The 6 Spots I go to for Music

Music plays a large role in what I do. Without a love of music it’s not possible to perform my editing duties. In a given week, I may be editing a city wedding, one in the country as well as political campaign spot. Finding the right tone makes or breaks an edit. As many of you know having the right music going in the background can amplify your creative juices and in film it’s emotion.

I’ve been asked a number of times where do I find the music I use. I’ve done three hundred wedding edits a few dozen commercials and I’ve played around with Pandora, Spotify and Amazon prime music which are all nice services, but where do I get the new music.

1. Sirius – It was easier to give up cable TV than it would be Sirius. On a given day, I’ll listen have Classical, 40s and Bluegrass depending on the mood or what I’m cooking. But XMU and Sirius Chill are my goto stations. XMU has a great mix ranging from mainstream alternative to really eclectic sets from bloggers all over the country. Chill is mellow. It’s what I listen to if I’m editing in a coffee shop.
2. Gorilla vs Bear  A terrific blog run out of Texas with a taste for music that doesn’t get the exposure and in many cases gives them their first taste of success.
3. Boombox Radio – Now defunct. This was a once a week 2-hour show on Alt Nation, curated by DJ Liquid Todd with crazy covers and remixes. It happened to be on Saturday’s 10p so, I often had the song from that day’s wedding picked out by the time I returned home. It was the first place in the states to play Lorde among others.
4. YouTube’s Auto Mixes. Pick a song you like, YouTube will then choose a 50 song mix from similar artists and genres. You’ll find the link just below the main window. I’d say 50% of my picks are from going down the musical rabbit hole on youtube and finding the perfect cover or acoustic match. It’s great for parties too as well. Here’s one to get you started.
5. SoundCloud – Similar to Youtube Soundcloud is a great way to find obscure works that get missed by the larger streaming services. You’ll need patience as playlists aren’t curated as well as with youtube so you’ll be skipping a lot of tracks to find something good.  But once you do you’ll find something great. Some songs are obscure for good reason. My favorite mix on there is this one from Nicolas Jaar
6. Musicbed – While, I pick a lot of obscure songs and can count on YouTube to have my back in terms of making sure the licensed artists get paid, I normally go with MusicBed for commercial work.  You pay less than a $100 in most instances and get a good, but not usually great song. I prefer their ambient selections