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How to afford all that?

Wolfie2112 said:
I would say you could "fool" clients with decent orchestral VI's, but I would be cautious calling them dumb.
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It's not so much fooling them, because they very well know that it is done with VI's. (They are not actually dumb, sorry for using that word before, but numb and uncaring maybe?) Most of the time all that is required is a certain flavor of sounds (That does in no way mean that I encourage lazy writing). But what most clients want is a certain sound and instrumentation rather then specific melodies. Decent VI's will get you there.

Maybe I am beeing to defeatist here. But the number of times a client has hinted to me they they would rather license that random 49$ track from Library XY then employ my services for an original track is far to high.
Especially for commercial music, browsing a library is so much more comfortable for video editors, because they cut to beat and such. So most requests are like this: "Make it similar, but somehow different, because we need exlusive rights etc."
 
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MrJul said:
Hi there,

I would really like to know how I should afford all the stuff: good monitor system (5.0 or 5.1 needed?), room, acoustics, computer, DAW, audio interface, libraries, synthesizer, controller, ...
Luckily I am into "commercial" music so that there is some of that already available but I can not really imagine how to get really good quality in film music without some big investments. What was your way into the industry?

Thanks in advance. :)

– MrJul
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Stay away from forums as much as possible. We often buy on others approval just to be part of an imaginary club.
 
Maybe OT, but I'm in the just buy the gear camp. I wait for Sweetwater to have their 0% 48 month financing promos and then I get what I want/need.

HZ said on this forum that a synth will buy you a house, but house won't buy you a synth. Maybe I took that out of context, but that advice changed my outlook on spending for gear. So I just do it with no regrets and I'm glad I do.

Be responsible yes, but invest in yourself and your craft whenever you can. Easier said than done I know, but there's something to be said for just going all in and commiting 110%. Gear is your instrument and your muse!
 
benatural said:
HZ said on this forum that a synth will buy you a house, but house won't buy you a synth.
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That's perfectly true, providing that you know how to use it and you're a great composer. If you don't know how to use it and you're mediocre, it will buy you much less, or nothing. The snag is that in order to learn to use the synth, you have to buy it and spend months/years practising.

So what you really need to do is get together a proper business plan. Treat it like any other business. For a start, you need to know what your strengths are, and at the beginning just make sure that you have the gear to play to those.
 
This...


Get a Mac. Get a nice controller, nice headphones and an apogee or UAD. Go all in the box. Logic is a great deal. EastWest is a bargain, invest in a few high quality samples libraries + reverbs. Done.

It’s very accessible and this is the cost to entry today. Buy on Black Friday and holiday sales. Everything else is extra nonsense and boat loads of hype, you’ll know when you need it.

And look. Don’t get carried away with the larger than life HZ quotes. Yeah buy quality, buy once (with resale value), but don’t go buying thousand dollar vintage / hardware synths (I’m gonna get some heat for this) with delusions that it will buy you a house in LA. While physical synths are fun, they just don’t make sense in light of Vsts now. Several thousand VS u-he (that’s what HZ uses in reality)
 
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fixxer49 said:
I scored my first feature film using exactly this: an Alesis QS8.1 (stock sounds) and a Korg D1600 + a pair of shitty Sony DJ headphones. (I bet a lot of folks here have similar stories.)
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Thanks for that reminder!

My first paid gig was a jingle, made with an Ensoniq EPS, a Yamaha TX-81z, an Alesis HR-16, and a Korg MS-20, in addition to a couple guitars recorded direct into (wait for it...) the Sunrize audio card in an Amiga.

I'm still quite pleased with the composition - so was the client, and he later paid to record it with live players.
 
Have a serious stage accident, spend three weeks in hospital, undergo three operation to fix/replace the broken part, spend six months learning how to play an instrument again, wait three years for the insurance money and spend it all on sample libraries. Simple!
 
Today is the cheapest entry into music production there ever has been. In the 1970s you needed about 10.000$ to get a home recording setup, but the prices have gone down to about 500$ for an even more powerful setup today. That is about 5% of the cost it used to be.

Not sure if the cost of a pro studio with console and everything has changed as much, but after the digital homerecording boom in the 00s that has democratised recording technology, everyone can now record without worrying about quality.

If it gets any cheaper, we will have to listen to even more ridiculous amts of rubbish. People now are raised to expect praise for everything, no matter how little effort and thought is put into it.
 
GtrString said:
Today is the cheapest entry into music production there ever has been. In the 1970s you needed about 10.000$ to get a home recording setup, but the prices have gone down to about 500$ for an even more powerful setup today. That is about 5% of the cost it used to be.

Not sure if the cost of a pro studio with console and everything has changed as much, but after the digital homerecording boom in the 00s that has democratised recording technology, everyone can now record without worrying about quality.

If it gets any cheaper, we will have to listen to even more ridiculous amts of rubbish. People now are raised to expect praise for everything, no matter how little effort and thought is put into it.
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That and they believe tools create talent. Give me the best library and there are those who could run circles around me using GPO and the free Sonatina.

Another reality is you might have to do some work for free. Van Halen and Metallica did it and just about every other band out there. My brother did it for photography.

Make sure you're good at it. Be willing to accept it as a hobby. Any certification does not mean you are good at it. Fields like this are difficult to get into.
 
