WOW, YOUR MUSIC SOUNDS IMPRESSIVE, YOU'RE REALLY DOING ALL OF THAT YOURSELF?

Thank you!:-) And yes, I'm both composing and producing music myself, so the client can receive a full and final product. But then I'm of course also happy to work with people from music and sound department when needed.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE ORCHESTRATIONS? MANY COMPOSERS HAVE THEIR ORCHESTRATORS WORKING FOR THEM?

That's true, but I do the orchestrations myself as well. There are typically two different reasons why people hire orchestrators: either the composer isn't capable of doing proper orchestrations himself or there isn't enough time for the composer to do everything. The second usually happens with the higher budget productions, which have a very tight deadlines (not to mention they're just big). And the biggest projects actually include much more than an additional orchestrator or two - there's a whole army of people on just the creative side of the music department: additional composers, orchestrators, synth and loop programmers, sound-designers, editors, recording and mixing engineers... And of course, they're hired not "only" to save time - they are top professionals, simply amazing in what they do.

WHAT ABOUT YOU THEN? CAN YOU REALLY DO ALL OF THAT YOURSELF AND DO IT GOOD?

Oh, of course there are people who can do those things better (like the just mentioned specialists, for instance). But I try my best to be as good in those important aspects as I possibly can. Obviously, it takes more time if everything is done by just one person, so please keep that in mind. Those guys are hired when there's enough money to hire them. And believe me, when I have an opportunity to work with this army of talented people and a big live orchestra, I'll be most happy about it. If you are still somewhat unsure about my skills and afraid of getting something of second quality, I would recommend to simply listen to my music and find out for yourself if it's good enough.

YOU KNOW, I'M NOT NECESSARILY AN EXPERT HERE. I WOULD PREFER TO BASE MY JUDGEMENT ON SOME GOOD, SOLID REFERENCE.

Absolutely! It's always a good idea to seek an opinion from respected and trusted sources. And although I wouldn't like to seem immodest in any way, I guess it's pretty safe to say there are not that many people out there who are acclaimed by the industry's top professionals, and certainly not with reference from people like the legendary Eric Persing. Adding to that, my credits list might not yet be 10 miles long, but if you actually read it, you'll find out that it already contains some well-known and serious clients. If that's not enough for a start, then I'd better give it up already and look for a job in McDonald's. ;-)

ALRIGHT. NOW, CAN YOU TELL ME HOW LONG DOES IT USUALLY TAKE TO CREATE MUSIC?

Again, it depends on many aspects, like what kind of music is needed, how complex it is, what kind of instruments are used and so on. Sometimes it's possible to score a 3-minute scene in one day and sometimes I need 3 days to fully produce 1 minute of music. And it also has some impact on the rates - usually, the more complex (generally speaking) the music is, the more time it takes, and it naturally costs more.

SO YOU DON'T HAVE A ONE FIXED 'PER-MINUTE-OF-MUSIC' RATE?

No. The 'per-minute' approach can work for somebody who makes more or less one kind of music and for a similar "rank" of projects. For me, one minute of music is not necessarily equal to the other minute of music and I think this approach is much more fair (you don't think that if there's only one rate, it is based on that lower option, do you?). Another aspect having much influence on the rates is of course the type and rank of a project. Nobody expects to charge a student filmmaker with the same rates as for a triple-A blockbuster.

OK THEN, PLEASE TELL ME HOW DOES IT WORK ON A TECHNICAL SIDE - WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM ME AND WHAT DO I GET FORM YOU?

On a purely technical side, the most important thing I need from you is a movie/scene with a proper timecode. The choice of a codec doesn't really matter that much, because I can (and probably will) encode it again myself, the way I need it. Just keep in mind to maintain a reasonable quality/size ratio when sending online. If you need any clue, the standard DivX or (preferably) Quick Time H.264 file (with about medium quality and resolution) is fine.

If you use temp music, it would be great if you could export this temp track as a separate file, so I can mute it and still have the sound from the movie itself playing. The best way to export it is to make it exactly the same length as the video file. That way I can put those files together and they will automatically be in sync.

I, on the other hand, will send you standard audio files - first MP3 (as a working versions) and then final WAV files in 44.1 k (or 48 - depending on the region) and 24 bits (of course, I can export e.g. in 16 bits as well if you like). Those files will have a timecode provided in their names so you can easily import them in their proper place.

It looks a little bit different with bigger projects, when I work with people from the sound department. In this case, I'm giving them the so-called 'stems', which are then mixed with everything else, but there's no need to explain that here.
And needless to say, the whole process looks yet completely different with video games.

And obviously, I do have a commercial FTP server so the file exchange is not an issue.

If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.