Let’s Play Audio! #001 – velocity
Let’s Play Audio is a new series of tutorials. Basically nothing changes really, but I will post all upcoming tutorials regarding little tricks, hints and tips under this series. Hope you enjoy it … and stay tuned for much more 
“Alien Abduction Dreams” – walkthrough
Check out this – almost an hour long – walkthrough of my official demo “Alien Abduction Dreams” for ProjectSAM’s new sample library “Orchestral Essentials”.
How to promote yourself properly (on social media)!
Being a good composer is by far not enough anymore today. You can be as good as all famous composers from the last 50 years combined – it is worth nothing as long as you are not able to reach the right ears.
With this article I am just sharing some personal experiences, impressions and hints of which I think are important to be aware of!
Also please note that this article is taking care of the business site of your life … so we are definitely not heading for food pics! 
Don’t be shy, but don’t tend to drop your pants!
Once you took a few minutes and roamed through all the major social network profiles, you notice how many famous producers, composers, bands and media people are really on there. It is definitely a LOT!
I would go that far and say that almost everyone who works in the industry got a profile going … and here we go, don’t be shy. Add those people to your network. Everytime I told people that I added composer X or producer Y on a social profile, they were kinda astonished and said something like: “You really added this guy on Facebook?” I always wondered what is so astonishing about that. I mean if those guys wouldn’t like to connect with people, they ever wouldn’t accept a “friendship” … and besides that, what should happen? If someone don’t wants to be your “friend” then it is still up to that person to ignore you, right?
In the end, you just have to see the advantage. See it as the butterfly theory, but definitely without being a theory on social media. One add might change your life and I am sure that a lot of people are out there to meet new people!
As you could see, I was writing words as friend and friendship in quotation marks. We hopefully all know what real friends are, right? Anyway, I will go into this a bit later when it comes to respect of that possibly famous person you added.
Post regularly, but don’t cause server overflow!
As it is in real life, it is also the case with social media sites. Once you disappear or tend to stay in the background, you more and more become the little grain of sand on the beach. Being a self employed composer the most important thing is to always be present and “there”. The music business is really a tough one and once you stop crawling against this stream, you will most likely drown, only to be forgotten.
To prevent this, try to post updates regulary. Always be aware that you have to have agreement to post about a project – otherwise you can get it heavy trouble. Once stuff is cleared out, post about what you are doing, what you are working on, what will be announced soon and so on. Also don’t hesitate to tease a bit. There is nothing wrong with a little bit of a dramatic “tomorrow, some huge announcement, stay tuned” update. One post a day or every two regarding your music is a good number to follow. However, I have seen really worse updates where one guy teased around, starting from a week back to countdown to a few seconds before. The following posted piece of music which he had written (for no special project) was so drastically reduced because of the enormous hype, that people started to ask, what the fuzz was all about.
But anyway, in case you don’t have anything sensemaking to update, be aware that you can always point to your demoreel. It is no mistake to post your demo reel on a regular basis. I would say that once every two or four weeks is definitely not a bad thing to do. People live in different timezones, while also the visiting time of your “friends” might differ and I also experienced that people showed even more interest in an update which I posted again a few hours later from the inital one. You can also point towards your updated bio, reworked front page or a track from the very old days you think it might be fun to show around
It also should be obvious to avoid status updates like: “I switched on my computer. Booting up” … (5 minutes later) … “Cubase loaded, let’s compose something awesome” … (3 minutes later) … “First chord down, hell that Cmaj strings chord sounds absolutely hyperawesome!”
There is no wrong time to post, but there is definitely a right one!
To be honest, I don’t have a clear observation or statistic available for that and it also differs throughout the seasons, but there is always kind of a right time to post stuff. In general you can analyze to post stuff on different times of your days and see where people react most. Do you get more “likes” in the afternoon or more response in the morning? It is worth finding out!
If you worked with a team, show respect!
Whenever you worked with a team or another composer, always keep one thing in mind, when announcing the project. Everyone else FIRST, finally YOU!
Believe it or not, but I really have seen a few of those announcements: “Me and my team … ” or “I am proud to announce that I and composer x and y”.
I am not sure how you see it, but to me it is an absolutely NO GO. To me it shows that someone just cares about him or herself. This is unrespectful, lets the other guys appear as not worth mentioning assistants. It should be avoided at all cost!
Be ballsy, but don’t be stupid!
Promoting yourself basically means to be able to make someone clear why he absolutely has to hire you as a composer and what you are able to do better than anyone else! Period!
