Hey Ron! Wow, it's not often I log into the Forums and see a post with my name on it, haha. I'm going to respond here rather than PM you, as this information may be beneficial for others as well.
Okay, first thing...
How many musicians and mentors were involved to get him up and running, especially since he wasn't a Musician?
I'm gonna tackle this one in two parts, with the last part of the sentence first. I've actually been a musician my whole life. I started playing trumpet in 4th grade, and continued playing all through junior high and high school. I even went to college at Boise State University on a trumpet scholarship, playing in the marching band and some assorted concert & jazz groups. I was actually a Communication major, but minored in Music, so I took the first couple of composition & theory & ear training classes. Granted, that was all back in the late 90's / early 2000's and nearly all of that knowledge is gone. Also, during college, I played bass guitar in a hard rock band, and recorded a handful of demos for the group, and then wrote a Rock Opera for my Masters Thesis. This was all prior to the infamous "country album" that myself and Michael always talk about on Taxi TV. So, I've been a musician since as long as I can remember.
BUT..... Does that mean I came into TV composition with any kind of skill on how to make a usable TV cue? Nope! Does it mean I knew how to use a DAW? Hell no! Does it mean I had ANY type of skill that would give me a leg-up on the competition? Nope. Regardless of my musical background, I really was starting from a standstill when I decided to do this on my own.
Now, second thing....
How many musicians and mentors were involved to get him up and running
Believe it or not, just one. Well, two, if you count some offhand comments made by a guy named James Kocian in the elevator at my first Road Rally. (His words of wisdom, "there will always be people better than me, but nobody is going to outwork me", and "your best song is always your next song" are still mantras that I live my life by.). But the only real mentor I had was a guy named Chuck Henry, whom I met at my second Road Rally. Chuck is now one of my best friends, but when I met him, I wasn't anybody, and I only had a few tiny placements to my name. Chuck saw something that he liked - probably my love of college football, haha - and took me under his wing. He's one of the first guys to take a real chance on my music, and helped me understand compositional strategies that I still use to this day. By the time I'd met Chuck, I had signed maybe 100 cues to a couple different libraries, but to be honest, those cues weren't very good. And I wasn't really getting any feedback from library owners other than, "yeah we'll take that", or "no thanks". So I really credit Chuck with giving me the full "dissertation" of how a cue should be structured and composed, all in about 45 minutes while we drank beer together.
Other than Chuck, I never had a mentor. What I didn't learn from Chuck, I learned from Taxi TV, the Road Rally, and these Forums. Oh, and a LOT of listening to cues in high-profile libraries to see how the "real" pros did it.
Next thing...
maybe he's importing midi and/or audio from the internet
I'm not sure if you're suggesting I'm stealing music or not, haha. But I'll take this as a good-natured, well-intended comment. I actually use a LOT of sounds I purchase from sample packs. My hard drive is FULL of drum one-shots, synth stabs, horn blasts, hi hat patterns, hand drum loops, etc, that I drag & drop into my sessions all the time. I don't know anybody who doesn't do this.... I mean, is anybody out there creating their own signature kick or snare sounds by recording their own noises? No.... we all just spend $30 on a good pack, and then use those sounds at our leisure. No need to reinvent the wheel. That's why sample packs exist!!
As for MIDI, I'm a voracious user of MIDI. I actually have a lot of MIDI melodies via sample packs as well that I can drag & drop into my sessions, and then change the key and notes super easy. Sometimes these give me good starting choices that I can alter as needed. But it's not too often that you find a MIDI sample pack that contains "sneaky & comedic" melodies. And since sneaky & comedic is my bread and butter, I have to compose those melodies on my own. Just me and my trusty keyboard.
Okay, last thing:
I feel since screeners can see who is submitting, it makes a huge difference. Certain members will have the upper hand, before the screener even hears what is submitted. Just like most jobs, it's who you know that will help you reach the next level
I think you're overestimating the screeners on this one, haha. I once had a meeting at Taxi HQ with Michael, Chuck Henry, myself, and a Screener to talk about screening practices. That screener said he never looks at the names on the submissions. He just presses play and listens. He has no idea who has composed what, and probably wouldn't know one name from the other even if he paid attention to it. For him - and I'm assuming all of the screeners - the only question is: does this meet the listing requirements, or doesn't it?
And just to dispel any myths about how a name MIGHT lead to more success, allow me to present you a screenshot of my most recent Taxi submissions. As you can see, my last 12 submissions have resulted in 6 forwards, and 6 returns. That's a 50% forward rate. That's FAAAAR from runaway success!! (edit... this forum won't let me upload a picture, so you'll just have to trust me, unless someone else can figure out how to do it for me)
Really, in this part of the industry, your name means nothing. When your music is sent along from libraries to TV shows, all the editors can see is the track title. One could really make the argument that your ability to create eye-catching track titles is WAY more meaningful than your own name. And when those editors preview the tracks, either music works or it doesn't. Library owners know this. That's why nobody says, "If I could only convince Alice Cooper to compose a bunch of dramedy cues, I'm sure they'll get used by the show, because come on, it's ALICE COOPER!". Just because someone might have a recognizable name, doesn't mean their cues will be any good outside of what their name was built on. We're all just trying to make money here. Good usable cues make money. Cues written by someone with a recognizable name won't get placed unless the music is good and fitting for a scene.
As much as people like to think it's "all who you know", there really isn't much truth to that aphorism. You don't have to know ANYBODY to make waves. I'm proof of that. The old "My uncle's best friend works at Warner Bros" line might have gotten people a leg up in the artist side of the industry in the 50's - 2000's, but just doesn't pertain to TV composers in 2022.
As for me, I'm a guy people turn to when they need comedic tracks or epic hip hop. Those are my signature sounds, and I've done so much of them through the years and have built a reputation on them, that libraries know that if they need good comedy tracks, they ask me.
Not because my name is Matt Vander Boegh. Because honestly, that doesn't mean sh*t.... They come to me because they know I'll turn around the tracks super quickly, and that my music is good & usable enough to make us both lots of money.
Hope that all helps to dispel any myths, shine light, etc.... Truly, there isn't anything special about me, other than that I worked incredibly hard to get to where I am, and I still have a LONG ways to go before my sonics compete with major labels and I make the kind of money Chuck Henry makes. I'm just a work-in-progress, like everyone else in here. The only thing that separates me from other people who joined Taxi around the same time I did and have since given it up, is that I just never stopped. There's no magic to what I do or who I am.
~~Matt
Casey
