# This track won me the gig...that never happened.



## jneebz (Apr 11, 2021)

Just found this track sitting on my hard drive and it reminded of a pretty painful, yet helpful lesson. So thought I'd share. Maybe it helps someone else down the road...

I'm only part-time in music for film/TV, but I learned very quickly that until the MONEY IS IN THE BANK, nothing is guaranteed at this level of the business (Indie projects, verbal agreements, lawyers too expensive, working for friends, etc.). I wrote, mixed, mastered, and delivered this pitch track in one day (which is not my normal pace by any means) because the Director (whom I've worked with before) wanted to give me a shot at the gig. He got it (along with a few other underscore tracks in the same genre), loved it, and gave me the good news we all want to hear...."You got the gig!, Contract is in process!" This was going to be, by far, the best-paying gig for a film I've ever done. I was over the moon. Then...

Two weeks later, the director texts me and says the production company decided to pull the music decision from him, and go with a pool of composers they had worked with before...all without hearing my work. Welp. OK. That sucked. I mean REALLY sucked. I had already purchased a couple new libraries and researched some live players to hire. All the negative thoughts started ringing in my head..... Dammit. I'm a poser. I hate this industry. What a bunch of idiots. Wah, wah, wah....

Then a mentor of mine brought me back to reality. Let it go. Move on. Lots of jobs out there. Don't eff up the relationship with the Director, not his fault. All very helpful thoughts. He encouraged me to take the track and make something of it. Re-work it and pitch it to one of my publishers for TV stuff. I did that and it did land a couple placements. OK, not the money I was looking forward to getting, but a working track none-the-less.

The moral of the story (for me, anyway) was not as much learning to "make lemonade from lemons," but rather learning to put these things into perspective...the proper place in the big picture, where I get to make a part-time living from writing and producing music. Huge blessing. Be grateful. Help others along the way. Be generous. Hone your craft and never stop learning.

It's the journey, not the destination that matters!


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## longshan (Apr 11, 2021)

You did this in one day???

Wow, you got chops.

It's really cool. Sucks that they screwed you like that.


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## Markrs (Apr 11, 2021)

Great track, really enjoyed it


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## MarkusS (Apr 11, 2021)

One of my first tracks ever, made something like 16 years ago, got me fired from my first Lovecraftian short film. I was devastated and really unsure if I would be able to compose for a living. And then the track kickstarted my career and got licensed countless times over a decade (brought probably more in than the budget of the short film).

Best thing was, I actually always wondered what type of music they chose and when I finally found the film on YouTube I noticed they actually ripped parts of the track off. Welcome to the entertainment business 😂. 

It’s still around, haunting the Internet. 

Here it is:


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## jneebz (Apr 11, 2021)

longshan said:


> You did this in one day???
> 
> Wow, you got chops.
> 
> It's really cool. Sucks that they screwed you like that.


Hey thanks. I should add I had a LOT of help from the church of St. Arbucks 😬


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## jneebz (Apr 11, 2021)

MarkusS said:


> One of my first tracks ever, made something like 16 years ago, got me fired from my first Lovecraftian short film. I was devastated and really unsure if I would be able to compose for a living. And then the track kickstarted my career and got licensed countless times over a decade (brought probably more in than the budget of the short film).
> 
> Best thing was, I actually always wondered what type of music they chose and when I finally found the film on YouTube I noticed they actually ripped parts of the track off. Welcome to the entertainment business 😂.
> 
> ...



Love it, and congrats! Thanks for sharing the story. Great track too!


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## jneebz (Apr 11, 2021)

Markrs said:


> Great track, really enjoyed it


Hey thanks!


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## reborn579 (Apr 12, 2021)

jneebz said:


> Just found this track sitting on my hard drive and it reminded of a pretty painful, yet helpful lesson. So thought I'd share. Maybe it helps someone else down the road...
> 
> I'm only part-time in music for film/TV, but I learned very quickly that until the MONEY IS IN THE BANK, nothing is guaranteed at this level of the business (Indie projects, verbal agreements, lawyers too expensive, working for friends, etc.). I wrote, mixed, mastered, and delivered this pitch track in one day (which is not my normal pace by any means) because the Director (whom I've worked with before) wanted to give me a shot at the gig. He got it (along with a few other underscore tracks in the same genre), loved it, and gave me the good news we all want to hear...."You got the gig!, Contract is in process!" This was going to be, by far, the best-paying gig for a film I've ever done. I was over the moon. Then...
> 
> ...



i enjoyed your story! it's very inspiring, and it's great to hear some good stories in these crazy times. also, i must say that i've noticed a lot of people on this forum being very negative towards the industry of music / film music - many rightly so. but i always admire when someone keeps going and doesn't give up.
and the song is very good! so much dynamic and i really love that harp in the beginning


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## José Herring (Apr 12, 2021)

jneebz said:


