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Got Scoring System Suggestion?

When music makes the video, discuss and recommend soundtracks for specific themes/subjects.

Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby BillyB » Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:04 am

Hi,

I'm new to video editing. I'm also new to this forum.

I think I've settled on Premiere Elements for my tool for the time being and I'm now thinking about soundtrack scoring.

My creative process will involve the application of music produced by others. I will not be creating my own music. Soundtracks are obviously one of those rabbit holes, the more I look into it the deeper it gets. I don't really want to go deep, however. I just want to get a good result as quickly and easily as possible. Cost is a consideration but I'm willing to invest a small amount into it.

My video and future videos are training videos, some with more drama than others. It seems to me, however, that even training videos can benefit from some music. It also seems to me that scoring can be done well or poorly, poorly enough that it can detract from the video. It also seems like there are easier and more difficult ways to achieve a result.

I was introduced to SmartSounds in PE11 but now it's gone in PE12. To my beginner's eye, SmartSounds seems like an attractive system albeit more expensive than some. At first glance it seems to offer more than the increased stock resources included with PE12. A little bit more searching has also shown me that there are likely many other options out there as well. So, this brings me to my questions:

Rather than research every solution out there, might anyone here have a suggestions for some scoring systems for a person of my level, means, and aspirations? By systems, I'd include software programs as well as music libraries. Any systems that might fit me well? Any systems to avoid?

Thanks in advance for reading this and for your advice!

PS. By the way, I'm on a Windows PC.
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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby John 'twosheds' McDonald » Tue Nov 26, 2013 3:09 am

This doesn't do what you asked for but I have found it quite useful at times.

MusicIP Mixer - about halfway down the page are the download links and it is FREE (yippee!!).

http://www.amplifindmusicservices.com/w ... nloads.php

Others will be along sometime and might have suggestions that better suit what you have described. Meanwhile welcome to Muvioix. :meet:
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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby momoffduty » Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:07 am

Welcome BillyB to Muvipix! If you are looking for soundtracks be sure to check out the ones here at Muvipix in the products section. Some very nice ones.

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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby Dave McElderry » Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:15 am

Welcome Billy! I've made fairly extensive use of the SmartSounds in V11, and am disappointed to hear that they've dropped it in V12. The features that I liked best was the ability to take a piece and change the mix of instruments to fit a particular mood or desired sound, and the ability to tell it how long you wanted the track to last. That ability to fit to a video saved me a lot of time. I agree that the pay-for tracks are a little pricey, especially when it's just a personal project and not generating any income. I think if it was a commercial project it could easily be worth the money in time and aggravation.
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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby Chuck Engels » Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:16 am

Welcome to Muvpix :meet:

You can always use version 11 to do your soundtrack with Smartsound, otherwise there are lots of options available to create music. As Cheryl says we do have a nice variety of music available here as well
http://muvipix.com/products.php?subcat_id=9

As far as software goes, try taking a look at "Band in a Box" for starters :)
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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby BillyB » Tue Nov 26, 2013 3:31 pm

Thanks for the suggestions! I will check them all out.

I agree with Dave on the features that he likes about SmartSounds:
1. It seems very cool to be able to spec duration for a musical piece and have the composition automatically arranged with a beginning and ending to fit within that duration.
2. Videos can escort an audience through emotional changes and music can certainly be a powerful tool for this. "Mood mapping" seems like it would be useful for developing variations on a theme that would be different enough to not seem redundant but still related enough to help it hang together.
3. The ability to select compositional variations of a theme as well instrumental arrangements would also help to keep things interesting over a longer piece.

Are these kinds of features as attractive to experienced users or do they find them unnecessary?

Note that PE now offers the first feature out of the box. SmartSounds offers all of them, at least with some of their albums.

I am aware that there are powerful audio editing tools out there like Adobe Audition, Avid, Pro Tools, Cubase, Sony Vegas and more but I'm not personally familiar with any of them. Without experimenting with each and everyone of them, I'm trying to work out whether this group of products is worth considering. How to assess them? I assume that one spectrum that they fall on is how much they are designed to create one's own music vs. work with music already created. Another may be how well they support video editing. Another may be the targeted end user ability level, beginning consumer or pro or somewhere in between. Another may be what library stock they work with. Is it possible that anyone may be able to briefly characterize these programs, how well they match the needs of a low budget video maker, and indicate whether I ought to consider one or more of them? I try to remember that I am really more of a PE user than a Premiere Pro user. Is there an equivalent for sound track creation?

It seems like a scoring system would become more feature rich if it included a library database with a well developed classification structure and those classifications were capable of being used by a software editor. It would seem to me that integrating a high quality, extensive, and detailed database with a good editor would provide superior usability. Would you agree? So far, I have seen a few well documented and extensive databases on line but SmartSounds is the only one that I have seen with a matching editor. What have you been using to create your sound tracks? What do people think of the SmartSound system? Do you know of other good resources? How would you compare them?

Chuck, the option of editing in Ver11 might be a good one. Hopefully, PE project files are backwards compatible. I would expect no deterioration of file quality to result from opening and closing project files in different PE versions, would you? "Band in a Box" looks like a great tool for creativity and fun bur I'm a bit hesitant about whether I have the time to develop sufficient talent to go that extra step toward creating the music myself and outputting an appealing result. Thanks for making the free tracks available on this website. I will definitely give them a listen.

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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby Dave McElderry » Tue Nov 26, 2013 4:20 pm

You wouldn't necessarily have to edit in PrEl 11. Not generally a good idea to move projects between versions. Depending on your needs, once you've done the video editing in V12 you could just create the music track in V11 and then export/import to your V12 project. Changes would be a little more cumbersome, but not too terribly difficult. Just a thought.
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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby sidd finch » Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:12 pm

Welcome to Muvipix.

There are lots of different options so I will share the ones that have worked for me.

1) Sony has a program called Acid Music. The program is free but you can purchase music loops and you create your own music. This is pretty easy to do and you can get as creative as you like. They have many libraries to choose from so you can get the style you like. The music has a BPM (beat per minute so all the clips will fit with all the other clips. You can make some really funky music. Check out their user uploads. The only downside is that since you are creating the music your project will take twice as long. Create video then create music to add.

2) I am always looking for music and I have found a few companies I like. KillerTracks, EastWest Music are 2 of my favorites.

3) For videos that I do for fun and have a limited audience (not for sale) friends family etc, I find a lot of cool karaoke versions of the music I like. For example Born in the USA would be a cool music bed so I get the karaoke version to mix in the background of the video.

4) I also really like Mash-Ups so I look through Youtube for different mash-ups I find interesting. The more odd the better. My current favorite is a mash up of Metallica and Herbie Hancock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QFtgSwTveI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOj8aLhe2rQ

Good Hunting

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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby BillyB » Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:59 pm

Thanks Sidd,

I'll check out what Sony Acid Music has to offer as well as KillerTracks.

Will consider the use of Karaoke. It had not occurred to me.

Do you have a link for EastWest? I'm not finding it.

Thanks again for all your tips!

BillyB

PS. Sorry if I mislead anyone. Though interested in creating soundtracks, creating my own music is something I'm trying to avoid.
PPS. Those mashups are pretty amazing. Astonishing how well such different pieces blend together.
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Re: Got Scoring System Suggestion?

Postby sidd finch » Wed Nov 27, 2013 9:13 pm

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." ..... Ferris Bueller
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