Composing

Hey John Zachary I'll hit you up sometime today.

Hey how are you Whats been UP lately.

Looking forward to working with Balikoowa and Joseph for the full feature of The Sojouner, which is in now in the planning Stages. THANKS STAGE 32 This is a great platform to connect with others who love to Create.

Dorico Pro 2 and higher has Video now, so one can write music with the video clip.

Logic X also has (insert) Video, which works pretty good.

Think the features in Dorico's Video engine are pretty nice.

See the details in the Instructional video. It's over 11 mins, though

going right to the detail how to do things.

I've tried it; it does take a little getting use to. Julian is prob. use to it, since similar controls are probably there, as stated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzehGY6AsYM&t=30s

Hi julian what's up.

Really interesting way to look at things Alessandro Machi and I laughed out loud when you said you could go on and on BECAUSE you are on a keyboard, but I feel the same way about the written word vs. the typed word. It's certainly changing the way we write our thoughts comprehensively.

Same can be said for synthesizer VSTs or instrument samples - don't they dumb down live musicians?

Pretty funny. You are right. I actually have brought a great deal of brevity to my verbal interchanges because I know you eventually get to the point of the ellipsis and "expand comment" as above. Therefore, I try not be as loquacious anymore and consider my place in the twitterverse, realizing I am just a small speck in this enormous chasm of reality. So I try to keep it short. And when I do, I think of Martin Short, who used to live around the corner from where I live now...

Joel Irwin, your question is definitely out of my pay grade.

There's definitely more screen space on a computer, freeing your eyes to do better music / thinking, in my opinion. an Ipad might be better, though still the ideas with a keyboard and music notation, laptop or computer, and the right composition within one's head is probably much better to create music. Yes, I agree with you, Alessandro.

Hey Rachel Walker! :)

Hi Mara, what about some Indian Music in it ?

Hello Mara, did you find a composer to help you? If not, or your looking for a composer for another project, kindly visit my Youtube channel, you might like my music :) screenshot added.

Contact Allan Phillips - does some great stuff.

Hi Mara, I have a song I think you'd love. It's titled "Now It's Goodbye", contact me if you like.

I think it probably, or hopefully, gets to the point for most composers where it's just no longer possible to work for free. When you're starting out, it's probably important to say yes to almost anything for a bit, but once you start working and once you leave your day job to do it full time, there quickly becomes not enough hours in the day to be able to work for free. When I'm not working on a film, I have to continuously compose and produce music that I can then license out to TV or such to keep up my passive income, and when not doing that, I try to carve out some time for purely musically creative endeavors. It's a tough balance. Sometimes you get things that come your way that you just like and would like to contribute to, even without pay, but you just can't. One also has to be very careful of getting a reputation of being willing to work for free or on the cheap. One can quickly lose the respect of the community that way and then when the filmmakers do have a budget, they then move on to composers who fully charge.

It really has a lot to do with the 'community and the life situation that the crew member is in. As one looks outside the major communities such as LA and NY or even the smaller communities such as Atlanta and Austin (not to mention the communities outside the U.S.), the 'terrain' looks much different.

For example here in Houston (Texas), very few paid features come to town and when they do, very often the film uses local talent for production, but the post production rarely stays unless the producers and stakeholders are local. In the film composing world, Houston has no film specific sound stage that I am aware of - very few orchestras and ensembles --- most of the audio work is done in recording studios used for non-film projects as well.

As far as what is happening in the Houston composing world which may mimick other small(er) composing markets in the U.S. - those who work full time as composers do not earn their predominant money (imho) for film scoring. Two of the most prolific composers here in town (with credits in larger budget features), work in production (for location sound), do corporate and commercial work, teach at local universities, etc. Sure they earn in film music and I am obviously not familiar with every composer in a city as large as ours (4th largest in the U.S.), but based my years of attending local festivals, professional groups, and local networking events, the count of full time composers (earning all or most their money in films) in Houston is probably less than 10.

So most of the actors/actresses/crew here likely have day jobs. Some of those jobs could be connected to film work (actors/actresses work for talent and modelling agencies - some even are prince and princesses at kids parties ! :) - others like me are part of the wedding videography business. Point is, they do not rely on income from the film business as their primary source - I don't.

So then we can address the 'concept' that people who do film here do so only as a stepping stool to something bigger perhaps moving to a larger market. Perhaps - I am sure there are some. But I have also worked with crew and acting people here for over 10 years that are going nowhere - they are happy to live and work here in Houston. I am certainly not planning on going to LA or NY (and I am a native NY'er - born in Brooklyn :) ). Most of my family lives and works here and Texas is a great and inexpensive place to live (if you don't mind the 8 months of heat and humidity and the occasional hurricane).

