Getting started!

[Nathan Madsen]

Hey guys,

Here's an informal discussion on how I got started in the industry. Have questions? Feel free to ask! Have advice or other info you wanna throw into the mix? Go for it! My first section will focus primarily on my background and how I made it into the industry. Later posts will discuss how I set up my demo reel, how I negotiate with clients and even later I'll discuss some of the nuts and bolts to the audio tasks I do daily.

So here's goes:

Back in 2005 I was an elementary school music teacher. That was it. I had no contacts or ins with the video game or film industries. I also had no experience making games and only amateur (at best) experience making films. What I did have was a severe passion for games, films and music. I had been creating music on the computer since 2000. I had been a part of performing groups (like choir, playing violin, recorder, band, jazz band and rock groups) since I was in first grade. When I first started out I read some books by composer-sound designers that I admired. This game me a good understanding of the process, the business side and where I could start finding clients. I started this searching on websites listed in these books. After a while I extended my search to other websites and communities that I found on my own. Put yourself out there as much as possible!

At first I didn't land too many paying jobs. I was extremely lucky and did land a Nintendo DS project for my 3rd project and that was paying. I basically took on as much work as I could and did some PR and exposure-related stuff every day. Literally. I've been very lucky to get all of the clients I got. With my demo reel, I was able to impress paying clients and took on many projects that I found speckled all over the web. We'll talk about how to set up an effective demo reel in a later post.

My biggest break came when I was hired on at FUNimation Productions. I was a full time composer-sound designer for their trailer and promo dept. I was able to work on many A-list shows like Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Full Metal Alchemist and many others. I also learned a great deal about sound design and how to work on high-end equipment there. This also upped my industry standing and attracted even higher profile clients.

My second big break came with NetDevil hired me as their lead audio composer-sound designer. Now I'm working on Lego Universe, Jumpgate Evolution and other triple A titles. Now I'm lucky enough to have clients seeking me out, instead of me having to do all of the leg work. With each new job and position, I've been able to learn new skills that continue to make me more marketable and able to take on new challenges. Try not to limit yourself by only taking on jobs in one category! Not only does this limit your client pool, it limits your knowledge and experience potential.

It can be very, very hard to find work (especially paying work) when just started out. My best advice to you is to continue pushing forward. There were times I felt I'd never make it to a full time gig. However, the more projects I took on and the more pros that I networked with, the easier it became. Another great thing is if you can find a job that gives you a steady income while chasing this dream job on the side. Teaching did that for me (especially during the summers). While I didn't love teaching that much, it gave me the flexibility to continue to freelance and eventually make it into the full time work.

It can be hard to tell which projects to take on and which to avoid. Here are some things I pay attention to:

*Team structure: How organized are they? What role(s) do the management play?

*Prior experience: Do they have a proven record? Have they completed any projects before? What level(s) of education do they have? Ask to see samples of their work.

*Any funding: Having secured funding can always help, but I've also run into teams that mismanaged money very badly. Ask to see a business plan, if they have one drafted up.

*Pictures, Concepts, Scripts or Cuts of film: If they have a decent amount of great looking concepts and pictures, this is always very encouraging. If they have noting to show you, then at look over their design doc. If they don't have that either.... then they're probably not ready to recruit freelancers. For films, ask to see any footage (rough or completed). Most of the time a composer will be brought in when a film is lock (or close to being locked).

*Contracts: If a team is structured enough to have set up contracts and NDA forms, then this shows a level of seriousness and planning.

*Industry Reputation: I literally have a black list of clients that I'll not work for. If a close industry friend contacts me privately, I'll let them know if a studio has a positive or negative standing in my book. This is a very common practice. I've had mostly very positive experiences with clients, studios and companies but have had a few neglect to pay me, breach their contact or steal my work. It's a sad reality of this business- but it is reality. If you have peers in the industry, ask around before joining up with a new client or company. Save yourself the trouble and stress of dealing with a situation like that.

If a project doesn't seem to have much info or material to show when soliciting for services- then they're NOT ready! Politely ask them to consult you at a later point when the project is "ready for sound."

Even the most structured teams can fall apart. Heck, it even happens to studios with 10 published projects and large budgets. This is an important lesson for everyone to learn. This business is very up and down. A studio that is top dog for years can fall flat on it's face, then be back on top several years later. Try your best to get to know the people behind the team. Some folks are really big talkers, so if you can learn to spot these folks then it can save you some trouble. Some folks get way to excited and exaggerate how things are progressing. Early on I learned to not get excited about something until I had a signed contract in my hand and a check (that didn't bounce from a client).

I think that's enough reading for now. Feel free to respond with any comments, questions or donations (haha, I wish!) that you have.

Take care,

Nathan

--
Nathan Madsen
Composer-Sound Designer
www.madsenstudios.com

[Jim Brennan]

Thanks Nathan. Great advice and info. I think that most people who step into the freelance world vastly underestimate the amount of time it takes to promote their services. In the beginning that's where most of your effort goes, and you can't be above taking jobs for little or no pay when it's appropriate.

