The Business of Making Music | #14 What are PROs?

The Business of Making Music | #13 Types of TV Music

In this video I talk about the three types of music found in television shows....

1. The score
2. "Needle Drops"
3. Source music
4. Theme
5. Bumpers
6. Library Music

Each have their own qualities and requirements.

For example...

The Business of Making Music | #12 Types of Film Music

In this video I talk about the three types of music found in films.

1. The score
2. "Needle Drops"
3. Source music

Each have their own qualities and requirements.

The Business of Making Music | #11 Intro to "Mailbox Money"

There are many sources of revenue for the musician/songwriter/composer.

Performance Royalties - issued in the US through BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, which are usage on radio, TV, restaurants, concerts, stores, internet, streaming.

Mechanical Royalties - from the writers/publishers share of record/CD sales, iTunes sales, Amazon and others.

CCLI income from churches for using worships songs.

If you are playing music or even pretending to play music (sidelining) on a TV show or in a Movie there is something called "Secondary Market Revenue" that is paid based on your percentage of the entire union contract.

Union jingles sessions pay "mailbox money" as reuse every 13 weeks.

Union record sessions will pay again if your name is attached to a song and that recording is used in a TV, commercial or film or other such use.

The Business of Making Music | #10 Don't Believe Everything You Hear

The Business of Making Music | #9 Guard Your Brand

Here I talk about one of my few regrets in the music business, promoting myself too soon.

The Business of Making Music | #8 Should I Learn To Read Music?

Some good sight reading materials...

A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 1
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 2
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 3
A Modern Method for Guitar Vol. 1, 2, & 3
Melodic Rhythms for Guitar
Reading Studies for Guitar
Advanced Reading Studies for Guitar
Advanced Jazz Conception for Saxophone: 20 Jazz Etudes
Tommy Tedesco - For Guitar Players Only

ALSO be on the hunt for 25 cent Flute, Trumpet, Sax etc. studies at thrift stores.

Metronomes (though you could jut a free app on your phone that does this) -

Seiko Metronome
Korg Metronome

The Business of Making Music | #7 My 5 Reasons To Take A Gig

My five reasons are...

For the money
For the experience
For the connections
For friends
For God (or good causes)

The Business of Making Music | #6 Be Your Own College

Can't afford to go to college?  Think you are too old?  Don't have the time?  Be Your Own College.  #1 - Figure out what you need to learn.  #2 - Figure out how to learn it.  #3 - Learn it.  You will probably learn more from #1 and #2 than #3 surprisingly.

The Business of Making Music | #5 Should I Go To Music School?

A very important question.  Should you go to music school?  Will a degree in music make a career in music more likely?  Possibly.  If your school is in a major music town like LA, NY, Nashville, Miami or Atlanta it could help you forge long lasting connections.

The Business of Making Music | #4 Living Below Your Means

One way to guarantee a failure of any endeavor is to run out of money.  A negative cash flow will eventually catch up with you.

The Business of Making Music | #3 Being In The Right Place

Are you where you need to be successful in you musical pursuits?

Here's an article on the subject

The Business of Making Music | #2 Get In The Game

Here are a list of subjects I hope to cover in this series (adding to it all the time)....

Gigging - be prepared
Writing
Publishing
ASCAP/BMI
Session Work
Music Schools
Record deals
Touring
Writing for TV and film
Cue Sheets
BMI Statements
Library Work
Gear Acquisition
NAMM
Practicing - time management
Keep learning
Learn new instruments
Traits of Artists
Traits of successful musicians
Writing Pop Music
Split Sheets
Cue Sheets
YouTube
Streaming - Spotify, et al.
Social Media - Instagram and Twitter
Joining the Union
Being where the action is
Learning ProTools/Logic
Getting and Keeping Students
Contracting
Be Open to a Different Career in   the Business
Be Upwardly Mobile
Home Studios
Making Connections
Getting in the Game
Live Small (below your means)
Producing
Film Sessions vs Record sessions
Powerful People
Don’t Believe Everything
It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you
Take Yourself to College


Here are list of jobs I've done in and related to the business of music (adding to this list all the time too!)...

