Music is one of the most powerful media elements of a video production, essential for setting the tone of a storyline and eliciting an emotive response from an audience. A musical underscore can convey mixed moods and concepts that develop throughout the duration of a video, and cue the viewer to important moments in a production.

As a producer, when considering the source of your musical underscore, you may: (1) use someone else’s copyrighted work; (2) purchase buy-out music; or (3) compose your own score.

(1) If you choose to use a copyrighted sound recording in your production, write for permission to obtain both master use and synchronization licensing.

• Master use – licensing of the recording of a musical work to be performed as a lead-in or background to a video.
• Synchronization – licensing of a musical work to be synchronized with visual elements in a video.

Licensing associations such as ASCAP, BMI and SESAC can help you locate the copyright owner (often the publisher) and record label holder of a sound recording.

• ASCAP [www.ascap.com]
• BMI [www.bmi.com]
• SESAC [www.sesac.com]

(2) Your second alternative is to purchase buy-out music. You can obtain a buy-out track for a flat, one time charge that includes synchronization and master licensing costs. Online music licensing libraries offer advanced search features by keyword, style, category, tempo, mood, genre or instrument and provide cut down tracks (:15, :30, :60 or full-length) to match your production needs. Check out these music libraries for potential buy-out tracks:

• AudioNetwork [https://us.audionetwork.com/]
• D.A.W.N. Music [http://www.dawnmusic.com]
• Freeplay Music L.L.C. [www.freeplay.com]
• Gene Michael Productions Music [http://www.gmpmusic.com]

[Note: For this production’s musical score, I chose tracks from D.A.W.N and GMP whose tone, frequency and key (minor) supported a reflective and serious narrative.]

(3) A third option is to compose and perform your own musical score. The musical typing feature of GarageBand, coupled with extensive software instrument options including strings, bass, drums and woodwinds, allow you to create multi-track, customized scores for your video productions.

[Note: For this video’s musical score, I chose the melody, ‘Tis a gift to be simple’ because it speaks to the simplicity of the basic human right to be free. The tune is an ancient melody originating in the British Isles. I used musical typing, a feature of GarageBand, to create instrumental tracks, primarily woodwinds and strings, then imported those tracks into Final Cut Pro to edit the master mix.]

The single most important element for setting the tone of your video is audio. Take time to select or compose your musical underscore carefully and accentuate your message with rhythm and rhyme.

Written by Kate Lee, Senior Media Producer