# What does a composer's assistant job consist of?



## Moderato Maestoso (Apr 14, 2014)

Hi guys,

I've seen many references to composer's assistants on here and on various articles. What does the job consist of? It's not something that exists in my world of theatre! 

With separate orchestrator, copyist, librarian etc. jobs already existing, I can't think of what it might be.

Cheers,

Martin


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## Daryl (Apr 14, 2014)

My assistant is an expert in making tea, answering the phone, archiving, backing-up, MIDI transfer, printing, creating stems, creating Pro Tools sessions, editing, creating synth patches and lots of other stuff. Basically everything I don't want to do myself. :lol: 

At the moment he's checking Pro Tools sessions against the scores, to make sure there are no anomalies.

D


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## RiffWraith (Apr 14, 2014)

Daryl @ Mon Apr 14 said:


> My assistant is an expert in making tea, answering the phone, archiving, backing-up, MIDI transfer, printing, creating stems, creating Pro Tools sessions, editing, creating synth patches and lots of other stuff. Basically everything I don't want to do myself. :lol:
> 
> At the moment he's checking Pro Tools sessions against the scores, to make sure there are no anomalies.
> 
> D



Are you paying him? And he's not doing your laundry? Man, you are getting ripped off!


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## Daryl (Apr 14, 2014)

RiffWraith @ Mon Apr 14 said:


> Are you paying him? And he's not doing your laundry? Man, you are getting ripped off!


Of course I'm paying him, and not minimum wage either. BTW it would be illegal not to pay him. :wink: 

D


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## pkm (Apr 14, 2014)

A modern composer's assistant is a largely technical job, not a musical one.

When I was an assistant, my usual day was something like this:

1. Turn on the studio, prepare for whatever was happening that day, possibly prep the live room for a live player if one is coming
2. Keep track of the status of all cues, make a priority list for the day. I always made sure to have a very deep knowledge of all the cues. Which ones were big, long, small, short, easy, difficult, conforms from other cues, need to be written from scratch, etc.; what kind of instrumentation they might entail; do they need live players; which other cues are they related to; etc.
3. Set up sessions - either opening up a template for the cue, depending on the style of the cue, or conforming the old cue. Depending on the composer, filling in any gaps in the conform, or leaving space for the composer to fill in the gaps.
4. Make sure all the computers are running smoothly throughout the day, troubleshooting, recommending libraries, recommending patches, approaches to get a certain sound, creating new sounds, etc.
5. Programming - the composer might put down a string line with a full strings patch, so I'd break it out into individual sections, add more CCs, etc.
6. Print cues (stereo mix or stems depending on the project), send off to whoever needs them (music editor, directly to director/producer)
7. Back up everything
8. Get food
9. Shut down the studio, lock up, etc.


Then, depending on the composer and the day, I might:

1. Engineer a live session, set up mics, get sounds, make charts for the smaller non-full-orchestra sessions. Basically, if it's an in house session, or a small group at Sunset Sound or something, I would make charts, but if it's going to Warner or Fox, it goes to the orchestrator.
2. Prepare MIDI files and audio to send to an orchestrator for the orchestra sessions, (full MIDI cleanup, quantization, renaming, etc.), review orchestrations from the orchestrator
3. Write additional music
4. Orchestrate cues
5. Rebuild template
6. edit timing/tuning of recorded tracks (Melodyne/Beat Detective)
7. Attend spotting sessions, scoring sessions, dubs, etc. to take copious notes, make suggestions (when appropriate!), be a resource of intimate knowledge with the score ("what cue was it when the guy was talking to the other guy but it was kinda like the cue with the guy talking to the girl?"). There are so many details to worry about at a scoring session that it's nice to have a second person there to be a second set of ears.
8. Sample stuff around the studio and make Kontakt instruments from them
9. Print, check, and send out stems.
10. Mix
11. Help the picture editors temp an episode.
12. And if it was a Sunday night last year, bring the cable box into the studio from the house so we can watch Breaking Bad.

Anything is fair game. I tried not to get into the more personal assistant territory and stick to the music-related things (not counting things like getting us lunch/dinner, bringing an amp to get fixed, etc.). I'm happier mounting the TV in the studio than the living room of the house. It can be possible, or not, depending on why the composer hired you.

The best skills for an assistant to have are the technical ones, while having a deep knowledge of music and the process of film/tv music. Hopefully the composer can take care of the writing part already, but needs someone to make sure they can do that smoothly.


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## RiffWraith (Apr 14, 2014)

Daryl @ Mon Apr 14 said:


> RiffWraith @ Mon Apr 14 said:
> 
> 
> > Are you paying him? And he's not doing your laundry? Man, you are getting ripped off!
> ...



Well, as far as I know, it's illegal for him to not do your laundry!


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## Hannes_F (Apr 14, 2014)

... with other words everything I do ... well, too much of it anyways. Looking at the lists in this thread I should be the ideal assistent. Haha.


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## Daryl (Apr 14, 2014)

RiffWraith @ Mon Apr 14 said:


> Daryl @ Mon Apr 14 said:
> 
> 
> > RiffWraith @ Mon Apr 14 said:
> ...


I shall pass the message on. :lol: 

D


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## TimJohnson (Apr 14, 2014)

Audio editing, programming, score prep, session organisation, admin, audio clean up and foley (sometimes) and if you are lucky you get to write a bit of music


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## dhmusic (Apr 14, 2014)

How exactly does one become an assistant? Would you consider it a necessary step in becoming a successful composer? Also, are most assistant jobs only available in bigger cities like LA or New York?


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## Moderato Maestoso (Apr 14, 2014)

Ha! Thanks guys!


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## pkm (Apr 15, 2014)

dhmusic @ Mon Apr 14 said:


> How exactly does one become an assistant? Would you consider it a necessary step in becoming a successful composer? Also, are most assistant jobs only available in bigger cities like LA or New York?



Meet a composer who needs an assistant, or meet someone who knows a composer who needs an assistant, or go to a good music college with an internship program with a composer who needs an assistant. That's pretty much it. When I first moved to LA, I got a few meetings by cold calling TV composers liked. TV composers tend to have quicker turnarounds and more to do, so they are usually in more need for an assistant than film guys. For the most part. But the cliche is true. It's all who you know.

Necessary step, no way, but I learned way more assisting for 6 months than I did in 5 years at music school (and I learned a TON at music school). Nothing beats real-world experience. You can talk theoretically about composing, spotting sessions, the politics, etc. all you want, but it doesn't click until you see it first hand.

There are probably assistant jobs in many places, but LA is definitely the epicenter. Where else do you run into a composer, a film producer, a music editor, or a music supervisor at a bookstore, or a gas station, or a coffee shop. It's a lot more likely in Los Angeles than Des Moines. A lot of my friends get jobs through the other parents at their kids' schools. One parent is a rock star, another is a producer, another is a director, another is a writer. It's all about networking, and the network is just bigger here than other places.


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