Musically Speaking, How are you doing?

[dpasdernick]

Hey Everyone,

This forum represents a ton of talented people all writing music with these beautiful virtual instruments. I have wondered how the majority of you are doing with these tools and your music abilities.

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?

Personally, I think I am getting closer to my goals (although the measurement may be in inches!) I bought Cult Sampler and really love it! And I want to get one of my pop songs published before 2006. Ultimately, I'd love to write for film.

All the very best,

Darren

[lukpcn]

Hey Everyone,

This forum represents a ton of talented people all writing music with these beautiful virtual instruments. I have wondered how the majority of you are doing with these tools and your music abilities.

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?

Personally, I think I am getting closer to my goals (although the measurement may be in inches!) I bought Cult Sampler and really love it! And I want to get one of my pop songs published before 2006. Ultimately, I'd love to write for film.

All the very best,

Darren

1) Far from it
2) a bit more
3) a bit
4) yes
5) EWQLSO GOLD
6) Goal: To finaly make music that any1 who hear will sing it in head a week later.

[James W.G. Smith]

1) Not yet (Still trying to find my own voice)
2) More
3) Yes
4) Yes (New orchestration stuff)
5) More music
6) To do a dramatic film (getting tired of the comedy/documentary stuff)

And Darren, if you want to score a film, go do it!! If you seriously look, you will find one.

James W.G. Smith

[kitekrazy]

Hey Everyone,

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?



1) No
2) Yes
3) Preferrebly no.
4) Yes
5) A music stand
6) Hit double high C on the trumpet or play guitar parts to my music instead of trying to get it real with MIDI.

[MDesigner]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?


1) Yes
2) More
3) Eh, not so much
4) Nope
5) Westgate Woodwinds, to replace my AO winds
6) Score video games for a living (and maybe the occasional film) (not really a NEW goal...but it's my primary focus right now)

[danpowers]

1) Yes
2) More
3) About the same
4) Yes
5) A lot of stuff
6) To find time to work on a couple of things I really want to write, even though no one else seems to be interested in them right now.

[Evan Gamble]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams? Yeah, ever since I've gotten Gold I seem to have no problem expressing what is inside me, I just have to work on THAT now
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less? Well, I have yet to get a REAL gig, the only things I've done so far is scored a student film and written a song based on a poem, but hopefully when i go to college next year this will change, or perhaps someone here could help a brother out...hint hint ;)
3) Are you making more money at it? what money? Oh yeah I made 5 bucks playing trumpet at a bar one night :p
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?) To much to put here
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music? EWQL Gold
6) Any new goals? Some old Same Old..do good in college get some gigs, further my composition complexity, BECOME A FILM COMPOSER!

[Alan Lastufka]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?

Not yet, but getting there - it will take years of studying to pull what's in my head out and get it onto the blank manuscript in front of me.

2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?

Definetly more.

3) Are you making more money at it?

For the first time ever, my job deals with music, as producer for Bela D Media I eat, sleep and breathe sample libraries!

4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)

I learned that the thing I had been calling "you know, that thing that looks like an eye, that makes you hold that note just a touch longer" is actually called a fermata.

5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?

Kirk Hunter Solo Strings. The character of this library is just amazing. Wish I had gotten it months ago.

6) Any new goals?

To take a music class - either online or at the local college. Everything I know (and don't know) to this point is self taught.

I'm making a mental note to myself to check this thread again next year and beat myself up if this isn't done!

[chambermusic]

Hey Everyone,


1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?


Darren


1) Maybe a micron closer
2) Can't have any less than zero and one can't have any more if they haven't had any in the first place. Well, I guess the GPO contest was an opportunity but I didn't even rate.
3) No
4) How to use GPO a bit
5) GPO has help some. Getting a fast new computer has helped.
6) Complete more of my many partially finished romantic style string quartets

David

[Tomke]

