How to get work?

[thebigdawn]

Hi,I've been with Taxi now for a couple of months and it's been worth every penny because it's motivated me to get some finished product out there. So far, everything's been rejected but I figure that's pretty much par for the course at the beginning until you get a better sense of what people are looking for.Here's my question. Considering I have a fairly general understanding of sound, audio and music I was wondering if anyone on this forum knows of a specific kind of skillset I could develop that would make me attractive for contracts? It appears that a lot of work in entertainment is based on networking, but until that networking happens one could spend years before making a dime. It would be kind of nice if there was a way to put in some solid hours week in week out for a standard return (30 bucks an hour, or something like that).Things that come to mind might be studying Avid or FinalCutPro and then taking gigs online to edit someone's movie, or to do the post–sound for it. Any suggestions or ideas? I'm pretty open on this. For example, maybe there's a website that hires people to put the beeps in online video games? I love Taxi, and I love making music, but until that pipeline really starts getting filled it'd sure be nice to do some steady work some way or how within the media field from home. I have a primary income, so I'm willing to be patient and take the time to develop this skillset if there was a fairly strong guarantee of return on the investment in the end.Thanks to anyone who responds!

[mazz]

Hi,From my experience, skills in networking and communication are probably up near the top for success in this business. I think it's been said before here and other places that a highly skilled jerk may not get the gig while a lesser skilled, easy to work with, flexible, known quantity, will get it.I think studying any software or hardware and getting good at it is always a good idea. But in this business, one critera people will use to decide to work with you or not, is "what you can show me that you've done with the tools you know how to use". That means you still have to network to get that stuff in the face of those that might be willing to hire you. Even a production house would want to see/hear something before they brought you on board as a staff editor or composer. It's the same as applying for any job in any industry only your resume has to include a CD or DVD of your work. You can set up shop on the internet and it will be even more important to have great stuff that makes you stand out from the background noise of the vast sea of mediocrity that the internet has spawned. This is particularly important since you may never meet your clients in person if you work this way. Lot's of people, myself included, have worked on low or no budget film projects so as to end up with some footage and/or music to use as a demo to get the next gig (that hopefully pays something!). These gigs build on each other. Every A list film composer will have stories about how they did student films and anything they could to develop the chops and the relationships and connections to get them to the next level.To add more wind to this already long-winded post, here's a story from my own experience: I've been going to Road Rallys since 2004 and up until last year I was pretty much a wall-flower. But in the year leading up to the 2006 Rally, I invested heavily in my sample libraries and wrote what I thought was some pretty good stuff for a demo. Then I made it my goal for the 2006 Rally to make networking my focus. I ended up getting a deal to write for TV after meeting some folks in person and handing my demo to them personally and staying in touch via e-mail right after the Rally. Moral: Build your catalog while networking so when the deal comes you'll be ready. (And don't quit the day job just yet) Hope this helps!Mazz

[davewalton]

Quote:Hi,I've been with Taxi now for a couple of months and it's been worth every penny because it's motivated me to get some finished product out there. So far, everything's been rejected but I figure that's pretty much par for the course at the beginning until you get a better sense of what people are looking for.Here's my question. Considering I have a fairly general understanding of sound, audio and music I was wondering if anyone on this forum knows of a specific kind of skillset I could develop that would make me attractive for contracts? It appears that a lot of work in entertainment is based on networking, but until that networking happens one could spend years before making a dime. It would be kind of nice if there was a way to put in some solid hours week in week out for a standard return (30 bucks an hour, or something like that).Things that come to mind might be studying Avid or FinalCutPro and then taking gigs online to edit someone's movie, or to do the post–sound for it. Any suggestions or ideas? I'm pretty open on this. For example, maybe there's a website that hires people to put the beeps in online video games? I love Taxi, and I love making music, but until that pipeline really starts getting filled it'd sure be nice to do some steady work some way or how within the media field from home. I have a primary income, so I'm willing to be patient and take the time to develop this skillset if there was a fairly strong guarantee of return on the investment in the end.Thanks to anyone who responds!I guess for me I'd say that there are maybe three main things. The first two go hand-in-hand, for me they kind of compliment each other because doing one without the other would get me nowhere.(1) Get to the point to where you're getting some music forwarded. That'll tell you that (a) you've got a good sound overall that "meets the bar" and (b) you can interpret music requests from mostly non-musicians and turn those requests into what they wanted musically speaking.(2) For me at least, was to settle in on a main "style" of music or at least eliminate styles I wasn't really great at so those aren't taking up my time and getting in the way. Some REALLY focus specifically. One Taxi guy is getting good results by doing Celtic music almost exclusively. Me, I started getting results once I put the "orchestra" at the center of most of my music and bringing in electronica and/or ethnic as needed. Others can branch out even more but I'm pretty much sticking with Orchestral/Electronica/Ethnic to where I can do each fairly convincingly and/or blend one with another. That covers a lot of territory for film/television and although I'll miss out on opportunities with, say, jazz or hip-hop, if I try to do too many then I won't really get a convincing sound with anything.(3) Make Google your friend. I spend LOTS of time doing searches for all kinds of things - production music libraries, film companies, forums for film makers, etc. It takes a while but you'd be surprised how many opportunities you stumble on when you do searches and follow all the links. For example, I found a nice list of music libraries when I accidentally stumbled onto the site of a company that wrote the core elements to the search features that a lot of music libraries websites use. Last but not least, hang around the Taxi forum. The best things I got from the forum are information, perspective and focus. It really helps to cut through the fog and get a clearer picture of what others are doing and also what I have to do musically to step up my game to be competitive. If you can kind of "detach" yourself emotionally from your music and be objective about advice and suggestions, etc, you'll wind up picking and choosing the right suggestions (you'll know deep down what the right suggestions are when you hear them if you're honest with yourself). The Taxi critiques, taken as a whole, really helped me focus on what needed focusing and helped me leave alone the stuff that was actually working. When I first came to Taxi I really had no idea whatsoever. It all takes a while but it's a really fun journey.Dave