To me it always feels a bit like bragging in a soft way while staying as natural as you are, but I always tell myself there is nothing wrong to show what you can do. Holding back can sometimes be a nice move, but in the end it is the best way to simply stay as you are. Don’t play a role, don’t be an actor, be the guy you are trying to sell! … on the other hand, don’t be stupid and think that you could get a job while leaving your phone number and a short line like: “If you ever need a cello player. Call me!” on the Facebook timeline of Hans Zimmer!
Friends is actually not friends
Obviously, if you add a long time friend you know for about 20 years, he is your friend for sure, but what I am talking about is, that you should be aware that this person you would like to get connected with on social media is certainly not instntly your friend. Meaning, you should still have respect and treat your new added “friend” with the same manners as a person you just met for the first time!
Be someone!
Imagine the following situation. You go out with a few business guys or friends and there is at least one guy always and constantly talking about work. Ask yourself! Is this lame or is this lame?
Back in the days when I was totally crazy about guitars and practicing like mad for 8-10 hours a day, I think I was a hell of an annoying guy when I was out with my friends, because on every possible moment I was constantly talking about music and guitars. Everywhere. Always!
I mean, if you are interested and passionate about something, it is absolutely comprehensible that one wants to share all kinds of things and knowledge and it can be absolutely interesting to a certain point, … but other guys have a life too! Even if those guys are all musicians, there should be a time you simply switch to something else.
So what do I want to say with this? On social media, think about being or representing a person, not just working updates. Even though if you do working updates regularly without hyping and causing server overflow, it is vital to also show who you are! Music is all about emotion and if I am checking out someones music, I also want to know the person behind it, which strengthens my feelings if this person is the right guy for the upcoming job. Think of working updates only, as a bio summary without the foto!
Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you should post private stuff, but from time to time show what your hobbies are or what you are interested in. If you are into modeling art, people would surely appreciate seeing your new sculptures. If you are interested in cosmology I would be surely interested in having a good discussion with you! Be someone! Show what drives and inspires you!
I can tell from my own experience that I had the pleasure to get connected to a person I now work with, only because of a little discussion about some non music related topics!
In the end it is not just about your music, but about YOU, the composer!
25 things writers should stop doing!
Recently found this article. Pretty helpful and inspiring stuff!
my 2nd official demo for ProjectSAM’s “Orchestral Essentials”
Here is my 2nd demo for ProjectSAM’s new sample library “Orchestral Essentials”. Hope you enjoy “Ginnungagap”.
In case you wonder about the title, please read on (taken from Wikipedia):
In Norse mythology, Ginnungagap (“yawning abyss”) was the vast, primordial void that existed prior to the creation of the manifest universe, corresponding (both in etymology and in meaning) to the Greek notion of Chaos. An alternative etymology, linking the ginn- prefix in Ginnungagap with that found in terms with a sacral meaning, such as ginn-heilagr, ginn-regin (both referring to the gods) and ginn-runa (referring to the runes), interprets Ginnungagap as signifying a “magical (and creative) power-filled space”.
official demo for ProjectSAM’s upcoming “Orchestral Essentials”!
check out the video (and the track) I had the pleasure to write for ProjectSAM’s new upcoming sample library “Orchestral Essentials” – no other library has been used!
A thank you … and a rant!
Dear follow up composers,
every month I receive a lot of emails from you guys and first of all I want to thank you all for taking the time writing me. I also want to thank you for those kind words and compliments regarding my music, tutorials and articles I have written so far – last but not least I feel seriously honored and touched that I have been an inspiration to many of you and kind of a drive to carry on!
However, here comes a big BUT (… and believe me, this BUT should be way bigger than I am able to write here!), because when I roam through all those emails or think about what feedback I have written, it all comes down to a very few points I can – and this is pretty sad – simply generalize. I would go that far and say that I easily could set up a multiple choice email on which I just need to fill out a few gaps, tick some little boxes and send it back.
Since this would be kind of unpersonal and a bit offending in a way, I thought that I dedicate some time to write a blog post about these general points … and I am not lying when I say that these points pretty much sum up ALL the points I always criticize on your tracks.
So here we go … and please, before reading, have in mind that this post isn’t about bashing, ranting or putting my foot on your slain head. It is about some very serious points to consider when sending out emails or posting to social networks or forums introducing your music:
Please stop excusing yourself!
I know I covered this in a previous blog post, but I seriously want to make that clear again.
