GoTrax
THE EXCITING, EASY TO USE SOUNDTRACK CREATION FORMAT FROM AKM MUSIC

In the realm of movie music scores, AKM Music's 'Go Trax' has to be a
very welcomed hybrid. In a nutshell, Go Trax is a variation on their
most popular copyright free albums which have been engineered into
'loopable' chunks of music that can be seamlessly snapped together on
your NLE timeline. No longer are you limited by the standard length of
the track; you can just keep adding chunks.

And more to the point you can use the variety of moods within
the piece to add pace, mood, effect and punctuation to your pictures.
Choosing, selecting and creating music for film is mostly about
suitability, theme, subject matter, focus and that all-important pace.
In this review, these aspects keep returning, again and again - this in
itself demonstrating the value of AKM Music's Go Trax.

On one level AKM's Go Trax requires sensitive and intelligent
usage and challenges your creativity. In my opinion, you need to study,
listen to and be responsive to what you are hearing and seeing in your
movie. If you are up to that challenge and face up to being more
professional about your movie making, then this package will not
disappoint. It may mean you need to use more ingenuity - but isn't that
a good thing?

Applying Go Trax in this frame of mind will certainly help you
to create an original music score and enhance your visuals, even though
you'll be using the same base music as other users.

On another level, you can simply 'play' with the Go Trax music
chunks - as they say - and scatter them through your movie as and where
you like. You could make it that simple. Go Trax has the scope to work
on both these levels.

Working with Go Trax
AKM Music provided me with a Go Trax themed package - 'Soundscapes' -
which comprises 2 discs. Disc 1 is the Go Trax DATA disc containing the
loopable chunks of music for each of the 17 tracks. Disc 2 contains the
full audio files of the music present on the Disc 1. This means that
you can choose to use either the full track in its original form, or
compile your own version, or indeed a combination of both. The package
actually includes 12 main 'Musical Themes'. Added to which, 5 of these
themes have what AKM Music call, 'Alternative Underscores'.

One of the benefits of the entire scores found on Disc 2 is that
they can be used for auditioning the tracks to your client, to ensure
that the overall theme is to their liking. Being in standard audio CD
format, this can be done on any CD player - even in the car if so
desired.

Alternatively, you could simply ask your client to listen to the
samples provided on AKM Music's website (www.akmmusic.co.uk). Once
they've given their overall blessing, you are then free to experiment
and play.

Conclusion
So, Go Trax allows you to weave the type of magic that just placing
music clips under the visuals rarely achieves. Go Trax is a very
straightforward way to 'measure out' a particular AKM theme you like -
which in essence, raises your input to that of the music
director/arranger.

Though no musical talent is required - you will need the ability to
understand what well punctuated music can add to your films.
Go Trax isn't a music-making package, but it does allow you to
adapt music to better compliment the pictures. You can infinitely and
seamlessly loop and extend sections - which would make it ideal for
projects where clients want a continual bed of music under the pictures.
Used with a little more imagination and thought, it will lift your
productions to a new level.

Due to the amount of work that goes into converting AKM Music's
CD's into Go Trax editions, they explained that not all their extensive
library is available in the Go Trax format. Presently there are 5 Go
Trax Titles available - with the plan that AKM will make many new
releases in the Go Trax format in the near future.

But don't take my word for it, give AKM Music a call and hear
what Go Trax can do for you - it could mean the difference between being
your own "Director of Music" and merely being a selector of 'Off-The
-Shelf' music. Better still, pop along to their stand at IOV2004 and
see the demonstration.

Graham Bernard

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