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Get Started with Music

If you need free music for your YouTube videos where you get to keep the ad revenue...

If you need music for your film or video game...

If you need music for your presentation or commercial...

Gah!! Ringtone!!

Posted on by Kevin MacLeod Posted in General

I have special phone needs. The default ringtones on the iPhone are very pleasant, and that’s the problem. I often turn down my phone, and am unaware of the tones wafting into the ether.

So I made a couple audio files to fix that. Available for free. Licensed in the Public Domain.

Download is available until Jan 21st, 2015.

After that? I don’t know… ask your friends. Maybe try a torrent site.

Specifications:
– Needs to be really annoying
– Must have lots of high frequencies to cut through traffic noise and jeans
– Must play well on a tiny speaker

Extra notes from a jerk:

These are formatted for iPhone. I don’t own any other phones, so I don’t know how they work. Do not explain how they work to me; I don’t care.

I know how to put these on my phone. I will not help you put them on your phone. It is your phone. You should learn. I found a help page on the internets.

No previews are available. You download it – or you don’t.

If fewer people have this ringtone, I will be less likely to be confused when I hear it. I will provide NO support. Also, I have work to do.

Enjoy! (or don’t, that’s also fine.)

Music Survey!

Posted on by Kevin MacLeod Posted in Music

Survey results are in, and here’s what it looks like!

The Blue lines are what people found most useful…
The Green Lines are what people thought other people will like more!

Apart from the things you can see in the data (like lots of people like Anamalie, but they don’t think other people will) I have learned the following:

There are a lot more video game and software developers out there than I thought.
At least one person can live on the web while running “noscript”.
Very few people lobby congress… but I knew that already.
And *Hugs* back at you! (to you? with you? I’m not good at hugging.)

Destiny Day!

Posted on by Kevin MacLeod Posted in Music

The The Contemporary Classical Composer’s Bullshit Generator gave me the following paragraph. I wrote a piece for it… Enjoy!

My work has been seminal in the development of ‘structuredly-non-linear symmetrical-music’, a highly intellectual, and rather repetitive genre. My newest piece studies, experiences and isomorphically dominates a variety of structured tension-hemiolas. In short, the method must never present the sound-world. I never examine continuities, despite the fact that any gesture or non-linearity can be, and has been interpreted as a rather orchestrally-monophonic set of ‘canon-aerophones’. In my most recent work, vibrations, materials and rhythmic oscillations are all used within chaotically-transdisciplinary gestures, allowing the audience to improvise a variety of symbolic idioms. I am very much influenced by the idea of dismissing popular solos, particularly whilst combined with a highly polyrhythmic approach to spaces.

Also it loops back on itself for hundreds of hours of uninterrupted goodness!
Download 3 tempos and individual parts here.

Comments to Soundcloud and YouTube!

I do loves me some “structured tension-hemiolas”!

Again thanks to VlogBrothers for their support! :-) DFTBA!

Anamalie

Posted on by Kevin MacLeod Posted in Music

Is it a Western? Certainly has a dusty feel to it. Super laid-back piece with a crazy subtle modulation at 1:06. Yeah. That happened.
Slow, beautiful. The download comes with a slightly faster bonus version.

Zanzibar

Posted on by Kevin MacLeod Posted in Music

Energetic without being aggressive. This one has a nice flow and interesting changes.
You can download the full uncompressed version of this piece here.

Book Trailer 101

Posted on by Kevin MacLeod Posted in General, Uncategorized

I was asked to write an article helping people select music for their book trailer from booktrailer101.info, but I’m not going to put the cart before the horse. If I could wave a magic wand and make book trailers better, it would have nothing to do with music.

Books are read. That’s what they do. That’s their super power.
Videos are viewed. One does not read videos.

Get Voice-over on your trailers. You are allowed on-screen text only for the title of the book. That’s it. Everything else – Voice-over.

You can get really reasonable VO work for $5-$10 at fiverr.com. I’ve used them severall times for projects.
It is really easy.
It is really cheap

There is no reason to put text blocks in your video. Make it easy for people to understand your message. Go VO!

 

Now, did you get your VO for your trailer? Good. Let’s slot in some music.

Step one: Get a bunch of music. There are a lot of places you can get music for free. I maintain a list on my FAQ.

Get one or two pieces from each of those, or 10 pieces from one of them, but get different pieces. Get things you wouldn’t expect to use. Get a romantic piece, get an action piece, grab some weird march, try a piano concerto.

Step two: Try all of them.

Don’t get to one you like and stop… even if you think you found the perfect piece… keep going. Were you amazed at how effective one of the pieces made your trailer? Great! Use that one. Let’s not overthink. :-)

Step three: Mixing

Make sure you can clearly hear all of the voice work. If it gets difficult to understand in parts, turn down the entire music track. Make it easy for people to understand your message.