It is not the best way to introduce your music to someone and already excuse yourself for work in progress, for not having enough time to finish the track, for being sick and therefore hearing everything dull, for not knowing what you do, for getting lazy, … and countless other excuses.
Let me ask you a question: Do you go for a date and the second you meet your girl you say:
“Oh, I am sorry but I have bad breath because I had some onions yesterday and due to some time issues I wasn’t able to brush my teeth yet?” … I think you get it!
It doesn’t really matter to whom you send out your tracks. If you ask for feedback or if you send you to apply for a job. Give the person at the least the illusion that your track may actually worth listening. The ironic thing is, I was always right on how that track would sound like by not listening to it and only reading the excuses
If you copy and paste, do it in an appropriate manner!
I know, copy and paste is really necessary and helpful in countless ways, but please consider to change the pattern or at least a few notes after pasting the part. It seriously gets annoying to listen to the exact same four bar percussion loop for almost three minutes. Honestly, compare almost everything you do musicwise with sex! … wait a minute, sex? Yes, SEX! With other words, be passionate about what you are doing! Change patterns, change structure and feel the love and energy and most important – react to it! Don’t be boring!
“Use the ModWheel. Luke!”
- Stephan Römer
I can easily say that almost 60% of you guys, never even considered to touch the ModWheel or – what I am trying to say – considered implementing dynamics in your compositions. To me the most important thing to bring life to a track done with sample libraries is to make use of a variety of dynamics given by the specific library. Today we can change sample layers easily from mp to ff with the ModWheel, we have loads of Gigabytes on articulations available, almost every parameter can be changed – make use of it!
Don’t be lazy!
Seriously, we all have things to improve on. No one is perfect and life is (or should be) a neverending road of progression, improvement, evolution and learning, but one thing you can or should control for sure, is being lazy. This is definitely something you should not be, … and please, not even mention in a message.
Is the paradoxon becoming more clear while you read this? … “Hello, please let me know how to improve my track, but I should say I got lazy during the middle part” …
Don’t share for the sake of sharing!
To be honest, this is a topic which really annoys me most and almost makes me angry.
People posting tracks for the sake of just posting the track. They didn’t care about the composition or what to say with it. They simply throw together a few loops combined with some sterile horn melody and a low string staccato patch, crank those three or four channels up with a limiter and post the resulting to almost every forum and social network they are registered on (which is probably almost every known social network known on this planet) and tell people that they tried something John Williams-ish. Hello? Seriously, I mean HELLO??
If you are one of these guys, I seriously ask you: Do you really ever think, that someone would be interested in something you quickly cranked out for the sake of showing it around? Shouldn’t you invest time and some sweat into your compositon to blow away people and receive some awesome comments … isn’t sharing really about just showing what one has achieved and created … or is it more important to share just something, no matter what?
How low can it go
Finally I really want to set this straight again!
I LOVE getting emails from you and I really enjoy to help out and it makes me really happy to hear that I was inspiring some of you along the road, but please consider these above mentioned points. As you have hopefully noticed, all these things are not hardly to achieve theoretical and practical lessons which need years to even become an apprentice in – No! It is simply some advice to care about … and if you care about it and consider it for your upcoming tracks, you already ARE a 200% better composer!
Thank you for reading!
“The Wrath of Sekhmet” – official demo for Desert Winds
Check out my new official demo for Eduardo Tarilonte’s new upcoming library “Desert Winds”!
5 Things Songwriters Can Do To Move Their Careers Forward
found this article on the BMI website! Actually very helpful!
“Feel the Steam” – walkthrough
Check out this little walkthrough of my demo “Feel the Steam” which I have written for Spitfire Audio’s new orchestra sample library “Albion”!
“Tsukiyomi” walkthrough
to give you a better impression on what’s going on in “Tsukiyomi”, I did this little walkthrough! Hope you enjoy!
the winning and the losing composer!
before you start reading, please consider the following list as an orientation on what to improve or simply as a document to rethink specific approaches. It is not ment to insult or demotivate! Also, dear ladies, I used the male form to keep things simple. Thank you!
the losing composer gets into arguments when receiving constructive criticism, because he had a very specific intention and everything else absolutely does not work!
the winning composer, first of all, thanks the critic for taking his time to review a track, writes down the comments and tries to improve his work!
the losing composer stops buying and checking out new sample libraries, because one drum library is enough – hey, a snare is a snare, right?
the winning composer constantly researches and trying to improve his sound and instrumentation!
the losing composer doesn’t care about harmony & theory anymore after learning enough to do his daily job!
the winning composer constantly tries to evolve, wether it is writing, approaching an instrument or achieving a special technique!
