Blog of Bruce Edward Smith, composer and producer of music for commercial use and personal enjoyment. Stay up to date on Bruce's latest releases and projects.
I just got approval for several new tracks yesterday at Pond5. If you follow my Twitter feed, you may have seen the videos going up to YouTube as I uploaded them. I'll be featuring them and my updated new music collection on the feed today. One of the new tracks I'm promoting today is another "ambient mindfulness" loop.
I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. I have a couple of sales to plug at the beginning of this week. Interestingly, one of them was a Christmas track, which I didn't expect this long after the holidays. I'm grateful anyway. Thank you, buyer, for choosing my work. May my 60-second brass arrangement of "Deck the Halls" serve you well.
I'm also excited that someone snapped up my new royalty-free track Ambient Mindfulness Loop last week. I have a similar track awaiting curation and hope to start work on a third one this week (if not today). Thanks for licensing my work. For a preview of this track, check the video immediately below.
On my Twitter feed, I plan to feature various areas of my portfolio. I'll probably do some more promotion of my "romantic" collection since Valentine's Day is closing in. Meanwhile, I might also promote some of the more ominous-sounding stuff and drone soundscapes, what with all the fear over President Trump.
Meanwhile, I have several new tracks in the curation pipeline at Pond5, most of which focus on a very specific niche: podcast intros. I'm planning a variety of tracks in very short lengths (8-25 seconds), designed for corporate, tech, and lifestyle podcasts and vlogs. I've also created a collection that will focus on podcast intros and plan to roll it out on Twitter and Google+ once I have approved content to promote. Stay tuned for more.
Finally, an update on my "experiment" with feel good music. The track I had created based Dr. Jacob Jolij's formula for determining whether music is "feel good" has not sold at AudioJungle. This does not mean the concept isn't sound. It could simply be that there is no interest in that style for production music applications, or there could be something seasonal that influences interest in this kind of music (it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere), or something else going on. (For example, sales over there are really slow.)
I had gotten into the habit of posting every day here, but I may trim that back, so if you don't see anything on a given day when you stop by, please don't despair. I do appreciate everyone who takes the time to stop by for updates, and I do intend to continue my "what's coming up" posts either on Sunday evening or Monday morning Eastern (U. S.) time.
Once again today, I'll be featuring royalty-free stock music tracks from my Romantic collection. You can see them in my Twitter feed here on the blog or on Twitter. Some of these are sort of exotic:
Others are more retro. All are worthy of consideration for your Valentine's Day video.
I hope you'll check them all out and stop back often for updates here.
I thought I'd take some time from my usual pattern of promoting my work to stop and express gratitude. I'm grateful to all the people who have listened to the new stock music I've released this week at Pond5 and AudioJungle. I hope you'll find something that works for whatever project you're working on at the moment. I'm also grateful to those of you who have licensed my work in the past, or who have simply stopped by to read my updates.
Meanwhile, I do have some work in process that I hope to be able to share soon. One of the areas I'm looking at is podcasts. Not mine, yours. Stop by for updates.
I think today, instead of focusing on a specific collection in my Twitter feed, I want to highlight some tracks that are positive or happy. Most stock music web sites push specific genres most of the time, like corporate, ambient, and cinematic (which is why I do that too). But sales are not going very well at the moment, so I figure I might as well have some fun with it.
Everything I'll be tweeting today is available royalty-free for your posivibe media projects, so I hope you'll check them out and find one to license for your next video. That includes my latest at AudioJungle, Driving Uplifting Rock.
I've got a lot of new content to promote this week. It varies from quiet, to drone music to upbeat rock. Plus, I have an update on my "feel good music" experiment. So let's get started.
Whaaaaaaaaat's on the menuuuuuuuu?!!!!!!!!
First, I'm featuring one of my Dronescape tracks at the web site this week. This one is simply called "Electronic Drone Soundscape," it's available to license exclusively at Pond5. Meanwhile at Luckstock, I'm featuring "Bright Positive Outlook."
New, new, and more new
I have a bunch of new tracks I'll be tweeting about all week that are new at Pond5. I mentioned them on Friday, but the videos are now uploaded and ready to check out. Most of these are quiet, meditative tracks or drones, but one is a slow dramatic piano track with string orchestra. Also, keep my ten or so most recent tracks at Pond5 in this collection, so if you miss out for awhile you can get up to speed on what I've been doing recently in one place. Speaking of new . . .
The experiment continues
Last week I posted about a new track I created based loosely on a formula developed by a Dutch neuroscientist for "feel good" music. I'm pleased to report that the track, Driving Uplifting Rock, has been approved for sale at AudioJungle (no small feat for me lately!) and has already received a positive comment. It's also my featured track on my profile at AudioJungle this week.
So, lots to see and do. I hope your week is a great one, and that you'll continue to support my work by licensing, listening, or just stopping by to read my ramblings.
I just received approval for five new tracks at Pond5 yesterday. I put together "album cover" videos last night, and will be uploading them to YouTube this morning. The videos will also be on my Twitter feed today.
