TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE MUSIC/SFX SEARCHES

(Want to print these tips? Here's a printer version.)

1. Submit as much information as possible regarding the following; Style (rock, country, jazz, ethnic, hip-hop, symphonic, etc.), Instrumentation (solo guitar, string quartet, heavy metal rock band, bluegrass group, studio orchestra, etc.), Tempo (speed, pace), and Emotional Content (happy, sad, quirky, proud, sentimental, positive, mysterious, etc.). For SFX, list specific effects required as well as the overall ambience (indoor, outdoor, underwater, outer space).
   
   
2. Sound-a-likes: There is a limit to how closely a piece of library music can imitate an existing piece due to copyright and intellectual property issues. For the most part you can only expect a short section that will actually bring to mind the song you wish to evoke and it won’t be exact. Sound-a-likes will generally not work if you wish to make the listener think of a specific title or lyric-you need the original piece for this.
   
   
3. Music/SFX searches done in-house yield faster, better results than searches done by remote. Also, the person responsible for making the final decision regarding music choices should be involved in the search from the beginning to save time and wasted effort. We can post music selections to our server or send CDs for delivery-they will be substantially reduced in quality to protect our content (see copyright issue mentioned above). Once you have decided on a piece(s) we can deliver a high resolution file in a choice of formats (AIFF, WAV, mp3, etc.).
   
   
4. Please don’t wait until the last minute to request a music search-it takes time to find the right track and most likely your search is not the only one in progress.
   
   
5. If you are providing musical examples from CD, mp3, I-Tunes, etc., please be sure they indicate a specific direction and are not conflicting or mutually exclusive.
   
   
6. Please don’t cut your video to music you already know you can’t use, expecting to replace it exactly from library music that will fit your edit. If the music is driving the video then pick the music first, again to save time and wasted effort.