Networking

I just got back from a meeting with Jack Bradley. He is a composer of most of the ads you see on TV today like Bounty and Samsung to name a couple. My band director from high school met him, and passed the name along to me so we met up today. He's such a great guy and so easy to talk to. We spoke of how we got started and he has a story quite similar to mine. He started playing piano when he was 5 and loved music until he got to college where he wondered how he would ever turn that love into a job. So he got into film instead and went into the production end of things. We wound up producing commercials and had the most fun working with the music guys. Now that he knew people in music, he wanted to go back to writing. Before too long, there he was, writing TV ad music.

He wanted to hear about my trip and said that he knows a bunch of guys out in LA, and even some who work with Hanz Zimmer. Networking is almost more important than the talent because it's so necessary to know people who can get you work and keep you working once you're doing it. I'm so grateful to know all these people who are willing to help and it really speaks volumes about the community of people that I'm trying to associate myself with. I haven't seen a single big ego yet even though so many of these people definitely could have them. Instead I see this group of people who love what they do. It keeps them young and they want to help anyone out who has put in the work to get into this industry. Jack had to leave for a meeting after about an hour (which went so much faster than I thought) but we agreed to meet up again soon so we can share some music. First week back in CT and things are already looking good.

On another note, I have 4 events coming up that I'm very excited about. I'll be giving a lesson at my high school in two weeks to the kids about film scoring which should be fun. They have a digital music class there which is so cool that the kids can be exposed to it in a classroom setting, so I hope I can encourage them to keep up the interest in it. Second, I'm going to my college to do a forum on film scoring and my experience in LA to the music department, so that should be interesting. Third, I'm giving a talk at the local SECT Filmmakers group about how important music is to film, which I'm hoping will raise awareness that thinking about music starts as early as the screenplay and maybe get me a few local jobs in the process. Finally, I've received word that our film 'A Step in the Wrong Direction' has been accepted into a festival for viewing in April, so my music finally gets to reach a general audience. I'm very excited for that. I'll give more details when I know them. So it's good to be back, and being back has been good to me, so here's to a great time back in CT!

Media Woes

Here is the finished product for Ansel's project. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about tempo. Now Mike told me way in the beginning that tempo was the most important thing you could do with music for picture. Boy was he right. I edited this film with no idea what the music was going to be like. When I sat down to write the music, I could hear a tempo in my head. Once I started writing, I realized that I unconsciously picked a tempo that lined up with every beat I wanted to hit in the video without needing to tweak the picture! It was incredible how right Mike was that if a composer can pick up on the implied tempo of the video, then your music will be so successful.

The other thing I did on this little project was play around with the virtual positioning of the instruments using microphones. The software I use allows me to choose any of 3 mics (a close mic, a mic on the stage, and a mic in the 'audience') to 'place' the sound in the room. Once the strings come in in my piece, they were too muddy and hard to hear. I added the close mic position to it, and they became so much clearer. Overall I'm very happy with this video and I hope you enjoy it.

Mini-Project

I'm here in Seattle with Lauren, enjoying a little vacation before everything goes crazy when I get home. There I need to prepare my demo reel, work on a few video projects (non-music related) and make as much money as possible to prepare for the move. While I'm here one of Lauren's friends is doing a school project where they needed to make a one-minute video about how media and electronics effects people's lives. He asked me to help. We came up with this little comedy about how college kids never open books anymore, even if the answer to their question is sitting right there. I have all my music gear here, so I'll be able to write him a custom score to go with it. I'm excited to have something to work on while I'm here and this should be a fun little story to put music too. I should have the finished video up sometime this week, so keep your eyes peeled!

Day 42: The End - The Beginning

So this journey has finally come to and end. Today was my last day in LA until I move back out here in the summer. I went to the studio to meet Dave and set up my titles for my final review session. Mike showed up shortly after and we got started. I began by showing him my hip-hop title as I wanted to get that over with. He had asked my if any gave me trouble, and was happy to hear that one actually did. He said these styles are so vastly different from one another that if one of these didn't trip me up a bit, I'd be some freak of nature. He listened to the first piece twice. When it was over he turned to me and said "If this is the worst you've got, this is going to be one heck of a review." He loved the piece. He said it told the story of this guy's transformation extremely well and sounded just like a traditional hip-hop piece. He was moving to the beat and everything, and was even more impressed when he found out that I didn't use any loops for it; that I had created my own because I wasn't happy with any loops that I had. 

Moving on we listened to the French Revolution piece next. He listened to that one close to 6 or 7 times on every speaker he had. He was blown away by the writing. He even asked me to break down the chord structure of the key change going into the B section because he was so impressed. We went right along after that.

Next came the Afghanistan piece. After listening to that one he went into this speech about being different and creating a hook that people would latch on to. I thought I had really screwed up, but when he finished, he talked about how much I had nailed this one. He loved the writing, and loved how much of a risk I took starting the piece so slowly. He said the music creates a visual right away, and that's what you want. The one piece of advice he gave me on this one was he could tell I was trying to put as much into a short bit as I could, and for a main title, sometimes you want to keep it simpler so the audience has more time to latch onto your hook. Other than that, all he could say was "killer". 

Fourth came the Leukemia piece. Again he listened a few times and talked to me about how simple music with a melody you can hum, or nearly hum is what makes you a huge player in the industry. He talked about how Jerry Goldsmith is a more complex and involved composer than John Williams, but the reason John Williams is such a bigger, more requested name than Goldsmith is because his melodies are memorable. He said that this tune is one he thinks people will want to play on repeat and is a sign that I'm ready for the bigtime. 

