VOLUME XXX NUMBER FOUR WINTER 2015
THE SCORING PROCESS
Team Building In An Indie World By Jeremy Borum
W
hat is the fastest way to become a better composer? It’s probably to stop doing everything by yourself. The traditional division of labor in the scoring process has eroded completely. Composers used to be one player in a fairly large music team. They put notes on paper, attended recording sessions, and bore few other responsibilities. As our industry has evolved our responsibilities have steadily increased. Today’s composer is responsible for every step of the music team’s process, and very often a lone guerrilla composer replaces the entire team of yesteryear. The support network, which used to be built-in, has evaporated. We don’t have the luxury of being specialists any more. As scoring budgets shrink,
novelty. They were quirky gypsy types who walked the streets with instruments tied to themselves in all sorts of creative ways. Today, all of us are like one-man bands because very often we must also be the orchestrator, copyist, studio owner, producer, performer, conductor, recording engineer, music editor, and mix and mastering engineer.
Today we must have a thorough balance of artistry, craft, and business, wearing all of the hats and managing many disparate tasks single-handedly. We are expected to own and operate our own studios and do a huge number of other tasks not expected of us ten or twenty years ago. We’re not composers, we’re the CEOs of small music businesses and we’re responsible for every aspect of music production. Lower budgets and package deals naturally give us fewer incentives to hire help. The less we spend, the more we keep. The
Be Business-Minded
scoring often appears to be the hermit method, where we hide away in a dark studio doing as much as we can by ourselves so we can keep the cash. Without adequate funding the music team shrinks. Although the music team shrinks, our has the job description of every team member he doesn’t hire. One-man bands used to be a
It is an irreversible reality imposed by the relentless progression of technology and duction. A lucky handful of composers still have the luxury of working within a Hollywood system that is well funded and has clear division of labor. The rest of us must music industry. But must we do it alone?
Today’s composer is responsible for every step of the music team’s process, and very often a lone
If you want music to be your business, you should treat it like a business. There is a big difference between a sole proprietor and a small business owner, and most composers operate more like sole proprietors. Sole proprietors’ businesses begin organically. They take a liking to a certain type of work and begin to charge money for it. As they get more and more successful they get busier and busier. When they start to get very busy their career begins to own them, not the other way around, because they are time-poor and yet continue to do everything themselves. The need for total control is a very common malady, and it often limits professional growth. A small business owner has a better plan for future growth. Those with the mentality of a business owner are more prepared to build a team and are always looking for good help. They try not to do work unnecessarily, and they recruit more troops instead of increasing Continued on Page 4
guerrilla composer replaces the entire team of yesteryear.
CONTENTS
The Challenges Faced By Heirs: Part II 5 Be The Change 7 Tech Talk 9 Danny Lux: A Journey Forward 12 Musical Shares 23