Hey Deniz and everyone! I have a topic that I feel is very important to our Los Angeles community, and one that has suffers a ton of controversy sadly…the Musicians Union. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a very big supporter of the union and what they bring to the table, and I wanted to share some thoughts and open a dialogue, along with a musical example of what they can do. Often times, in this forum and many other forums, I see many many composers asking this question…How do I record my score with such a small budget?? The answer is simple…select your orchestration before you write, and write for that. Last year, I scored a project that was temped with Indiana Jones, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In other words…big action/adventure/fantasy, and needed a big orchestra sound. But, it was about 20 minutes of music. Our budget was about $5,000 total…INCLUDING my fee. As we all know, thats pennies for what I was asked. The union has a contract called the Festival Film Scale, which is about $160 per player for 3 hours. Often times, composers will say I need to record strings. This is simply not true. You need to record what will give the most realistic and best version of your vision. So I chose 7 brass and 4 woodwinds, and needed a 90 piece orchestra sound with only 11 players. I bring this up now, because after a year of making festival rounds I finally have permission from the production company to share the music. But more importantly because there is such a big misconception about recording budgets, and what is or is not possible. I recently also took a $600 budget and turned that into a 24-voice SAG-AFTRA Choir, and 4 musicians union players. Ill share that a bit later though. Anyways, Let me know what your thoughts are, and dont be afraid to make the improbable a possibility! Remember…its up to US, the composers, to make it happen. Cheers! https://soundcloud/jeremy-tisser/march-reckoning
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 04:35:35 +0000