New Music for Advertising – UniqueTracks takes it to the MAX

Posted on October 27, 2011 by John Bickerton

New Product Release: Royalty Free Music Library, UniqueTracks Inc., has just released a new album of production music soundtracks designed for advertising, TV commercials, marketing films, corporate film, new product releases, podcasting and PowerPoint presentations. Produced by Russian-native, Israel-based composer Sergei Stern, this set will grab your target audience with its blend of contemporary music styles.

MAX Producer is a collection of rock, dance, funk, and easy-listening tracks created especially for use in advertising and promotional spots. The writing is contemporary and hits the right note for marketing films, corporate video, Powerpoint presentations, ads and other promotional productions. The songs are presented in full-length versions plus many edits including 60, 30, 15 second ad mixes.

The songs are good-natured and blend well with imagery. If you are creating upbeat and positive marketing messages and need that feeling underscored, then you’ll certainly find this collection appealing. The writing is engaging and the multiple music styles in the collection will find many uses in your production work.

Check it out, this is a delightful set.

Good Times ahead for UniqueTracks Royalty Free Music Library

Posted on October 21, 2011 by John Bickerton

New Product Release: Royalty Free Music Library, UniqueTracks Inc., has just released a new album of production music soundtracks geared towards advertising, TV commercials, marketing films, corporate film, new product releases, podcasting and PowerPoint presentations. Produced by Russian-native, Israel-based composer Sergei Stern, this set will grab your target audience with its quirky, contemporary feeling.

Good Times is a collection of 14 positive, upbeat and somewhat zany soundtracks. An engaging use of medium tempo 2-beat vamps and old-time rhythmic riffs help create the catchy, folksy feel. The mood is light and will put a smile on your face.

This music is especially well suited for advertising spots and productions in need of a happy, offbeat, atmosphere. This music will bring out feelings of enjoyment and pleasure using a fresh, individualistic, unhampered songwriting style.

Free Music Loops from UniqueTracks

Posted on April 24, 2011 by John Bickerton

Back in 2002/03 UniqueTracks would include a free music loops CD-ROM with every mail order purchase. I recently found a copy in our disk backup archive. The product was called WebLoops. It is a selection of 24 .wav loops in various styles. Listening to them now they have a retro, kind of 90s feel. Style include techno, house, r&b/hip hop, rock and pop.

I’ve put these loops on a page on our site and we have now given them a Creative Commons (Attribution 3) license which enables you to download the loops for free and use them in your production work.

These audio files make great background music when used in Powerpoint presentations, Flash productions, YouTube videos, iPhone Game Apps or any media production.

When you download these loops, you are legally licensed to use them in your work as is or in a remix you create.

You can grab the loops here…
Download Free Music Loops

I hope you enjoy the music. If you enjoy these loops please give us a shout-out on twitter or Facebook. Many thanks.

Best Microphones for Podcasting

Posted on March 30, 2007 by John Bickerton

I remember my first attempts to record the music I was creating back in the mid-80s. Home recording equipment was just becoming affordable to the average musician and I was slowly building up the components of a home recording studio. But, having just bought the equipment, I was rather surprised at how bad my initial recordings sounded. Not really knowing anything about proper microphone placement and other basic elements of a recording engineers skill set, I spent a lot of time with trial and error, got lucky sometimes but ended up ruining a lot of recordings because of poor recording studio fundamentals.

With so many people creating podcasts now, the basic knowledge of what makes a good recording is gradually coming from the specialized world of the recording engineer into the mainstream. Podcasters who want to improve the quality of their productions need, at some point, to learn about microphones – there’s no question, having a good, professional-grade microphone will immediately increase the quality of your podcast production. Today there are many microphones being marketed expressly for podcasting.

Here is really smart article by Cleveland-area IT Specialist, Aaron Shaffer A Review of Seven Microphones, The Heart of All Podcasting.

Aaron looks at seven different microphones including headset, lapel, wireless, and standard tabletop microphones and judges their strengths for podcast recording based on affordability and usage. He points out that a microphone should be chosen based on the recording situation in which it will be placed. For instance recording a lecture for a podcast requires a different microphone than recording a table interview between two people. Aaron gives actual recorded samples of each microphone and then offers his opinion on each mic’s strengths.

