Microbudget Movies:
Music

Music is another place where microbudget movies can really stand out. Pre-recorded “needle drop” music is obviously one way of putting a score together without hiring musicians but a similar technique called “looping” is a bit more creative and flexible. Rather than a complete composition, a loop is a section of music that you string together with other loops to create pretty much whatever you want. It’s really a matter of coming up with the right kind of loops to fit your movie’s style and texture. Fortunately there are tons of loops available, many of which are designed specifically for motion picture work.

If you’re going to compose (or have someone else compose) your score you can use MIDI driven playback devices to do a very good job of simulating an orchestra or whatever kind of combo is required.

And of course you can always use real musicians. Local bands have certainly been known to provide music for microbudget movies if that’s the sound you’re going for. Just make sure you work out some kind of agreement with them as far as compensation is concerned and get it in writing.

Sometimes you don’t even need traditional music to create a compelling soundtrack. Sounds like water dripping or the steady hum of a generator can be used for atmosphere. These can also be enhanced or altered by using sound effects tools on your computer to speed them up or slow them down or add an unearthly echo. With a bit of experimentation you can turn almost any sound into something quite fascinating, and possibly something that will fit your movie better than a musical score.

Under no circumstances should you ever use copyrighted material without the permission of the author and or publisher. Don’t even think about buying someone’s CD (or downloading a hit MP3) and dropping it into your soundtrack. If you have a scene where people are listening to the radio in their car or watching television in a bar don’t attempt to use that material in your movie. You will create a nightmare for yourself that can completely ruin your project! This cannot be emphasized enough. There are many sad stories about producer’s who failed to heed this advice and ended up with big legal troubles, often times preventing their film from being distributed or forcing them to re-edit the movie and remove the copyrighted material.