Are you closer to your musical dreams?
Have no business-like dreams really, rather more musical goals, like getting better at instantly transforming a certain feeling or color of feeling to the musical terms that describes it best - both in composition and performing. Sort of making the direct pipeline between my heart and head wider and straighter, I guess one could call it. In that sense I'm kind of closer. I actually don't see myself as "a musician" or "a composer", but rather just a guy who loves to make and live music.
Are you finding more opportunities or less?
Sort of the same. Not more, but maybe a few different things than I've done before. I'm not really chasing things so ..
Are you making more money at it?
The same, or less :o
Did you learn something new last year
Oh yeah, I love learning. I realized my next computer purchase will be a mac. I'm just getting the hang of composing for the woodwinds without creating the "pipe organ" effect. I'm getting more selective, patient and efficient in what I do. Also I'm focusing on getting better at writing and performing in such a way that it gets the attention of the small but specific group of people I'm aiming at for the specific moment. I'm also starting to get good at diplomacy - incorporating the ability to tell someone to go to H*** in such a way that he/she actually looks forward to it. :D
What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
Didn't get much that made dramatical impacts last year actually, a number of great records, a few libraries ... Maybe I'm in between dramatic changes :o, but then again I'm more into the 'learning to do new and better things' side than the 'getting new gear' side. I went from gigastudio and got halion 3 though, that made alot of difference for me.
Any new goals?
No new, just better revisements of the old ones.

[epexegenesis]

Hey Everyone,

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?

Darren

1) I think so. But I don't even know exactly what my musical dreams are.
2) Never had any. Doubt I ever will.
3) Never made any. Doubt I ever will.
4) I learned a lot about theory. Much thanks to completechords.com.
5) MusicLab RealGuitar
6) Become really good at piano. Upgrade/get a new computer. ...Learn guitar?

[peter269]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
Yes. With the opportunities opened with the new Kirk Hunter library, QLSO, some of VSL, and the forthcoming Choirs from EW, I find that I have the tools to do the kind of orchestrations I've always wanted to do, and in much less time. And in saying this, I have to include GS3, especially the Larry Seyer Reverb in GigaPulse as this does make a huge difference in sound, speed and execution.

2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
There are more opportunities because I'm more aggressive about going out and getting them.

3) Are you making more money at it?
I expect it to come.

4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
Continued improvement in counterpoint enabling me to write on demand faster.

5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
Actually, it was a couple of scores and CDs: Vaughn Williams' A Lark Ascending, and Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus. A third would be Pavanne by Faure along with his Pelleas and Melisande and Requiem. For reading, I subscribed to Music magazine from the BBC, and have spent many enjoyable hours at the BBC web site listening to wonderful interviews and musical analyses you just don't find in the US. Music and the BBC really remiinded me there is life beyond the cue.

6) Any new goals?
With these wonderful new libraries, recording scores that were gathering dust along with new orchestrations. Also, continued growth in counterpoint.

[Franky]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
Yes.
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
More
3) Are you making more money at it?
Yes

4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
Improved my bass playing skills to the point I actually am playing professionally (I'm a lead singer and keyboard player by trade), also improved dramatically my guitar playing skills specially acoustic to the point I'm actually playing guitar professionally also, improved my scoring and arranging techniques, scored, arranged and produced 2 musicals last year that included some brass arrangements, cool stuff.

5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
Fender Precision Bass and bigger gauge strings :D , Gibson Lespaul Costum :D
Yamaha S90 controller, best Keyboard I've ever owned and I've owned almost all of them literally, BFD and BFD XFL.

6) Any new goals?
Make and release 2 new sample libraries this year, continue playing bass professionally and get good enough on the Electric Guitar to get gigs as a Lead Guitarist, oh and maybe buy a saxophone, haven't played in a while would like to start playing that again, oh ya and get off my butt and finally finish and release my first solo album :D

Kindly
Franky
Vintaudio

[Alan Lastufka]

Wow Franky, sounds ambitious - best of luck with all of that, drop an mp3 or 2 on us when you get finish that solo album. :)

[Scott Cairns]

What a great thread.

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
Yes.

2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
Bout the same. (Im busy)

3) Are you making more money at it?
Yes.

4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
Theory.

5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
Dual Xeon.http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif A better attitude to my own music.http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif

6) Any new goals?
Yes. All will be revealed. Bwa hahahaha. http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Franky]

Wow Franky, sounds ambitious - best of luck with all of that, drop an mp3 or 2 on us when you get finish that solo album. :)

Thanks, will do, I already have some pretty decent stuff but not good enough to take the plundge and have you guys listen and critique :)


Kindly
Franky
Vintaudio
www.vintaudio.com

[lukpcn]

Thanks, will do, I already have some pretty decent stuff but not good enough to take the plundge and have you guys listen and critique :)


Kindly
Franky
Vintaudio
www.vintaudio.com

Hi Franky,
I took part in the Yamaha C7 group buy, got the stuff, love it..
but: no invoice attached :(

Can You please send me one as a pdf file ?
Here in Poland the proof of originality is not only original Disks but also an invoice - as the proof of purchase.

