# In-house composers, chime in!



## Greg (Dec 6, 2012)

Hey guys! What are your thoughts on being a salary based in-house composer? I have a possible opportunity to consider taking this route in my career. Financial aspects aside, do you feel doing something like this would be more or less beneficial to your life as a composer? There are definitely pros and cons, I would love to hear from someone that does it full time.

Cheers!


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## Embertone (Dec 6, 2012)

Jon (my Embertone-partner) and I are both full time, in-house composers at an agency in Raleigh, NC - it's beneficial for many reasons. If you have mouths to feed, you can't ask for more stability... you'd be getting some kind of health benefits, right? Beyond the financial stability, if the co-workers are cool, there's the potential for amazing and close collaborations with art directors, writers, editors, 3D artists and animators - usually not possible when freelancing.

Possible pitfalls- getting stuck with an inflexible schedule, not having enough time with the family, creative burnout writing the same music day in and day out, and my biggest grievance: not being able to write music in your underwear! >8o 

-Alex


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## Greg (Dec 6, 2012)

Thanks Alex! (huge fan of your sample libraries btw)


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## Christian Marcussen (Dec 7, 2012)

> Possible pitfalls- getting stuck with an inflexible schedule, not having enough time with the family, creative burnout writing the same music day in and day out, and my biggest grievance: not being able to write music in your underwear!



Apart from the underware stuff, this can happen to freelancers as well - been there. 

There are two downsides I see.

1) You can't really take on new cool projects other than the ones you are handed. 

2) You will earn less than if you are a high-profile and fast freelancer. 

Unless you are certain that you will be scoring high-profile AAA titles for as long as you can see, then I would go for it. In-house composer jobs are far apart.


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## RiffWraith (Dec 7, 2012)

Embertone @ Fri Dec 07 said:


> ... my biggest grievance: not being able to write music in your underwear!



This.

One of the things I love about not being employed at a company, but working for myself in the comfort of my own home, is I work in my boxers. I am more creative that way. 8)


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## midphase (Dec 7, 2012)

I work in my pajamas all the time. When I have a Skype conference with an out of state client I simply put on a button shirt (but stay in my pajama bottoms).

I have struggled with the pros and cons of employment vs. freelance. They both have good things and bad things. In Florida I used to work full time at a post production house. We had "business hours" so I was expected to come in at 9am and stay until 5pm whether or not I was needed or not. I also am much more productive and "inspired" at nighttime than during the day...but when you're employed by a company having odd work hours doesn't always jive with management. 

I've been freelancing for almost 10 years since moving to L.A. and I am simply much happier. However I don't have kids and my wife's work provides us with good health insurance. If the situation was different I might be finding myself looking for full time employment at a music house.


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## Cinescores (Dec 7, 2012)

I am working full-time as an in-house composer since 8 years. I am doing freelance work as well, so I'm actually working a lot. But I really appreciate the stable income and security. Without this job I probable wouldn't have pursued this career.

Contrary to what has been said in the above posts, I don't like to work at home. I need a clear separation of my private and professional life, and I know that the time structure of regular employment makes me more productive.


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## KEnK (Dec 8, 2012)

I never thought about "in house composer" as an option.

Curious- I assume it's mostly games and ads, possibly library music.
Are there other directions I'm not thinking about?

thanks,

k


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## Jimbo 88 (Dec 8, 2012)

I think a lot depends on the company you work for. Lots of times in-house composers double as audio production mixers also...which is not a bad thing.

I was asked once and turned it down for the following reasons:

1) If you are on a salary the company tries to give you as much work as you can possibly handle. As an emplyee you try to not be overworked. If you get paid on a "per-Job" basis you try to do every job. If you are salary you will not want/care if you are on every production.

2) Royalties become an issue. The company you work for would have those rights. I believe I might have missed out on TONS of money (I'm not going to post the amout of royalties I have earned).

But if you are not in a position to get royalties, you need stability and you don't mind occassionaly filling other rolls at the company...then in-house composer is a great gig.


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## floydian05 (Dec 8, 2012)

I did something like this at a game company where I also did all the sound effects and dialogues stuff. You should definitely take it. If you can try to put something in the contract that stipulates you get some of the royalties or that you get a percentage of soundtrack sales if its for games. 

IF possible try to hide how quickly you can work and never blow through assignments at top speed liek you would as a freelancers, because if they see how quickly you can work they will assume you can do that 24/7 and always be trying to get their money's worth. As we all know thats fine for a few weeks to meet a deadline but cannot be done year round. Congratulations on the gig!


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