the losing composer doesn’t care about mixing and mastering at all, because writing is the most important thing!
the winning composer at least gets into the mechanism of mixing and mastering since a good written track automatically doesn’t have a good sound!
the losing composer keeps all knowledge for himself, because someone could steal a special trick and become a better composer!
the winning composer inspires, because inspiration always comes back … and by handing out a few tricks, it doesn’t mean that another composer automatically writes as good as oneself!
the losing composer rejects and ignores questions of start up composers, because they are potential competition!
the winning composer is happy and glad to help out, because even a startup composer can overtake and become very successful .. and might remember the person who always was there to help out!
the losing composer always wants to win!
the winning composer is able to accept failure!
the losing composer doesn’t care about his website design and being up to date, because it is „just“ a website!
the winning composer is keeping his site up to date whenever he can, because it is basically his signboard to the whole world!
the losing composer never cares about new plugins, because a compressor is a compressor, it compresses and that’s it!?
the winning composer constantly researches and tries out new stuff and slowly gets a feeling for which plugin is appropriate for which instrument or purpose!
the losing composer is thinking that thousand bucks for a sample library is pretty hefty!
the winning composer is thinking that this thousand bucks sample library may improve his efficience, workflow and way of writing and get that money back within weeks, days or even hours!
the losing composer is getting angry about a mistake
the winning composer sees it as an opportunity to make it better next time!
the losing composer is glad that this day full of stress is over!
the winning composer is suprised how fast time was flying again!
the losing composer doesn’t have a hobby because he doesn’t have time!
the winning composer gets easy inspired for his next project because of his hobbies!
the losing composer sees a lost gig as a lost gig
the winning composer sees a lost gig as valuable experience
the losing composer constantly nags on a problem, thinking by sticking to it, the right melody might come sooner or later!
the winning composer knows when to stop writing since our brains need to reboot and therefore a problem solving idea might already be at hand even before booting up the DAW on the next morning!
the losing composer just asks „What is a DAW?“
the winning composer simply fires up his browser and search engine of choice and checks the specific term on Wikipedia!
the losing composer sees a project as a possible way to feature himself
the winning composer is part of the huge machinery, knowing that his written music is just a little brick inside this whole wall of artists!
the losing composer talks!
the winning composer listens!
the losing composer only cares about a good melody!
the winning composer also transfers this good melody into his rhythm section!
the losing composer approaches percussion just as a few instruments that make boom, bang or clash!
the winning composer treats his percussion section as a whole orchestra, with low, middle and high sounding instruments
the losing composer thinks that specific styles of music don’t have a right to exist!
the winning composer listens to all kinds of music and always finds himself having something learned!
the losing composer ONLY cares about the money when working on a project!
the winning composer knows that money is important but finds it pretty easy to develop some kind of passion on the project he is working on!
the losing composer can not talk about something else than music when being out with his friends!
the winning composer basically never talks about music or business when being out with friends but simply enjoys the evening!
the losing composer is constantly involved in music!
the winning composer knows when it is time to care about his beloved ones who are a major part of his inspiration!
the losing composer can not be happy for another composer winning some sort of a prize!
the winning composer can (be happy about the winner of that prize)!
the losing composer hopes and begs for inspiration
the winning composer is inspired by everything!
the losing composer is looking for excuses
the winning composer is able to excuse himself
the winning composer is able to get inspired when walking through rain!
the losing composer is thinking that he gets wet!
the losing composer didn’t pay enough attention by realizing that I twisted winning and losing for the first time in this list!
…
the losing composer might feel demotivated because of this list and gets back to his work with a groan!
the winning composer feels inspired now, starts smiling as he reads this and feels this specific flow of energy running through his body, knowing that nothing on this planet can stop him!
special thanks to: Jay Brooksby, Petur Jonsson, Carl Ruesmann, Marky Jesson, George Strezov, William Weisbach, Christof Unterberger, Øivind Rosvold, Houston Haynes, Anass Miklós Rózsa, Sydney Sitters, Jeremiah Pena, Giorgio Tommasini, Keitarou Shumata and Troels Folman for taking the time and write a comment or two when I was looking for inspiration, on Facebook and Google plus, to complete this list! Further thanks to Deane Ogden unconciously encouraging me to write that list and “Marc and Angel” for their 2010 blog article „Why winners win and loser lose“!
Why I think Google + will rock for composers!