Can You ? :confused:
You PM Inbox is Full :( My order name was Lukasz Stasinski. Please respond... it's so important.

[dpasdernick]

I was talking to two owners from a post house today about there capabilities. I asked if they do their own music hoping to help them out. They said they had a guy who writes a ton of stuff for them. He does it all in ACID. He does not play any notes as far as they told me. Just cuts and pastes songs together.

So to answer my own thread "How am I doing, Musically speaking?" I've been duped by a bargain basement program and a non-musician.

Has anyone else here lost out to Garageband or ACID composers who buy loops and arrange them together? There's also a program that shipped with Adobe Premeire (can't remember the name) a few years ago that literally "auto-composed" a song for you. You'd tell it that you needed 2 minutes and 32 seconds of music and it would puke out a song for you. Depending upon which libraries you had that worked with the program you could have everything from Orchestral to Zydeco. And it sounded pretty darn good. How do you compete with a hack that pushes a few buttons on an interface and in seconds has a cue completed. Man I must be getting old but where is the "craft" or "soul" in this type of music?????


Sorry for the rant...


Darren

[MDesigner]

Darren,

Don't worry about it.. just about anyone can throw together tunes in ACID, and people know that. Don't think of it as you losing out to someone who cuts and pastes in ACID.. think of it as you NOT working for a company who doesn't know the difference between people who can't compose and rely on ACID, and people who know how to write original music. (No offense to any ACID users out there.. it's a cool program and it has its uses) They wouldn't be able to appreciate your work, in all likelihood.

There will always be a demand for original compositions.

[dpasdernick]

Darren,

Don't worry about it.. just about anyone can throw together tunes in ACID, and people know that. Don't think of it as you losing out to someone who cuts and pastes in ACID.. think of it as you NOT working for a company who doesn't know the difference between people who can't compose and rely on ACID, and people who know how to write original music. (No offense to any ACID users out there.. it's a cool program and it has its uses) They wouldn't be able to appreciate your work, in all likelihood.

There will always be a demand for original compositions.

Sam,

Thanks for that. Having a bit of a tough day as you can tell... Your thoughts are very much appreciated.

All the very best,

Darren

[mderrico]

I've also lost out to film-makers who were also "composers", so they claimed. By "composer", they really mean ACID or arranger keyboards. Yup, I mean those Casio Cheesetones.

And like Sam said, don't worry about it. These people would never pay for a composer anyway. These are usually the film-makers who think of music as an "after-thought" for their movie and that music isn't all that important anyway. You probably wouldn't want to work for these people. I know I wouldn't.

Thnakfully, these people are not the norm. Most film-makers that I've come across realize that music is 50% of a movie, so they know how important a real composer is. And they all pay or try to compensate the composer as best they can when they have no budget at all.

Just my 2 cents....

[perceive]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?

1) Not really. Stupid job.
2) Difficult to answer but maybe not relevant at this stage for me. Lots more I want to write but no chance.
3) None
4) Yeah started learning guitar, elbeit a little late in life. ;)
5) Lots here. Stormdrum, EWQLSO Gold for earlier in the year, GS3 and Kontakt later in the year.
6) Lots. To work less this year to concentrate on getting 4 songs finished that I have been working on.

[EmmSee]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?



1. Always getting CLOSER ... I hope!
2. Same
3. Occasionally... not consistently at all.
4. Learned some more about sequencing
5. Westgate WW Collection - Expanded
6. Be able to mockup some of my orchestral compositions that I wrote years ago! I'm still very slow at mockups...

[jvidal2003]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
3) Are you making more money at it?
4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
6) Any new goals?
Darren
1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?
Definitively closer.

2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?
About the same so far.

3) Are you making more money at it?
Not yet.

4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)
After so many years making music, I realized there is still a lot to be learned. Just listening to the works of some members of this forum was a humbling experience.

5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?
In no particular order, Stormdrums, EWQLSO Gold, Atmosphere, Stylus RMX, Trilogy and The Old Lady.

6) Any new goals?
Yes, I'm trying to recover from my current catatonic state caused by the software listed above.

[peter269]

So to answer my own thread "How am I doing, Musically speaking?" I've been duped by a bargain basement program and a non-musician.

Darren


Some reading for you:

Quarter Notes and Bank Notes (a MUST for any working composer)

JJ Abrams, producer of Alias, wrote the theme in Acid. So yes, there is this new level of looped competition, for everyone. Which is why I believe that safety is in craftsmanship, being able to write in lots of styles with a willingness to learn new styles as they come up, and learning to produce yourself.