Working in a Record Store
Working in a Guitar Store
Running Sound at a Nightclub
Teaching Private Lessons
Teaching Clinics
Teaching a Class at USC
Guitar Coaching Actors
Copy Work (doing charts)
Playing Jazz Gigs
Playing Top 40 Gigs
Playing Classical Music at a Restaurant
Playing Weddings (classical guitar)
Playing Rock Gigs
Playing in Cover Bands
Playing in Original Bands
Playing in a Pit Band (for plays/musicals)
Playing in Worship Bands
Leading Worship
Writing Worship Songs
Writing Rock Songs
Writing Classical Songs
Writing Pop Songs
Writing Music for Television
Writing Music for Film
Being a Music Director
Being a Contractor
Playing on Records/CD's
Playing on Movies
Playing on TV Shows
Playing on Jingles
Sidelining in TV Shows (on camera appearances)
Producing Records
Developing Artists

The Business of Making Music | #1 Something to Think About

NEW YOUTUBE SERIES!

Are you struggling trying to make it in music?  Maybe you're meant to play a different role.  And if you find success in that different role you'll no doubt find it more satisfying going "somewhere" than going "nowhere". 

Here is LA Reid's interview on Charlie Rose.

Reading in the Studio

Here's page one of a chart for a film. Now while it says "Gtr Part" it was really intended to be played down an octave and on baritone electric. I used my Danelectro for the job.

A couple issues.

One, I don't read for baritone very often. So I was kind of double transposing twice to play this chart. Down an octave and then up a fourth. Not really up a fourth, but for example that first note, D, is really the D an octave below that and on the baritone it is played on the 3rd fret of the sixth string. So kind of like a G note on a normal guitar.

There was a lot of baritone on this score so I was quickly able to get my head into the bari-game. Generally I think of that first note not as G but as D right where it is. Just as it is. And then I just read the intervals instead of the notes. So D, then two more D's, up a minor 3rd, up a whole step. Hit that again. This trick will get me through many tricky transposition situations.

The second issue was with the length of the neck. My left arm was getting tired. I don't know how bass players do it. I have no tip for this except play more baritone.

Here's a video on the subject...

One of my First Real Sessions...

From back in 1990. The engineer was Tim Bomba who helped me to sound good with mediocre gear. This from the early 90's sitcom Herman's Head. I played on the theme. It was quite a complex piece of music with all the personalities in the opening credits...

Writing for Film

There are three types of music in a film...

1. Score

2. Needle Drops/Songs

3. Source

Score

Score is the composer's responsibility. It's the music under action and dialogue that's compose specifically for a movie. It is a very powerful tool to create a mood. Joy, fear, drama, can be enhanced by the properly chosen melody or orchestration. Usually this is the responsibility of one composer. Could be orchestral like John Williams' Star Wars or band-like like Lyle Workman's funky Superbad soundtrack. Or anywhere in between. No Country for Old Men, with the exception of the closing credits, had no score and it really added to the intensity of the film.

I've worked on many scores for TV and film. In this case I'm hired by a composer to play one or more of the many instruments that are in my closet. Sometimes I'm playing with a band or an orchestra, but usually I'm added after everything else has been recorded. As an overdub. I've done everything from a solo classical guitar, every note written out to a session of just making noises on a Fender bass with bottles and slides and random pieces of metal.

Needle Drops

Many movies are practically wall to wall needle drops like your typical Adam Sandler movie. Think the film "The Waterboy" - "Born on the Bayou" - John Fogerty, "Let's Groove" - Earth, Wind and Fire, etc. Famous songs can be quite expensive. Ten well known songs can cost a small fortune. But it's a great vehicle to take the audience to an era or decade. 

I'm currently working in an unofficial capacity as a music supervisor on an animated film. They don't have a budget to fill the half a dozen or so slots in the film with major songs so I was asked if I could help them find songs with lyrics that fit the scenes. That's basically the job of a music supervisor. 

