40 months since my last "Mock-up"

I am sure you don´t want or need to brag by this posting (although I feel some people could might think that..), Doug, so I can only speak for myself:

If I would stop working with samples from now on, I would be jobless. Pretty much that sums it up here.

I tell you why: Because nobody pais me the budget or has the budget to hire a live orchestra or live musicians. My best paid project were like 500 Eur per created minute of music. SO..how to get that done without samples? Not for me..
And the charging fees are in the basement. It feels actually that people want even asks composer to work for free sometimes (luckily nobody yet asked me to work for free, I would show him the middlefinger) but reality is that through sample technology the entrance levels gotten very low nowadays, so by saying that I mean that every backyard composer can make competition and put down the prices, another problem is the globalisation. You can buy a pc, cubase and NI komplete 11 for 2 Grands, thats it. And when you are not a douchebag you can make competition on the market with that kind of rig. That wasn´t in the past like that. DEscent samplers started back in the early 90s at 3-4 Grands and that was just the sampler and not the computer and any other outboard gear. There are even teams outsourcing their departments and letting do the jobs by composers, graphic artists from china and india and they can make cheap prices because the dollar often is strong is such countries. (no bad blood against the people there..I am just saying)

That you are able to do your job as an orchestrator with live musicans and orchestra is cool and great, but let me tell you: It is rare and not how the "average" media composer of nowadays works like. And it has partly to do with the mentality of the stupid producers who are not willing to understand what greatless a live orchestra brings with and partly with the things I mentioned above.
It is cheaper to let me do the sample job than hiring live musians or the orchestra. Because and now comes the point: Not to say my mockups are great but any average consumers can´t tell the difference anyways if it is done with samples or live. The producers sais then: Fuck that..we use samples of course. And thats even in big films nowadays where they at least back up the soundtrack with samples.
I could write an essay about that..but thats enough for a first post.

 

A track of mine was used this year in a hollywood production. So yeah..they could have done that with a live orchestra. But they actually don´t because nobody either cares in the movie theatre about if that is live or digital nor the average user would even be able to tell the difference. So now..there is the problem: 20 years ago you needed the live orchestra for that. Now I come and do that in a tiny black box in a small studio room in a town where nothing happens important. So my arm goes from germany 9000 miles to hollywood. This didn´t happen in that way years ago. We are in a completely different market nowadays. The competition is extemely intense I would say. If you say "your Price", then there is the chance that the idiot producer go by somebody else because he is not valuing your craft and experience. But I say in the end: Everybody gets the shit quality what he pais for.

Having said that: I would love one day to be able to work also with a live orchestra..let me tell the work with samples can be so tedious and frustrating at times, everybody can relate to that who is working like that. I try to force my self these days to work much more on practising piano and work on my composition value instead of spending hours in order to let the sample mockups be most realistic.

But one thing: The poor midi composer at home has only samples and sometimes at least I need to have at least a little glimpse feeling from that glorious live sound and so of course I am happy when I create a track or mockup which brings a little tiny of that feeling. I have nothing else at my finger tips.

Look at Mike he said that: Make YOUR price but his comment wasn´t only related to the fact of working with live orchestras. No, he mentioned that in general. Mike also is forced to work on a constant base with samples in his projects even in his last couple of films he scored. Everything was done with samples..so..

 

@Doug Gibson I had some time to think about that whole topic or thread. And I am not sure but