[matto]

Bigdawn,If I understand you correctly you're talking about finding a "day job" in an entertainment industry related field (but not writing music) until you build your catalog (size and quality wise) to the point where you can do music professionally. Presumably to build connections in the entertainment field you couldn't if you had a "regular" day gig.That sounds like a good plan on the surface, but there are 2 potential caveats:1- When you spend time learning a new craft (such as video or sfx editing) in order to get that entertainment related gig, you are NOT spending that time working on your music. Assuming you have a regular day job, you'd have to learn that new craft in your spare time, and I would submit that time is much better spent working on your music.It's hard enough for a part-time composer to compete with the pros, and you probably have a certain amount of other things to take care of in your spare time, so why limit the time you have available to work on music even further by seeking out a new line of work which is not what you ultimately want to be doing?2- Working in an entertainment industry related field all day long, particularly one that involves listening to/editing music or sound, may actually decrease your "appetite" for working on your own music once your day job is over. You may feel "burnt out" on musical matters at the end of the day, whereas having a completely unrelated day gig might leave you hungry, motivated and inspired to work on your own music.For example, I hardly ever go out to clubs anymore since starting to write music for a full-time living, because after a day of working on music I don't feel like even more music...I'd rather do something non-related to recharge myself creatively.So my recommendation is stick to your non-music related day gig and spend ALL your spare time improving your musical craft and buliding your catalog...it takes long enough to reach your goal of making a living from music as it is...without any additional detours.Of course that's just my personal opinion.matto

[elser]

Just had to chime in on this because it's an excellent question and thread for anyone entering into a career in music. There are people all over the music business who started as musicians or writers who are now making CD dupes or doing Foley or other such enterprises. Matto said 'focus on what you want to do'. Mazz and Dave said 'learn how to do it'.

[hummingbird]

I've heard Matt Hirt talk about this (on the YouTube videos) and also Nancy Moran (who is coming to the Rally, yeah!)... and Dave talked about it above -- find your musical niche. This was the most difficult part of my journey over the past 3 - 4 years.... but I think it is crucial to make you stand out from the crowd. Be a specialist. .... and I don't know if you will find this useful but here's a blog that I recently wrote that sort of relates to this discussion of work/success...http://theshysinger-songwriter.blogspot ... ummin'bird

[clonsberry]

Quote:...settle in on a main "style" of music or at least eliminate styles I wasn't really great at so those aren't taking up my time and getting in the way. Some REALLY focus specifically. One Taxi guy is getting good results by doing Celtic music almost exclusively. Me, I started getting results once I put the "orchestra" at the center of most of my music and bringing in electronica and/or ethnic as needed. Others can branch out even more but I'm pretty much sticking with Orchestral/Electronica/Ethnic to where I can do each fairly convincingly and/or blend one with another. That covers a lot of territory for film/television and although I'll miss out on opportunities with, say, jazz or hip-hop, if I try to do too many then I won't really get a convincing sound with anything.That's something I'm finding out pretty quick. The tendency when I started a few months ago was to write for and submit to everything I thought I could pull off even though I wasn't getting forwards to anything. I was a kid in a candy store. But I was spinning my tires trying to go 110 mph. I've found that I need to make an effort to settle in and do what I do best. Gonna have to let some listings go by and that's fine. I'm still stretching myself but I'm doing it at a much more deliberate pace and spending more time refining my core skills.

[thebigdawn]

Thanks for all the input from different people.I feel there's a danger of buying more and more musical equipment (like a string sample library) without seeing a return on investment. That's why I was thinking about improving another skillset instead. I realise that doing so would take me further away from my original goal of writing music and being successful at it, but I find that the feeling of constant failure that revolves around maintaining a vision of that goal dehibilitating. I guess I thought and think that by moving into a venture where the success boundaries were better defined it would lead to a happier daily lifestyle.

[mazz]

It's very possible that doing what you are proposing could lead to a happier daily lifestyle. It kind of depends on the kind of person you are. When I was trying my hand at music production, I had a hard time separating my goals and the goals of the people I was working with. It was very frustrating for me and I realized that I wasn't being true to myself and was just delaying working on my own music. So that kind of a job didn't work very well for me. I've used my current day gig to fund my musical pursuits (including sample libraries) and as soon as I started using the upgraded samples for my compositions, I started to get some notice and some deals and referrals. I still haven't really seen any money from any of this yet but upgrading my sounds was a risk I was willing to take to improve my chances on the backend. It's kind of a catch-22 to think that working in a production job might be more creative, but for me, working at the day gig on something totally unrelated to music leaves me time to compose in my head and realize those visions when I get home. It's not the same as having composing be my job but it's one or two steps closer............Man, it's a tough transition and a big step to take and I'm right there with you!Mazz

[crs7string]

It seems to me to play in the "big league" of anything you need the right tools to compete.There is an old joke in the restaurant business that the food and portions will improve when business picks up. In what were trying to do we need great food and the right portions from the git go to try to attract a customer (forward/deal) To quote another cliche "You've got to spend money to make money"To follow the restaurant idea, if you wanted to open a franchise of any of the national chains you would have a small fortune invested in just the franchise fee before you even started the build out of your space and hired your first snotty teenager to greet your customers with "May I help you?"To set up a home studio is a relatively small investment, if you have the talent to use the tools to make some marketable music. If you had to finance the restaurant franchise, build out, lease etc. etc. you could go for years before you made a meaningful profit. Why is this model different?Chuck