How to Compose Full-Time WITHOUT Living in Los Angeles

🎁 Grab My Free Film Scoring Guide: bit.ly/zhfreebie
🎬 Get Paid to Compose: bit.ly/zh-bootcamp
👋 Become a Patreon Member: / zachheyde
FREE RESOURCES:
🎬 Film Scoring Guide: bit.ly/zhfreebie
💰 Music Pricing Guide: bit.ly/zhfreebie
💻 Zach's Gear List: bit.ly/zhfreebie
PRODUCTS & COURSES:
🎬 Composing Career Bootcamp: bit.ly/zh-bootcamp
🎻 Orchestral Mockup Course: payhip.com/b/Kpot5
🖥️ Logic Pro Orchestral Template: payhip.com/b/bRtsJ
🎶 Custom Harp VST: payhip.com/b/HE29M
🎚️ TouchOSC Template: payhip.com/b/jXpH6
📃 Sheet Music: www.stemsupsound.com/
WHO AM I?
Hey there! I'm Zach - full-time media composer, passionate online educator, and obsessive coffee roaster. Through my KZbin channel, weekly newsletter, and online courses, I'll teach you how to grow as a composer so you can make cool music and spend your life doing what you love.
CONNECT WITH ME:
📸 Instagram: / zachheyde
📩 Website: zachheyde.com

[@ConqueringFinale]

Speaking the truth! Wasn't expecting the shoutout either, lol. Thanks for that!

[@AlexSonicsMusic]

Superb content. Zach's down to earth approach is wonderfully helpful.

[@VillemR]

Great video, thanks for the insight!

[@johnmcallistermusic]

Great comments and advice! One has to be *driven* to make it in this world of composing!!

[@JorgeTelloOlivaComposer]

It's always a pleasure to take some time to watch your videos. They are completely inspiring. Thank you, Zach!

[@ZachHeyde]

Thank you Jorge!

[@braynjohnson4302]

All of this hit like a bus. Thanks so much for sharing! I’m looking forward to participating in your coaching in the future when time and money aren’t so tight.

[@ZachHeyde]

Thank you for the kind words! Hope to see you there sometime soon! 🙂

[@nicoborromeo1150]

I'm a composer in LA and can confirm all of this is accurate. Great video Zach!

[@ZachHeyde]

Thanks for sharing Nico!

[@Audio_Dentist]

Love your shirt :) Useful video, thanks

[@GeekandUke]

Thanks for yet again another great video, Zach. Absolutely golden content!

[@ephraimchampion.composer]

Really appreciate this video. Thank you so much for sharing!! ❤️🙌🏾

[@ZachHeyde]

Thank you!!

[@farnaztabatabaee]

Such a helpful video!Than you Zach:)

[@henryauden618]

Thanks Zach! It's a very useful information to get these perspectives about the industry and life in general.

[@ZachHeyde]

So glad to hear it!

[@BillyMartinChannel]

Your videos are so great Zach. Appreciate you!

[@ZachHeyde]

Thanks for the kind words Billy 🙂

[@doritogoali4817]

I have a feeling the H.Z stood for hans zimmer

[@madworker1927]

Yeah me too

[@Maplefoxx-vl2ew]

. i see Hanz's name on projects and he's not really the composer actually... like example is Prehistoric Planet soundtrack for season 2 was composed by Anze Rozman. but on the title, Hanz's name is on it. So what part did Hanz actually do? I follow Anze and he even had custom instruments constructed for the album by someone he knew. He never mentions Hanz in any of the videos. So i don't understand why Hanz's name is on the title for composing the soundtrack. I'm really not a fan of Hanz after he spewed hate on a smaller composer over a sample library discussion on Facebook, Hanz may have had too many drinks that day i'm guessing. The person was just asking about Erhu sample libaries and Hanz went off saying "why don't you find someone to sample and play the erhu like I did" and he was really mean about it, you can find this online if you look. Yea i'm sure all of us just can call up Tina Guo to come chill and record a session lolololol wtf. He's got Guthrie Govan in his band, Pedro Eustache. does hanz even write anymore? or just orchestrate?