Here are his final conclusions based on the microphones he tested, but you should read the complete article because there lots of good podcasting information in it.
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“What would I recommend to you as a professor or lecturer if you want to podcast? Without a doubt the AudioTechnica wireless mic. You can connect it to any laptop or mixer and get great quality. What would I recommend to those interested in dialogue type podcasting with two or more people? The MXL-990. You can’t beat it for the price. And If you’ve got money to blow, go with the Heil PR-40 all around.”
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If you have a little more money to spend, consider these USB microphones, most created by the manufacturers to appeal to the new podcasting market.

Blue Microphones Snowball $134
Marshall Electronics MXL USB.006 $170
Rode – Podcaster $349
Samson CO1U $210
Samson Q1U $90

If you are interested in sound effects for your podcast to create openings, transitions and endings between your interviews and other broadcast segments, then check out this sound effects set created specially for Podcast production.

Podcaster – Music & Sound Effects for Podcasting

Podcasting in Schools

Posted on March 29, 2007 by John Bickerton

The use of podcasting as an information tool has become very popular in our nation’s high schools. School podcasts cover everything from student-produced current events shows to teacher-produced curriculum and lecture announcements. Many schools even have iPod subscription links through the Apple iTunes store. Students can easily subscribe and receive every edition of their school’s podcast automatically downloaded to their iPod.

Now Apple Computer is promoting podcasting as a teacher development tool. Here is an excerpt from the site…

“Podcasting allows administrators to update faculty – even an entire district – in just minutes. With a single click, teachers can subscribe to podcasts and have future content delivered automatically. An ever-growing collection of professional development material, both commercial and free, is available online from the iTunes Store. This is the perfect way to expand ongoing training programs, without straining district resources.

The iPod is an affordable development tool that can scale to fit almost any technology plan. And once in teachers’ hands, it can do even more: from recording notes and podcasts, to transporting digital files back and forth to school, on any Mac or PC. All this, in the palm of your hand. This is the iPod for professional development “an unexpectedly powerful tool for education.”

If you or your school is creating podcasts, then you may be interested in our popular Podcaster product

Just released – Podcaster – Royalty Free Music and Sound Effects. This massive collection by Blastwave FX has been created especially for Podcast producers. Podcaster has everything you need to produce a professional podcast. Add podcast theme music or just a beat loop to your intro and immediately give a focus to your show. With over 500 sound effects this set will let you underscore the humorous, contentious and exciting moments of your podcast.

Audio Imaging and your podcast

Posted on November 15, 2006 by John Bickerton

In his article for Podcasting News, Podcast Imaging: The Sign On Your Front Door, audio designer and producer Ed LaComb writes about creating an “audio image” for your podcast. He describes audio imaging this way…

“Simply put, audio imaging is the “fancy sign” that hangs out in front of your business. If your business is audio, then that sign is a highly (or at least creatively) produced show introduction, some “sweepers” which introduce other elements within the show, or transition from one topic to the next, and perhaps even a show outro.”

What are “sweepers”? Sweepers are little bits of audio that are used to direct attention towards what’s coming next. They are attention-getters. You hear these all the time in broadcast. Radio stations use them to transition to commercials or special announcements and your local TV news broadcast uses them to transition between stories. Sweepers and other audio imaging elements: whooshes, hits, washes, stingers, stabs (they’re named for their sound), all contribute as production tools used to guide listeners towards your next feature.

Listen to the demo for this sound effects collection to hear examples of whooshes, hits, stingers and sweepers.

As a podcast producer you could create connections between your topics or your guests by utilizing these small audio transitions. Choose sounds that fit with your show’s intent or “image”.

As LaComb says in his article, “Properly designed and produced, audio imaging can attract listeners to your podcast and when used creatively throughout your podcast, it can keep them listening from beginning to end.”

UniqueTracks has a full line of audio imaging products. If you create your own podcasts, you may be interested in our Podcaster production music and sound effects product.

New podcast studio software from Apple and M-Audio

Posted on January 20, 2006 by John Bickerton

I’ve been watching Steve Jobs’ keynote address at the recent 2006 MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. As always, there are a lot of great new enhancements to Apple products.