Three of these new tracks I would describe as "mood" tracks. They're designed to set a mood or to be an aid to meditation. I even titled one of them "Ambient Mindfulness Loop." Two others are new members of my "Dronescapes" collection. One is very deep and dark, while the other has more noise and glitches. The last of the new tracks is a simple piano and orchestra underscore that's actually already out there. I featured it in the background of a simple video I did of a reading from one of Theodore Roosevelt's speeches.
Watch here and on my Twitter feed next week for more on these new tracks and on my new music collection at Pond5.
Today on my Twitter feed I'm highlighting some royalty-free stock music that might work for your documentary, business presentation, or explainer video. Some of these tracks have rhythm sections playing under them, while others feature a repeating arpeggiated figure. "Informative Corporate" is an example of the latter.
Recently, my wife ran across an article online about a formula for the best "feel good" song and forwarded it to me. It turned out to be legitimate. Dr. Jacob Jolij, a Dutch professor of cognitive psychology and neuroscience at the University of Groningen, had received a commission from Alba, a British electronics company, to develop the formula based on a survey the company had done to determine the top all-time "feel good" songs. Professor Jolij analyzed various aspects of the top vote getters and determined the main musical elements common to all of them. He followed this up later by developing a "feel good song" scale, where people can define how good a song makes them feel on a scale of 1 to 100. Based on this, the professor developed a formula, which he lists on his blog.
Dr. Jolij's formula boils the typical "feel good" song down to the following elements:
A fast tempo (between 140 and 150 beats per minute (bpm) seems best)
A major key
Relatively complicated chord changes (more than 3 chords, unless the key is major)
Positive or nonsense lyrics
A prime example of this is Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now." It has a fast tempo, major key, and a happy, whimsical lyric ("That's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit/I'm traveling at the speed of light").
So, in the "feel good" spirit of the moment, I decided that I would try to apply these principles of a "feel good" song to stock music. Last night I created and mixed an instrumental track I call "Driving Uplifting Rock." The track incorporates three of the four elements in Dr. Jolij's formula: it's 148 bpm, in C Major, and has more than 3 chords. It is somewhat repetitive, but attempts to hold interest through slight variations in instrumentation and building to a climax as it goes.
I've uploaded the track and am waiting on the curation review process. Depending on where (and if) it receives approval, I'm curious to see if the reaction to this track is different that my other work. Of course, this is not scientific at all. There are certain variables for which I simply can't account. For example, stock music sites are search-driven, so success is determined not only by the quality or style of music but also whether people are able to find it based on searches on common keywords, like "corporate," "ambient" or "cinematic" (and that's why this blog is titled the way it is!).
If nothing else, though, this little experiment has given me something else to think about in developing stock music I hope you'll find useful in your media project. Please stay tuned, and I'll try to keep you updated on the progress of this little "experiment."
Today I'm featuring tracks from my collection of romantic music, just in time for Valentine's Day. These tracks, all available royalty-free, vary in style from from smooth jazz and world beat to a retro 60s vibe with strings, piano and rhythm section that will make you think of Henry Mancini.
Please key an eye on my Twitter feed, and check back here for updates and new releases.
The year 2017 is now in full swing, and I'm back to old habits. I'm featuring my royalty-free track "Inspiring Vision" this week on my website and Twitter profile.
At AudioJungle, my featured track is "Family Fun Time" and at Luckstock I'm featuring "Corporate Energy."
This week, in addition to highlighting tracks that have sold recently, I'll be featuring some romantic stock music to help you get in the mood for Valentine's Day. I'll also share some tracks that might be useful for business and documentary videos, as well as setting the mood for events and presentations. I hope you'll check it all out and let me know if there's a particular musical need I can help you meet.
On my Twitter feed today, I'm showcasing tracks from my Corporate and Business Friendly collection at Pond5. There are tracks that work well in presentations, sales videos, commercials and similar settings. Some of these are upbeat and atmospheric, like Upbeat Ambient Corporate.
Whatever your need, I hope you'll find a solution in my collection of over two dozen tracks. If there's something you need and can't find in this Corporate and Business Friendly collection, please leave a comment, and I'll do my best to work with you. I'm also available to create custom music just for you, if that's what you're looking for.
Today on my Twitter feed I'm featuring my Ambient Music Cuts collection at Pond5. This collection includes varied musical styles. Some are more atmospheric and ethereal, others are downright scary.
The collection includes two of my more popular stock music tracks:
"Ambient Shifting" is a good choice for explainers and similar presentations and has been used by National Geographic. You can hear it in the background beginning just before the 0:50 mark.
"Ambient Ominous" is a menacing background that fits well with hard-hitting documentaries.
I hope you'll check out the entire collection and come back for new work coming off the pipeline.
Today I featured my Dramatic and Corporate collections from AudioJungle on my Twitter feed.
The Dramatic collection consists of cues and logos suitable for cinematic or theatrical productions.
The Corporate collections includes inspiring and motivating tracks for business friendly videos, presentations, or event openers.
Please check them out, and leave me a comment if there's a style of music you need for your next production. There's probably something in my total portfolio of nearly 350 tracks that you could use.
