# (2021 UPDATE) My Second Year: From Medical Doctor to Pro Composer



## zedmaster

NEW: My second year of Become A Pro Composer is over. Was it worth the huge struggle?



ORIGINAL POST:
I want to become a pro composer! In this video I am documenting my first year on the journey to become a professional media composer. Which samples libraries did I buy? What are my goals for 2021? Come and find out!


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## zedmaster

January is over, and I documented this month on my composer journey. Hope it provides value to you!

Let me know if you have any tips and tricks that can help me on my way. In my videos you will see that I don't know everything and I won't pretend to. I'm grateful for any helpful input and listen to your feedback


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## Manfred

Great stuff! I’ll be following your journey! I appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to put yourself out there (love your studio; goes to show what can be done without a 100K studio). I sense you have a real future in the industry. 

Danke,
Manfred


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## zedmaster

Thank you very much, Manfred. Your words motivate me to keep going


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## zedmaster

FEBRUARY UPDATE of my journey to become a pro media composer





Featuring:
- A very successful video
- A hardware setback
- New VST's
... and more motivation than ever!


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## MikeK

zedmaster said:


> I want to become a pro composer! In this video I am documenting my first year on the journey to become a professional media composer. Which samples libraries did I buy? What are my goals for 2021? Come and find out!



Just watched this today and subscribed. Very engaging and looking forward to getting caught up to today’s video.


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## zedmaster

Thank you MikeK, appreciate it!


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## zedmaster

The March update of my documentation "Become A Pro Composer" is out. Hope this is useful and entertaining to you 

Thanks to Alex Langenbach, Tom Hawk, Michael Maas and all the other great composers, developers and musicians that made March a great month for me!


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## Eleganes

Nice! Now we can learn almost everything from youtube! Thanks for sharing this page here. I believe that during these challenging times, we all need to find a hobby. Art has saved humanity so many times; it will save us even from the pandemic! Staying locked in the house for so long has driven me insane. Thank God I had my guitar and my husband by my side. I told him to play guitar, and he taught me to dance Ciao Bella dance. In general, I’m a big fan of YouTube tutorials; it is really fun to learn something new from scratch! So thanks for your input; it's really incredible what you're doing!


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## zedmaster

+++APRIL UPDATE OUT+++



Become A Pro Composer: April 2021 (NEW PC FOR REAL!!, Jobs, Libraries)





Subscribe to my Youtube channel and join me on my composer journey!


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## iMovieShout

Great ideas here and, like me, from a completely unrelated career path. After 30+ years running various telecommunications businesses around the world, I got tired of the politics and back stabbing, and decided to go back to what I loved doing at school - making films and scoring the music.


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## zedmaster

Thanks for sharing your background here!  Let's try to walk this way and enjoy it as much as we can despite setbacks and obstacles!


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## zedmaster

The May update on my series “Become A Pro Composer” is out, where I document my journey of becoming a professional media composer 💪

This month, we’ll discuss learning trailer music with Alex Pfeffer’s Trailer Music Course, traditional score analysis, Strezov Sampling’s Percussion Essentials X3M and the Elgato Stream Deck!


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## zedmaster

++ JUNE UPDATE ++

2021 HALFTIME! Do I have to brace for failure with my ambitious goals for my composer journey this year?

How are your composer goals for 2021 going so far?


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## MikeK

“... due to my weekly YouTube schedule...” 

I enjoy your videos, but this makes it seem like you’re not hitting some goals as strongly as you’d like because you’re producing these videos. Am I misunderstanding that?

While I’d hate to see you stop your videos, if it’s taking you away from creating music, I wonder if there’s a need to reclaim some time that you’re currently spending on videos for us. I know there’s value in the videos, but I’m suggesting a possible compromise with frequency for the rest of the year and see how that changes things for you.

This struck me only because I’ve been consumed with a goal lately (non-music) that has made it easy to prioritize my time and jettison things that I used to think were kind of important, but really weren’t when I got so focused.