I'm using this opportunity to work with some other songwriters and write some songs for placement in the film. And submit works of friends. I've gone through a lot of music and only submitted songs that are quality and also fit the spirit of the scene and the whole film. A time consuming job. Though I can often rule out a song in the first two bars. The ultimate decision falls on the director and/or the producer of the production.

For every Adam Sandler film with a $10 million budget for song placement there are fifty low budget films that have small or no budgets that afford opportunities for unknown artists and songwriters to get a song in a film. The reward? Maybe a token sync fee, some exposure and if the film airs on TV or cable some nice royalties. And a little encouragement to stay in the game.

Source

Source is the music heard in clubs or bars or coffee shops, on radios or elevators or TV's that's like score in that it's usually under action and dialogue, and like needle drops in that it can help to transport you to a time or place. It's often added in post production. Like foley. It adds realism to a scene if there is a radio in the room to have music coming from it. 

I've gotten many songs in films or made-for-TV movies in this capacity. One as a country instrumental tune in a car radio. One as a background visual when I replaced a song that a band was playing in the background of the scene, but it wasn't quite right. One a Hawaiian song emanating from a cassette deck. To name but a few. Usually there is a sync fee plus royalties on the back end for these placements.

Star Wars - John Williams

Superbad - Lyle Workman

Some other cool soundtracks - 

Oceans Eleven - David Holmes

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Jon Brion

The Green Mile - Thomas Newman

21 Grams - Gustavo Santaolalla

Reading in the Studio

Below is a fairly simple melody. The tempo was 85 bpm. I was asked to play it on acoustic guitar and lap steel, but with not too much sliding. There was no other music just click. The other elements would be dropped in and around it later. So the challenge is to make it musical or "play it with feeling", while playing alone.

When writing for guitar one should transpose up an octave to get the desired pitch. In other words if you want the guitarist to play middle C write the C on the second space from the top as in the first note of the second line in the chart below. But often composers forget to do that so I ask. In this case the writer indeed did want it up an octave.

Also the first note in fourth bar, second line, is a D. I kept thinking Db because normally one would write C# for the note before it.

It was simple but concentration was a must as it was easy to drop into some presupposed timing. Don't predict, just read. Again it was helpful to memorize the melody for the slide part so I could look at my slide for pitches. Enjoy!

Reading in the Studio

Just last week I got called for a quick session for a short film (10 minutes). Quick is my specialty. Between lower budgets and greater numbers of wannabe directors makes for many opportunities for the musician who can get things done in a timely manner.

Below is the lone chart for the session. A very simple melody in 3/4. But here's the rub: there was no click, it was suppose to be played free but in a call and response to a sparse vocal. So 120bpm was just a rough guide tempo. The composer wanted this melody on slide. And wanted options to pepper throughout the movie. First on acoustic with a slide, then on dobro with a slide and lastly on mandolin with a slide (that was my idea).

The first thing I did was memorize the melody. It's kind of difficult to play slide while staring at a chart. I like to lock in my pitches visually, as well as with the aid of a clip on tuner  - Intellitouch Tuner

The acoustic was in standard tuning, EADGBE. The dobro however was in open G, DGDGBD. And the Mandolin was in standard tuning, standard for a mandolin, GDAE. So the melody laid differently on each instrument. The composer wanted everything with lots of feeling and slide noise. Then we did passes on each instrument of just making random noises. All done in less than an hour so we had time to go to In-N-Out for lunch!

So get out your slide and read though this one!

Reading in the Studio

Here's a quick one...

Looks easy right?

Here were the instructions...

"I'd love (on steel string) a few different tempos, from moderately slow to moderately fast (ie, not crazy slow, nor crazy fast) of each. And ideally in the octave written and octave below. The tune (#2) can't be transposed an octave down because the D is outta range. Rather than de-tune, substitute the D for B (major 3rd above starting pitch). So that way it's G>A>B(down 4th)>F#, etc"


Got it? OK, here we go... 1, 2, 3, 4...


Reading Studies for Guitar