sound track composition

A forum to share ideas and opinions on the equipment and technical aspects of film, video and AV making.
Post Reply
A.K. Williams
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 4:03 pm

sound track composition

Post by A.K. Williams »

Advice from anyone who might please.

I bought a copy of 'Magix Music Maker' last year (a 'loop' style music-making software programme) with a view to developing my own sound-track compositions in an attempt to avoid the copyright issues -which are often raised in film-making circles- to some extent at least.

While initially delighted with the package, I soon became very much aware of its' limitations and proceeded to seek out other music making software in order to broaden my scope.

I am currently being (it seems) e-mail targetted by 'Sony Creative Software' who are offering me all manner of music creation software i.e. 'Sound Forge Pro 11'/'Spectral Layers Pro 3'/'Acid Pro 7'/'Acid Music Studio 10' and while am not disputing the claims made for the various applications, am more than a bit wary of handing over £100-£200 in order to test them out, particularly after paying only £12-99 for the original 'Magix' deal .

Does anyone have any experience of these programmes or perhaps other such programmes which might be suitable?

Thanks in advance.

Tony Williams.
ned c
Posts: 910
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:39 pm
Location: Dammeron Valley USA

Re: sound track composition

Post by ned c »

Hi Tony; I have used Acid Music Studio 10 and it is a powerful program but be prepared to spend additional money purchasing a library of sound loops. It is as creative as how much time you spend working on projects; I found a steep learning curve and very time consuming. You can download a free demo from the Sony Software website. Acid Pro is the even more complex version. Sound Forge is a straightforward and very good audio editing program; I use the Studio version with Vegas Pro 12 editing; it is tightly integrated and makes moving between the two programs very easy. The Sony Studio versions of their programs are the "limited performance" versions but in my experience do everything I need to do. Spectral Layers is an advanced audio management program mainly it seems for solving sound problems.

Another music creation program is SonicFire by Smartsound - www.smartsound.com again there is a free test download.

Hope this helps

ned c
User avatar
TimStannard
Posts: 1225
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:20 pm
Location: Surrey

Re: sound track composition

Post by TimStannard »

I use(d) Acid but, to be honest, creating stuff using loops seems counter productive. I much prefer to use the MIDI facilities and a deletion of sound samples. MIDI enables you to enter you own notes - in other words genuinely compose, rather than be limited to sequences recorded by others. Acid Pro and (I think) comes with a synth which gives plenty of sounds to get you started.
There are also plenty of free sources on the net if you want to use an existing tune (you'll still need to clear copyright for the tune).
Another possibility (again I you have some musical knowledge) is Garage Band on the iPad where you can quickly set up a beat, enter chords and melodies.
I recently switched to Tracktion from Acid. Similar and more stable on my PC.
Tim
Proud to be an amateur film maker - I do it for the love of it
A.K. Williams
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 4:03 pm

Re: sound track composition

Post by A.K. Williams »

Thanks Ned/Tim for your response, I will look further at what you suggest.

The 'Magix' package does provide for personal input in terms of individual notes/beats, but only through the 'Qwerty' keyboard which again is very limited. It was only when I began to explore what was in the available library that I became aware of just how many sounds are out there by them simply not being available!

There is no choral, no bagpipes, no reggae, no ethnic African, Australian, Peruvian, South Seas, Chinese... the list is endless or so it seems.

The method I developed with 'Magix' by the way, was to store individual sound clips on flash drive and then transfer those to my video editing outfit (I use separate PCs') and download them to the appropriate time-line and arrange them on there. It has run into a dozen or so channels (in accordance with the number of clips) and is very time-consuming, but it is possible to snip the 'bytes' further and also to 'blend' them in whatever way desired and I have managed some satisfactory results in this way.

Perhaps I am being overly ambitious with such stuff though and (perhaps) the way to go would be to invest in a purpose-built USB keyboard together with required software to cover, I do not have the necessary skill nor access to the individual musical instruments which would otherwise be needed.

Have either of you (or anyone else) any experience of such things?

Tony Williams.
User avatar
TimStannard
Posts: 1225
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:20 pm
Location: Surrey

Re: sound track composition

Post by TimStannard »

I'm no keyboard player, but I do use a very cheap mini usb midi keyboard as it is far easier than qwerty or using the cursor. As I play guitar, I tend to record that as single note samples takes longer and sound less authentic.
Tim
Proud to be an amateur film maker - I do it for the love of it
A.K. Williams
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 4:03 pm

Re: sound track composition

Post by A.K. Williams »

Thanks again Tim.

Tony Williams.
Post Reply