„Oh no! Please, not another social network“ you may think, … but if you already approach it like this, you won’t have use for it anyway. However if you feel different about it and being open minded enough to simply say: „Hell, why not? Let’s give it a try and if it sucks, I am out there!“ you are more than welcome to read on!
Back to the initial question. So, why I am thinking that Google + will have huge advantages for composers and musicians in general?
.. and please keep in mind that I am not trying to compare it to other social networks. Well know whats possible with them … and what not!
1. Circles
At first sight it might look a bit irritating, but once understood these circles make big sense.
Basically these circles are nothing more than lists you are able to create for specific people. You can create a circle for all your clients, one for all musicians you might considering hiring for your next project. You may create circles for friends and one for family. The possibilities are almost endless.
Just a few examples:
You have close friends, spread around the globe and you feel like sharing some private news but don’t feel like involving all of your clients? Simply set up a specific circle by only involving your friends!
You are looking for a guitar player to hire for your next project. Isn’t it a great option to only send a post out to your „hire musicians“ circle and leave the stream „uncluttered“ for your clients or friends?
One of your hobbies might be Lucid Dreaming and you want to share and spread your experience but also learn from other people. I am pretty your 70 year old conservative boss may „enioy“ those weird posts about flying and meeting weird creatures at strange places!
2. Hang Outs
This is really a great feature! A Hang Out is nothing less than a group video chat conference. Wouldn’t it be simply cool to hang out with your bandmates who are spread around the country and working out a new idea? Wouldn’t it be of great advantage to have a video conference between an audio director and a coworking composer discussing an upcoming project? Wouldn’t it be awesome to directly talk to your hired musician discussing that violin arrangement?
3. Huddle
Woot? Yes, a huddle is basically text chat between two or several members on your mobile phone. It works really well and gives you the option to arrange e.g. a changing meeting, letting several people know that you might be late due to a traffic jam or whatever … you get the idea!
4. The Stream and your posts
Okay, there is really lot to the stream and the way how you can post. One of the strongest features is, that you are not limited to e.g. 140 characters. You can write almost write full blog post. I couldn’t say it better than Mike Elgan did:
„Instead of saying, “I’m going to write a blog post now,” or “I’m going to send an e-mail” or “I think I’ll tweet something” you simply say what you have to say, then decide who you’re going to say it to.
If you address it to “Public,” it’s a blog post.
If you address it to “Your Circles” it’s a tweet.
If you address it to your “My Customers” Circle it’s a business newsletter.
If you address it to a single person, it can be a letter to your mother.
I’d say this is pretty revolutionary.“
I simply have to agree with him!
Okay, I hope I was able to give you a bit of an insight of what is possible. In my opinion social networking is vital, important and necessary, especially as a self employed composer. Please consider that Google + is still in beta and I am sure there are lots of awesome features to come …
In case you are reading this post on my blog: If you didn’t have a Google + account yet, I have a few invites left if you are interested.
So feel free to contact me! … and I would be happy to get connected to you. You find my Google profile link in the right sidebar!
Thandie Newton: Embracing otherness, embracing myself
Not exactly music related but in the end it is all about inspiration!
how to start your career as a composer?
Since I receive a lot of emails from people asking me what the best thing would be to start as a composer, I decided to write a little bit about that topic.
But before I start, I should maybe mention, that you hardly won’t find any phone number, email address nor any other contact info in this post which will directly lead you to a well paid job – that is and will be your very own mission
Okay, the following may sound a bit stupid, but – and I can 100% assure you – are the most important things you should be aware of:
1. Always keep going!
2. Luck and happiness comes from the inside!
3. Be patient!
The reason why I mentioned these three points is because a composer is using feelings and moods to create music. If, for example, something or someone brings us down, it may affect our way we work. This can result from unfocused music (help, my track goes nowhere) to probably being not able to write anything at all.
Now those points mentioned above make sense. Always try to keep your head clean, your mind focused and as an example, don’t get crazy or unsure if someone doesn’t like your music or a situation gets stressful. It is always on yourself how you solve a situation.
Stay self-confident and open minded and people will recognize it (either in your music or person on a meeting) … and if the gig you applied for goes to someone else – there will be more gigs coming along.
These points are not easy to fulfil, but most important thing is to not try to be perfect but always try to get back in balance.
Some people may never have problems getting up the ladder while others struggle a long time for their first gig.
One more important thing is to also separate the helpful from the envious people. You will find this out during time (which is known as the best teacher anyway ).
Always be thankful for criticism and don’t bash or rant against people who are trying to help you.
