite legal. If you have someone who can create an original score, you are monumentally blessed. But if you don't, it may be time for you to buy the licenses for some royalty-free music.
Music Options
Some of the buy-out music out there is pretty cheesy and obviously synthesized, but previews are always available to make sure you are getting the quality you are after. Sound Ideas has several libraries of royalty-free CDs that include film-score cues, upbeat news themes, as a wide variety of music styles. I bought the Turner collection twelve years ago and have gotten a lot of use out of it in that time, but it takes some digging to find the best cues (too much saxophone for my taste).
Digital Juice also offers royalty-free music with a twist. With their MusicBox, each cue is broken up into layers so you can mix the instruments as you see fit. So if you find the percussion track too overpowering in the default mix, you can bring it down. I have found these to be the best instrumental cues available.
Editing
How the music is edited can make or break a video. A song may work nicely during a montage, but mixing vocals with voiceover or dialogue tends to sound cluttered. Try finding appropriate instrumentals to mix under speaking, being careful not to drown it out or mix it so low it sounds like someone has the radio on down the hall. If you're running a song over a montage, it can work to simply drop the song into the timeline, but you'll get a richer presentation mixing the audio of the clip under the music. Cheering kids on the soundtrack can punch up that camp video you're probably editing right about now.
Please share your experiences with music shopping and editing in the comments below.
