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If someone wants to make $50 for a worldwide commercial, that is a good thing. Not everyone is trying to make a career in music. Some just want money on the side as a supplement.
@Desire Inspires…how about if your employer hires someone to do your job at 1/10 your salary, just because they are only doing it for “money on the side as a supplement?”
You OK with that? It’s just business.
If you open up your template and have a full orchestra at your fingertips, and your FX routing set up, you are going to be able to work quickly. It’s the same no matter what genre you’re working in.That’s how top recording engineers work.
What I meant to say here is that another way of speeding things up is to streamline your workflow. One way of doing that is with templates. If every cue is a blank page, you are reinventing the wheel.
For things other people need hours and days I need minutes or hours
On some levels this is the difference between a professional and a non-professional.
By analogy: I just finished renovating parts of my house. It took me 6 months to accomplish what a professional would have done in 2 months.
The results are very good, but I am not as fast as someone who does this kind of work every day, for a living. Moreover, the results are not at the same level, in many cases, as a professional.The same is true with composing. What you describe Wildman is training, knowledge and experience, all of which take years to aquire, through study and practice. Those are the fundementals that go into becoming a pro, whether you write for orchestra or make beats.
When people say “I do X amount of cues in a day” it’s really not relevant, because it depends on the following:
1) The individual’s skill level. If you don’t have some basic grasp of theory, you are not writing music, you are reinventing it, which will take a lot longer.
2) The kind of music you are writing…no one is producing 3 or 4 cues per day at the compositional level of a cue that Mark Petrie spent a week on. On the other hand, you should be able to do more than one typical reality / cable cue in a day, and
3) the tools (gear) that you have available. That speaks for itself.
If you don’t have good gear, you will waste hours, days, weeks trying to make what you have sound better (and probably still not be happy).If you open up your template and have a full orchestra at your fingertips, and your FX routing set up, you are going to be able to work quickly. It’s the same no matter what genre you’re working in.That’s how top recording engineers work.
The more that you have in your “toolkit” both intellectually and physically, the less time you spend searching for “it,” whether “it” is a sound, or the next chord.
Just my opinion.
Michael
64 bit allows you to access all of the RAM that your computer has available. With 32 bit, you are generally limited to 4 GB of RAM access.
If you are using RAM hungry software like LA Scoring Strings, Omnisphere, Altiverb, you can hit your RAM limit pretty quickly.
If you have a large template and you’re a running a lot of plug-ins
64 bit it essential.As small session for me is at least around 40 tracks, with plug-ns on every track. I would hit the wall in no time at 32 bit, even though I use two Mac Pros connected by VEPRO.
The only downside to going 64 bit is that your 32 bit plugs won’t work unless your DAW can handle both simultaneously.
I highly recommend VEPRO, because it hosts outside your DAW._Michael
I can say from experience that unless you are a guy with intense Mozart like conservatory training and just a bad ass producer with tons of chops (with software and samplers) and experience scoring for film with very tight deadlines…and you are a fantastic player (of whatever your instrument may be), I’d say take your time and craft something good, sleep on it for a day, listen again, ask yourself if you can make it better, then render the final mix.
Sounds like the way song writers go about producing an “album” a year, not the way TV composers score a series.
Efficiency is your friend.
Well the guys at a well known library that I wont mention, all I can say is that they are getting a sallary and they produce 7 cues per day. Pretty good, pretty pretty good as our friend larry david says.
I was on “retainer” with an exclusive back in the 90’s, which meant I was doing outside projects too. The pace was a CD per month…15 to 20 cues, with edits. Another guy did twice that. I think there was one 2 month period where I did 100 short (15 second) cues.
Efficiency is the name of the game.My goal, once we get settled, is one-a-day.
150+ cues a year is a bit of an overkill.
You`ll get nuts after some yearsI don’t know. I come from a documentary film / video scoring background. I never had the luxury of time. It wasn’t unusual to have maybe two weeks to compose and produce as many as 15 to 20 cues.
I’m already nuts Wildman, maybe that’s why. 😛I work with templates for different styles.
I approach my templates a few different ways, but everything gets its own track, including drums and percussion. So, the kick gets a track, the snare gets a track etc. When I’m doing orchestral cues, I set up FX sends to three tracks, dry, early reflections and tail. So, you can see that tracks/channel strips fill up quickly.Back when I was running a bunch of rack-mounted samplers through
Soundcraft Ghost, I guess I maxed at 24-32 tracks. Now, with DP8
I’ve had cues go up to around 96 tracks. Around 48, would be normal.Enough talk of “back when!” It will be interesting too see what pace I can establish, when reproducing the cues that I’ve collected.
