Orchestration 101—Part 1
Mastering the art of orchestration takes a lifetime of study, research and application. But, we all have to start somewhere, right?
Read More10 Lessons on “Breaking In”
I often get asked for a checklist of things one can do to break in to the business. Here is my personal "top ten" of lessons learned.
Read MoreJames Olszewski: Delivering Micro-Projects
To a do-it-yourself composer working on student films, non-paying gigs, super-low-paying gigs, and other micro-projects (although don’t call them that!), delivery may not seem like that big of a deal. Sometimes it isn’t; sometimes “delivery” amounts to emailing an attachment to the dude you’re working for and saying, “Here you go." If your uncle is working on a home video and wants you to throw something together in exchange for him washing your car, go for it—do it that way. But what happens when your career jumps up from micro-projects to mini-projects; or from mini-projects to legit projects? Wouldn’t you want to already have the professional delivery processes and habits, and lessons-learned in place from the start? Micro-projects are a great learning ground. So go learn—make your mistakes while the stakes aren’t high. All of us, regardless of how small the project is, should at least try to deliver professionally. If you don’t, you won’t make any mistakes at it until it counts, and then it’ll hurt.
Read MoreA-List Film Composer Habits for Any-List Film Schedules
The Creative Process. It’s a tough thing to talk about for me because my creative process (CP) is in such a constant state of flux...
Read MoreHow to NOT Compose for Television
It is pretty daunting to look at the TV landscape and the people who are already involved with scoring for television and ask yourself: How...
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