documentary composer stress ?

[taa4j6]

hey !

we TV documentary composers are asked to do hours and hours of music that has to be as good if not better than what the directors listen to.

i have a few documentaries coming and i've become increasingly stressed as weither i'm going to do a good job or not. most of the time i'm not interested in the subject of the documentary (they have a good production value but are quite .... boring - everyone i'm working with admits it), and i've had a few moments last year where i was in a dead end and couldn't just give the client what they wanted. especially when working with a director with a huge ego and who doesn't know what he wants at all, doesn't give you any indications, but hates whatever you send him.

how do you deal with having to do a large amount of music when you feel uninspired by the subject ?

i'm inspired most of the time, but quality can't always be here... and these times can be stressfull

[Etch-A-Sketch]

Originally Posted by taa4j6

hey !

we TV documentary composers are asked to do hours and hours of music that has to be as good if not better than what the directors listen to.

i have a few documentaries coming and i've become increasingly stressed as weither i'm going to do a good job or not. most of the time i'm not interested in the subject of the documentary (they have a good production value but are quite .... boring - everyone i'm working with admits it), and i've had a few moments last year where i was in a dead end and couldn't just give the client what they wanted. especially when working with a director with a huge ego and who doesn't know what he wants at all, doesn't give you any indications, but hates whatever you send him.

how do you deal with having to do a large amount of music when you feel uninspired by the subject ?

i'm inspired most of the time, but quality can't always be here... and these times can be stressfull

Practice. Doh!

Write music every day, even when you aren't working on a particular film. build up a library/catalog of musical ideas. when the creative juices aren't flowing for a particular scene, look back through some of your sketches/ideas and see if anything would fit. If you have been writing every day for a while before you got the gig, most likely you'll have a pretty big library of ideas to draw from. And more often than not you'll find something that works and you can then expand on it and fit it into the scene.

I remember in music history class learning that Mozart, while deathly ill, wrote some of the happiest music he had ever written. Why? Because he was contracted to! LOL Inspiration had nothing to do with it.

Being creative and/or finding that creative spark is just like any muscle in your body. You need to keep exercising it every day in order to keep it working. If you stop, it won't work as well when you finally need to use it.

So try to write every day, seven days a week,365 days a year. Even if you don't finish the ideas, it exercises that creative part of your brain and keeps it in shape. You'll probably start to notice you hit road blocks less often and when you do, you have a huge library of your own original ideas to draw from to help kick start the imagination again.

[nathand]

Originally Posted by taa4j6

how do you deal with having to do a large amount of music when you feel uninspired by the subject ?

Take on a mortgage.

[kister]

Lie back and think of the performance rights?

[Etch-A-Sketch]

Originally Posted by nathand

Take on a mortgage.

LMAO... that was great! And so true!

[eshepherd]

I gotta say, that is some really great advice you dropped here Derek!!! Especially in today's environment where the composer is often the editor, mixer, ect. is very common to stop composing and recording to try and fix other little odds and ends, or to purchase new equipment and fx, and when you finally get around to doing the composition, you are rusty and unhappy with the results.

I am going to take your advice and start using this mindset today. Thanks a bunch!!

[Etch-A-Sketch]

Originally Posted by eshepherd

I gotta say, that is some really great advice you dropped here Derek!!! Especially in today's environment where the composer is often the editor, mixer, ect. is very common to stop composing and recording to try and fix other little odds and ends, or to purchase new equipment and fx, and when you finally get around to doing the composition, you are rusty and unhappy with the results.

I am going to take your advice and start using this mindset today. Thanks a bunch!!

No problem... glad I could help. This was one of those things I picked up along the way from working with so many different people. A lot of the very successful composers look at writing as their day job. They do it 8 hours a day (or maybe 6 hrs a day... or 4hrs, etc) regardless of whether they have a gig or not. Just because you don't currently have a gig to write for doesn't mean you should stop writing. Do it every day. Use that time to try new things...branch out... if you always get called for orchestral score, try writing a rock hybrid track or world music track or horror style track or some other style you aren't as familiar with. Do a few... compare to others and try to learn some of the writing techniques and production techniques associated with it. Keep it in your "bag 'o tricks" and you might end up using it someday when you hit a creative wall.

Working in music library, we get a lot of the unused music from a lot of these composers. If they haven't done anything with some of their tracks after a while, they'll package them up into "volumes" or "CDs" and sell them off to a library. So the time spent in your "downtime" is never really wasted in the end. You can always find ways to sell the music after the fact.

[Fred Story]

Personally, it's rare that I can't find something in a piece that provides a measure of inspiration...or which is at least interesting.

And I always remember the sage words of Ziggy Hurwitz, with whom I studied composition for many years. I was once asked to arrange and produce an album for a couple of superb singer/songwriters. Their songs were so good, the project terrified me. I was going to say no - until Ziggy asked me why I was turning down the gig. I told him I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make the right choices for those terrific songs. He smiled and said, "Oh, that's easy. Just shut up and listen. A great song will always tell you what it needs."

Some time later while sitting frozen in front of the screen with a deadline approaching, I changed one word...and it's been my mantra ever since.

"Shut up and listen. A great story will always tell you what it needs."

Sometimes it takes a lot of listening. But eventually - the piece always speaks.

[GregorioM]

I don't feel there are any hard and fast rules, it varies from person to person. For some people I'm sure Derek's advice is right on the mark and that practising everyday even when you haven't got a project on helps develop skills. I also agree that it can be very useful to have a catalogue of ideas already "in the bank".

On the other hand, although I tried this approach, it never really worked for me. In my case I found sitting in the studio everyday caused more stress and burn out, rather than less. So, I took on some hobbies and deliberately tried not to go into the studio unless I had to. This turned into the best solution for me personally. Deliberately staying out of the studio, even when I felt like playing around, resulted in me really anticipating and looking forward to getting back into the studio and realising some of the ideas I'd had while not working. I realise that my musical background and style of composition may mean that what worked for me may not work for others. I think if what you are doing isn't working for you or did work at one time but is now getting to be a drag, then try Derek's suggestions, if that doesn't work, try mine or better still, come up with some of your own. Try something different though, it's easy to stagnate or worse still to burn out.

I must say though that I can't remember a documentary or drama that I did where I couldn't find something inspiring. Inevitably though, looking back, there is the odd project which makes me cringe and wonder how I got away with writing such a pile!!

Cheers, G