> Just found this track sitting on my hard drive and it reminded of a pretty painful, yet helpful lesson. So thought I'd share. Maybe it helps someone else down the road...
> 
> I'm only part-time in music for film/TV, but I learned very quickly that until the MONEY IS IN THE BANK, nothing is guaranteed at this level of the business (Indie projects, verbal agreements, lawyers too expensive, working for friends, etc.). I wrote, mixed, mastered, and delivered this pitch track in one day (which is not my normal pace by any means) because the Director (whom I've worked with before) wanted to give me a shot at the gig. He got it (along with a few other underscore tracks in the same genre), loved it, and gave me the good news we all want to hear...."You got the gig!, Contract is in process!" This was going to be, by far, the best-paying gig for a film I've ever done. I was over the moon. Then...
> 
> ...



Be proud. This is some decent work. 

What drum library did you use that gave you this sound so quickly? Just the drum tracks alone would have taken me a week with what I have.


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## José Herring (Apr 12, 2021)

Oh and a word of encouragement. There are thousands of lower budget films to do every year. 32,000 by my last count. I did so many of them that I finally just decided to stop after a while. 

You lost one gig. I wouldn't lose sleep over that. Even just emailing your webpage to five companies a day will land you another one in about a month or two. I've seriously have done the research on that.


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## dasindevin (Apr 12, 2021)

MarkusS said:


> One of my first tracks ever, made something like 16 years ago, got me fired from my first Lovecraftian short film. I was devastated and really unsure if I would be able to compose for a living. And then the track kickstarted my career and got licensed countless times over a decade (brought probably more in than the budget of the short film).
> 
> Best thing was, I actually always wondered what type of music they chose and when I finally found the film on YouTube I noticed they actually ripped parts of the track off. Welcome to the entertainment business 😂.
> 
> ...



Literally, nothing brings me greater joy than licensing the crap out of a rejected piece.


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## jneebz (Apr 13, 2021)

reborn579 said:


> i enjoyed your story! it's very inspiring, and it's great to hear some good stories in these crazy times. also, i must say that i've noticed a lot of people on this forum being very negative towards the industry of music / film music - many rightly so. but i always admire when someone keeps going and doesn't give up.
> and the song is very good! so much dynamic and i really love that harp in the beginning


Thanks for the kind words. If there’s anything this past year has taught me, it’s that life is way too fragile and short to not stop and take stock of all the good things I take for granted every day.

Because the brief was basically a “Celtic epic” vibe, I used the Celtic harp from Eduardo Tarilonte’s fantastic “Celtic Era” library. I love the way it sounds too!


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## jneebz (Apr 13, 2021)

José Herring said:


> What drum library did you use that gave you this sound so quickly? Just the drum tracks alone would have taken me a week with what I have.


- The first drum line is actually a Bodhrán loop from Celtic Era. Honestly, I got lucky that it just seemed to fit in the mix right where I wanted it with very little tweaking. 

- The big stuff in final third is a combo of Hollywood Orchestral Percussion (tympani) Spitfire Albion I Legacy (cymbals) and Strikeforce (Bomber 3 Solo Patch), with low hits from Hybrid Tools Project Bravo. StrikeForce is another library that probably doesn't get the love it deserves, IMO. You can dial in some pretty great tones and stereo placement quickly once you get the hang of the GUI, and the samples are top shelf, IMO. I played those parts in myself (percussionists please forgive me lol). And HOP sounds great out-of-the-box too so I knew I could get quick results with those patches.

- All the Percussion ran through a buss with a combo of Room ambience (Valhalla Room) and Tail (Liquid Sonics Reverberate) to taste.

Sorry long answer to a short question! Thanks for your kind words, José!


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## asherpope (Apr 21, 2021)

MarkusS said:


> One of my first tracks ever, made something like 16 years ago, got me fired from my first Lovecraftian short film. I was devastated and really unsure if I would be able to compose for a living. And then the track kickstarted my career and got licensed countless times over a decade (brought probably more in than the budget of the short film).
> 
> Best thing was, I actually always wondered what type of music they chose and when I finally found the film on YouTube I noticed they actually ripped parts of the track off. Welcome to the entertainment business 😂.
> 
> ...



Wow! For one of your first ever tracks it shows great restraint and dynamics! What has it been used on?


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## MarkusS (Apr 22, 2021)

asherpope said:


> Wow! For one of your first ever tracks it shows great restraint and dynamics! What has it been used on?


Thanks! Nothing too fancy, I think, it has been bouncing around all over the place but more importantly it opened up a few doors back then (that was still on the infamous Nothern Sounds forum) - it was a great and supportive community to start out in and someone even suggested I should send it directly to Danny Elfman - it's funny because the director said it's "too Danny Elfman" - he also said it's the kind of music that everyone remembers while forgetting all about the film and he didn't want that! :D


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