Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/115625
Carrollton, TX-based FirstCom Music (www.firstcom.com) will be at NAB next month showing off its new sound effects Website, which offers producers thousands of sound effects. The aptly named SoundFX (www.soundfx.com) features keyword quick sound search; flexible search results ordering — by description, number of channels, duration, sample bits and sample rate; instant hover-over audio preview; waveform visualization for all audio files; project management; single file and batch download options; and a single sign-in portal with licensing agreement. To help them create the site, Firstcom partnered with sound editor Rob Nokes, who has traveled the world recording new sounds. His list of credits include The Gunrunner Billy Kane, LA Noir, X-Men: First Class, Wolverine, Real Steel, Snow White and the Huntsman, The A-Team, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Race to Witch Mountain. primarily in their 20s and early 30s. Walker calls them "the millennial generation," and they've grown up watching vampires, werewolves and zombies go mainstream, in books, on network TV and on movie screens. They also like music, all kinds of music, from Rob Zombie to Marilyn Manson to Dee Snider and more. So to help speak their language, music has become an important part of FearNet's (@FEARnet) offerings. FearNet also takes part in events around the country, and they are currently looking to add live music to those appearances. "We are working with Killer Tracks on finding emerging bands that also appeal to our audience. It is a great way to connect with our viewers who attend genre-themed conventions," says Walker. "We can engage with our audience not only through the visual pictures 30 Post • March 2013 Post0313_028-33-Sound LibrariesRAV7FINALREAD.indd 30 of our movies, but through sound as well." soon. "We are talking to some companies FearNet also calls on Killer Tracks for pro- now about that." motional purposes, including music beds in all on-air promos and short-form content. "We BUILT BY A USER just brought our on-air group in-house a year Vault Audio (www.vaultaudio.com) is a ago, and we are in the process of fine tuning new music library started by Jonathan Mills the brand," she explains. in Nashville. Mills got the idea to start his Walker relies on her editors/preditors to own offering after working at Country get the most out of production music. Eric Music Television for over eight years. While Cookson is senior preditor at FearNet, and there, he worked on the Top 20 Countdown, he recognizes the benefits of using libraries Insider and most recently produced Southfor music as well as sound effects. "Killer ern Friend Flicks. Tracks has become a valuable component in "When I was producing, I would frequentour ability to produce effective promos. ly search the big music libraries. I noticed that We're able to narrow down our searches many of them had a lot of filler tracks and much faster now and sample far fewer traces didn't really do anything to make themselves to find that perfect one. more than just a library.They seemed to have "Aside from being a sort of one-stop the strategy of 'add as much music as possishop to thoroughly round out their promos, ble (whether good or bad), give clients the modern search tools offered make find- access, the end.' " ing what we need much simpler and far less In 2010, he decided to put his money time consuming," he explains. "It used to be where his mouth was, and do better. That's we would get a catalog of discs and would when he started Vault. "I began looking for have to listen to lots and lots of music we quality composers to include in my catalog didn't need to before finding the track that while searching for ways to make my company was perfect. Now we can really narrow stand out in a sea of music libraries. I worked down the searches for a specific sound, hard in my spare time, signed up some great mood, or tempo quickly, and have to sample composers, found clients here and there, and far fewer tracks to find the one that works." really paid attention to what worked and what Continues Cookson, "Within the Fear- didn't. After three years, I got it as far as I could Net genre — horror, thriller, and suspense doing it part time, and I felt like I had enough — we also need quite a bit of variety, and success to justify leaving CMT. On January 1, I libraries offer that as well. Sometimes we went full time with the company." need heavy, loud, up tempo, or tense and Vault Audio (@ VaultAudio) currently has creepy tracks, and other times light and approximately 5,500 high-quality tracks, with campy tunes. Libraries give us quick access the goal of offering 10,000 by the end of the to all of these styles." year. They offer a wide assortment of licenses FearNet's On-Air depar tment, which — from single-use to one-year subscriptions. employs Avid's Media Composer and Pro Mills believes his experience as a TV proTools, typically uses two to four music ducer is what helps make the Vault Audio tracks in a 30-second spot, and often compresses or expands tracks to better blend them together. Occasionally they will also pitch shift or EQ the music if looking for a different sound than the music library track provides. FearNet recently created promos for the channel's airing of the film Let Me In. "The movie is beautifully shot, dramatic, sweet and really creepy, and we wanted to capture that in the spot," says Cookson. "We used three differ- FearNet's Eric Cookson employs Avid's Pro Tools and ent tracks in 30 seconds to create Media Composer for his promo work. and evolve the mood throughout, from a more tender opening, turning to experience a bit different. "Our collection, our the darker side of the film, building to an pricing, our focus on service was shaped by emphatically-dramatic climax." my time at CMT. When accepting music I think What about a signature sound for Fear- about what I looked for in a track. Usually, it Net itself? Not yet, according to Walker, but was something with an identity, not just a song www.postmagazine.com 3/4/13 1:26 PM