Are iTunes Plus songs HQ enough for a movie? Or is lossless required.

[cjagceo1]

Hello!

I had a quick question about music. For my movie I have permission from artists to use their songs in my movie, "A Thousand Miles Away".

However, I have a lot of songs "scattered" across artists and the easiest way to get them all is to just buy them from iTunes and use them.

However, I hate lossy songs and wish I could download them in a lossless format, but iTunes does not offer that at the time, and I can't find a good store with a decent selection.

So my question is, are 256 VBR iTunes Plus song files ok quality for a movie in theaters and blu-ray? They sound fine, but I don't know if it will sound "cheap" quality on a very good system...

I would prefer lossless a lot more, but I don't feel like buying a CD just for 1 song. I would need like 20 CDs...

Any input would be most appreciated!

Thanks,
Reed Mayhew. CEO of Chicken Joe Acting Group

 

[PaulGriffith]

Most of the time, yes, that will work fine. You need to think about final output. Playing in theaters or BluRay 7.1 home theaters requires more than YouTube and mobile releases. Even on BluRay it will end up being compressed to something similar.

 

[cjagceo1]

Okay thanks! I was thinking about it, and if it sounds fine, I don't think the audience cares! Lol

Your right about it being reduced anyway through digital distribution, it won't matter if its lossless then.

I did have another quick question, when I'm using Final Cut Pro and I am editing in 7.1 surround sound, sometimes lossy music can sound "dirty" and not clear.

Is that because its like stretching it between different speakers? I'm not sure exactly how or what It does, but when I listen to the individual speakers, they are different sounding. (Back channels have more instruments and less voice, etc...)

Does it sound weird because its lossy and it doesn't have all of the sound it needs to separate the instruments or vocals?

 

[Alcove Audio]

If you have permission of the artists to us their songs why not ask them for a 16/44.1 (or better) copy of the music in question? I'm sure that they would like their music to best possible advantage.

 

[cjagceo1]

I could try... Its very hard to get through to them, but that's a good idea!

 

[cjagceo1]

I've talked with my team, I have like 1 - 2 songs that I have the ok to use. Its ridiculously expensive to get popular songs, so I am probably going to stick with writing my own soundtrack and using Creative Commons (which is such a pain) lol.

Thanks so much for the help!