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## wahey73

Really love to follow you on your journey as it is so similar to mine. We do have so many goals in common (1000 subscribers within 2021, getting contacts in the business, making good videos but writing some music too, having a full time day job + family means doing YouTube and writing music at night...). Watching you keeps me motivated! Wish you all the best


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## zedmaster

MikeK said:


> “... due to my weekly YouTube schedule...”
> 
> I enjoy your videos, but this makes it seem like you’re not hitting some goals as strongly as you’d like because you’re producing these videos. Am I misunderstanding that?


Thank you for your considerate response, Mike! This question is not trivial for me to answer. What bigger goal am I striving towards? It's not really defined, yet. Do I want to become a full-time composer with project-based work? Do I want to scale the Youtube game and become a musical edutainer? No idea.

I'd say I am on a pleasant stroll through a cloudy territory and letting myself being magnetically dragged by the opportunities around me.

Like Bilbo said: "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." 

For now, I think documenting my journey on Youtube is a central part of my development in this community. It helps me get my name out, opens opportunities and gives myself and others some value.

What I will try is combine the aspects I've been neglecting a bit (writing musical material and putting my new knowledge into practice) and combine them with my Youtube efforts, i.e. somehow making videos about my music. But hopefully still engaging and interesting. Definitely more of the "Let's Orchestrate" series. Perhaps a "Let's write a XXX track from scratch", etc. etc. I'll have to think about it, experiment and create a master plan! :D



wahey73 said:


> Really love to follow you on your journey as it is so similar to mine. We do have so many goals in common (1000 subscribers within 2021, getting contacts in the business, making good videos but writing some music too, having a full time day job + family means doing YouTube and writing music at night...). Watching you keeps me motivated! Wish you all the best


Thanks so much, Martin! Yes, we are at a similar stage on our Youtube journey. Let's make the best of it and don't forget to enjoy the actual *journey *to our goals. Because once you reach a goal, it loses some of its intrinsic meaning and will be replaced by another one. And we don't want to end up as star-chasers (or moths attracted by the next shiny light...). :D Hope you will succeed in all you do!


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## zedmaster

The July update of my series "BECOME A PRO COMPOSER" is out. This month, I'll had to look into headphones as my trusty pair of Bose QC35 broke 😱. I can't wait for my new studio headphones to arrive.


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## AlexSonicsMusic

Wow, Kevin, this is just amazing. Absolutely inspiring


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## zedmaster

HELLO from Korean government facility quarantine! Luckily I have WIFI here, so this is the August update of my series Become A Pro Composer! ✈️


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## zedmaster

I survived the zombie quarantine!! 👽 What a ride that was :D Here's the September update of my journey "Become A Pro Composer". Enjoy!


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## ip20

zedmaster said:


> HELLO from Korean government facility quarantine! Luckily I have WIFI here, so this is the August update of my series Become A Pro Composer! ✈️



Been binging your videos today. Such an inspiring and fun journey. Please keep posting. I’d be especially interested to hear more about the classes/training materials you’ve gone through after seeing your Siu video.

I was not clear based on your prior episodes, was this orchestra brass (esp the aggressive Trumpets, so neat) in this episode CSB or the BBC one?


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## zedmaster

ip20 said:


> Been binging your videos today. Such an inspiring and fun journey. Please keep posting. I’d be especially interested to hear more about the classes/training materials you’ve gone through after seeing your Siu video.
> 
> I was not clear based on your prior episodes, was this orchestra brass (esp the aggressive Trumpets, so neat) in this episode CSB or the BBC one?


Thank you so much for your feedback! These videos take a great amount of effort to make and I can reach some people who enjoy them  

Maybe I can make a video later on what music teaching resources helped/are helping me become a composer without attending music college 🤔

I'm pretty sure all brass I used so far this year is CSB. I haven't used BBCSO brass yet.


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## zedmaster

October 2021 update of "Become A Pro Composer" is out






This month, we'll look at a CRAZY effective Studio One template trick. I've also performed surgery, and upgraded my studio. Let's reach that 1,000 subscriber goal!