[@braynjohnson4302]

@@Maplefoxx-vl2ew Someone will hire Hans and he’ll have a few theme ideas etc that he might play on the piano. He sends those to composers who work under him and they turn it into a full soundtrack. He’s definitely involved but it is sad that any composer that puts in time isn’t getting credited for the work. That’s definitely something about the industry that needs to change.

[@doritogoali4817]

@@Maplefoxx-vl2ew he does own a media company f people who earn a salary by selling the rights to their music to him. In turn he teaches them how to compose

[@rhea-musik]

Support from Indonesia.. thank you for all of your content

[@gest_hiddenlook]

Thank you very much, this video realy helps a lot. For real, thank you.

[@ZachHeyde]

So glad to hear it!

[@amusicaljourney4498]

Great advise. Today, the one thing I did was listen to your advice. Now to make it happen. Thank you ☺

[@ZachHeyde]

Heck yeah, love to hear it 🙂

[@harshitrathore5976]

Inspirational and thought-full💯

[@darushkii]

Exceptional video as always, Zach

[@ZachHeyde]

Hey thank you Andrey! Hope you're well 🙂

[@odysseuskal]

Great video as always. I'm trying to save some money to be able to compose more and enroll to your bootcamp.

[@ZachHeyde]

Thank you! Hope to see you there in the future 🙂

[@Noah_Composer]

Great video! As a 17 year old about to go to uni for music I'm nervous about getting into the industry as it seems so difficult. Will definitely focus on starting to network when I get to uni.

[@deinodark3806]

I am an aspiring orchestrator from a small town named queretaro, this video helps me keep my hopes up! I am team remote haha already won some small international awards thanks to working on digital! Thank you so much for these inspiring videos! Please keep uploading more :)

[@ZachHeyde]

So glad to hear it, thank you for sharing! 🙌

[@deinodark3806]

@@ZachHeyde oh wow you responded :D thank you so much! Also about the mentor… where should I look for one?

[@tb6265]

awesome Video! What I read a lot in Facebook groups is that people have huge problems drafting contracts. Nobody knows exactly how writers share publisher share works. How can you cover your music. Especially with low budget productions. Is it work for hire or do you simply license your music, for example for a low budget short film. It's actually crazy that something like that ends up failing, but nobody talks about it. Do you have to send a cue sheet etc.? Thank you

[@ZachHeyde]

Great suggestion! I actually cover this briefly in my Bootcamp, but maybe at some point I'll share answer on KZbin if the topic is in demand!

[@danieldavismusic]

Couldn't agree more with your points about moving to LA for music. I think that it is still a viable path, because some people find success doing it, but many more end up working a non-music job for many years to make ends meet. For me, the right answer was moving to Nashville and using the money that I save by not paying CA income taxes and rent prices to stay afloat. I'm getting by ok, but there is no way that I could survive in LA with the amount of income I have at this point in my career.

[@ZachHeyde]

Yeah that's a super smart solution! Very similar to what I did in the first few years of my time pursuing composing full-time 🙂

[@AnymMusic]

Working for another composer. In LA. With the initials H Z. Hmmmmm

[@es__music]

How do you live off of 60K?! I hope and assume you have a partner to share the financial responsibility

[@ZachHeyde]

I have other income sources as well like content creation, products/courses, and non-composing client work!

[@aniolelseer7199]

Here is where I disagree with him. 1. The first order of business of being a composer is to form a portfolio. We do this by making music. With out a strong portfolio, no one will hire you. So what is portfolio? What is his show reel or sound cloud? Those are two ways to create a portfolio. 2. If you want to create following use streaming platforms. 3. Networking is important. Networking anywhere you can.

[@ZachHeyde]

I definitely agree that having a portfolio is essential! This video is about the three things to start doing if you're NOT planning on living in Los Angeles, but for sure there's lots of work to be done no matter where you live. I've had much more success on KZbin than on streaming platforms, but I'm sure everyone's journey is different!

[@someoneonearth7543]

First

[@j9ruiz]

This was a really helpful video! Thanks so much

[@ZachHeyde]

So glad to hear it!