Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

A career in music...viable?

Rate this topic


Ben Archer

Recommended Posts

I've been working with my synth in the last few months or so, trying to see if I could maybe put together a few songs. Maybe I could do music for commercials, web sites, movies? I don't know. I'm still learning, but here's a look at my youtube. channel. Just looking for first impressions. Keep in mind almost all of it is improv (save my "first song").

http://www.youtube.com/user/Benny209

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are so many careers in music, it really comes down to what you like to do. Writing stuff? Just playing? You could cater exactly to your interest.

It is so, so specialized and there are so many people already in the industry, I wouldn't consider it unless you're totally in love with the work. At least, I personally would never dream of entering any area of the music business unless I was ecstatic about it. The money isn't great, it can get monotonous, and it more-or-less is an endless struggle.

I used to sing, and I still like to sing, but I abandoned the professional pursuit and made it a hobby instead. Music can be a real joy to do for yourself.

Edited by JASKN
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're going to attempt a career in multimedia scoring, you're going to have to be able to do more than craft songs on a synth. You'll have to have a strong knowledge of DAW software, audio engineering, and strong recording and mixing skills. The only people in that industry that make it are the ones that don't have to rely on anyone else to do their job for them. This also means it is highly recommended that you be both proficient and creative on a number of instruments, if you're going to be focusing on acoustic music.

Obviously, you'll need to have a strong working knowledge of sound design theory, in order to accustom oneself to the procedures and jargon in this profession. Being able to analyze the sound of a multimedia work - not just in terms of its music, but also its sound effects and dialog stems - is essential to plotting your score and producing it.

Most people get into this line of work by being composers/musicians primarily, and just putting themselves out there in all ways possible. Don't limit yourself to just scoring for multimedia - if your music appeals to music publishing agencies, then that's the direction you'll go in. Something good to know is that many recently-graduated film degree holders don't have a strong knowledge in sound, and this can be a great method to work your magic and display your talents while first starting out.

I personally didn't take that track, however. I was 'discovered' by a music publishing company who thought that a recently-launched campaign would be a perfect vessel for my non-published works. It's working out for me, but I did not originally intend to score films, as most of my academic involvement with this field has been in sound design. Most people I know who have reached any amount of success in this field (and believe me: it's very competitive) started off by scoring and mixing sound for independents, and simply keeping themselves constantly on the market and active in the industry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't really answer your main question but I listened to your channel and I think you're quite good.

The next step for you I think would be to buy (for example) Pro Tools with an Mbox and fool around with it every day and continue making more and more professional sounding music. Until you can put it up on the internet, and just show it as much as possible.

Take this guy for example. Probably a guy who just started off at home recording stuff and has become quite talanted: http://www.youtube.com/user/NxSGMusic

He's making music in some form of program systematically and marketing himself a bit. He's showing he's creative by adding pictures and stuff. I think that's the kind of route you could go to get "discovered" eventually if that's what you want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to sing, and I still like to sing, but I abandoned the professional pursuit and made it a hobby instead. Music can be a real joy to do for yourself.

I've tried being content with it as a hobby but I'm not unfortunately. I suppose until it does present an opportunity to make money, it'll have to remain a hobby, though.

If you're going to attempt a career in multimedia scoring, you're going to have to be able to do more than craft songs on a synth. You'll have to have a strong knowledge of DAW software, audio engineering, and strong recording and mixing skills. The only people in that industry that make it are the ones that don't have to rely on anyone else to do their job for them. This also means it is highly recommended that you be both proficient and creative on a number of instruments, if you're going to be focusing on acoustic music.

Obviously, you'll need to have a strong working knowledge of sound design theory, in order to accustom oneself to the procedures and jargon in this profession. Being able to analyze the sound of a multimedia work - not just in terms of its music, but also its sound effects and dialog stems - is essential to plotting your score and producing it.

This is fantastic info, thank you. I realize there's a lot more I should know if I want to take it seriously. I've been looking for affordable means of learning more about it, since I'm finding it difficult to learn simply from my synth's manual and the music theory I learned in high school

I can't really answer your main question but I listened to your channel and I think you're quite good.

The next step for you I think would be to buy (for example) Pro Tools with an Mbox and fool around with it every day and continue making more and more professional sounding music. Until you can put it up on the internet, and just show it as much as possible.

Take this guy for example. Probably a guy who just started off at home recording stuff and has become quite talanted: http://www.youtube.com/user/NxSGMusic

He's making music in some form of program systematically and marketing himself a bit. He's showing he's creative by adding pictures and stuff. I think that's the kind of route you could go to get "discovered" eventually if that's what you want.

I like this approach as well...something to challenge me creatively and put my music out there. I worry about protecting my rights to the music, though...since I heard youtube owns it once you upload it. Or someone could just listen to my songs and steal them if I don't learn how to copyright them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...