With that in mind, we can now turn to the question of pay. Would it be nice to get a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for the most common film made here - a short? Yes, that would be nice but clearly with the budgets of a short, a few hundred would be nice but that could be a substantial part of the filmmaker's budget and a large majority (possibly larger) of the shorts made here (and even the out of town ones I have worked on) do not pay any of the crew (except perhaps the screenwriter). In addition, many of the shorts are made for competitive festivals such as the 48 hour film project (we just had 38 teams compete in that last month) or the 168 film festival in Burbank coming up in three weeks (I have two scored films showing) and these festival prohibit payment.

So many of the acting and crew people including myself are involved in our local communities because we have passion about our products and the filmmaking industry and we enjoy what we do and we would rather work at little to no cost than not work at all.

I can not provide myself accurate data, but my experience here has shown that most local filmmakers have never worked with professional composers and either don't use music at all, purchase packages of music online that they have to figure out how to break into parts and place into the film appropriately, or they work with bands or individual musicians most of whom are interested in fame and fortune in the country, rock or jazz genres.

So we can discuss the general issue of whether we believe that people who create music deserve to be paid for their intellectual creations - great idea in concept, but in reality in places like Houston - composers would not earn much money from their creations and could be more interested in participating in a vibrant and close knit community when they are not working their day jobs.

I have now scored 30+ shorts and have yet to get paid for any of them (other than informally through gift certificates and other small items and things of value). And I am OK with that. I do charge for features and any film over 30 minutes.

An equitable professional barter is always acceptable. I've scored projects in exchange for a director cutting my reel together, or setting up my website, or directing a music video for me. As long as I feel respected and valued as a professional, money isn't everything. That being said, I always accepted these jobs on the understanding that more would happen in the future with actual money attached.(9 times out of 10, that pays off, as well.)

I have a rate. Like many professions and people existing, I have bills to pay. However, I understand the low budget film predicament. I have worked on a number of projects for free. Some I've never wanted to see again, but others are some of my best work with my favorite collaborators (some who HAVE paid me real rates on previous projects, but for whatever reason may not have a budget for music for a personal project or non-profit type thing).

If you're able to pay someone to hold a boom or edit hours of footage, you should be able to budget in music, that's part of the process and the reason to create a budget. Talk to the composer first and see what their rates are and how you can fit that in. Negotiate, we're usually OK with that (or at least, used to it!).

I do music, because, that's what God gave me to do, along with a whole host of other blessings. upfront, backend or free it all works out the same for me. I have over 400+ songs written and am getting ready to update my BMI soon. my thought is, What good is the music if no-one hears it or uses it? It's not about me, it's about you and how the music sits in your film. is it right for the scene? if someone was to contact me and ask for a song and tells me I have very little money or no money, at all but will give me credit and a plug. 9 themes out of 10, I'd give them the song. AS LONG AS IT's LEGAL AND NOT IN POOR TASTE OR ANY PORN (I WILL NOT GIVE OR LEND MY MUSIC TO ANY PORN) I DON'T DO PORN. Everything is not about getting paid for me. I have a song you have a scene. I filled your need and you helped me out. That is how it's supposed to work.

Kenny

Many years ago I used to run RAID. But the odds of losing 'static' data such as samples is extremely low and I don't create many files a day which the software backs up on a regular basis. So the bottom line for me is that I am willing to take the risk of losing up to one day of dynamically changing data (my composing files).

Here is why:

1. My desktop and laptop have two bays each. I put the critical software (composing, video, etc.), my operating system, and all my samples on the C drive. Everything else goes on a D drive. Both are SSDs.

2. I have software called Allway Sync. I have routines I have defined for it to synchronize between my desktop and laptop. I sync at least once a day and sometimes a few times a day. So I can do anything on one that I can on the other EXACTLY (just a bit slower on the laptop). In fact, I composer on my laptop in coach on a plane (with a small midi keyboard which goes in front of the tray table). So when I get back to the studio - a single sync and everything is now usable on the desktop.

3. I also backup todays data to an SD card once a day - usually only a couple of files.

4. Every 4 to 6 months I do an image backup of both the C and D drives to a 3 TB external hard disk (which normally has room for two backups for each drive).

So for me, I see no benefit for RAID - I much rather have my laptop and desktop duplicate/sync each other exactly.

