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Where can I obtain suspenseful music for free?

R

RhysJames

Hi all,

I have plans of doing some sort of horror/slasher short this summer but I want to gather all my assets together before I start finalizing the script and finding actors to take part.

I would like to know where I could get some suspenseful music - the sort youd find in a horror when they're about to get jumped or something.

Ideally it needs to be free because the budget is next to nothing and Id like the budget to be spent in other areas such as lighting and scenery.

Kindest Regards
Rhys James
 
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I don't usually like giving my secrets away; but you can get AWESOME and free tracks from the Newgrounds.com audio portal. Be sure to email the composer of the track you use just to let them know... they love hearing that their work is being used.

Infact, the composer for my project is a member of that website... great piano player, always loved his work. I asked him if he'd personally compose something for my short film and he said he'd do it for free. It is true that you get what you pay for, but those who just want to get noticed will work their absolute hardest to deliver you something.
 
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You could go to incompetech.com, it's got a big library, though I am uncertain if it's really suitable to what you're doing, not much free stuff is likely to be when it comes to action, suspense, and horror...

I primarily use SmartSound, it's a scoring application that gives you the most control over special music files designed specifically for its use (they have a huge library that just keeps on growing at a very fast rate). The vast majority of cinematic tracks are recorded by real orchestras, and they do deliver true Hollywood quality material, it's amazing! Do check it out, I actually just got several more discs that were released just last month (introductory prices of new albums are insanely cheap, generally $25 per album, then they go up to a normal price of anywhere from $100-200, but there's special sales pretty much every month or so).

I bought the Richard Band vol 2 Horror album a while back an it is awesome! Most of the music sounds like what you hear in our modern horror flicks, and a few sound a bit more oldish, but work for modern stuff too. I also got Richard Band vol 1 Action which has some really good action-packed material; I have Orchestral Impact which has even more action, probably the best yet for my needs (quite a few tracks sound very much like the Bourne Identity trilogy music); Fear and Uncertainty has a few really good action tracks, and some tension-builders; Theatrical Impact is loaded with epic music with the chorus and everything--I totally love it, it's got the perfect tracks for final showdowns and gripping trailers!; Cinema Standards is a variety of tracks, comedy, action, suspense, romance, sci-fi; Cinematic Excellence has great, beautiful tracks for scenic places and events (like scenic castle sequences), some sad, gut-wrenching tracks, some romantic; Sound Palette Weapons and Destruction is a sound effects album loaded with varieties of sounds, different versions of each kind, like 8 or so different pistol shots, explosions, shotguns, automatics, cars driving by, toilets flushing, glass breaking, etc;...there's plenty more I would have, I just need money and wait till the next big $25 per album sale, these guys make incredible quality stuff! I used parts of several tracks in my Hall of Wrath video, and on the wedding trailer on my business website.
 
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Thanks for all your suggestions. I guess the music Im looking for doesn't have to be top quality material - the short I plan to make is sort of a test, to see if the stuff I have in mind can actually be done with my equipment and skills so any sort of suspenseful music would do the job.

Thanks once again, Im checking out all your ideas.

Regards
Rhys James
 
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Well it's not free but www.stockmusic.net has plenty of amazing scores to chose from. Something for every genre. Most songs on the site go for $30. Thats a fraction of the $700 I was asked to pay for almost the same song. You can't get much for nothing, and I would say $30 is a small price to pay for the quality you can get from stockmusic.net.
 
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Place a free ad in Music Connection magazine. They are online. Their free classifieds are called "AMPED" I think. Don't expect anything great. Hopefully you can do something simple with some low strings or something. Or maybe do something simple with a few "noises" like in the movie Duel.
 
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If you have a Mac with a copy of Garage Band on it, you can probably knock something decent up yourself... if it's just layers of atmosphere with a jump cue at the end, easy as pie.
 
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RhysJames said:
I would like to know where I could get some suspenseful music - the sort youd find in a horror when they're about to get jumped or something.
Click to expand...

