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PPC>
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building>
Software
Lexicon CDs
Ian Waugh checks out some collections of
royalty free music tailored for your web site.
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Info |
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Product |
Lexicon CDs |
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From |
3qsound |
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Web |
www.3qsound.com
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Price |
£35 each |
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Rating |
8/10 |
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We Like |
Excellent quality,
good music, inexpensive, royalty-free |
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We don't Like |
Not all CDs are in
Wave format, some CDs very short |
Need some music for your web site or home video
production? Ian Waugh looks at a range of CDs written with
non-musicians in mind.
If you've been following our Web Guides and tips you
should have a pretty cool web site up and running. One of the things
you can do to enhance your site is to add music to it and we have
looked at a book which aimed to help you
do just that
.
But putting music on your site and creating the
music for it in the first place are two different things. What you
want is a supply of low-cost, high quality music. And 3qsound just
happen to have released seven CDs that fit the bill.
As well as dotting music around your Web - don't
overdo it - these pieces could also be used in video and audio
productions. They are royalty-free so you can use them free of
charge.
Here's a quick impression...
Shorts
Interesting snippets a minute or two long which
could be extracts from a range of styles from Dance music to
corporate presentations. Modern, up-front and funky.
Indents (Audio)
30
shorts, most just a few seconds long, which would be used to herald
a break on TV or radio, to announce something, punctuate it and so
on. Not without its Dance influences. Some pieces could easily be
used on a Web site, when opening a new window, for example. VFM
seekers may feel a little short-changed however as the total music
time is only six and a half minutes.
Stratospheric Atmospheres (Audio)
As the title says, 30 atmospheric tracks ideal for
chilling out to, for running along in the background while someone
looks at your web pages or for atmospheric video scenes. Definitely
one of our favourites.
Super Flash Looper (Audio)
60
music loops covering percussion, drums and music, some laid back,
some frantic, all interesting. They are in four-bar sections and
designed to be, er, looped of course. Use as a backing riff and put
other stuff on top or repeat quietly in the background. Good, but
another shorty at around eight minutes.
Full On (Audio)
18 full pieces, a full 73 minutes of music covering
more styles than Gucci. Many are very laid-back, love scene stuff;
play on your web in the background - far better than Prozac and we
mean that in the nicest possible way. Others are in modern Dance
vein, there's film soundtrack music, and even a kiddie song - Nice
One Puss!
Sounds Abound (Wave)
Over 300 sound effects divided into five categories
- animals, shops and other stuff; appliances and home; button
clicks; people fx; and vehicles. The button clicks could enliven a
web page - or drive visitors potty, and for that there area
collection of bathroom and bodily function noises. "You can't beat a
good bodily function if you want a laugh," said Billy Connolly.
Arkitecture (Wave) £9.99
A
budget sample CD containing over 250 samples divided into categories
such as drum loops, drum sounds, raw sounds, fx, riffs, and vocal
extracts. Many could be spotted around a web or used in the
construction of bigger pieces of music. Excellent value.
Summary
The Lexicon CDs are designed for a wide range of
applications - from use on the web to TV and radio, DJ mixes,
presentations and even as stand-alone listening.
Given that most users will be using them with a
computer applications it's strange that they are not all in a Wave
format so you may have to rip them first.
That apart, both the audio and music quality of
these CDs is nothing less than excellent and we can highly recommend
them for whatever use you wish to put them.
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