July 13, 2016

Working With Soundscape



Is It Music or Sound Design?

Call it ethereal, call it electronica, call it New Age or call it music for sound design, the search for those music tracks that create a mood without a necessarily defined music style can give your shows a very unique sound. CSS Music has two volumes entitled Soundscapes that create ambiances using various instrumentation and unusual grooves.

A track like “Metherial” (Soundscapes Volume 1) can work wonders for scenes requiring a little mystery or wonder. It could even be used in an underwater scene with it’s “bubbling” clave part.  Or a track like “Rings of Saturn” (Soundscapes Volume 2) offers a quiet journey through space with a simple electric piano that evokes a peaceful futuristic mood.

Or you might try our Multiple Word Keyword Search a/k/a Redi-Trax and type in “soundscape” and any other criteria you seek. You’ll find more selections that fill the bill from our Super Themes® and Repro-file™ Plus libraries.  A track like “Bleak Winter” (Repro-file™ Plus Volume 28) paints a chilly picture using a simple repetitive motif and a wind-like synthesizer wash. Or “Migrating North” (from the same disc) embodies the spirit of a herd of gazelle on the move--very picturesque!

How do these tracks work with dialog? Beautifully! Because they are primarily mood setters, there is (typically) no melody to interfere with the spoken word.  And you may find tracks with longer pauses to work around or to edit for time. Soundscape music truly is a cross between music and sound design. The moods created vary from ethereal to mysterious to downright spooky! We hope you find uses for this special music in your next show.

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