Stock music Beta testers

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

I found a stock music resource that appears to be good one...$20.00 per piece. Can't find any in-depth licensing info, but the demos they've got posted are pretty good pieces, especially for the cost.
http://www.stock20.com is where I found em'. I contacted them, and for the DVInfo.net community, they've got some free downloads for folks in this forum only, since they're looking for "beta testers." If you need some stock media, have a listen. http://www.dviaudiogroup.stock20.com is where you'll find the DVInfo.net page.

Not associated with them in any way, but found their concept to be interesting, and their music to be very good for the price they're asking.

[edit] They just sent me their licensing agreement since I commented on the lack of it. http://www.stock20.com/commerce/inde...2dfd47a94c8ecc

[Bill Hamell]

Douglas,

Thank you, I ckecked out the site and signed up and filled out the feedback form.
It is a good idea I hope it takes off.

Bill

[George Ellis]

Thanks DSE.

[Steven Gotz]

I took a listen. The music was OK, but not particularly inspiring. I didn't run off to find a clip to use just so I could use the music. It offers me no advantage over SmartSound as far as I can tell. At least so far.

I have a question for the rest of you. Is it a bit annoying that each clip peaks at a different volume level? I have never used stock music much, so I don't know if companies very carefully set the peak to digital zero, or -6dB, or whatever. Do they? Or is it up to the editor to deal with it?

[Daniel Rudd]

Thanks everyone for your evaluations. And thanks DSE for setting up this beta test opportunity.

I'm getting some really great feedback and I really appreciate the time people are taking to make very specific, useable observations and then discuss them further by e-mail.

I think we may postpone our launch (again) to the middle of December so we can incorporate some of the ideas you've given me.

Steven's correct about the levels being inconsistent. Sorry for the annoaynce. Evaluation tracks 2-6 are not mastered. I wanted to get your feedback before we finalize those tracks and send them away.

Also, two questions.

1) .wav vs. .aiff?
and
2) is anyone using/liking/disliking www.smartsound.com

thanks,
Daniel

[Greg Boston]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for coming to the forum and participating. I listened to some of the stuff and it could work for music beds. Also, on your feedback page which I didn't fill out, I would say definitely create :30 and :60 sec track versions. I would also like to contact you off forum about some tracks I may be able to offer to your library in the near future.

regards,

-gb-

[Jim Montgomery]

Danial

Use Smart Sound a lot. However because of Its very nature it lacks any important measures. Like for suspense it will go dun dun dun dun and instead of going TA DA when the girl gets stabbed it just keeps going dun dun.....

I hate being so technical (dun?) but you get the idea.

Jim

[Daniel Rudd]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for coming to the forum and participating. I listened to some of the stuff and it could work for music beds. Also, on your feedback page which I didn't fill out, I would say definitely create :30 and :60 sec track versions. I would also like to contact you off forum about some tracks I may be able to offer to your library in the near future.

regards,

-gb-

Your welcome Greg. I'm really greatful for the chance to get some good advice from others who work with medias. This forum (and the other DVI forums) have been a big help to me.

Thanks for your input. We've decided that there are enough people that want 30 and 60 second versions to make it worthwhile. This will push our launch back a bit, but we want to do it right.

Is anyone interested in 15 second versions? I've never used one. But I mostly do promotional documentaries for non-profits. Very few TV commercials.

[Daniel Rudd]

In addition to lossless 24 and 16 bit .wav files, we want to make the files availalbe for download in a high quality (but compressed format)

MP3 is out because it requires licensing, but I would like users to be able to drop the clips right into their NLE.

I use Premiere and After Effects which is pretty flexible, but I don't think it supports .ogg

Any thoughts on a format that would work well for lots of people?

Maybe AAC?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Originally Posted by Daniel Rudd

In addition to lossless 24 and 16 bit .wav files, we want to make the files availalbe for download in a high quality (but compressed format)

MP3 is out because it requires licensing, but I would like users to be able to drop the clips right into their NLE.

I use Premiere and After Effects which is pretty flexible, but I don't think it supports .ogg

Any thoughts on a format that would work well for lots of people?

Maybe AAC?

To be cross NLE compatible, you're going to have to probably stick with mp3. There are much, much better and more efficient codecs, but a lot of NLE's won't open AAC, for instance. Sony has the best of the lot called "PCA" which is a sweet lossless format, but only works in Sony software. It'll support OGG too, but Premiere and others won't. Audition will, but not Premiere.

[Daniel Rudd]

Thanks DSE.

With high speed internet prices dropping, do you think it is even neccesary to include a lossy compressed file.

I don't think I would ever use one in a video.

Even if I was going to deliver a project via internet, I would want to start uncompressed, and choose my delivery format (not compress a compressed file).

What if we just offered .wav (and maybe .aif?)?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

I kinda think everything opens either .wav or .aif these days...just depends on which you think your larger market will be. Vegas for instance, opens both, so does FCP...I can't remember if Premiere does, I'll have to look. Audition does. Ulead can't open aif unless their newest version does, um...I think Canopus does...
But...there is a stigma for Mac users opening wav, and there is the same stigma for some PC users opening aif.
Can you offer both?

[Daniel Rudd]

I'm a Premiere Guy (and I'm not afraid to admit it anymore) so I know Premiere opens both.

Your right about the stigma. I've seen perfectly rational people get angry about the fact that I edit video on a pc.

I think we can offer both. We are slightly concerned about bandwidth, but people will probably download their files in just the format of their choice, not both.

As far as I have found there are no licensing issues with distributing files .wav or .aif

[Daniel Rudd]

Stock20 has officialy survived it's introductory period and launched with a second batch of songs. I think we're going to make it.

So thanks for all of your suggestions. You will see that we used many of your ideas. I think I contacted all of you who gave me evaluations, but if I missed anyone, please send me an e-mail and I'll get you your free downloads.

Thanks,
Daniel
daniel@danielrudd.com