The best lesson in music business I ever had came from Henry Mancini, who said to me, "You're not IN the music business, you ARE a music business."

Keep going.

[robin123]

1) Are you closer to your musical dreams?

My musical dream = Make music whenever I can.
Yes, I'm already there.


2) Are you finding more opportunities or less?

Opportunities dosnt matter to me. I'm not doing music for my living.


3) Are you making more money at it?

I'm only loosing money while making music.


[b]4) Did you learn something new last year (how to read music, etc?)

Keep making music and you will always be learning.


5) What did you buy that really made a difference to your music?

EWQLSO, GPO, StormDrum, Sytrus, MotifES 8[Motif really didnt make any difference, except, while drinking some vodka I have a keyboard to jam on]

6) Any new goals?

Just make music.

[Brian W. Ralston]

The best lesson in music business I ever had came from Henry Mancini, who said to me, "You're not IN the music business, you ARE a music business."


Here's another one that was told to me by Basil Poledorus.

"Don't try to break into the "business of today", but try to break into the "business of tomorrow."

Meaning...most of today's working filmmakers already have composers or guys they trust implicently to wrtie music for their films. They will keep going back to them and rarely take on new people in their world. If you build relationships with new, young filmmakers...the filmmakers of tomorrow...when they make it, they will usually come back to the people they worked with when they were starting off. By the time they make their first big film...you already have their trust and a strong relationship with them.

The trick is trying to evaluate which young fimmakers have that "special something" where you see them moving forward in their careers with every project. It is not just the creativity...but most successful filmmakers (and composers really) are also very good business people and are good at selling their product.

[Rich Pell]

Some reading for you:

Quarter Notes and Bank Notes (a MUST for any working composer)

JJ Abrams, producer of Alias, wrote the theme in Acid. So yes, there is this new level of looped competition, for everyone. Which is why I believe that safety is in craftsmanship, being able to write in lots of styles with a willingness to learn new styles as they come up, and learning to produce yourself.

The best lesson in music business I ever had came from Henry Mancini, who said to me, "You're not IN the music business, you ARE a music business."

Keep going.
:eek: :eek: :eek: How do you know that!! Thats one of my favorite shows (catchiest themes ) and brilliant scoring throughout. I always wondered if he just wrote the melody and Micheal G. put it together for him or what...? Your ruined my day. :( :D :p Rich

[Rich Pell]

Here's another one that was told to me by Basil Poledorus.

"Don't try to break into the "business of today", but try to break into the "business of tomorrow."

Meaning...most of today's working filmmakers already have composers or guys they trust implicently to wrtie music for their films. They will keep going back to them and rarely take on new people in their world. If you build relationships with new, young filmmakers...the filmmakers of tomorrow...when they make it, they will usually come back to the people they worked with when they were starting off. By the time they make their first big film...you already have their trust and a strong relationship with them.

The trick is trying to evaluate which young fimmakers have that "special something" where you see them moving forward in their careers with every project. It is not just the creativity...but most successful filmmakers (and composers really) are also very good business people and are good at selling their product.
Very true..

[Polaris]

1 - Closer to my musical dream: Yes and No. Yes because I released 2 CDs recently (one is New Age/Classical & one is Instrumental Rock). No because noone seems to be interested.
2 - Opportunities More or Less: There are tons of opportunities, but you have to make a decision to take advantage of those that will help you. For example, I have been sitting on my backside about sumbitting a GPO compostion for The Composer Channel.
3 - Money: So far its cost more to get those 2 CDs setup on CD Baby than I've made. On the bright side, 2 people bought my New Age/Classical CD.
4 - I've learned that despite my lack of formal training or ability to "Play" I was able to record over 3 hours of music using various computer-based tools.
5 - Built a new PC. Bought Cubase SE, a 6 channel mixer, an M-Audio 2496 sound card, NI Kompakt, GPO, MusicLabs RealGuitar (Great product!), Arturia Minimoog V, & Steinberg Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition (disappointing).
6 - New Goals: Try to unravel to maze of information regarding marketing & promotion of my music. As a non-performing musician, this may be my greated challenge.

[JohnnyP]

JJ Abrams, producer of Alias, wrote the theme in Acid. So yes, there is this new level of looped competition, for everyone. .

I thought he wrote that with REASON? ANyhoo when I first learned the producer creator did it, I was like 'MAN doesn's this guy get paid enough for producing he has to compose the theme too?!?'