Most podcasters use music in their show in one way or another. And you can't legally use mainstream music in your show unless you've paid to license it or unless it's royalty free or otherwise "podsafe."
Many producers turn to "clip music" for use in podcasts. Like clip art, this is generic music that can be used by pretty much anyone.
With the advent of Apple's GarageBand, podcasters and others could easily make their own music. And it works well. The problem with GarageBand is that everyone who has a Mac also has GarageBand. Accordingly, the music starts to sound the same in every podcast.
So if you're a Mac user who wants to set your show apart, you need to explore other alternatives. One such alternative is a program called Musicbed DV from Synk Audio. It's an OSX application that allows you to browse music clips much the way you would browse Apple Loops. But there are some major differences. For starters, this program was originally designed for use in video, but the company realized that podcasters were a growing market and wisely offered this technology to a wider audience. And since the software was developed to help video and film producers score their projects, the feel of Musicbed DV is much different than Garageband. And ultimately, if you're looking for a new sound, that's a good thing.
I have been playing with the program for several weeks now and really like it. Instead of using individual loops to construct music, you use stock beds that you can modify by changing several parameters.
I have been experimenting with using the program to create intros and outros. You can adjust timing, mood, texture, builds and accents.
One of the most interesting features of Musicbed DV is the ability to change the intensity of the music. Whereas you would need to employ Garageband's ducking feature to do a voiceover on top of most Garageband loops, in Musicbed DV, you simply change the intensity and mood of the music by drawing a curve and the music responds. It's easy to set impact points where the musical dynamics need to change.
Some other nice Musicbed DV features include the ability to make beds that are virtually any length without compromise. You can also make adjustments to pitch and tempo independently.
I have few complaints with Musicbed DV but there are a couple. The selection of stock clips is limited and unlike GarageBand where you can add music from multiple sources via Apple Loops, Musicbed DV appears to only be expandable in the event that its maker, Synk Audio plans to add additional stock music. A company spokesperson confirmed additional music is coming soon, but as of today, there's only the original stock pieces to work with. Synk Audio also said there are plans to make the Synk Music production tools available to other music producers. When and if this happens, Musicbed DV will be considerably more valuable.
I'd also be more enthusiastic about Musicbed DV if it were optimized to run on a Mac Intel machines. Once again the company says they are testing a Universal Binary version in-house so it should be out soon. And lastly, there's the price. At $199, Musicbed DV is certainly not outrageous, but it is on the high side. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Video people are used to working with big budgets and to them, $199 is nothing. But podcasters are typically operating on a shoe string and since GarageBand is free with every Mac, forking over the additional $199 for Musicbed DV won't be easy for some.
And finally, this is not a complaint so much as something to note: The learning curve is a bit steeper on Musicbed DV than Garageband only because the methods used to build the final beds are so different from anything else out there. But that can also be a good thing because it encourages experimentation.
Overall, I found Musicbed DV to be a great tool for building podcast music. It could be used for any type of media production. And if you want to stand out in a crowded field of podcasters, this is probably a pretty good way to do it. On a scale of one to ten, I'd rate Musicbed DV a solid eight. Once the UB version ships and new music becomes available, I'll up that to a nine out of ten.
For more on podcasting, visit my site PodcastingTricks.com
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