# Composer in Seattle, USA



## williambass5 (Jan 8, 2014)

Its nice to find such a forum as so often we composers work in isolation, especially those of us that are self contained VI composers/players/engineers.

I got my music degree in theory/composition and have been writing/recording my stuff off and on since the 1980s. My projects lately have been orchestral with ethnic elements (middle east, Scottish, various world folk music..depending on the project). 

Sample tune here: 

http://www.williambass5.com/William_Maxwell-_Music/William%20Maxwell%20Desert%20Nights.mp3 (http://www.williambass5.com/William_Max ... Nights.mp3)

Thanks to all who make this website possible. 

-William
williambass5.com


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## Ian Dorsch (Jan 8, 2014)

Greetings from another Western Washingtonian! Anyone who has an endorsement from Michael Manring is okay in my book! :D


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## stevetwist (Jan 8, 2014)

Hello from just north of the border!

I listened to the pieces on your homepage this morning whilst working my day job, and I just HAD to reply here to say how much I enjoyed them! Overall very relaxing, and every piece has such a beautiful atmosphere to it 

Welcome to VI Control! I look forward to hearing more of your pieces in the future, and maybe if I'm lucky, learning a thing or two from you!

Very warm regards,
Steve Twist


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## gsilbers (Jan 8, 2014)

isnt that area (seattle/vancouver) where a lot of film jobs are now?


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## stevetwist (Jan 8, 2014)

Firstly, I hope William doesn't mind this slight side-track in his thread!

I can only really answer your question, gsilbers, with regards to the Visual Effects industry (which is my day job) - composing is just an after work hobby for me. 

A lot of the VFX work has moved up to Vancouver from Los Angeles due to the tax credits offered here. But tax credits are not really a stable way of supporting an economy. Now the east coast are offering better tax credits, and a lot of the work is moving over to Toronto and Montreal. (Just look at what happened to video games development in Vancouver for an example of how tax credits elsewhere (Montreal) can practically destroy an industry).

That, combined with much a cheaper work-force in Asia... and the visual effects industry is looking pretty bleak from my perspective: the small amount of work that isn't outsourced to Asia is moving around in a never ending chase for tax credits.

It seems to have mostly come down to who is cheapest, and not who produces the best work, and that's a real, real shame. 

That's exactly the kind of business model that leads to a company like Rhythm & Hues (my previous employer) filing bankruptcy the same week we won an Oscar and a BAFTA for our visual effects work on Life of Pi.

I guess that's just the unfortunate side effect of the fact that the whole movie industry really is just a _business_, when all is said and done, despite the fact most people involved with it consider it an "art".

I'd be curious whether the music side of the film industry is following a similar, highly-destructive pattern.


Apologies again to William for going off-topic.

Cheers,
Steve


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## williambass5 (Jan 8, 2014)

Hi Steve,

Thanks for checking out the tunes and for the nice comments! Much appreciated.

I checked out your "demo reel" and really liked it. Very impressive with superb production. I especially liked the snippet about a minute in with the solo cello. Is that all virtual?

As to "learning a thing or two" from me...well, not sure I'd presume.. That said, its nice to be able to connect and share ideas. Sometimes its a challenge to re-invent the wheel each time!

All the best.

-William


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## williambass5 (Jan 8, 2014)

Feel free to hijack away, Steve  

If there are any film jobs I haven't found them. I actually took last year off from the music thing to make my own video/animation projects as a means to have something to soundtrack because I couldn't find anything. (My hats off to people who do that well as its a WHOLE 'nother world... )

I did do a few soundtracks for indie films in the late 80s to early 2000s, but things have really changed in the last 10 years. Forget money, its nearly impossible to even get on ANY project....its hard to even get a "dear John" letter. Attempts just go into the black hole :roll: 

Then again, I actually WORKED, like had a job, on staff as an audio engineer for almost 6 years ending in 2002. That's a market that has REALLY changed, so it seems creative jobs in many fields have been impacted.


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## stevetwist (Jan 8, 2014)

williambass5 @ Wed Jan 08 said:


> I checked out your "demo reel" and really liked it. Very impressive with superb production. I especially liked the snippet about a minute in with the solo cello. Is that all virtual?



Thanks for the kind words, and for listening to my music . That snippet with the solo cello (that starts just around 45 seconds in, and goes past the 1 minute mark) is probably my favourite of the different snippets, too. That, and the second-to-last snippet with female vocals. 

Yup, everything in that snippet is virtual. If my memory serves me correctly, the cello in that piece is the solo cello from Audiobro's LASS First Chair. Many of the other sounds (the various metallic tones) come from SoundIron's "Rust" series of libraries.


It's a shame to hear how things are changing for film music, too, then. Technology has done fantastic things for music, as it has for visual effects and a lot of other industries (in my opinion). Unfortunately it seems that maybe technological development has negatively impacted the sustainability of an individual's career within those industries, though.




> As to "learning a thing or two" from me...well, not sure I'd presume.. That said, its nice to be able to connect and share ideas. Sometimes its a challenge to re-invent the wheel each time!



Hahaha, I wholeheartedly agree about it being nice to connect and share ideas/techniques! o-[][]-o 

All the best,
Steve


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## williambass5 (Jan 8, 2014)

Thanks, Ian, for the hello! Do you know Michael?


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## Ian Dorsch (Jan 8, 2014)

williambass5 @ Wed Jan 08 said:


> Thanks, Ian, for the hello! Do you know Michael?



I've been a fan of Michael's since the early Windham Hill days. I told him that I thought he was super awesome at a couple of his shows, but I wouldn't say that I know him, exactly. 

BTW, I very much enjoyed perusing your demos as well. I see you've been a soloist with the Skagit Symphony--when I lived up North I used to work quite regularly as a choirmaster/music director with Skagit Opera and similar organizations in that area. I wonder if we might have crossed paths at some point as classical performers...?


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## williambass5 (Jan 8, 2014)

Thanks for the nice comments and for checking out my tunes! 

I was never a "soloist" (not good enough for that!), although I did play with the Skagit symphony for a few years (bass:2002-2005) and they were nice enough to play a tune of mine. Interesting that you were involved with the Skagit Opera. Small world, 6 degrees and all that...


I took some bass lessons with Michael about, wow, 15 years ago, got to work with him on a few projects after that, and have remained in contact over the years. Great guy and, of course, an amazing player.


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