[Nathan Madsen]

Thanks Jim! Here's a question that I think could be helpful to many freelancing audio folks:

I would like to ask during what conditions the industry guys are listening to the reels? Are they sitting by the computer with small nasty speakers, or in a conference room with a nice speaker system?

This is a great question!

Unfortunately the listener usually has way too much power over what the audio set up is like. So you can never really ensure a perfect listening session 100% of the time. Even with nice speakers and a quiet room, some folks may choose to have the sub turned to 11 which would effectively change the overall mix and delivery of your audio.

Some of this you have to just accept since almost every stereo system available today has some kind of EQ interface set up. Some of this you can prepare for. When I'm creating new audio I listen to it on a variety of set ups. The initial set up I use is my studio one. This is the highest quality in a nice, quiet room. I have the EQ set to normal and speakers set up correctly. Here's where the creation happens and this is where you need to have the highest quality speakers and equipment you can afford. From there I test the audio on:

*my iPod

*my laptop

*my car

*other stereo systems

*other computers

*testing various audio formats and sampling rates

Testing on other computers is especially vital if you're sharing audio content via the Internet. The trick to all of this is two fold:

1) Realize that each set up is going to change your sound somewhat. Nearly nothing sounds as pristine and good on laptop speakers vs. studio monitors. They just don't. Laptop speakers are generally too narrow in output and quality.

2) Instead of trying to make the audio sound perfect on each and every device you test, try to reach a good average. Understand how each system is going to limit certain things about your audio output, and focus on what is maintained. Try to make your audio sound decent to good on crappy set ups and very good on high quality set ups.

After testing on a bunch of set ups, make any changes that are needed and then put it out there.

As far as how folks are listening in the film and game industry: it varies greatly. When I was back at FUNimation, we were listening on mid-range speakers attached to a computer. They were decent speakers and got the job done. If it was specifically an audio based demo, we'd sometimes go into my office and use my equipment to listen. Sometimes not. In my current job, I listen to all audio-based portfolios in my studio. From there, I select the ones that I feel make the cut and then pass them off to my management for further review. From there some use headphones, others use conference rooms set ups. It just varies person to person and day to day.

Finally, I believe that good musical writing or good sound design creation will come out even on bad speaker set ups. Is the sound somewhat inhibited? Sure. But if you have a great demo reel that has variety and solid content- that will show through. It may not be as spectacular as it is on a great audio set up. If someone has their stereo set up all messed up, then they're hearing ALL of their audio output that way. Maybe they prefer nothing but bass. Maybe they like hearing only the highs and none of the mids or lows. :) Rest assured, none of the audio folks I've known or work with are like this. I think my long winded point is: focus on making the mix sound as close to perfect on your end using the methods I listed above. Don't stress about all of the other variables when it comes to other listening set ups because they're beyond your control most of the time.

I hope that helps!

Nathan

--
Nathan Madsen
Composer-Sound Designer
www.madsenstudios.com

[Nathan Madsen]

Here's another question I was asked recently:

How do you mix in 5.1 surround sound for a film or video game?

Okay, so how do I mix in 5.1 surround?

First off, for video games you need to check what audio engine is being used. Since this is a film related website, I'll not go into that here. Surround sound is pretty close to mixing in stereo with a few exceptions.

You create five tracks and position them to where you have a center, left front, right front, left rear and right rear. This can be done several ways. Most DAWs will have some kind of interface set up to allow you to set each track up. Reference this picture of a 7.1 pan interface in Sonar 4.



Here's Logic 8's version:



Here's a plug-in available for Pro Tools:



All of these basically let you do the same thing: set up where you want your speakers to be with regard to your track's panning and other parameters. From there you need to have:

1) a 5.1 surround sound speaker system hooked up to your DAW (or 7.1 if you're going that route)

2) Have each speaker an equal distance from where you'll be testing the audio. True, most home stereo systems are not set up this way, but for mixing purposes we want to have equal distance from each speaker. This way we can really tell when we pan a bullet swish from track to track adding a cool whip around effect. A side not about these speakers: have them all be the same brand and quality. It would actually hurt your efforts if you had a mixture of high quality and low quality speakers in your surround set up. How can you trust that all 5 parts are truly representing your audio? You can't. Fortunately this isn't too much of an issue since most surround systems have options that can fit almost any budget.

3) Once the set up is in place, you'll do your mixing as you would normally. Bumping up sections that are too soft, lowering other sections that loud and panning effectively from speaker (or track) to track. This may take some time depending on your project. While you're creating your content make sure your set up is always set within normal parameters. You never want to create audio on a system that has custom settings (sub woofer turned up really hot, all of the highs turned down) because then the audio will sound odd or not as you intended on other set ups. Remember, the customer has plenty of power over your audio as is (with all of the EQ settings built into stereos these days) and they also have the ability to total screw up the physical placement of the speakers too. Don't add to that by creating content on a stereo with parameters you prefer.

