Using Copyrighted Music in You Production.

When you use music in a project, you have to consider who owns the misic. There are limitations on its use, and charges too.

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?
‘Copyright’ is the term given to the legal right of an owner of a material, to allow it’s usage or reproduction to be carried out ONLY upon the consent of the (copyright) holder.

In this country, a copyright is obtained by the owner of a material through the UK Copyright Centre.

In the UK, there are limited conditions whereas a copyrighted piece of music that can be heard in your production, does not require a license. This is known as 'Fair usage'. Good examples of Fair usage policy are;

* Passers-by mobile phone ring – tone.

*Music from car stereos being heard in the back-
- ground.
Even if you are fairly sure that copyrighted music that appears in your production, is doing so under the Fair Use laws, it is normally a good idea to eliminate/minimilize the offending material. Especially if the production is getting a 'proper' release. There have been case where publishers have fought 'tooth and nail' in cases where fair usage was assumed by the producers.

The following points, I have written under the assumption that the music was to be used in a DVD, that will be Sold in UK shops.

*What are the steps involved in licensing music

The process of licensing begins with extensive research into the ownership of the composition and/or the actual recording you are contemplating using.The materials packaging (album cover for example) will list the ‘performance rights’ organisation that it is signed to, such as B.M.I or ASCAP. The performance rights organisation do not control the copyrights, but they will tell you who do.
Once you have got this information, and are certain what type of license you require – the process of negotiation with the copyright owners can begin.
Once a price has been agreed between both parties, contracts will be drawn up and will need to be signed. It is important at this stage to seek legal advice if needed, as it is very difficult to go back once you have signed!

*If you wanted to reduce your costs legally, what might you do?

I have three suggestions that could help me reduce the costs of the music for my DVD production.
Copyleft: Copyleft is a type of licensing where the owner of a piece of material allows it to be used by another individual without the need for purchasing a license. There are several different types of copyleft licenses - each allowing the license owner/licensee different permissions/rights.
The most commonly found type of Copyleft-licensed music allows the material in question to be used in whole or part, and can be manipulated without limitation. However, the end result/final product which contains the 'Copylefted' material, must in turn, be released under the Copyleft standard itself.
http://www.copyleft-music.com/ is a very popular online 'dump site' of music of many musical genres.

Production Music: "Production Music" is the term given to music that is owned by production music libraries and licensed out to customers to be used in projects at a very reasonable price. PML's tend to own ALL the copyrights to the materials they hold, this allows them to license the music out without obtaining permission from the original composer first.
Production Music Libraries offer a massive amount of variety of musical styles and genres, and tends to be listed as both music type, and 'emotion' (such as 'sad' or 'action') - this allow the producer to quickly source music that is suitable for the project - and at a good price.
There are many, many websites specialising in production music, here are the links to some of the most popular;
http://www.ibaudio.com

http://www.audiolicense.net

http://www.royalty-free.tv/

Self compose : A way of dramatically reducing your music royalty costs,would be to produce the music in-house via your production team. Computer - based music production is much more readily available to the masses thanks to the reduction in price of powerful CPU's. It is very possible to compose and produce a music track(s) to a high standard with nothing more than a mid-range computer and soundcard.

*Which course of action would you pursue, and why?

Of the above suggestions, the only one I definitely wouldn't use, would be the 'Copyleft' license. This is because the scenario states that the DVD is to be SOLD. If I was to use this system I would not be able to release the DVD and be able to hold a Copyright over it - it would have to be released under Copyleft.
I think that if I was in this situation, then I personally would use a mixture of the other two suggestions that I posted above. I have enough experience with computer based music production packages to be able to arrange, produce and master a lot of material. The range of excellent free sample discs on the market would allow me to compose a track, without even having to be able to play an instrument.
To commit yourself to producing the entire soundtrack to a DVD is a massive undertaking. That is why I think I would make use of Music Production Libraries in conjunction with my own creations. It is also important to remember that all the time you are creating your own soundtrack, you are taking away time that could be spent on other aspects of the production - "Time is Money". It may very well work out cheaper to source a production music track for my DVD than it would be to take the time in making my own.

The Advertising Standard Agency (ASA).

The Advertising Standards Authority, or 'ASA' is an independant British self-regulating organisation directly attached to the advertising industry. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation, and as a result cannot interpret or enforce legislation. For non-advertising industry material, it is OFCOM that overseas that the content of this material is kept to an acceptable standard.
In a nutshell, the ASA aims to be a 'one-stop-shop' for advertising regulation, and to make sure that all advertising in the UK is Legal, decent and truthful.

