I'm trying to get some music to use underneath interviews in my doc. What are sites people use that have good free music? To be slightly more specific, it's music underneath people talking about Irish immigration and Mexican immigration to the US so I'll be looking for something that matches that without being cheesy, although i fear anything that sounds Irish or Mexican will be way too cheesy.

So, any site recommendations?

These sites might help in your search, in no particular order...

Triple Scoop Music : Award-winning music licensing for photographers, videographers and creative professionals! (http://triplescoopmusic.com/)
Production Music / Stock Music & Sound Effects / Music Library Company (http://www.audionetwork.com)
Vimeo Music Store (http://vimeo.com/musicstore)
With Etiquette (http://withetiquette.com/)
Truetone Productions | Splash (http://truetoneproductions.com/)
ShawnReederMusic.com (http://shawnreeder.com/srm/index.php)
Stock20.com, Broadcast Quality Royalty Free Production Music * $20/song (http://stock20.com/commerce/index.php)
MUSIC 2 HUES - Royalty Free Music Downloads and CDs | Buyout Production Music Library (http://www.music2hues.com/)
CATALYSTSOUNDLICENSING.COM (http://www.catalystsoundlicensing.com/)
Royalty Free Music Library from premiumbeat.com (http://www.premiumbeat.com/)
Royalty Free Music Licensing for Wedding Filmmakers, Photographers, Production Companies & Non-Profits - The Music Bed (http://www.themusicbed.com/)
Capo Productions | Royalty Free Music | Stock Music | Custom Music (http://capoproductionsmusic.com/)
Popular Music Library For Photographers And Videographers - Songfreedom.com (http://songfreedom.com/)
Friendly Music (http://www.friendlymusic.com/)
oneproductionmusicdotcom (http://oneproductionmusic.com/)
Royalty Free Music (http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/)
Free Music (http://www.stonewashed.net/free-music.html)
JewelBeat 99¢ Royalty free background music for video, film, website, games. Instrumental production music clips. (http://www.jewelbeat.com)

@Noam... this is a common question. Do a search on "Royalty Free Music" here on DVinfo

Royalty Free Music (http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/)

Royalty Free Music (http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/)

I concur with the above.I have downloaded lots of his stuff, but I always pay the recommended $5 whenever I actually use one of his songs on a project (and then he sends you Christmas greetings!).

I'm trying to get some music to use underneath interviews in my doc. What are sites people use that have good free music? To be slightly more specific, it's music underneath people talking about Irish immigration and Mexican immigration to the US so I'll be looking for something that matches that without being cheesy, although i fear anything that sounds Irish or Mexican will be way too cheesy.

So, any site recommendations?

Do you mean completely free, as in no money changes hands at all, or do you mean Royalty Free music, where you do pay a fee to license the track but for a single fee you can use it as much as you want in as many different productions as you need and there are no on-going royalty payments due for each performance or broadcast of the program?

If the latter there are a number of sites offering royalty-free tracks at reasonable license fees. Check out SmartSound.com and Magnatunes.com for two starters.

I hadnt thought about the difference between those two...which shows where I'm starting from.

I guess I'd have preferred copyright free but seeing how reasonably priced royalty free music is, I think i can go with that. thanks for the help!

Another place is Digital Juice at digitaljuice.com. Their old Staxx Traxx were great, and they put them up for sale regularly still, and they also have a new product out, that has similar capabilities.

I hadnt thought about the difference between those two...which shows where I'm starting from.

I guess I'd have preferred copyright free but seeing how reasonably priced royalty free music is, I think i can go with that. thanks for the help!
About the only thing you're ever going to find that is actually copyright-free would be sheet music composed and published before 1922. Or music you compose yourself. Any more recent music, and virtually all recordings of music ever made, would be covered by a copyright owned by someone - it happens automatically when the work is first published. Even your own videos are copyright, though you might not know it - as soon as you publish the work, ie, show it publicly, copyright pops into existence, even if you don't actually register it. Sure, some creative works have been released into the public domain - works created in the US on the taxpayer's dime, for example, such as WWII combat footage captured by military personnel - but they are few and far between.

SmartSound has that you can easily customize to the exact length and mood that you want. You can try it out for free on the home page: Royalty Free Music, 20 Million+ Royalty Free Music Downloads (http://www.SmartSound.com)

Here are some pages that might be more specific to what your looking for:
Royalty Free Atmospheric Beds (http://www.smartsound.com/royalty-free-music/library/Atmospheric+Beds)
Royalty Free Irish Music (http://www.smartsound.com/blog/royalty-free-irish-music.html)

To add to the list already mentioned, suitable Royalty-free music can also be found at Rocksure Soundz | Royalty Free Music, Sound Effects, Production Music New Zealand (http://rocksuresoundz.com)

Also you may find this article that I wrote on the topic of Understanding what royalty-free music is to be helpful. It is one of a few on there that outline some of the misconceptions and pointers to consider when looking for music:
Royalty Free Music: What is it? | Rocksure Soundz (http://rocksuresoundz.com/2011/10/11/royalty-free-music-what-is-it/)

As others have noted, you may be confusing "royalty free" with "free" music.

There is no readily available organized source of copyright cleared legal music that comes with absolutely no cost.

Nor should there be. It takes time and effort to compile, organize and make stock music available and those who work to create it deserve to be compensated for their efforts.

Using music in a video actually involves a bunch of "rights" often including composition, performance and synchronization rights. Stock music houses bundle these and make legal use easy.

But if you want to stay on the right side of the law, you're going to have to pay for either the proper music license, or buy a program like SmartSound that automates the creation of licensed music from common licensed samples.

Good luck.

I also use SmartSound's music. Lots of good, usable material there.

As mentioned, you can taylor the length and often the tone of the music to work under narration. It's supposed to allow you to mark specific spots where you want the nature of the music to change. I haven't done that so I can't vouch for it.

And you can easily audition their tracks, mixed with what you've edited, before buying.

Royalty Free Music and Sound Effects Library with Soundtrack Editing Software Products (http://www.smartsound.com/sonicfire/)

HUM studios have a great synch library and are very helpful. I know Joe personally and he is very talented and experienced.

Hum Tracks » HUM (http://www.hum.co.uk/hum-tracks/#/Introducing_Hum_Tracks)

But why not compose some yourself?

Popular Music Library For Photographers And Videographers - Songfreedom.com (http://SongFreedom.com)

$25 per project use. Pop songs.

Only partly in jest:

Compose and perform your own.

Heck, we do every other job in the film industry. Why not this too? Why should anything you create be any worse than the expensive cr*p which many others produce?

Two tips:
(1) Learn how to work a sequencer if you don't play guitar or keyboard
(2) explore ostinato and sequence (types of repeated patterns).

I spend more years than I care to remember getting reluctant students through composition exams.
You can do it.

Best leave the full orchestral stuff for a bit though.

Even easier: Get Sony's ACID program and slap loops onto a timeline. My kids could use ACID before they were ten years old.

When you're ready for sequencing and orchestral stuff, sign up for this forum... v.i. control forum • Board Index [ Guest ] (http://www.vi-control.net/forum/index.php)

Actually free music, in so far that it costs nothing to use and only requires a credit, seems to be available here:

Royalty Free Music (http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/)

I thought it needs a waiver from the author if it is for commercial use.

Here's another..

Stock Music - Royalty Free Music with an Edge (http://www.stockmusic.net/index.cfm)

Steve Nordahl
Bethlehem, Pa.

I think this one will help you. Royalty Free Music (http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/)