Here's a discussion on RAID systems and if they're worth it to composers: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/raid-0-no-benefit-on-my-end.77970

I don't use a RAID system myself. Between my use of VEPro on my main hub-PC and two satellite-PCs, and Digital Performer's V-Rack, my workflow is such that I can load in my film's template once and leave it up. So load-time isn't much of an issue with me. But if you're loading in sounds for every cue, I could see where a RAID system might save some time.

Hi Chris, great stuff! Thanks for sharing!

... I was going to post about acoustics and mixing, but Jonathan has beaten me to it and been far more informative than I could ever aspire to be! Exactly what he said, the acoustics are a problem for mixing as well. I've heard about the Abbey Road plug in, it sounds interesting but I have heard very mixed reviews. I hadn't heard of that SonarWorks one but it looks very useful- worth noting that some other composers are saying it takes over your system and starts messing with things that are perfectly well calibrated, but you can just use a VST rather than a systemwide version to solve the problem from the look of it. That one is going on my Black Friday list, thanks for the heads up!

Thanks Jonathan for the very informative information. But perhaps you would be interested in commenting on the original topic of using a home studio versus paying for a location somewhere else? Do you see pros or cons for one versus the other - especially for those who who are just starting out or at the beginning of their careers without a lot of income currently.

My bases or places I stay are always home offices/studios. I prep the room to do whatever I want, wherever I’m staying. I would never ask permission or pay for another building. Acoustics are extremely easy fixes and I’ve recorded a ton of stuff in home studios. I don’t give a freak what the rest of the house looks like or anything. I have one concern: can I get a quality recording with solid producer. It’s like shooting a scene on a city street. If I wait on the city to give me permission I’ll never get the scene done. If I shoot and get busted, which never happens, I’ll ask for forgiveness. But I haven’t had to apologize yet. Do you bro. The city doesn’t give a sh.. and neither will your clients. If you were in Denver I’d record a song with you today. Hope this helps. Take what you like funk the rest. Always here for u

As for the Abbey Road plug-in, I only recently tried it out. I had just moved and was in the middle of scoring a zombie feature. My new space wasn't treated yet and I was faced with sending preliminary mixes to the director with either a) a headphone mix, or b) a mix in a highly reflective room with no bass traps. So given those options I decided to take a chance on the Abbey Road/Nx Head Tracker. Before the delivery mix, I got my new space treated and SonarWork'd and was able to double-check the mixes, and here's the thing: I didn't change any of the mixes. They were good to go. So, was mixing my score like being in Abbey Road Studio 3's control room? Nope. But was it a useful plug-in that allowed me to mix on my headphones? Seems like it. I'm still not completely confident enough to only use ABS3, but I now use it as an alternate source. Kind of like how you might take your mix to other studios, or your car stereo, to see how your mix translates.

As for SonarWorks systemwide, I was running it systemwide for a time, and I can't remember why I stopped. I don't think it was anything major. But Joanna, you're right, its main use is as a plug-in on your monitor bus (or master bus if you don't use a monitor bus).

As for my space...it's always been a home studio for my own work. I like to be near my family. It's easy to clock in 70+ hours a week scoring a film, and I appreciate being able to see my family during that time.

Good stuff, Jonathan Price!

Would love to talk About what you need Jzac1961@gmail.com

Guillaume Longhi - It might also be interesting for us to try to get involved earlier in the project. A composer could be very helpful to define the look/feel and sonic identity of a project very early on. Imagine if a 'Lookbook' had a rough score during the Pitch stage of the project.

Sometimes movies are made to the sound track which really brings a lot of life to the experience...music is important:-)!

Here are my two cents. First cent: if somebody says your production could be improved, work on improving it. A trick I use is to convince myself somebody else composed/produced my track and listen with those ears. The joy of creation is not something your audience will experience, so you need to compartmentalize that in yourself. Second cent: if, after you've composed and produced to the best of your ability, you're still not hired for a gig...let it go. Not every composer, even an A-list composer, is every director's cup of tea. You want to encourage good matches, and being declined is a healthy step toward directing your time and resources toward directors who are a good fit.

Let me add another 'list of reasons', sir. Some possible reasons you've got the gigs:

1. You are truly a talent.

2. Maybe you are a wise man and you dive deep in your work and that is why your soundtracks and films get those awards.

3. You are more sensitive to details than others.

4. You can feel the right tone of a film.

5. etc, etc

Cheers!

Ray Archie I actually love getting the scripts during pre-production. It allows me to get a feel for themes and such that I want to use on the project. Unfortunately this isn't always possible, either by joining production later in the timeline, or working with a director/writer that is overly protective of their idea.