To help make it clearer exactly what the ASA defines as acceptable an unacceptable, 'Codes of Conduct' have been produced.
The advertising codes are the responsibility of two industry Committees of Advertising Practice - CAP (Broadcast) and CAP (Non-broadcast) and are independently administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). CAP (broadcast) as the name implies, focuses on forms of advertising that are delivered as broadcast media - such as television. CAP (Non-broadcast) focuses on advertisements that are found in (for example) magazines, newspapers and billboards.
Interestingly the film and cinema industry has to follow the CAP (Non-Broadcast) codes. As it is not considered a form of Broadcasts advertising.


Taste and Decency
There are over 30 Miliion advertisments produced every year. As a result of this staggering statistic, it isn't very suprising that advert producers often turn to controversial or shocking subject matter in an attempt to make there adverts stand out from the rest. This can often result in consumers becoming upset or offended at many of these adverts.

The Advertising code states that advertisments should contain nothing that is likely to cause the end consumer serious or widespread offence.
The codes also require that special care is also taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion , sex, sexual orientation or disability.
When the ASA Council decides whether an advert complies with the codes, it will judge on the context, audience,medium,product and prevailing standards of decency.

It is important to note that there is a difference between 'distasteful' and 'offensive'. The ASA will allow 'distasteful' adverts, which will not be considered offensive by the majority of its viewers. This is because the ASA has to balance the advertisers rights of 'freedom of expression' and the level of potential offence caused. The ASA also has to take into account the rights of those viewers not offended by the advert to see it.

An objection to a particular product or service, is not sufficient grounds for an objection/complaint to an advertisment for it. Such a complaint would be handled by the Office of Fair Trading .

Social Responsibility

The ASA's codes require that all advertisments, regardless of medium, be prepared/produced with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society. Examples of this are;

The use of really shocking images that could cause undue fear and/or distress.

The depiction of scenes that could encourage people in irresponsible or unsafe way.

The advertising of products, or their consumption, in ways that can be harmful to health.

Advertising to children that could make them feel inferior, or result in their physical, mental or moral harm.
* The issue of children, regarding the advertising industry is very important indeed, and as a result the ASA has codes of conduct and guidelines especially for them - I will cover this topic more indepth, later on in this Blog...

Advertisments from automobile manufacturers can often give rise to complaints, when the car/bike in question 's top speed (which can easily be over double the maximum top-speed in the UK), is used as a main selling point - this is a good example of social responsibilty and the advertising industry.
In this case the ASA's codes of conduct, actually stipulate that the predominant message of these type of adverts should not be speed.

Children.
The use of children in adverts, and the effects that adverts have on them, as I mentioned earlier in this blog are very sensitive issues within the advertising industry. The advertising standard 'codes of conduct' lay down some very strict rules regarding this matter.
Some common issues regarding this issue are;

*Making children desire things they cannot afford or would not be able to use.
*Encouraging children to 'pester' their parents for the advertised product.
*Showing children in unsafe or dangerous situations that other children might emulate.
*Making children feel inferior, esp. if they don't obtain the products or services featured in the advert.
*Showing children in a sexual way.
*Advertising soft drinks and high fat/sugar food to children.

The CAP (Non-Broadcast) codes can be found HERE.
The CAP (Broadcast) codes are split into two main sections; radio and television.
The CAP (broadcast):Radio codes can be found HERE. Television codes can be found HERE.

The Audio Technica BP4027

As part of my Media Broadcast course, I was required to find out about a microphone of my choice.
My group chose the Audio Technica BP4027.
Audio Technica BP4027 Stereo Shotgun Microphone

Name, Make, Model, Price and cost?

Audio Technica BP4027

$734.63 : Full compass

$1000.00 : Audio Technica direct

$852 : Performance Audio

*This particular model does not seem to be readily available in the UK.

What type of Microphone is it?

The AT BP4027 is a variation on the classic ‘shotgun’ - type microphone.

The ‘Shotgun’ microphone is so-called due to the shape and size of it’s body. The classic shotgun microphone uses two key features to achieve a very focused ‘pick up’ or ‘polar pattern’. The first is the way in which the ‘in-line’ element (this mic has two elements) is housed in the centre of the long, tube-like body. Grooves are placed along both sides of the Mics body, this allows the process called ‘wave cancellation’ to take place. Through wave cancellation, sound that has been picked up from the rear and side of the microphone will be mostly eliminated or reduced to be so faint as to not be audible to the human ear.

