Music Composers 101: Breaking and Staying In
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Webinar hosted by: Sam Estes and Michael Hobe
Composers and Sound Designers at Sonicsmiths
Sam Estes and Michael Hobe have worked together for the past decade on major projects and for several major composers, including Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino, Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg), Danny Elfman, Christopher Lennertz, Ramin Djwadi, Geoff Zanelli, Lorne Balfe, Henry Jackman, James Levine, Michael Levine, and many others. Their company, Sonicsmiths, is dedicated to creating unusual sounds and soundtracks to many of the industries major Movies, Television and Video game scores. You can hear their latest work on Marvel's Agent Carter (Christopher Lennertz, composer) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Michael Giacchino, composer). They are in the middle of three major films and a couple of video games over the course of this next year. Although busy, they are excited to be a part of our Stage32 composer's community by providing a blog every Thursday showcasing software and other music technologies. Full Bio »
Webinar Summary
Learn directly from Sam Estes and Michael Hobe, composers and sound designers (Inception, Dark Knight, American Horror Story)
There are thousands of "composers" around the world, wanting to become the next John Williams or Hans Zimmer - how do you cut through the chaff and find and keep work in the Film and TV Music Industry?
Sam Estes and Michael Hobe (Sonicsmiths) have been composers and sound designers for the past decade in Los Angeles, working on several major titles (Inception, Dark Knight, American Horror Story, etc) and have lent their "musical sound design" to many of LA's top composers, including Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino, Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg), Danny Elfman, Christopher Lennertz, Ramin Djwadi, Geoff Zanelli, Lorne Balfe, Henry Jackman, James Levine, Michael Levine, and many others.
"After hiring and training many young graduates of music schools, and speaking with non-local (and international) composers who want to break in, we have found that the vast majority of them have no idea how to get projects, keep them or even know the level that is required to produce music for small films, let alone the major titles."
In this Stage 32 Next Level Webinar, Sam and Mike are going to explain some of the paths to get to work in this challenging, competitive, and stressful environment - and once you start to break in, what to do to keep work, establishing a base network, and how to make a living doing what you love.
What You'll Learn
- Breaking IN: Routes and Passages - No way is the best, but what ways work?
- Brief intro of how we got started.
- Schooling vs. Raw Talent?
- Apprenticeship / Composer's Assistant? - Why?
- Student Films/Indie Films? - Free work worth it?
- Shotgun Approach - send out the demos!
- Social Media - Getting Noticed
- Do I need to move to LA? can I work in my local area?
- Networking to find the gig...
- What to do when you get your foot in the door: Keeping the gig!
- Studio Etiquette - How to act
- Your opinion - When to speak
- Your Hand - When to press
- A line out the door - You are replaceable!
- Music Technologies
- Talent vs Personality - It takes both.
- It's a Business, run it like one.
- Networking to keep getting gigs....
- What if I can't be a composer - other music jobs in the industry
- Recorded, in-depth Q&A with Sam and Michael!
About Your Instructor
Sam Estes and Michael Hobe
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Reviews Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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Ntinos Tselis Good presentation in general but expected more business insights. In my opinion it was mostly for beginners who want to get an idea on their first steps in music industry. Poor sound quality. -
Michael Andrew Newell Great webinar! I learned a lot from it and I'll keep watching it and learn different things each time.
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