Soundtrack Creation Option

CClub wrote on 1/14/2007, 5:02 AM

I know that there's Cinescore, etc. to create soundtracks, but I've always felt that they're either unoriginal and lack flexibility, or you have to buy more themes or royalty-free music to expand your options. I have no vested interest in any program over another, but if you do low-budget projects like I do, here's another option: I purchased Band-In-A-Box (www.pgmusic.com), and then bought a sample library (you need one that can be a "VSTi plugin." I purchased SampleTank 2 XL from mtlc.net; it has 4.5 Gig of professional sounds. You can check out its sounds at www.mtlc.net or www.sampletank.com). BIAB will create original compositions from hundreds of different genres/sub-genres of music, and you don't need to have much musical knowledge. You can just click on the style you want, then "Create Chords & Melody" or even "Create Solo." Then you tell SampleTank which instruments you want to play each part, and it sounds like original instruments. You can also import any MIDI file you find on the instrument, change it around a bit, add a lead or new melody/chord structure, and now it's your original tune.

It's not cheap at first to buy the full BIAB program ($269 for the MegaPak) and then a good sample library (I paid $299 for SampleTank 2 XL at mtlc), but I just created a video project with a great original soundtrack exactly how I wanted it to sound, added in the costs of the programs as overhead as I came in low priced anyways, so now I have the programs for future work. This is just a different option; I've tried out the other soundtrack options, and there's just minimal flexibility once you've used their themes once or twice (and they probably sound almost just like everyone else).

Comments

birdcat wrote on 1/15/2007, 5:54 AM

BinaB is not for everyone - You need some knowledge of music to make it work effectively. I write songs (lyrics and melody) but I don't know how to read music (or differentiate notes based on my voice).

I take my stuff to a guy who uses BinaB and he listens to me sing it and figures out the correct chord progressions, then runs it throguh BinaB and gets some very good stuff out of it. I don't know if you can do without the chord progressions (which I cannot do).

FWIW - I really do like the stuff this guy gets from the product (his name is Mike Sansonia if anyone's interested) but he also takes what BinaB give him and runs it through lots of other software (Sonar for one) where he works with the output and sends to it his high end sound generation hardware (MIDI based). His big added value is how well he knows BinaB and all the other software/hardware he uses - He makes it seem simple (why I pay him).

Pcamp wrote on 1/15/2007, 8:39 AM

It sounds like an interesting option.
Is it possible to hear some samples of your results?
Thanks
Paul

CClub wrote on 1/16/2007, 5:49 AM

If you know how to put a link in these postings, let me know, and I'll post a few songs I put together that took me about 30 seconds to make.

Pcamp wrote on 1/16/2007, 6:55 AM

I don't know how to do a clickable link. But I think you can just put up an address that can be cut and pasted into a browser.
Paul

rs170a wrote on 1/16/2007, 7:22 AM

I don't know how to do a clickable link.

Do a search on this as it's been covered numerous times in the past.

Mike

CClub wrote on 1/16/2007, 4:38 PM

All right, here's my shot at creating "clickable links" below. All I did to create the mp3's was the following:
1. Open Band-In-A-Box with the VSTi plugin loading automatically.
2. Click Window, Generate Soundtrack.
3. Then I licked on the drop-down box to pick the Genre, then the Style, then clicked Generate Song Now. To go from Film Score 1 to Film Score 2, I just made 2 changes in about 3 seconds.

Film Score 1

Film Score 2

Modern Jazz

Light Rock with Organ

What you hear for each of the 4 songs is the same procedure, and each time it creates an original piece of music. When you want to render to WAV, you just click Audio, Render MIDI to Stereo WAV, Direct Render (took 14 seconds each for the whole song; I only uploaded about 30 seconds). Then, if I want to get fancy, I can change the entire chord structure or melody or add a lead with just a few clicks, I can change between 100's of instruments for each instrument, mute instruments (e.g., to get just strings, etc.), change music style/genre from 100's of options (e.g., various jazz options to bluegrass to Unplugged to Rock to Soundtrack, etc.), change tempo, key, and on and on. You can also import any MIDI file you get on the internet and make any of the above changes to make it your own composition. The PG Music website also says you can import an mp3 and change it to MIDI; I haven't tried that. I'd love to hear what anyone thinks.

birdcat wrote on 1/17/2007, 6:34 AM

I listened to three of the four - I think Sonic Fire Pro or Cinescore will do much better right out of the box.

That said, in the hands of an expert (who can tweak properly) I am very impressed with what BinaB will do.

Pcamp wrote on 1/18/2007, 6:54 AM

Thanks for posting the samples. I am impressed with what you have done - especially like the piano lines/sounds. But there is a 'boxed' feel - I think coming from the drums - that would keep me from using this software for some productions.
Paul