This microphone is condenser microphone, which means that it needs an external power source, Phantom power is the most likely to be used. The 4027 can be switched between ‘Stereo Wide’ and ‘Stereo Narrow’ modes. As the names suggest, this allows the pick-up range to be modified to some degree when the microphone is being used as a shotgun microphone.

The BP 4027 contains two elements, the second being an omni-directional (or ‘figure of eight’) type. A ‘bass roll-off’ switch is present on this microphone. This is used to cut off lower (hence ‘bass’) frequencies.

Application(s)

When the 4027 is switched into its in-line element, it is then best used in the same manner as a classic shotgun microphone. Any situation that requires the recording of a very specific sound source will benefit from the use of a microphone of this type. Common uses are outside recording projects, such as wildlife/animal programs where a lot of external, background noise such as wind and rain is present. The shotgun microphone allows focused recording from a distance, this can be very useful when working with video, and you are taking a wide, open shot - the shotgun will let the operator focus the audio recording, while keeping the camera out of view. This situation would be very common in the movie industry. As was mentioned earlier, this microphone can be switched between ‘wide’ and ‘narrow’ modes when being used as a shotgun mic. This allows greater flexibility and more potential uses.

As mentioned earlier, the BP4027 has two elements which are defined using the built-in switch. When this microphone is set to ‘omni-directional’ mode, it allows the operator to use the 4027 in a wide range of situations, where a stereo microphone is prefered; field acquisition, sound effect recording, live events, news gathering and one-on-one interviews (as both parties will be equally picked up without moving the mic during the session).

Connectors
This microphone uses a 3-pin XLR connector type. This type of connector is almost always ‘balanced’. The use of balanced audio connectors allows for a (potentially) better quality recording, as background noise that is picked up during its ‘signal flow’ is greatly reduced by using a process known as ‘Phase Cancellation’.
A common XLR cable has both a male and female connector. The male connector is comprised of three pins. The female connector has 3 sockets. On virtually all microphones that use the XLR connector type, the microphones connection is of the male type.

There are several variants of the XLR connector. However it is the 3-pin variety that is most commonly found in the audio world. The 4-pin XLR is often used in the telecommunications industry. The 5-pin version is most commonly found in Pro-Lighting equipment.

Polar Pattern

In regards to microphones, the ‘Polar Pattern’ is a representation of a microphone sensitivity to sounds arriving at differing angles around it’s central axis point. Different types of microphones will have different polar patterns - each relative to the job(s) it is intended for.

Cardioid









Shotgun









Omni-Directional









*The circle in the centre of the diagram represents the central axis of the microphone. The further from the centre of the graph is, the stronger the mic signal is from that direction.

It is important to note, that the above examples of polar patterns are ‘perfect world’ scenarios.
In reality, a microphones polar pattern is very likely to be much more uneven and disjointed than those above. Below is the polar patterns for the BP4027 - taken directly from Audio Technica’s website.



















Pro’s and Con’s of its Design V.s Application.

The BP4027 allows much more possibilities than your normal shotgun microphone. It is solidly designed, and its manufacturer is very well known in the Pro-Audio world for producing good quality, well built microphones.
However, it’s polar pattern shows that it is not the best uni-directional microphone on the market. It does have a large amount of ‘bleed’, this could be a very serious issue if you really need a tightly focused shotgun mic.
It may very well be a better idea to purchase a cheaper Uni-Directional mic, and a Omni/Cardioid microphone seperately.
Frequency Response.

The “Frequency Response”, as the term suggests, is the name given to the way in which a microphone responds to particular frequencies.

To find out the frequency response of a microphone, “white noise” is used. White noise is a sound which consists of equal quantities of all frequencies.
The microphone in question, is used to record white noise from a single source. The output of the microphone is then fed into a type of oscilloscope called a “Spectral Analyzer”. This machine is used to help the user examine spectral composition of a signal that has been routed into it. The results of the Spectral Analyzer are then used to produce a ‘frequency response table’.

Below, is the frequency response table for the BP4027;














As can be from seen from the above example, the frequency response table has two axis.
The ‘x’ axis represents the microphones response, which is measured in decibels (dB). The ‘y’ axis represents the frequency range that the microphones response was tested against.