Finally we did the whaling piece. He loved the energy and could tell that I was "flexing my composing muscles, showing everyone how big they are." At that he said "Talent determines 'if' and luck determines 'when' and 'how big'." He said I have the talent to jump right in to scoring major film or TV, and now it's just a matter of getting the luck and timing line up. He said that he'll write a letter of recommendation to any composer I'm trying to work with, and said the trick is to be borderline annoying with them. Keep making emails and calls nil you get a definitive yes or no. He told me to keep in touch, not to be a stranger and be sure to stop by when I get back out here. For him to say all that was simply unbelievable. I'm beside myself and there was no better way to end the fellowship than on that note. 

We left the studio and my time here was officially over. I can't believe the six weeks went that fast, but that just speaks to how much I've learned and experienced in my time here. Dave was so nice and gave me a ride to the airport. We stopped at the In and Out Burger for a final meal. He told me that Mike doesn't do the recommendations for just anyone and that's a big deal, and he thinks that with my attitude, how I get along with others and my composing ability, I shouldn't have a problem finding work. We made it to the airport, he said to keep in touch and now I'm here getting ready to head to Seattle to see Lauren for two weeks and decompress after the last 6. 

This fellowship is over, but I'm not going to stop this blog. I likely won't write every day, but I'll keep this up, talking about what I'm working on, who I'm in contact with and things like that. I'll be posting clips of my current projects and well as other music I'm working on, so check in from time to time. I'm sure a lot will be happening in the months to come as the effects of this fellowship help me on my road to starting my career. I'm about to board my plane, so I'll see you on the other side.

Day 41: Hip Hop

Let me start this out by saying that I don't think I will be able to find a type of music that will push me further out of my comfort zone than this main title did. I'm glad it happened, because I need to know what I can and can't do. It took me nearly 3 days to come up with something at least passable, which is no small feat considering that 3 days ago, I had never listened to a hip hop song all the way through before. So here it is, my final main title. This will be the first, and hopefully last hip-hop song I do, but I'm happy Mike made me do this. The lesson here is that in the composing world, a producer will ask you to write something you have no personal interest in, and if you want to get paid at the end of the day and be reliable as a composer, you need to deliver.



Tomorrow I'm meeting Mike to have my final review. From that review Dave is driving me to the airport and this fellowship will be over. I don't have any thoughts on it now because it doesn't feel like it's over. In a way it's not. This is kind of the beginning. So tomorrow I find out which direction I'm headed in, and I can't wait. That's all for now.

Day 40: Final Title

40 days. Wow. I can't believe it's been that long. I swear I've only been here like 2 weeks. Today was a cold, rainy day so I devoted it to my final main title. This one I feel will be my most challenging and least effective main title. The concept is cool, but it puts me into a style that I know nothing about the writing, or even the listening aspect of. The story is this:

A gang banger living in LA. He grew up on the streets in a violent gang. Never went to prison or killed anyone, but saw things that would change a person. He decides to leave that life behind and joins a ministry, becoming a priest and a teacher. He devotes his life to helping inner city kids. It's a really cool concept. The music is supposed to be a hip-hop base layered with religious music on top.

I love the idea of putting a church-type tune to a modern beat, but I've never even listened to hip-hop or urban music, so it's going to be extremely hard to imitate. The afghanistan piece was a little easier because I at least have a working knowledge of how a rock song is put together, but hip-hop is like an alien language to me. So I spent most of the day just listening to the hip-hop/urban channel on Pandora radio to immerse myself in the music. I picked up some general guidelines on what is commonly found on these types of songs. By the end of the day I managed to put an intro and beat pattern down that I don't hate. So I'll have this title down tomorrow, but I'm not expecting anything spectacular here. I'm really happy to have this challenge, to get me this far out of my comfort zone, and learning different styles of music (even ones I don't particularly care for) is an incredibly valuable skill to have, so I'll do my best. I'm sure that if I needed to do this kind of title often, I will get better, but for all of you listening to my titles, understand that this is a crude first attempt, so I'm expecting this to be my least powerful of the 4. I have nothing to do tomorrow except work on the title, so I should have it up before sunday rolls around.

Day 39: Last Effective Day

I went in this morning and met up with Mike, Brandon and Dave. They were finishing up the primary writing for the newest SVU episode before they go on a 3 week break. Apparently the filming and writing crew got behind in New York so they need time to catch up. Once Mike finished his writing, he had to prepare for a trip. Before that, Suzi came in to take our picture. It took a couple of takes to get right.

Note Dave in the window

Take Two

After the picture I talked to Mike about joining the SCL so I can go to this Oscar party. He actually advised me against it. He told me that the Oscar party would be a lot of fun but networking is never usually done there, so yes I'd meet some amazing composers, but nothing would really come from it. He also said for what I need to pay to be a member, I would actually get more by networking through the working composers I've already met through this fellowship. So on the one hand I'm bummed that I won't be going to the party, I'm glad that I was able to avoid a road that may not have led anywhere.

After that I hung out with Brandon and Dave. The studio isn't open on monday, so with the exception of seeing Mike and Dave on sunday, this is really my last day with everyone. So I made sure to talk to everyone and say goodbye and I was told that I'm welcome to come back and visit anytime. Brandon gave me all of his information and said that we need to hang out when I move out here, so although it's sad to think that my time is just about done here, I'll be back seeing these wonderful people in no time. I showed Brandon and Dave my modified main titles with the live recordings added and they loved them. They think Mike will really enjoy these titles and give me a lot of good contacts for the future on sunday. After that I spent the day at the apartment laying low and trying to shake this cold I have. But I do have the two main titles for you all to listen to. Number 3 is the whaling title, and number 4 is the one about the child battling leukemia. Hope you enjoy them