Original music for film

[Bill DiPietra]

Do any of you know of any websites (other than Mandy) where I may be able to find musicians who are looking to work on a soundtrack for a short film?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR]

http://www.douglasedward.com/

 

I can't recommend this guy enough. He scored a short I shot and now he is scoring a recent feature I shot called "Garrison." Both are extremely good scores. He really knows how to manipulate music for different tones and quiet/loud passages and emphasis. Say "Make it darker here." and he does it perfectly, I have no idea how. He also plays a lot of acoustic instruments such as violin and will track those in so it's not an all digital thing. Really adds some warmth to it. Check him out.

[Guest Tim Partridge]

Score is not about where you can find a composer, it's about the sound you are after.

 

It all depends on what kind of music you want. There are so many specific forums you can advertise on, from classical symphonic, minimalist, experimental, electronic, rock bands, etc. That way you can get a specialist for the sound you want. There are so many composers with a love for a specific sound who desperately need exposure to continue following what they love. Most have good softsynth setups with libraries full of samples, most of which are so convincing today (obviously no average short film can cough up funds for even a small sessions orchestra).

 

It all depends entirely on your vision. If you advertise on Mandy alone you'll get hundreds of demos/weblinks back from what I term "generic ambient" wannabes, i.e. cliched accoustic guitar or piano solos playing vague two note motifs against a preset drum loop. Even so they'll be two or three from those several hundred who may have what you are looking for. It's gold dust.

 

Also, check out the decent music colleges too. A five-ten minute duration short film is about the length of a standard student graduation piece. Any young classically trained composers could in theory get you a reasonably good quality small orchestral piece with their fello students making up the numbers. Assuming the orchestral route may be something you are pursuing.

[Phil Rhodes]

I never have any idea how much money to offer composers. Obviously it takes time, but what does truly decent stuff (and Douglas Edward's site contains some stuff I'd call truly decent) cost? Thousands obviously; tens of thousands probably; hundreds of thousands?

 

Like anything it's a piece of string I expect, but I find it impossible to even guess.

 

Phil

[J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR]

Douglas' stuff is actually criminally cheap for the quality you get. If you look around on his site he quotes some figures there.

Edited November 13, 2006 by J. Lamar King

[Bill DiPietra]

Thanks a lot, gang.

[Zamir Merali]

Usually when I want music for my low budget short films Il use www.stockmusic.net . They have a whole ton of music meant for film and grouped into categories. You can download them and edit them together to make original tracks. You can also get them to compose a completely original track just for you.

[Guest Tim Partridge]

I never have any idea how much money to offer composers. Obviously it takes time, but what does truly decent stuff (and Douglas Edward's site contains some stuff I'd call truly decent) cost? Thousands obviously; tens of thousands probably; hundreds of thousands?

 

Like anything it's a piece of string I expect, but I find it impossible to even guess.

 

Phil

 

A good project in which they have maximum control of the compositions, collaboration and your film is in synch with the musical direction they wish to pursue longterm- that's more than enough at the freebie/low end level.

 

Trust me, if you care about the music and your project, the composer loves your project, they want the experience with a potential longterm, you know what you want, you are aware of the process and you are very familiar with the composer's body of work up until your film, you can get it for nothing. If you are just another "can you do the score please?" and that's it as far as direction goes, it's going to be the ubiquitous go-nowhere piano/accoustic guitar motifs. Or you will have to pay.

[Jesus Sifuentes]

why use stock music when you can hire a student @ a university. I hired a musician who is getting his masters in musicial composition and he is a professionally trained classical guitarist. he has an all access pass to professional music recording equipment. contact your local music department.

[Daniel Smith]

You can get a great musician to make you a track for very little.

 

Get in touch with an experienced musician who's going no where. You trip over them walking down the street.