The frequency response table allows the user to quickly and easily see what a microphones particular strengths (if any) are. And is one way of telling if a microphone is going to be a good choice for the job in hand.

A lot of microphones (including the 4027) have “bass roll-off” switches, which allow the user to define wether the microphone picks up frequencies of below a certain point. This is usually shown in the frequency response table as it is above - with a dotted line (as the Legend suggests).

Some people/sources say that the perfect frequency response would show on the table as a straight line - that is to say that the microphone responded to all frequencies in the same manner.

Others say that the ‘perfect’ frequency response is a myth, as the perfect response all depends on the job in hand.

SOURCES
Price;

Using “froogle”, which is a Google based shopping search engine. I have given prices, and links to those prices under the title “Name, Make and Model”



A Future Music (popular UK music production magazine) web-Blog review

Audio Technica’s own website

PerformanceAudio.com

Wikipedia; XLR connectors

Microphones

Wave cancellation

I got a lot of information on Microphones by using one of Paul Whites books “Studio Recording Basics B” (non-internet source)


Synthopia

Crown Audio

Record Producer.com

I also used notes that i had taken from my previous Music Production course.

I thought the above sources were good to use, as they have a good reputation in the audio world. Having said that , I always make sure that I take care to cross-check anything I find on Wikipedia, as it sometimes can be very wrong. It is always a good idea to check the ‘Discussion’ page, to see if there is any areas of disagreement.
With microphones, the basic information is very often presented in the form of a ‘data sheet’, which gives the microphones technical specifications. Using these, it is very easy to cross-check information, so you can be sure that the information you have is correct.
For a non-internet information source, I used the book by Paul White “Studio recording Basics B”. Paul White is a very well known figure in the music technology industry and has written many books on the subject. I have always found his work to be very good, and hold a lot of confidence in that what he writes is correct.

BBC BRISTOL

The 17th of October was a very cool day for me.

I was given (and gladly excepted!) the opportunity to spend the day in the dubbing department of BBC Bristol.

Hello, and welcome to my very first blog!

For my first entry, I have written a report on the popular television broadcaster - UKTV.
Please feel free to leave comments on anything regarding UKTV and the actual blog itself (good or bad!)।




UKTV is amongst the United Kingdoms largest television companies. It is a joint venture between the BBC and Virgin Media Television. The vast majority of programs shown on UKTV are in fact BBC productions that have already been shown on the companies Terrestrial television network।


Unlike the BBC, UKTV is funded through the use of commercials. This allows the BBC to make extra revenue through programs that have already been funded for by the TV lisense payer.

It was the success of ‘UK Gold’ that led to the creation of UKTV.
UKTV itself is broken down into many sub - channels, with each one specializing in a particular theme। At current, these are as follows;



UKTV Documentary - As the name suggests, this channel broadcasts mainly documentaries, but of a wide spectrum of topics. This channel was intended as a replacement for UKTV Horizons - which was pulled off-air 24 hours before UKTV’s launch.


UKTV FOOD - UKTV Food broadcasts a mix of BBC archives of food & cooking related shows, and both live and pre-recorded original material of the same genre. UKTV Food has a very active website, that allows viewers to catch up on recipes that were featured on the shows. And to discuss any topics, again related to UKTV Foods broadcasts, through it’s forums।



UKTV Drama - UKTV Drama was originally launched in 1997 under the title of ‘UK Arena’. At this time, the channel was intended show a more broader range of shows, all based on the arts. However viewing figures for UK Arena were very disappointing, so the channel was relaunched as ‘UKTV Drama’ in 2000 with a stronger focus on drama, rather than the arts/culture - based shows.
As the name suggests the output of UKTV Drama is mostly drama films and serials - taken from the BBC archives. The rest of the output tends to be older comedy, a lot of which is also shown on other UKTV channels.


UKTV Gold - UKTV Gold, and it’s eventual success is what led to the creation of UKTV. ‘UK Gold’ (as it was known then) was launched in 1992 in collaboration with Thames Television .
Interestingly, it was not originally intended to be broadcast to UK viewers, but it broadcast frequency was easily and often picked up by the UK public. As a result of it’s broadcast frequency not being intended for this audience,the reception was often ‘grainy’ or ‘sparkly’.

The purpose of UK Gold, was to give BBC ‘Classic’ shows, such as ‘some mother’s do ‘ave ‘em’ and ‘Only fools and horses’ to a wider audience.