Hi Rhys :)

Get yourself a decent composer. For a start, I have over 20 short films under my belt and 2 feature-length films. Here's a link to a Horror Short I scored ('Bad Juju')... http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7d0ax_bad-juju_shortfilms

A lot of micro-budget directors are scared of booking a composer to compose a tailor-made score for their film. They are scared that they won't know what to say to a real composer. They do not realise that a composer is generally directed like an actor with just a few differences, and that a good one will have good instinct as to what is needed for the film anyway.

Music libraries and do-it-yourself options are no replacement for a proper original score.

How much did the score to 'Bad Juju' cost the film makers? Absolutely NOTHING whatsoever. There are a lot of naysayers going around on ShootingPeople and the like thinking that a good score costs lots of money. This is simply NOT the case.

I work on a film if the film interests me and if I feel I can do something musically with the material. I am happy to work on such a film for free... except for a DVD copy of the finished film and the credit, of course.
 
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Hi,

Great question... I don't know where you are, but I'm willing to bet that there's a college or university near by with a willing and eager composition student. Please refrain from using "canned" music. You'll end up altering your film to "fit" the pre-recorded stuff. That's not how a film-maker story-teller works! Find a composer with whom you can work and learn how to communicate your needs and desires to the composer. Don't let some "canned" music dictate the pace of your film.
 
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I would be willing to help out. I have a top of the line audio production studio. I have 15 years of experience as a musician and audio engineer and I am looking to expand my experience in the movie scoring business. Working on horror movies is my hobby. You can hear some samples on www.artepproductions.com
 
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Aaryk Noctivagus said:
Unlikely that it would be 'decent' musically unless the user has some musical sense or knowledge.
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Well he said he only needed it for some atmos/jump cues, and he didn't want to pay. It's actually a really good option for people who know what they want in terms of classic cinema FX.

I also agree with SQComposer... find a college or music school where they teach composition. There's loads of talent out there, hungry for experience! I know first hand, been lecturing in composition for years now and am ALWAYS scrapping around and begging industry peeps to give my students some live briefs.
 
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How many times do you see an indie film that has "cheesy" sounds? This is what can happen when you cut corners on music. It takes YEARS as a musician to be able to know what "fits" for a scene. It also takes the right arsenal of keyboards at your disposal to do what fits. For the horror genre the sound plug-in Atmosphere is good and the Access Virus synth are tops on my list of favs.
Some of the best music I heard on the Discovery Channel's show "Everest Beyond the Limit" was a watery synth sound plus a "tick-toc clock noise" drowned out in reverb. Just two sounds! That's it. And one of the greatest horror soundtracks was the piano riff for Halloween. How many times did they keep coming back to that reoccurring piano theme? A good composer knows how to make the music all gel together. The music for that movie was written in a VERY short period of time. I think it was like 2 weeks or something like that. Amazing.

So with your limited budget, I'd look for someone who is really good at being a minimalist.
 
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I suppose I'm one of those young composers that Alcove mentioned earlier. I certainly don't mind working for free. You can check out some of my recent work on my myspace.com/slidecenter page. Let me know if you are interested.

Thanks and good luck
 
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Hopefully that doesn't come off as advirtising... I' don't want any disgruntled moderators. :) Feel free to delete the link if you see fit. I read the "No Advertising" announcement seconds after I posted
 
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Get on Sound Track Pro by apple. There are tons of sound effects prefect for a horror. Even if you are not a musician you can still create a decent vibe and mood. All the cost is your time, it's a simple program to use.

Other options:

Place an free ad for a student composer to do the films. Pay them with a credit.

Record friends,
Breathing, foot steps, Screams, or what ever sounds you want. One can get very creative with little resources.
 
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I've found the cheapest, most reliable way to obtain original music for film scores.


Write and record it yourself. You can get a hold of music recording software relatively easily, and cheap, and create your own soundtrack. Try the Acid music software at Best Buy. Only goes for about $60 and comes with hundreds of prerecorded audio loops which you could splice and mix into your own thing. Or you could use it to record your own original stuff from an outside instrument.
 
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