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Free CD-Quality Music
Scaife writes "I make a video project for school each year, and this year we want to produce it on DVD and sell it. The only catch is that we don't have the time or money to get copyright permissions for the 100+ songs we use for it. I'm wondering if there is a large repository of CD-quality royalty-free music somewhere. Whenever I try and take one of the royalty-free MP3s available on the web and use it on a DVD, the quality is awful as it pops and hisses. I suppose this is because of the lossy compression. Any ideas?"
Open Music Registry might have something you could use. Mp3.com might too, depending on what you consider to be "CD quality".
another problem is that, i don't know if you do this already, but it is a good idea to convert to wav with a good mp3 decoder before you import it into your video editing program, because they usually don't have the best mp3 decoders built-in.
I'd hit up all your up and coming local bands for cheap rights. They'll usually do anything for exposure, maybe even let you use their stuff for free.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
One big problem for a long time was that a lot of (badly) "optimized" versions of the reference Fraunhofer code were in circulation. There were also some commercial outfits (I think Xing was one) that tended to put out just plain buggy libraries. All this code ended up embedded into lots of front ends.
So it's definitely worth pipng the mpeg streams into a variety of decoders to see if the results improve.
Don't confuse royalty free with free.
With most royalty free recordings, of any decent quality, will certainly cost you a bit. The point of them being royalty free is once you've purchased it, you are allowed to use it how you want, for as long as you want (and that does include for profit). That's why its usually more expensive, because you're not just paying for the music, but the ability to use it how you want, without worry of lawsuits, fees, fines, paperwork, etc.
If you just take music that's royalty free, as opposed to free (as in beer), you're probably still violating copyright law.
I assume the exceptions to this is if you obtain the royalty free music from a place that has already purchased it, such as your local library. Your local college may also have a library of royalty-free music you can check out, especially if they have a decent-sized TV/Radio/Film program.
You could also try checking out some local musicians if their music fits what you're looking for, and try to make a deal with them. In that case, not only are you helping to support local talent (as well as possibly giving them some exposure if you give them a credit), you'll probably make off with a low-cost solution that will be mutually beneficial.
And as others somewhat mentioned above, check if there are any internet resources that will give you free (as in beer) music that also happens to be royalty free.
Bad MP3s don't "pop and hiss". They warble, like as if played underwater.
There's an awesome dude called Master Zap. He's got some of the best techno tracks I've ever heard. I listen to his stuff all the time, and he gives it away for free at www.z4p.com and www.mp3.com. He also has CDs. He's looking for a job too. He's the kind of guy who can probably hook you up.
There are also tonss of college kids who make music with keyboards and PCs in their dorm rooms. I know of about 5 just in one or two colleges, I'm sure there are tons more elsewhere. Just find one of them and have them help you out. Even better, just head to a local dance club and talk to the DJ after he's done, if you like his stuff.
If you want rock, find a place with a live band. Or find one of those shitty cover bands and have them play shit for you. They'll do anything for a little bit of green.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Freeplay is not royalty free.
There are no up front fees.
They make their money from the ASCAP/BMI/etc.. royalties.
Take a look at their terms of use.
I've certainly heard Premiere 6.0 crack and pop sometimes when playing back mp3s on the timeline, especially if you have limited machine resources. Also, watch out for the sample rate - as the audio track on DVDs runs at 48KHz, you may want to do convert your audio to this rate in a tool like Sound Forge (or one of the open source equivalents), rather than leaving it to your NLE package.