A Common criticism of the channel at this time was the way in which the show was edited to make way for commercial breaks. As the program’s were intended for the commercial-free BBC terrestrial television network, they were never produced with advert breaks in mind. When shown on UK Gold however, often breaks were introduced halfway through a sentence, or even a punchline of a comedy show..Which would often (understandably) irritate the Viewer. These days, adverts are handled in a much more professional manner on UKTV Gold, and the advert breaks are not held to such a rigid timetable when needed.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, it was the success of UK Gold that led to the creation of UKTV. The then financially troubled Thames Television’s place in the venture was bought-out by Virgin Media.

In 2004, a UKTV Gold derivative ‘UKTV Gold Classics’ was launched, it’s focus was on the more older program’s. However, it’s name was soon changed to “UKTV Gold 2”. It’s existence was a result of the channel bringing in newer and newer program’s - sometimes only months after they had been originally broadcast on the BBC networks. This is seen by some, as the channels move away from it’s original intention of providing repeats of ‘Classic’ BBC shows to just providing repeats.


UKTV History - This channel deals in a history shows, covering a broad array of subjects.
There is sometimes a bit of a crossover with UKTV documentaries - both channels have in the past shown the same program। UKTV History is currently available on the digital terrestrial television (freeview), Sky Digital and Virgin media networks.



UKTV People - UKTV People is a channel that tends to show lighter, mostly factual programs that will appeal to a wide variety audience. None of it’s shows are actually produced by the channel, instead they are bought from other companies where they have already been proven to be popular. A lot of UKTV People‘s content is of the “Docusoap” or ‘fly-on-the-wall’ nature. Alongside UKTV Documentaries, it was intended as part-replacement for UK Horizons, which went off-air 24 hours before it’s launch.




UKTV Style - UKTV Style specializes in ‘Lifestyle’ type program genre’s, such as DIY and Home/Self improvement। Before the introduction of UKTV Food and UKTV Gardens, UKTV Style also broadcast program’s related to these genre’s. The content of UKTV Style is both made internally, and bought from other companies (mostly, the BBC).



UKTV Gardens - This channel, as is implied by it’s title, is dedicated entirely to gardening and horticulture। UKTV Gardens was launched in 2007, previous to this it’s contents were broadcast on the UKTV Style channel.



UKTV Bright Ideas - UKTV Bright Ideas shows a variety of program’s that are taken from UKTV Style, UKTV Gardens and UKTV Food. It was launched early 2003 and intended primarily for the ‘freeview’ market, but has since been pushed onto other networks.
The viewing figures for UKTV Bright Ideas only averages 0.1% of the market share, as a result of it’s poor performance UKTV Bright Ideas is closing down as of the 14th October 2007.

Currently, UKTV is available through satelite and cable in the UK and Ireland. Some of the channels are available through Digital teresstrial television (freeview) 's "Top-up-TV" scheme.

As the output of UKTV's channels varies so much, it has no one definite Audience demograph.
However, all of UKTV's channels carry the same 'look' and tend to follow very similiar formats.

FUNDING

As UKTV largely consists of programs that have already been paid for by the TV Licence fee payers, UKTV does not have to rely on commercials to pay for the majority of it's content. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, UKTV does make money through commercials, which are shown at the same rate as ITV - approx. every 15 minutes.

However, this does leave UKTV very reliant on the BBC's ability to produce quality programs for it's native channel in order for UKTV to retain it's appeal.

Unlike a lot of it's competitors, UKTV does not tend to include 'pay to enter' competitions in any of it's native shows to generate extra income.

FUTURE CONCERNS FOR UKTV

As a result of the many different channels that UKTV currently hosts, each with it's own audience demograph, I think it would be very hard or unlikely that UKTV would make many decisions on it's content or schedule that would adversely effect many channels at once.

A concern I do have, is the amount of UKTV channels that are currently only available to freeview owners that have signed up to the 'Top-Up-Tv" contract. At current, it is estimated that less than 5% of Digital/Freeview users use Top-Up-Tv.

3 of UKTV's most popular channels (most notably) UKTV Gold, UKTV Style and UKTV Food are only available through Top-Up-Tv. Further more, they are broadcast on a 'Time-Share' basis, which means that the channels are only shown for part of the day, the rest of the day the channel is occupied by another broadcaster

Thanks,
chris..