_Michael
Not seeing the problem, if you are prolific enough, with testing the waters with some of your tracks if the potential to make decent money is there.
Good point Chuck. While I prefer money up front, I think that writers who sweat out every track, and can’t produce a volume of work quickly, tend to be very precious about their music. If you can crank out ten MTV ready cues in a few days, it might be worth a gamble. Would I give them an orchestral cue that I spent a week on? No.
One thing I noticed in discussions on this site is sometimes traditional libraries (E or NE) and RF libraries get lumped together in discussions. The word “library” applies to both but they are very different animals and business models.
@Advice…I’ve smacked my head against that brick wall a million times. Everyone (except you and Art) sees the word “library” and thinks that it means one thing. It doesn’t. Different business models, different goals, different clients AND different musical requirements.Back to work for me. Finishing a long over due collection for an Exclusive (the money up front kind).
Cheers,
MichaelMichael L…cool stuff regarding NFL films! and you basically reinforce my point of view. Exclusive is great when the library hires you and pays you to write the tracks.
A perfect example of luck and opportunity that you cannot recreate…I was at NFL Films Studio doing the audio layback and final mix for a film that I had scored. The mixer that day was also the person who ran their library. He liked what he heard, and the rest, as they say is history.
Whatever, what works for me, works for me. What works for you, or MichaelL or anybody else works for them.
Dude…It’s funny that you should say that. I was mulling this thread over, while ingesting yet another cardiac assault for lunch, and I had
what should be an obvious epiphany.Whatever advice or wisdom any of us has to offer is more or less irrelevant, because we all come from such different places in our lives with different wants and needs.
Where you choose to live, whether you have children, how much you do, or do not, value material things, will have a huge impact what you must accomplish in this business, to support your lifestyle.There is no point in arguing. We each live our own truth.
My circumstances, path and experiences have been extremely unique. Even if I wrote down every step that I’ve taken over the last 35 years, it would mean nothing to anyone who wants to be in this business now. You can’t recreate every step that I’ve taken, or the “luck” involved. Some things simply happen by being in the right place, at the right time, when you are ready to seize the opportunity.
The only fact that I know to be universal is that none of us can afford to waste time.
And on that note, I say good luck, whatever paths you choose.
_Michael
Maybe the model that is fair for everyone (including the so called “confused editors” at Post houses and Networks who complain about hearing tracks from multiple sources with different titles) is exclusive representation but with the right to sell on the Royalty Free market. That is a deal I can handle at this point in my career.
I absolutely agree. That would be the best of both worlds for composers. There’s no rational argument against it, because those same editors aren’t likely to be shopping on RF sites. I’d love to see that happen.
I’ve seen you write things like “the most important asset to protect is your own catalog.” But then I’ve seen you say “I write for exclusive libraries”…and also…I’m going to float some old cues out on the RF market…Are you getting work for hire contracts to write for the exclusive catalogs that you do biz with?
First, I consider doing cues on a work-for-hire basis as protecting my catalog because as we lawyers say, “it’s “clean.” In other words it’s free from any entanglement in the negative implications of re-titling.
I DO NOT consider the traditional WFH exclusive model vs. the new give us your music for free exclusive model to be the same. The only thing they have in common is the word “exclusive.”I have written for exclusive libraries on a WFH basis since 1978, starting with the NFL Music Library (Don’t look for that “record”. It’s out of print). Since then I’ve written for six other exclusives, on a WFH basis.
In the early 80’s I was approached to help start a RF library. Over the course of 10 years, I put 200+ cues into that library (which no longer exists). I own those cues. My experience with the business model was very positive.
From 1977 to 2000 I composed music for hundreds of documentaries, industrial films, corporate videos, corporate events. I retained the rights to that music. I never threw anything away, score paper, midi files, audio recordings etc. Basically, I’ve got a few thousand “raw” cues that I am reproducing, with current technology.
I don’t have a lot of interest in chasing trends. I like to produce cues that an Ad agency friend of mine calls “evergreen.” If I didn’t have a long term game plan, I would have written disco music in the 70’s and I’d be out of work now.
So…the short answer to your question is that I do work WFH for exclusive libraries, for which I am given general instructions or a brief. My “personal” catalog accumulated over 25 years is going to RF libraries.
None of the above includes my TV work to date. But, we are discussing marketing that catalog through RF libraries.
What do you think is the most fair model for both composers and publishers?