Yes, everybody does have a choice. But I tell you the choice is not like "Ok, I want to work with live orchestra only" or "I want to do only the stuff I love to do" so "this is my price" or so "this is my genre what I love" so hire me. Not at all. There is a choice somehow but especially for people like me: I am not the guy who can pick his projects exclusively. Not saying that I eat what I get. Sure I try to negotiate. But the choice is very limited. Sure I can decline working for a project because often it feels for me that it is not enough what they pay me, but on the other hand I allready know: If I would charge more I would 1st not get the gig and 2nd I would run out of projects and so I would have to close my business. So I try to maintain and go the ways which are still "ok". Lets take your example with that 3000 Dollar job. And yes I have scored something similiar for a similiar price. So someone can say: Are you nuts? And I say: Ok, you know what. When I score a project which is like in your example, I have a 15 track template and just do a very basic 4 part writing which lets me create up to 6-8 minutes a day of music. They get what they pay for I always say. If they pay me that, they get 1 instrument playing the bass, one the chords, one the melody and the rest: Fuck that because if you want a John Williams orchestra arrangement or music that means something more you better make sure to pay me more. I remember a guy from a small project asked me to score 20 minutes of all kinds of different styles of music (zimmer to horner) for 180 Euros. That is painfully true and no joke. I was nice and told him that this is too less and I can´t do the job and good luck and stuff. I was still nice though the right reaction would be: "Fuck you, you idiot, who do you think you are? Are insulting me with that shitt? Yes you do!"

And I know people who even would work for that. So..man..thats is the huge part of the problem..And people do even free gigs just to get the job and to say: Yeah I am a composer and have done projects. The market is imo so drained out and another part of the problem: The market is filled with so many bullshit mediocre music that it hard to stand out between all this crap music. Sure this is "my opinion" and not a general consencus.

And then there is that huge sample libraries and vst industry who creates every day samplers to bring the midi home composers who dream to be one day Hans Zimmer some "film composer" feeling. "oh yeah, I can do the dark knight string ostinato and the inceptions braams" and I even don´t need a live orchestra for it. And yes: Most of the soundtracks in big movies don´t need anymore a live orchestra, because the shitty material doesn´t deserve it to be played by dedicated live musicians conducted by a passionate conducter. And ok this was again my opinion..or not a general fact. It just feels for me that live orchestras are not hired anymore that much because the style in soundtrack is covered up by technology (sample libraries) who can do a very good impression of it. And since people like HZ showing that doing complete filmsoundtracks even for big hollywood movies is somehow "completely fine" more and more studios say: We can safe a lot of money. This whole industry of sampling is mostly aimed to this kind of music. Why we have 24 round robbins samples of spicc violins, cellos blablabal. But not one descent repetition rebow round robbin of legato and sustained strings..why we have in sampling all these 12 horn patches or 200 men choir thing? I don´t know where we are in some years..but I think the market is huge and dead at the same time.

For me composing actually feels like: Ok, in my paid projects I do the ok stuff and try to make it as best as I can (exceptions excluded) for the given budget but in my free time, also here with the guys on the redbanned orchestration project: I do the stuff which I really love and means something to me.

 

@Doug Gibson No problem, I just share my thoughts and always just my personal view here. Sure reach out for me if you need something and sure if I can so something for you I will do the same of course.

 

Oh its damn true..its damn true. Yes, it is a contradiction there in my post. That is the reason why I added: Even with that situation battling I am trying to do for that price I charge the best I can do. The rule with that 4 instrument writing is for me to bring out the essence of what I want. And sure when we are talking about those 3 things:
1. great sound ..no check
2. Fast ...hell yes check
3. cheap ...hell yes check

Am I a proud of my works..partly..partly not at all..because they could have been so much better with a "right amount" of budget. Do I use those works to get new jobs? Partly..I present more works I do in my off time. Another point is I often have no rights on the material, so forget about that.

So I know Robin H. works also quite regular with live orchestra, and sure he can because he has gained the experience working with them. I actually don´t know how I can apply this yet to my business in saying: Well..lets move on and forget about sampling and do the live orchestra thing. A descent live orchestra recording is such expensive that they exceed the complete budget of most of my projects and I ask on a regular base about budgets and so I know what my clients can pay me. Maybe I should reach out for new clients who are having the right projects? Probably. It is also that after quite some years you are so in the workflow that you probably forget about to consider such options.

I don´t know if that will happen one day. I am at least thankful to be able to make a little living for the last couple of years through my job as composer, but it is tough. I am nowhere to say that I am doing an exclusive life style, not at all.