Okay, now we set these points straight, we can go over to the more music focused points:
1. Pick the gear YOU like most!
Always and everywhere you read about people who don’t like this sequencer or prefer that sampler. Some don’t like a certain plugin while others think it rules the planet and so on. There are lots of opinions about lots of gear and of course it is always good to have certain and strong opinions, but in the end you have to work with it and create music. How should something be of use when everyone tells you that this sequencer is THE SHIT, but even after weeks you still feel unhappy with it? All those things take effect on your composing and therefore your productivity and creativity.
2. If a track doesn’t work out, try it again later!
We are just human and therefore make errors. We also may be tired or strung out. Sometimes we don’t notice that and always try to go on. It is like running again a wall we don’t see. No matter what we try to do, it doesn’t work out. The melody doesn’t sound right, the chord structure is wrong, the EQ suddenly sounds “funny”. Get a night full of sleep and try it again on the next day. Suddenly you solve your situation much faster and everything becomes obvious. Try to find that specific point when it is about time to stop working.
3. Never stop learning
I always say to myself that the day I stop learning, researching and improving I am probably dead. Once you think you gathered and learned everything you want and you stop developing … it gets very dangerous. If you think you are as good as Hans Zimmer or John Williams you should start asking yourself, why you are still sitting in that little room, hardly being able to afford just a single orchestra session
I know I know, music is always a matter of taste and it is probably not good to take two famous composers as examples, but well … if you think you are better then someone, always think about the fact that there is definitly also someone who is better than you! Besides that it is not about being better than someone else, but to gather information and make use out of everything for the rest of your life.
Now come on, .. where should I finally start looking for jobs and gigs?
Okay, here comes the most disappointing part, but since there is the internet, telephone flatrates and being able to create some nice demo cds and reels yourself at home, there is a huge amount of options. Which way you want to go is totally in your hands. It is all out there, you just have to grab the chances in front of you!
So which way to go? First it depends on which way you want to go. You may want to become a game composer, so it might be obvious to not hang out on film schools
Okay, to be serious now. Here are some thoughts on how to start:
Your most reliable partner for this journey in general will obviously be your favorite web search engine. Besides searching and getting gigs from professional game or movie companies (which is quite not easy) you may want to check out hobby developer forums by simply searching for terms such as “game developer forum” or similar stuff. I at least get lots of links thrown at me within a few seconds. You can do it too and you can almost find every information you need to send an application or get in contact with a specific company!
There are a lot of eager hobby directors or game developers around who try to get something done. If such a project succeeds, especially with games, a well known company might pay attention to it. There are quite a few people who started out with game modifications and now working in big game developer studios.
Besides that it is always important to have a decent website. I would recommend to design that website as serious as possible. Especially avoid free URLs such as de.vu etc.
Remember! You want to start a career, so a few bucks a months for some decent, fast and ad-free webspace shouldn’t be a problem. You want to attract companies, directors and developers instead of offering them casino popup ads in the background
Also think about to not put fancy stuff on it. Even in times of fast DSL connections it can be annoying to have like 3d rotating skull gifs or epileptic causing fast moving color frames on there. Stay focused and show what you want to show. Don’t make people to click hundreds of links to get to your music – they might close your site earlier than you think, … since obviously today, time plays a bigger role than ever before. Most important thing is, to explain WHY a company should specifically hire you and not someone else!
Also make sure to spread your music! Put it on appropriate forums (but doesn’t make it look like spam) and try to get public profiles on MySpace, Facebook, SoundCloud, Twitter, Google +, ReverbNation etc.
Out of my own experience I can say, that it IS definitely possible to get gigs from that.
Besides all that make sure to visit shows and appropriate events to meet all kinds of people.
Emails, phone, letters, all ok … but actually you are always talking to a human being. So make it as personal as possible. A face and a meeting is more than an application email amongst hundreds of others – and if it doesn’t work out due to distances, there is still Skype, AIM or other webcam chat services available.
Okay, these are some points to take care of and think about. Obviously not the direct door to success and lots of money, but maybe a little inspiration on the way to it
Of course these are all mostly personal experiences and impressions.
If you have any questions make sure to make use of the comment options below this post and let me know what you think!
I may also update this post if some more stuff comes to my mind! So it might change from time to time.
Lots of success to everyone out there!
Epic Taiko Ensemble
Check out my official demo “Tsukiyomi” for the upcoming sample library “Epic Taiko Ensemble” by 8Dio, the new sample library company run by Troels Folmann. If you would like to know more about this epic and thunderous piece of acoustic art, check out the 8Dio website!