Calypso is nasty (not in a good way)

Never, ever, ever, EVER use calypso music for video projects.

Calypso is the worst music you could ever use as background fill in a video -  even in a film about calypso.

Let me explain: This form of music comes from the Caribbean and that’s where it belongs. It was misused in the 1980s as background in many blockbuster and straight to video movies.

Its instrumentations and its rhythms are light and rapid and tropical. With due respect to calypso musicians and aficionados, I believe this genre of music to be largely meaningless!

I spend a lot of time during my working week looking for music to illustrate videos which I’m editing and in every music library I discover, there are a number of calypso tracks. These tracks are used by people trying to convey fun, luxury, excitement…good times. Avoid this at all costs.

It is not easy finding suitable music to accompany video images. It requires a lot of thought to do it correctly. It requires a lot of time listening to many tracks in order to find a piece of music which fits the purpose.

Remember background music should enhance the video image. It should not detract from what the person is watching. So you should listen out for the pace, tone, rhythm, size of sound (is it an orchestra, a solo, or medium-sized band); listen out for any cliches (e.g. Calypso!), stereotypes  or overused genre; ensure the music you choose is appropriate in its association, or any inappropriate association has a deliberate objective.

I use a number of sources for music in my video projects. I pay $9 for every five tracks from a web music library called Soundsnap when I want to be crystal clear about the source and copyright status of any music I use. This service allows me to use all tracks and Fx I purchase as often as I want and in any way I want.

In the past I have used CCmixter,  but I found this service to be ambiguous when it comes to copyright of tracks. Contributors edit and sample and rework the music of others and post that as their own creations, leading to misunderstandings about who owns the original music used for the creation of track.

There is no easy way around finding suitable music, you simply have to put in the time listening to tracks. But please, please, PLEASE  do not use Calypso!