SF Audio questions

RexA wrote on 9/14/2003, 1:04 AM

I've been reading the recent posts about royalty-free sound libraries. I want to purchase some to have on hand, so this was good info. Sampling some of the Sonic Foundry Loop collections, I'm impressed with the quality but I have some questions.

Many of these packages use terms that I am unsure of: loops, stingers, stagers, music beds. Loops, I think I know: a piece of music that can be appended to itself one or more times and it sounds ok. I think music beds are like some SF Classical examples where things like horns and woodwinds are in separate files that can be blended together or not. Correct me if that is wrong.

What are stingers and stagers? So far, my searches here and elsewhere have not found good definitions.

I gather that these SoFo collections are mostly wav files that can be used in any audio application, but they contain extra data that tells Acid about things like tempo and pitch. I just downloaded the free version of Acid, but haven't had a chance to try it yet. Can Vegas take any advantage of these special qualities or just Acid? I also have Cool Edit Pro; I assume no help there either?

Are there any advantages of the SoFo Sound collections over other packages if I'm mainly using Vegas to edit? Does anyone have favorites in the SoFo collections that they use for video backgrounds?

There is one specific type of music that I haven't found much of in the various collections I have browsed... think in terms of a Western movie where the actors are slowly riding horses over the hills... I envision a mellow guitar-based country sound. Anyone have suggestions for obtaining that?

Well, lots of rambling there about sound stuff. Any comments are appreciated. Sorry if this is slightly off-topic here. The Acid group might be more appropriate, but I want to use this stuff with Vegas.

-Rex

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/14/2003, 7:08 AM

To understand the terms of Acid, i'd recomend downloading the manual for Acid Pro 4.0, and you can even download a FREE version of acid (goto the Downloads menu on the top of the screen and select Free Stuff).

Or post in the Acid forum. They would know better then this forum. I just bought Screenblast Acid and enjoy it very much. It even came with a free version of Sound Forge (with a few limitations).

Jessariah67 wrote on 9/14/2003, 8:33 AM

Rex,

Ever since discovering Acid, my life has become much easier. Acid is a GREAT program that cuts music production time down to a fraction of what it used to be. The SoFo (Sony now) libraries are very high quality and pretty diverse. If you learn how to create your own loops, you can easily use Sony's libraries and add your own touches.

If you want, you can check out some samples on my web site. All of the video music beds were done in Acid using primarily Sony loop libraries & loops from my own libraries.

RexA wrote on 9/14/2003, 2:32 PM

>>To understand the terms of Acid, i'd recomend downloading the manual for Acid Pro 4.0, and you can even download a FREE version of acid (goto the Downloads menu on the top of the screen and select Free Stuff).

I did download the Acid 30 manual. I haven't found any mention in there of stingers or stagers.

If I don't get answers here in the next day or so I'll try the Acid forum. I also did a search through all the forums and haven't found answers.

Randy Brown wrote on 9/14/2003, 7:04 PM

Hey Jessariah,
I checked out your website and I gotta tell you that I'm very impressed with some of your videos, especially "Library Foundation". BTW, out of curiosity, was the music for it done with loops; if so where did you get them?
Thanks,
Randy

Jessariah67 wrote on 9/14/2003, 10:23 PM

Randy,

I used some James Johnson loops on the beginning, then used a blend of SoFo (Sony) and my own in the body. Some I made up for the project, and some came from the Sonic Grafitti library on my site.

Even though my company is about to release two Piano loop libraries, the piano you hear in the Library Foundation video is from one of Johnson's Sony libraries (both Spektral Minimalism & Slow Silhouette are BRILLIANT). If you're looking for those extended, cinematic pads, check out the Johnson libraries as well as the Cinematix 1 & 2 libraries.

I tried to pitch our upcoming Piano Libraries to SoFo initially, but they don't seem to be interested. It's still gonna be a ground-breaking set...

Anyway, you'll find a lot of that "ethereal element" in the James Johnson libraries -- I can't tell you how much mileage I've gotten out of them...

Jessariah67 wrote on 9/14/2003, 10:35 PM

Stingers & stagers are primarily radio terms. They refer to the 5, 10 (etc.) second station IDs, ballsy sounds & mini promos that you hear in between songs, before commercials, out of commercials, etc.

<<<Big Digital Sweep>>> 97.7 FM...THE HARD SPOT...MORE ROCK AND LESS COMMERCIALS...(song starts to play)

That's a stinger...

Randy Brown wrote on 9/15/2003, 8:40 AM

Thanks Jessariah, I haven't bought loops in over 2 years...I'll definitely check these out though.
Thanks again,
Randy