Of special interest to me was the new Podcast studio, an addition to Apple’s GarageBand software .

The new GarageBand includes a built-in Speech Enhancer which optimizes sound for your gender and vocal range, improving the sound of your voice and simulating a professional microphone, even when you’re not using one. And a dynamic “ducking” effect automatically reduces music volume when you speak, so your listeners always hear the talk above the tunes. These are features common in radio stations and radio production studios so it’s quite a nice addition to the package. UniqueTracks royalty free music is fully compatible with GarageBand.

I’m wondering if any of you use GarageBand for podcasting. It does seem very easy to get up and running with a podcast very fast.

One thing about GarageBand that has always bothered me is its name.

A true garage band really is something that emerges spontaneously from a group of friends’ love of music – it’s not a software package – it’s a bunch of people who learn to make music together the old fashioned way, by actually rehearsing and playing it, trying things over and over, arguing, learning what works, learning to cooperate – becoming musicians in the process. There is a rawness, honesty and authenticity to the sound of a real garage band.

In fact Steve Van Zant (Springsteen E Street member) has a critically acclaimed radio show devoted solely to “garage” music. Little Steven’s Underground Garage. You can bet none of the music broadcast on this show was made using Apple’s GarageBand.

Instead of the garage, Apple should have turned to areas of the home where this product actually gets used – like the bedroom or the kitchen table or the den.
If you have experience with GarageBand, please post it here. Let me know if you have created a successful podcast or any other project.

If you create your own podcasts, you may be interested in our Podcaster production music and sound effects product.

UniqueTracks Royalty Free Music for Podcasting

Posted on July 21, 2005 by John Bickerton

Just Released – Podcaster – Royalty Free Music and Sound Effects. This massive collection by Blastwave FX has been created especially for Podcast producers. Podcaster has everything you need to produce a professional podcast. Add podcast theme music or just a beat loop to your intro and immediately give a focus to your show. With over 500 sound effects this set will let you underscore the humorous, contentious and exciting moments of your podcast.

Bill Grady, owner of Star Communications has over 20 years of professional experience in all facets of radio broadcasting. Like other professional broadcasters, Bill has recently become intrigued with podcasting.

His podcast – You Are The Guest – is a weekly show where you can “be the guest” and tell other people what you and your friends/neighbors are saying about today’s news and the issues of the day. The show is part opinion poll, part reality show.

The music Bill chose for the podcast was the UniqueTracks 2 disc set, Top Secret Loops Vol. 1 Rock/Metal. Listen to how Bill uses the music for introductions and transitions between topics. You’ll also hear how the music helps provide an upbeat and casual mood.

Bill’s podcast is open to all guests, if you’d like to participate in his show, just drop him a line at You are the Guest . Here is the RSS link for the podcast.

Royalty Free Music for Podcasting

Posted on July 17, 2005 by John Bickerton

As you may know, there is right now a lot of legal wrangling going on over what music is legal to use [in podcasts] and what is not. ASCAP and BMI, the major performance rights organizations in the US, want to license and in a sense, control the use of music for podcasting. They want to treat the new format like radio, where the podcaster must buy a license to use commercially available music in their podcast.

If you have any experience with this, or can point to some links, please post a comment, I’d like to build up some more information regarding the use of music in podcasting.

Did you know that UniqueTracks production music can be used royalty free music for your podcast? Using royalty free music relieves you of having to obtain permission or licenses from BMI or ASCAP . You become legally licensed to use the music in your podcast (in as many issues as you’d like).

One good method is to pick a tune that can become the “theme” music for your show. You can use our tracks as your theme music or as transition music between topics. With our licensing, a small one-time fee provides you with a legal-to-use track that you can use in as many of your shows as you wish.

Podcast Music Licensing and Performing Rights Organizations

Posted on June 27, 2005 by John Bickerton

I found this description and discussion of podcast music licensing very informative. If you do any type of internet broadcasting, you may be interested in how Performing Rights Organizations are looking at this latest internet broadcasting technology.

Should Podcasters have to pay a fee for the right to play copyrighted songs during a Podcast? Yes, says ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. There’s also a good discussion of how much that licensing will cost.

Notes from UniqueTracks

The blog of the UniqueTracks Production Music Library

Tag Archives: Podcasting