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## zedmaster

Let's talk Black Friday and an ambitious and exciting trailer music project in November!


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## zedmaster

Thank you so much for helping me reach this milestone!


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## wahey73

zedmaster said:


> Thank you so much for helping me reach this milestone!


Well done...looks like the post from Alex really worked out for you! Congrats on that milestone 😊 Next step 2000


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## proxima

Congratulations! But more important than your subscribers is all the progress towards your goal. Best wishes for 2022.


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## zedmaster

wahey73 said:


> Well done...looks like the post from Alex really worked out for you! Congrats on that milestone 😊 Next step 2000


Thank you ! ...and getting those 4,000 watch hours per year


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## Jackdnp121

Looking good Man ! 

btw I've got this disease where I can not stop craving for new library 

any breakthrough cure for this yet ? 

Thank you


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## wahey73

zedmaster said:


> Thank you ! ...and getting those 4,000 watch hours per year


Right...hopefully happens soon for both of us. Wish you all the best, your videos are really cool!


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## zedmaster

Jackdnp121 said:


> Looking good Man !
> 
> btw I've got this disease where I can not stop craving for new library
> 
> any breakthrough cure for this yet ?
> 
> Thank you


Write music and be humbled at the (most likely) huge amount of tools you already have at your disposal. Write music. And then write more music. Until you think "I wish I had <insert instrument or sound name> in order to spice this composition up". *THEN *consider looking which product might suit for that need.

Then be proud of yourself for resisting the urge. Marvel at the stuff you have *created* rather than giving into the short-lived dopamine rush of instant gratification to have bought that new library you won't really use. Once you bought it, the itch is gone and you are ready for the next craving. But before craving dessert, we need to eat the main menu. And that is writing music.

Trick your brain that the gratification of having written music with the tools you have is bigger than the fear of missing out another product release. 

Then repeat that cycle until it becomes a habit.


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## Jackdnp121

zedmaster said:


> Write music and be humbled at the (most likely) huge amount of tools you already have at your disposal. Write music. And then write more music. Until you think "I wish I had <insert instrument or sound name> in order to spice this composition up". *THEN *consider looking which product might suit for that need.


lol ... 

thanks doc ... you are cool ...

great job on your YouTube channel 

all the best


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## zedmaster

wahey73 said:


> Right...hopefully happens soon for both of us. Wish you all the best, your videos are really cool!


We can do it!  The challenge with this one is that you can't get it "guaranteed" over time, because you need to reach 4,000 watch hours in 12 months, not cumulative over your channel lifetime. Let's rock this


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## wahey73

zedmaster said:


> We can do it!  The challenge with this one is that you can't get it "guaranteed" over time, because you need to reach 4,000 watch hours in 12 months, not cumulative over your channel lifetime. Let's rock this


I know, but the good thing is, we started out app. 12-15 month ago. And recent videos have lots more views. So as this 12 month frame moves forward it gets into the zone with more watched videos. Hours go up by themselves, at least this is what i notice from my analytics over the last weeks. Hope that makes sense and good luck to both of us. Who reaches the 4000 first will offer a drink to the other


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## zedmaster

wahey73 said:


> I know, but the good thing is, we started out app. 12-15 month ago. And recent videos have lots more views. So as this 12 month frame moves forward it gets into the zone with more watched videos. Hours go up by themselves, at least this is what i notice from my analytics over the last weeks. Hope that makes sense and good luck to both of us. Who reaches the 4000 first will offer a drink to the other


True, let's get that snowball rolling :D


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## zedmaster

The second year of my documentary series “Become A Pro Composer” is over. A huge effort full of challenges and struggle, but SO worth it!

How did 2021 treat your composer dreams?


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## ip20

zedmaster said:


> The second year of my documentary series “Become A Pro Composer” is over. A huge effort full of challenges and struggle, but SO worth it!
> 
> How did 2021 treat your composer dreams?




Great year in review video. Amazing how you are doing all this on top of your day job!

I enjoy your art illustration style in your videos, such as the colorful stuff and your illustrated avatar, what do you use to make those?


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