Perfect real life example: I had a friend come by and show me his laser SFX he'd been working on. He was really pumped. He played them for me and was horrified! They had virtually no bass to them and the end result was very tinny and hollow.

"They sound better and more deep on my system!"

I asked him if he was using a sub woofer and he was. Turns out it was cranked up really hot and he thought he was creating audio that had some serious punch and depth to it. He wasn't- his system was simulating that for him. He went back, turned down the sub woofer, made the needed changes and then his laser sounds were great! Remember this!

4) From there you'll bounce out each channel by itself and then load it into your engine or playback format. This can vary depending on what media you're working for or what audio engine you're using so I'll not go into specifics here.

5) Once the audio is plugged into the film spend some time testing it on various surround sound set ups: high range, mid range and low range. Also try several different rooms. You'll probably not be able to make it sound perfect on every set up or environment (see above post) but work for a great audio experience overall. See if you like how everything works. If not, go back and fix what went wrong. Rinse. Repeat. :)

I hope that helps!

Nathan

--
Nathan Madsen
Composer-Sound Designer
www.madsenstudios.com

[Jim Brennan]

Nathan,

It sounds like it's not that different than color correcting a film. TVs vary greatly in how they look, so you use a calibrated monitor and try and get the happiest medium you can, without sacrificing the "look" you are trying to use for each scene.

Not always easy, but as you say, quality will come through. There was a day when people listened to 45's on portable, mono phonographs. Why? because they liked the music (and they didn't know any better)

[David Bergner]

Hey Nathan,

Thanks so much for this invaluable, insider info! I'm looking to get a solid website up and running, and of course this means assembling a good demo reel. You mentioned in the above post that you'd get into some of the considerations for assembling a demo reel, and I was wondering if you could share some of those thoughts now? I'd also be interested in more general thoughts about what makes for a good composer website that will attract clients and get them wanting to work with you. I've checked out your website, and already taken a few cues from there! I'm sure you're a busy guy, so no rush on any of this, but would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks in advance.

David

[Nathan Madsen]

I'm holding off on this because I have an article about this very subject that is close to being published. I'd rather not brush the top of the subject so if it's cool with you, I'll direct you to the article once it is published.

Thanks!

Nathan

[Don Martineau]

Nathan,
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge!! To aspiring composers like myself, it's great to get genuine input from someone who so clearly just wants to help others. Thank you again.

I do have a question for you. I have done some work with theater, modern dance and commercial video but do not yet have a reel that I feel would be "great". Any suggestions in getting started on one? Is it absolutely out of the question to "re-score" if you will, existing material and include it your reel if you are completely up front about it? Or is it better to just wait until I get some more experience and projects? I wouldn't really want to use some one else's work, but if it's common practice I would.

Thanks!!

Don
donmartineau.com

[Nathan Madsen]

Hey Don,

Sorry for my long absence! Been SUPER busy with projects.

If you mean re-scoring to other video media, then this is a known practice. Wouldn't say it is exactly common, but it does happen. It isn't the ideal way to show off your skills but I've seen it happen. I would be completely upfront about it, like you said. The last thing you want to do is come off as shady or using someone else's work (the video I mean) so be very clear about what is happening.

A bit of encouragement: Does having a video reel make a difference or impact to clients? You bet. Is it completely vital to land gigs or clients? Absolutely not. My first demo reel was 12 snippets of songs that were each linked on an html page. They weren't even set up in an MP3 player on my site. You had to click on each on. Each song was a different style or instrumentation to show variety. These snippets were not long: about 35 seconds each. This basic demo reel landed me the job with FUNimation Entertainment, which is why I have so many anime trailers in my video reel.

My point is this, don't fret if you don't have a video reel. Sure it is sexy and helps, but it isn't vital. Great music is vital. If your reel can show your ability to create excellent music (especially in a variety of moods and styles) then you're doing a great job!

I hope that helps,

Nathan

[Don Martineau]

Nathan,
There's nothing wrong with being busy!! :-)

Thanks for the info on the reel. I've been on other message boards but didn't really get an informed answer.

-Don

[Don Martineau]

Nathan, I have another question for you if I can impose on you.

What's your opinion of sound libraries as a way to get your work out there? Are they useful or more of a black hole if you know what I mean?

Thanks

Don

[Nathan Madsen]

I use sound libraries every single day. With out them, I wouldn't be able to produce my work at the needed quality. Would it be nice to compose music then hear it recorded by only live musicians? HECK YA! :) The problem is time and money. Most projects don't have the time or budget it takes to do this. (Actually it's more about a lack of funds usually than time.) So people hire me to emulate live musicians and ensembles. Now, I'll use a live musician for key parts here and there but much of my music is virtually created instead of recorded live. Good question!

[Don Martineau]

Thanks Nathan! I wish I could record everything live as well.
I do try and limit the use of loops and samples, but sometimes I find it impossible not to.

Don