# Getting Started



## José Herring (Mar 20, 2007)

Kind of Ironic thread for me because in many ways I'm still getting started, but I thought I'd share ways that I got my first projects in case it may benefit anybody.

While still in college I started scoring short films for New York University and Columbia University film students. What was cool about it is that these films though not very good where good enough to win festivals around the world. I got the work simply by placing adverts that I printed from my computer on the bulletin boards of NYU and Columbia. I got responses. It was good practice. I even did a short with Natalie Portman in it. It was pretty magical because back in those days there was a lot of people wanting to do indie films and we got access to a lot of good stuff and I got to work with live guys for each film.

For anybody starting out this is a good way to get a good reel going. The reel got me a lot of attention though I must admit that those cues never really got me much professional work, but I learned to orchestrate rather well from working with real players and it gave me an opportunity to learn orchestration from guys like Brad Decther, John Debney, Jeff Atmajian who all heard my early music and even though it wasn't Hollywood it was enough to show then that I was a trained and skilled composer rather than just another guy with a Korg M1 looking to score.

Jose


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## Chrislight (Mar 20, 2007)

Hey Jose, 

You must have been reading my mind! 8) I was thinking about starting a thread on suggestions for getting a music career started and you beat me to it. :D 

We have a nice mixture here of working composers and those who are interested in breaking into the music business. Hopefully others will pop in with there suggestions or experiences too. It can be a little overwhelming trying to figure out the best way to get things rolling. 

Thanks for sharing Jose!


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## Mike Greene (Mar 20, 2007)

josejherring @ Tue Mar 20 said:


> . . . and it gave me an opportunity to learn orchestration from guys like Brad Decther, John Debney, Jeff Atmajian who all heard my early music . . .


How exactly did that happen? Did you send them your stuff directly or were they somehow involved in the festivals? Meeting and learning from those guys seems to me like a very valuaeble experience, both artistically and professionally. 8)


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## José Herring (Mar 20, 2007)

Mike Greene @ Tue Mar 20 said:


> josejherring @ Tue Mar 20 said:
> 
> 
> > . . . and it gave me an opportunity to learn orchestration from guys like Brad Decther, John Debney, Jeff Atmajian who all heard my early music . . .
> ...



I called them all on the phone when I first came to LA from New York:

Brad-- I had really liked the score to The Fugitive. I looked at the credits and found Brad's name as orchestrator. Given the level of complexity of the orchestration I figured that he had a lot to do with that sound. So I found his number and called it. Took a few times but I finally got a hold of him. He then told me to send my scores. Back then I was writing everything out by hand so I had scores ready to go. I sent it to him and he said he really liked the music but the scores weren't set up right. I then met James Newton Howard who actually had a lot of Brad's scores for his films!!! Then I called Brad back and he told me how he set up his scores, what manuscript paper he used and also that he used a ruler and stuff and what books to read on orchestration and composition. Since then a lot of people use computers though but it was good to learn how to set up a Hollywood score by hand.

John Debney had always been really nice and throughout the years has given me a lot of valuable data on how to score Comedy and also how to deal with film makers.

Jeff Atmajian actually invited me to a session once and I got to see his scores and how orchestrators work with composers. 

I'm also talking a lot to Bruce Fowler who orchestrates for Zimmer. Incredibly intelligent man and he's talked a lot about how to get that "Zimmer" string sound with real orchestra and how he's had to think outside the box.

All in all I love talking to these guys though it hasn't lead to much in the way of work it has lead to some really good ideas.

But, it was Scott Smalley's class that taught me how to get that big ressonant orchestral sound of which I'll post some examples of soon.

Jose


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## choc0thrax (Mar 21, 2007)

So uhh what's Dechter's phone number? I have some questions for him. (o)


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## José Herring (Mar 21, 2007)

choc0thrax @ Wed Mar 21 said:


> So uhh what's Dechter's phone number? I have some questions for him. (o)



I haven't called him in about 6 years. I'll give him a call and see if his number is still good today and I'll PM you if it still is good.

best,

Jose


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## choc0thrax (Mar 21, 2007)

josejherring @ Wed Mar 21 said:


> choc0thrax @ Wed Mar 21 said:
> 
> 
> > So uhh what's Dechter's phone number? I have some questions for him. (o)
> ...



Alright.


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