Have you heard this supposedly motivational quote before: “Never be satisfied.” The idea is that if you’re satisfied, you’ll become complacent. So in order to keep improving you can never be satisfied with your output. While I get the sentiment,
When You Feel Like Giving Up On Music…
There’s something that often happens when you start taking music more seriously, and working towards it as a career. You begin to hate it. Okay, so “hate” might not be the right word, and by no means does this apply
How To Build A Horsey Horseless…Musically?
In 1899 the motor industry faced a challenge… They had this new invention that was going to change the world: the automobile. But when they released the car into the wild, panic ensued. For one, people weren’t ready to accept
The Paradox Of Movie Watching For Composers
I’m forever telling composers to stop listening to music. That sounds insane, I know. But here’s the thing… The primary purpose when it comes to scoring a movie is to serve the picture and the audience. How can you expect
Finding Filmmakers
I’m going to show you an “outside-of-the-box” place where you can meet the filmmakers you need to build relationships with as a composer. But first, a quick background story… When I started teaching about film music, students would approach me,
Filmmaker Relationships
Many, many, moons ago, I worked at Blockbuster Entertainment. We were a small, local store, and so our regular customers almost felt like family. When they’d visit the store, they’d not only leave with some excellent, personalised movie recommendations, but also
Reaching Out To Filmmakers
Outreach is about building relationships, not self-promotion. What does that mean? Imagine you were trying to begin a new friendship online. Which of these email outreach options do you think is a better way to build a friendship: a) “Hi, I’m
Composing Lessons… From Maple Syrup
A few years ago my family and I moved to Canada for a short period. Knowing how much maple syrup comes from Canada, I wanted to learn how it’s made. (I can’t help it, everything fascinates me!) Don’t worry, I’m
5 Things Holding You Back As A Composer
A few months ago I surveyed composers about what the were struggling with. Well, along with the usual suspects (“I don’t know where to find projects” / “I don’t know how to reach out to people”) I was surprised to
The Perfect Composer Website Layout
When I started building soundtrack.academy I realised that I needed to have a “proper” website. I thought I knew quite a lot about websites, having built a few in the past. Oh how wrong I was. Since I wanted to
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