If you’re not getting paid up front, I think that the model you describe above would be ideal. ++++1
As you would say,”at this time in my career,” because I have several thousand existing cues to work with, and because of the nature of those cues, I believe that RF libraries are the best fit…for me.
I hope that answers your questions.
Cheers,
MichaelI would fight for the right of the composers who actually are selling their music for between $25 and $100 on a website. People who make statements like the one above do not understand that you are selling a track 100 times over for $30 (do the math). Which could or could not be way more than you would ever make from an exclusive deal in 3 to 5 years.
++++1
For my personal situation, and my catalog which is derived from years of working with dozens of non-broadcast clients, the RF model is the best fit. It would be a total waste of my time to submit that part of my catalog to NE re-titlers.
Moreover, I do write for television and I know that 10 seconds of music here and 15 seconds of music there pays less in backend than a good RF sale.
So, my message is don’t dismiss the RF model. My caveat is that I believe the music that works well in the broadcast oriented NR re-title world is not necessarily what works in the RF world and vice versa. There is some overlap. However, the RF palette is a lot broader, because it isn’t limited by pop-culture. Personally…I love that.
Again, best of luck to all.
Michael
More Advice, I’m sorry I didn’t mean that you’ve lost control of your catalog. I should have asked why you don’t take control, not opt-in to the exclusive deals and be done with it? Clearly, you disagree with the libraries’ new strategy.
And Michael, while there may be 10 guys standing in line, I have to say that those of us that have proven that the market likes our stuff and our stuff places and sells a lot can not be dismissed a s “easily replaceable”. I notice the same names over and over on my cue sheets. The cream does rise to the top, and I do not believe that there is an endless supply of guys out there who can crank out broadcast quality production music year after year.
More Advice, that may well be true. But I think that someone with a more jaded eye, who is looking at the cost benefit analysis of losing some composers, who don’t want to be exclusive vs.building their exclusive catalog, may disagree, or worse, may not even care.
By analogy, it’s kind of like car-makers deciding which will cost more, putting in a safety device, or paying out damages in law suits. Unfortunately, they often decide to gamble on law suits. My point is that given the option of losing someone like you, with a proven track record, vs. risking an unknown, if it accomplishes what they want, exclusivity, they may be more than willing to take that gamble, especially if “exclusivity” adds to their bottom-line. (AND they’re not paying anything for it!)
With respect to the names that you see on cue sheets, do you know whether some of the names that you see over and over again are
in-house composers?I do not believe that there is an endless supply of guys out there who can crank out broadcast quality production music year after year.
I completely agree. But, there is an endless supply of people trying, and that, I believe, weighs heavily on the situation and judgment of those involved.
I realize that, having not participated in the re-titling model, I’m not suffering from the potential lost opportunities and choices that you’re faced with.
The whole situation only reinforces my belief that the RF model is the most empowering for composers who are capable of producing a large body of quality work.
Best of luck to you.
Michael
@More Advice
Makes sense to me and the model you propose is used by some libraries I work with like SW. Makes complete sense.In a way that is even more preferable than the traditional upfront exclusive library deal, in which there is no guarantee beyond the upfront money.
Moreover, some upfront deals are so low now, that it makes more sense to put the cues into RF libraries.
_Michael
95% of my catalog is in the NE market a
Now, I can see why you’re so P#ssed about the situation.
Pretty much everything that More Advice just said is why I don’t participate in retitling.I do not agree that “libraries don’t need us”…They need us to create a stream of new tracks, we need them to distribute them to their clients.
Let me qualify that. They do not need us individually, because there are ten hungry and eager composers, who are just as qualified waiting in line behind us, who are more than willing to take our place. So, they don’t need us in the sense that we are each replaceable. Anyone who doesn’t understand that reality is in for a rude awakening.
So…if you want a revolution, start by getting composers to “just say no” and stop giving it away. Good luck on that one. Remember the whole model exists because composers couldn’t find other opportunities with traditional libraries. NE libraries were the revolution.
However, even if everyone did just say “no,” several of the prominent re-titlers are owned, run and staffed by composers who were already making a lot of money, before they opened up their libraries to the masses. Outside composers works are just the icing on the cake, not the cake. If all the outside composers suddenly vanished, they would be just fine.
This is not the case with traditional upfront money exclusive libraries, run by business persons, for whom having a “library” is not an adjunct or add-on to their own primary business of composing.
Whether the need for exclusivity is fact or fiction, the NE re-titling model is in transition. For anyone who has invested a lot, and spread their cues among several different re-titlers, it is as we say in the law, a quagmire.
Bets of luck. More Advice. I hope that you can regain control of your catalog.
_MichaelL