Every week the staff of Dare Dreamer FM picks five Creative Commons songs that are free to use in your productions. You could do this work yourself, but it takes a lot of time. Since we do it anyway as we look for CC music for Radio Film School, we share our favorite discoveries with you. Enjoy!
This Week’s Picks
The theme for this week is the type of music I like to listen to while I edit a film or just practicing my coloring skills. Most of the time, as you might have guessed, I like to listen to ambient music (I don’t know what it is, but ambient seems to go with a lot of things!) However these songs will be a collection of all different styles of music, from the deep and slow classical to the ambient to the upbeat and energizing rock.
Sergey Cheremisinov – Labyrinth (CC-BY)
C’mon, you knew there was going to be an ambient song 🙂 I feel like I can easily get lost in this song the same way you can get lost in editing a piece. That can be both good or bad depending how many days you have spent on the project. But there is so much emotion been hinted at in this song that I think it will help any editor working a film. And that is usually the key when editing a great story: finding the emotion, the heart of the story, and showcasing it through layers. (This song was used in the “Twilight Zone” special of Radio Film School.)
Chris Zabriskie – Prelude No. 23 (CC-BY)
I once did a study that found classical music helped in exercises that involved deep thinking. Granted it was a project for middle school so I might not have been deadly accurate in my research but I took it seriously enough 🙂 I think this piece helps to focus the mind and keep an editor on track while they are working.
Alaclair Ensemble – Intergalactique (CC-BY SA)
I chose this song purely for the beat! Ironically, I have found myself recently drawn to songs in foreign languages as it brings another layer. While I’m sure there are some downsides to not knowing exactly what they are saying, I feel  that if the artist is any good, they have been able to communicate their message without knowing the exact translation.
Katy Kirby – Everytime (CC-BY)
This folksy song is just energetic enough to pick up your pace when you are editing. There is nothing worse than when you have been editing for a couple hours and you can actually feel yourself getting slower moving all the clips around. “Every Time” has a nice bounce to it allowing you to get back into the edit while maybe inspiring your imagination and creating new possibilities in the edit you hadn’t seen before.
For me its the simple guitar that makes me like this piece. Its great for having on in the background while spinning the color wheel to find that right tone. The tone is upbeat but with a whimsical touch.