One of the first films I scored was a slasher parody about a butter knife killer that I also wrote, directed, edited and co-starred in. Don't get me wrong, it w...
I have a question about demos.
I've seen a lot of conversation here about the expense of hiring orchestras and musicians for demos.
Is there a reason that...
I need some good karma today & this week. So I decided to help the newly arriving composers to LA by sharing here an "advice letter" that I wrote to a recen...
I detest the concept of unpaid internships. That is my opinion and others may differ, and that's their right. It’s never the interns’ fault, but I think they’re...
In response to Miriam Mayer's request to post this, and somewhat in line with Richard Kraft's recent post on demoing for a variety of projects, I'd like to shar...
I came into an interesting situation as I am progressing as a composer. I came into some work that requires site reading for piano playing. I can play the piano...
It was early 2013 and I was two years into my career as a film composer. I'd just signed a contract for my first series with semi-major online distribution. The...
Hey friends! I made an Ikea Hack Studio Desk after looking for a while for desks that were already made and nothing really worked for me. A lot of peeps have be...
This post is geared toward emerging composers and curious minds on why having a thorough backup system will save you from the much dreaded, panicky feeling of h...
I absolutely love having my home studio. You can't beat the commute. I don't have to shave if I don't want to, I can work in my pajamas, I can hop on my system ...
I read a memoir about a man who longed to study Zen in Japan. This was shortly after WWI, and the man was reeling from the horrors of war and questioning what l...
HOW A FEW COMMENTS ON FACEBOOK LED TO A FREE TRIP TO LA, ME ATTENDING A SCORING SESSION FOR DISNEY, LUNCH WITH CHRIS BECK AND DINNER WITH RICHARD KRAFT.
Almost...
What do you do/say if you are criticised for the inferior quality of your orchestral MIDI mock-up, but it was in fact a professional 38-piece live orchestra, mi...
In a separate thread, Perspective member (and co-founder), Miriam Mayer, has written: "For me, NOW is, by far, the best time to be a media composer." By and lar...
Scott Glasgow’s Facebook posting of a GUARDIAN article with the headline “The Future of New Music Is At Risk If We Continue To Undervalue Composers” garnered 59...
I've never done it before, but I'm going to need to do it soon.
For those of you who've used assistant composers--any tips on how to organize it? Do you star...
If you had to choose--if it were truly impossible to do both...
Would you:
1. Assist a well-established high-level film composer?
2. Try to get your own fi...
I promised to share my brief acting experience with you all, after I went on set for the very first time last week and it was A BLAST!
Life on set is an exci...
Why do we have 1.8% women composers programmed in concerts and 1% women scoring feature films
THIS IS LONG. PLEASE READ IT SLOWLY IN ONE TAKE, when you can.
...
I have maybe the most important meeting of my life (so far) later today; a face-to-face with the EPs of the first cable TV show I've had a real shot at landing....
I think of my job as a marriage. I need to work on keeping that spark, that flame going, so I wouldn't lose the main source of my happiness. But just like a mar...
We've had a couple debates recently, mostly healthy, about gender in the world of film composing. During the last one, in which Richard Kraft asked why more wom...
Some hopefully helpful thoughts from the Television Academy Intern Judging Panel.
Yesterday, I and other members of the Music Peer Group judged the applicati...
When I was young (I’m a trained organ player) I’d have never thought that “I’d amount to anything” when it comes to music. Hm, why did I believe this to be “tru...
Wrote some 5 minutes for the opening of this film. Director sends me a pop song he thinks works in the beginning instead - what do I do? Like obviously I'd lik...
Say you have a long relationship with a young director. You have laughed, cried and bled the proverbial ground in the editing bays through student projects, ind...
It took me a long time to decide to put this post together. I thought maybe it was me, but the more I talked to people, the more encouragement I received to bri...
I thought it would be nice to hear about everyone’s path to working in media music. We all come from such different backgrounds yet here we are doing similar th...
I need some advice about one very difficult to deal with tendency from an otherwise fairly pleasant client.
I'm working on scoring a video game and after sub...
When I feel stupid, frustrated, or jealous on my composing journey, I remind myself: We're all somewhere on the path.
Composing for media has a lot of moving...
I just came back from GDC with a large stack of biz cards, mostly from young composers. I'm going thru them and following up. Many biz cards have the email and ...
Hey, friends. I’ve been following this group for a little over a year now and this is the first time I’ve felt I had something worth sharing. For as long as I'...
All of us composers send communications every day to dozens of people. We ask for advice, for possible work, for referrals, for mentoring, for a listening ear. ...
I had a very interesting conversation with a producer/director who runs red carpet events and has a long list of credits on IMDb.
He mentioned that he gets m...
As composers, more often than not, we get little sleep, which may result in getting sick down the line.
So, we are left to improve our diets, exercise regula...
My wife, Mirette, made an interesting comparison this morning. She said that when someone hires you for their project it's like inviting you into their house. A...
When applying for a job/gig/anything, don't have your mom call your future employer and spend 10 minutes explaining how her son just needs to stop being an Uber...
I've been a long time lurker, so now a first time poster. I originally posted this on my FB page but after reading Richard's post about he and John Debney's rec...
Alastair and I decided it would be a good idea if we put together a Google Drive spreadsheet with the information for anyone in the group who can provide remote...
So here’s something I wonder if we all wrestle with. And I apologize if its been covered here before.
As an entrepreneur I rarely question decisions as I...
OK, I'd like to ask for some opinions here, and would be particularly interested in Richard Kraft's opinion.
I, like many of you, am a composer. I love it, i...
2015:
Composer Agent Analysis - (view discussion on Facebook)
Full list of Composers/Agents
2016:
Film Releases - (view the discussion on Facebook)
...
COMPOSERS (and everybody else):
Since we're apparently living in a "post-truth age," I'm wondering what your relationship with professional truthiness is? We...
I'm curious how many of you here are:
1) actively working in both concert and film music worlds
2) finding that the crossover between concert and film is prof...
One day, I pitched a new theme for a major franchise property to a well-respected producer, who admitted to knowing next to nothing about music. The producer, a...
We begin a series of features about recording/scoring destinations in the U.S. and around the globe. The features are intended to inform everyone about choices ...
