KVR Audio

TotcProductions · Post by **TotcProductions** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:23 pm

What's up kiddies. I know there are a few people here that do music for various commercials on the television...I'm just curious as to how one gets involved in something like that...I know there's got to be alot involved as far as marketing yourself goes, etc..etc.., but i'm more interested in learning how one even gets the opportunity....any certain people or departments to talk to??? I don't know...think it would be a cool career change...or at least something to make some money on the side if I could at all get involved in it.

Anything you've got is helpful...thanx!

peace!

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:58 am

I've wondered a bit myself.

xoxos · Post by **xoxos** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:12 am

oh yeah, move over, buddy.. i'll take 10

hao nao · Post by **hao nao** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:22 am

music for commercials selling what?

TotcProductions · Post by **TotcProductions** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:23 am

havran wrote:music for commercials selling what?

Anything...doesn't really matter.....from car commercials to network commercials to cereal, lol, i don't know. anything really.

peace!

hao nao · Post by **hao nao** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:27 am

as long as people don't really need stuff, they need to be hypnotized into believing that they do

impopulating the mind-share

Armadillo · Post by **Armadillo** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:36 am

This thread seems just to confirm that there's very few pro's on kvr. Strange really considering how many 1000s of members there are

Unless they are very secretive...
I'm trying to get in to that field myself. The best thing to do is to get a showreel done, ideally with video, and start approaching production music companies.
Getting the video is another problem though if you haven't done anything yet.

Dave Blakely · Post by **Dave Blakely** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:00 pm

You could redub some ads from the telly, same idea as a temporary soundtrack when doing a filmscore but in reverse.... does that make sense?, pick some ads you think you could write good stuff too and some that you think would be a challenge and make up a tape with them and dub your music over it, it will suffice as a showreel and enable companies to see what your capable of.
Don't know how it works in the states, i reckon its a lot more organised that here where its word of mouth and building up a rep, so it should be easy to find companies that specialise in advertising music and submit your showreel, you might get some leads from companies specialising in off the shelf library music, another good earner if you can get a foothold in.

Kim Lajoie · Post by **Kim Lajoie** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:15 pm

I've composed a few film soundtracks, and I've got another one coming up. It's all contacts. It's who you know. I got my foot in through friends of friends, and I'm still sort of at the beginning. If you want to do music/sound for TV commercials, I guess it's the same sort of thing. Become good friends with whoever's making the decisions.

Forever,

Kim.

original flipper · Post by **original flipper** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:27 pm

HI

I mentioned to 'Vurt' a while back something similar - for instance there are library music companies (SOS magazine did an article on it a while back) who deal with a variety of markets - you need to basically talk to these type of companies/people - we all scrape up a living - it's unlikely someone here is going to just give you a 'number' - but then again who knows.

I think this is where forums are quite insular - I have got practically all my contacts in the business through meeting people in the 'real world' through face to face contact or meeting through friends ect - I think if you could get some contacts as I said in the library music scene it could lead to other things, but it is about broardening your horizons - do an internet search, get some phone numbers and make some calls - ask people what kind of material they think is likely to be of most use.

Flipper.

tkmattson · Post by **tkmattson** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:36 pm

www.mandy.com
www.craigslist.org

There are always TONS on folks looking for production folks on here, although Mandy is mainly geared towards video/film (what I do for a living), there are plenty of people looking for soundtracks. If you look at Cragislist under TV/Film/Video & Crew you'll find some as well. Depending on what part of the country you live in, there are some regional offerings as well, like New England Film, or for me, Austinactors.net has an active crew call board. Starting out, don't turn your nose up at student projects either.... What you'll probably want to do first is a couple lo-no pay / deferred (READ - no pay) gigs just to build up your reel, and get your chops up to where they should be before you start charging other folks....

_starcraft_ · Post by **_starcraft_** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:41 pm

Jeez wrote:I've composed a few film soundtracks, and I've got another one coming up. It's all contacts. It's who you know. I got my foot in through friends of friends, and I'm still sort of at the beginning. If you want to do music/sound for TV commercials, I guess it's the same sort of thing. Become good friends with whoever's making the decisions.

Forever,

Kim.

so true

music skills really come last in the equation.

topaz · Post by **topaz** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:51 pm

I have done a bit too, all contacts 100%

"if anyone ever finds any practice footage, ie: video with dialouge and no score to download please post"

that stuff is so hard to come by

Karen-K · Post by **Karen-K** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:54 pm

Hi all
I've been involved in film/music production through friends realizing their first projects (out of school)
Then I met their friends and people they work with and then it started

Also I'm student in communication/advertising school so I always meet people that start project, THE KEY is don't be afraid starting project you think will be hard for you...If they don't like your work they'll just say it to you but it doesn't imply they'll never call you back.
As jeez says it's all contact, or you have to work in an audio design agency (or TV / cinema prod...matter of taste).
The best way is to start with little events (dance show,B2B films,short movies) to get a good CV.
If you work hard people will call you back and will let you meet other people.Then you could go to more important project.
But beware even if they're lot's of compagnies searching for audio materials, most of them have a precise idea of what they want...so you're not always free to compose what you want.

Hope this help a little

Kisses
Karen

tkmattson · Post by **tkmattson** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:55 pm

topaz wrote:I have done a bit too, all contacts 100%

"if anyone ever finds any practice footage, ie: video with dialouge and no score please post"

that stuff is so hard to come by

See my previous post. It's funny to me, as I am both a musician & a fimmaker, that so many filmmakers can't find soundtracks, and so many musicians can't find films to score. It's a bit like each one is yelling for the other in their own private vacuum. Sheesh.

Jobs composing/producing music for commercials???...