Dont worry about equipment so much. Use what you already have and focus on learning how to play a musical instrument, sight read, harmony , theory etc. Those are the things that will buy you a house and a synth.
 
The biggest mistake I think you could make is buying everything all at once before you've even gotten started. Buy a little at a time, and little by little build your collection. I started out when I was 14 (which is only 6 years ago, im young :P) on a shitty old iMac, logic express, and some bose noise cancelling headphones. I mainly spent time reading books on writing, theory, midi orchestration, working with a DAW, mixing techniques, and finding tons of tutorials online on how to do various things in music. I would mow lawns to save up for something new, eventually bought an M-Audio keystation 61, bought yamaha HS5's, got Komplete 8, saved up more, upgraded to komplete 9 ultimate when it was on sale, played around with stock kontakt instruments, asked for money for xmas when I was 15 to buy spitfire albion I with the education discount, and just kept going from there, little by little, but mainly learning how to use what I already had effectively. Once I got my first job, I would save up money specifically for music and every few months buy a new library, new gear, etc. Eventually saved up to build a powerful PC for creating MIDI Mockups, got Composer Cloud X with the Edu pricing for 15 dollars a month, and now I pretty much have all I will ever need. Sure theres always new cool products that come out, but the tool is not what makes the music good. If I were to go back now, I can probably make a pretty decent sounding mockup using Kontakt's stock library. it would be limiting and take a good amount of work to execute, but its doable. a professional violinist can make a 100 dollar violin sound like a 10000 dollar violin. its all in the player/composer.

id say start with something basic. get a decent starter orchestral library, a daw of your choice, some decent headphones or monitors, a decent computer, and go from there.

cheapest route: get composer cloud, audio technica m50x's, and build or buy a computer with atleast 16 gig of ram, quad core processor, and 500gb-1tb of ssd space. that would be more than enough to start out. a basic hollywood orchestra template with single mic positions should have no problems running on a machine like that. I created a template that has all articulations I commonly use for every instrument, but all channels deactivated when I load the template, so that I can load in the instruments I want as I need them. with all basic articulations loaded for strings brass winds and percussion just using hollywood orchestra and no other virtual instruments, I think my template uses around 12 or so gigs of ram.

but more than anything, learning to write great music with limited resources is what will make you a better composer. I have a friend who did an entire score for his friends short film using just a korg microkorg synthesizer recorded into garageband. its doable.
 
Hi again,
one follow-up question: Is stereo enough or do you need a 5.0/5.1 system to get great results? What about movies in cinema?

Thanks again! :)
 
MrJul said:
Hi again,
one follow-up question: Is stereo enough or do you need a 5.0/5.1 system to get great results? What about movies in cinema?

Thanks again! :)
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Unless you are specifically told to mix in 5,1, stereo is fine. If you are getting a cinema release, you will be getting enough money for the production expenses either to purchase one, or to hire one, or to hire a 5.1 mix room. At that stage I don't think you'd be doing your own mixes anyway, would you?
 
I will just pop in with my advice/way to go:

First I started out simply composing in Sibelius on a laptop. No keyboard, no speakers and great samples.

Then it kinda stood still as I focused on my French horn career.

When I started composing/making music again, more serious. I had bought some Mackie speakers for my gaming setup. I used these speakers together with at somewhat cheap AkAi 49 keyboard. With this came The purchase of Logic Pro X. And I used the orchestral sound from here.

I also purchased a Focusrite Interface.

After this, I started earnig a little money which was spend on better samples. As well as a good pair of headphones.

Then, having cover the base of great samples (of what I need) I began searching for better computer. Here I started by making a Hackintosh (not for everyone). It worked perfectly and served me good and for the fraction of the Apple price.

Then I bought Genelec Speakers. Sold the old ones. Found a great deal with a super nice guy who had been using them for video-audio monitoring.

Again, a little flow of money started and I have not upgraded to a Mac Pro. Also bought second hand from a person who hadn't used it much.

That's sort of my story, for now (I am still young, some might say.. (25)).

So! My advice is take it slow. Do not be stride of buying second hand. Also, some sample librarie manufactures offer the possibility of resell of libraries, others do not..

Invest when you can and have the economic stability you find right.

I do not know if this is helpful but at least it is advice from someone who somewhat are enduring the same frustrating question as you.

All the best
Rune
 
I don't want to start a platform war... But there's no compelling reason to buy a Mac, unless you need to use Logic, or are already heavily invested in Mac software. I owned a Mac Pro for many years, and PC price, performance, and flexibility have outpaced Mac. Stability is the same.

I just needed to say this as a counterpoint to the "you need a mac" advice :)
 
benatural said:
I don't want to start a platform war... But there's no compelling reason to buy a Mac, unless you need to use Logic, or are already heavily invested in Mac software. I owned a Mac Pro for many years, and PC price, performance, and flexibility have outpaced Mac. Stability is the same.

I just needed to say this as a counterpoint to the "you need a mac" advice :)
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I disagree. As someone who owns both a Mac and a pc with music software installed I find the pc much more of a headache.

The amount of hours I’ve wasted hunting down random drivers on the internet because of Windows 10 is ridiculous.
 
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