# First Website!



## Gerhard Westphalen (May 12, 2016)

I've been wanting to not "cheat" by using something like Squarespace and instead make my own website from scratch but it would take too much time for me to learn enough to make something nice so I gave in and used Squarespace to make my first site. I spent quite a bit of time in December learning things like HTML, CSS, and Javascript but it would take too long for me to make something complex. I'd rather spend that time doing more musical things 

I'm redoing my demo reel tracks so I still have to upload them. I should be able to get through them on the weekend but I thought I'd already make the site live. 

Let me know if you have any suggestions! 

http://www.gerhardwestphalen.com/


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## mc_deli (May 12, 2016)

Looks nice. The studio tech list was a bit odd - I guess it is a list of things you are interested in?



(I am hugely against writing in the third person, when it is obviously you writing. That's just my opinion. I read it all the time, especially on composer sites, and I know it is the standard, but I find it insincere and impersonal. I would much rather read "I am a composer..." That's not a comment to you specifically, but to everyone. The shift has already taken place in most corporate web writing. Companies come across as much closer and more relatable when they speak in the first person: "We do this, we like this..." and I highly recommend composers to do the same.

Be honest. Say who you are and what you do and what you like.)


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## valyogennoff (May 12, 2016)

Very nice and clean! 
BTW, I was also expecting something else when I clicked on the Tech link - like hardware, software, etc. 
I liked that the design is responsive and thus suitable for different devices. Talking about this, as most devices live on batteries, darker colours are much more battery friendly. That's why I, for example, chose very dark grey for my site's background. Just an idea...


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## Gerhard Westphalen (May 12, 2016)

mc_deli said:


> Looks nice. The studio tech list was a bit odd - I guess it is a list of things you are interested in?



Those are the services I offer. I mostly based it off of the services offer by:
http://www.composertech.com/#!musictech/ca4p


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## mc_deli (May 12, 2016)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> Those are the services I offer. I mostly based it off of the services offer by:
> http://www.composertech.com/#!musictech/ca4p



I will put on my day job hat at this point.

Do you think that is obvious to a reader? Under a section called Studiotech I expect a gear list. The list you have looks copy/pasted and doesn't seem credible. There's no introduction. This goes back the point about being human and relatable.

There is one other thing you could consider and that is SEO, from a Google (PageRank) point of view, and from the user point of view.
Do you think Google's bots will like your pages? Are people searching for "VEP networking" and, if they are, how high will you rank for it?
If I am a punter and I make it to your site I can see you are a trained composer, but what is there to help me understand what your services are and how you deliver them?

I'll take the day job hat off again. Looks nice. Like the minimal feel.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (May 12, 2016)

mc_deli said:


> I will put on my day job hat at this point.
> 
> Do you think that is obvious to a reader? Under a section called Studiotech I expect a gear list. The list you have looks copy/pasted and doesn't seem credible. There's no introduction. This goes back the point about being human and relatable.



An introduction could be helpful. I'm only targeting composers with that page so I just assumed they'd understand those things. Perhaps renaming the page to "Studio Tech Services" might help with the confusion.

What do you mean by not seeming credible? I'm not sure what I could do to change that. I've been doing this for almost 10 years and have spent most of my time with film scoring tech and computer science rather than writing music as it's what I prefer to do. Whenever my rig actually works properly I get bored so then find ways to make it better. Being a composer/orchestrator is just the day job  I'd much rather get to meet Mark Wherry than Hans Zimmer or any other composer  I also love notation and think it would be great to work at one of the music copying houses in LA but that's a whole other story...


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## Baron Greuner (May 14, 2016)

Gerhard, I showed your photo to the Baroness from your website and she thought you looked like a serial killer.

Change that photo!


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## kunst91 (May 14, 2016)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> An introduction could be helpful. I'm only targeting composers with that page so I just assumed they'd understand those things. Perhaps renaming the page to "Studio Tech Services" might help with the confusion.
> 
> What do you mean by not seeming credible? I'm not sure what I could do to change that. I've been doing this for almost 10 years and have spent most of my time with film scoring tech and computer science rather than writing music as it's what I prefer to do. Whenever my rig actually works properly I get bored so then find ways to make it better. Being a composer/orchestrator is just the day job  I'd much rather get to meet Mark Wherry than Hans Zimmer or any other composer  I also love notation and think it would be great to work at one of the music copying houses in LA but that's a whole other story...



Hey dude--if you actually prefer the tech stuff to the composing then I would go way more in depth on your site. Most techs in LA are doing it as a means to an end (myself included), so dedicated studio techs without larger dreams of composing are pretty rare commodities.


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## Pasticcio (May 15, 2016)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> I've been wanting to not "cheat" by using something like Squarespace and instead make my own website from scratch but it would take too much time for me to learn enough to make something nice so I gave in and used Squarespace to make my first site. I spent quite a bit of time in December learning things like HTML, CSS, and Javascript but it would take too long for me to make something complex. I'd rather spend that time doing more musical things
> 
> I'm redoing my demo reel tracks so I still have to upload them. I should be able to get through them on the weekend but I thought I'd already make the site live.
> 
> ...


Some feedback that might, or might not be useful:

Your first page tells me nothing. When I land on your page I want to know directly who you are and what you do, but atm all I know is that maybe you do something music related.

Your client and your credits page can be smashed together. What did you do for your clients? If it was composing related, can we hear some of the music?

What is 'Low Winter Sun'? Obviously the link indicate that it is an album or something, but you let us do the work to find out what/why/how(also by having us leave your site)


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## Gerhard Westphalen (May 15, 2016)

Pasticcio said:


> Some feedback that might, or might not be useful:
> 
> Your first page tells me nothing. When I land on your page I want to know directly who you are and what you do, but atm all I know is that maybe you do something music related.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the feedback.

I was going for a more mysterious approach so that people would be curious to see what "Low Winter Sun" is and follow one of the links or try to find out more about it. It's like when Spitfire posts their teaser videos. I spent a year anxiously wanting to find out more about HZ perc and when they finally posted the first video I was in awe 

Overall I was going for a minimal approach (check out Klaus Badelt's website) but it seems that many people are suggesting that I explain things better. I'll definitely consider it.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (May 15, 2016)

kunst91 said:


> Hey dude--if you actually prefer the tech stuff to the composing then I would go way more in depth on your site. Most techs in LA are doing it as a means to an end (myself included), so dedicated studio techs without larger dreams of composing are pretty rare commodities.



I've heard from a couple of composers that they tend to have a difficult time finding someone since most young people are trying to be composers and only have a basic understanding of the tech but at the same time it seems to be nearly impossible to make a decent living from doing tech since it's mostly just intern/assistant positions (unless you're Mark Wherry!).


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