How To Get HIRED As A Composer’s Assistant

[@leanbiera]

Incredible and total clarity in all the information you share with us. I will implement all these tips!

[@andrewmanzano]

Great insider info! You have a servant’s heart. I hit the big thumbs up!👍🏼

[@jonasfriedman]

Thank you Andrew! I do what I can :)

[@miroslavhons6205]

Got me to subscribe, Jonas. It comes to me that every sentence can speak for a chapter in your Life of the Composer book. I very much like your strong but humble character and as a starting composer, I sit, shut up and listen, so I can learn from you. Many thanks for this great content and looking forward to the next episode.

[@jonasfriedman]

Really appreciate all the kind words @miroslav hans - great to have you here!

[@julioreyesdieck]

Wow! Incredibly helpful for amateurs like me. Thank you so much for all this information. I discovered your channel a week ago and have learned tons.

[@jonasfriedman]

Welcome! love hearing this…so happy it’s helpful

[@Ohleysmokes]

Great Video, very honest

[@jonasfriedman]

Thanks - hope it’s helpful

[@scantrontest]

Great point about the style of scores happening today being non-traditional. One of my favorites is the music to Ozark. Also, I remember reading an interview with Dustin O'Halloran about his music when he was nominated for an Oscar for Lion. He was hired for Lion because of HIS unique style and not whether he could mimic the big Hollywood type scores. He said in the interview something like "I wouldn't even want to know how to write in those styles. There's already so many composers who do that."

[@jonasfriedman]

Perfect example - thank you for sharing!

[@cheribarkman1784]

Thank you

[@jonasfriedman]

Welcome!

[@Pax30001]

Thanks for sharing!

[@jonasfriedman]

You bet!

[@basswriterNYC]

Excellent advice. Thank you. Subscribed!

[@jonasfriedman]

Appreciate it @basswriterNYC - happy to hear you found it helpful

[@TaraHill-t1f]

Sooo helpful! Thank you!

[@jonasfriedman]

My pleasure - happy to hear its helpful

[@Ciceromode]

Really Great content man!! 💯 Are there any good sites or groups where composers post when they're looking for assistants?

[@jonasfriedman]

Teammates is a great Facebook group for that!

[@Ciceromode]

@@jonasfriedman Nice, Gonna look into it for sure. Thanks! 💯

[@peytonwl]

Thank you for the great advice!

[@jonasfriedman]

My pleasure!

[@Frank.Zimmermann]

Hey Jonas, once again very valuable advice, thanks so much! 👍

[@jonasfriedman]

My pleasure!

[@FlartusMenix]

Thank you again for your advices :)

[@jonasfriedman]

My pleasure, thanks for watching!

[@vincentdargere]

Thank you so much for this video. From what I understand, I must improve my skills and have really something to offer to apply for an assistant position, so it can't be my first or second or even my fifth job. My question is: what would you start with? What are the people you'd contact to get your very first gig?

[@jonasfriedman]

I’d focus on 2 things and contacting 2 types of people: 1) people at the same level as you. Don’t worry about the money, just be a creator looking to work with other creators, and you happen to have an expertise in music rather than lighting or costumes. So this means student films, super indie stuff, just enjoy the process of learning with others and having fun. 2) find a way to be valuable to someone who is doing what you want to do and at the level you want to be doing it at. Even if that means getting coffee or knowing how to make someone a website or whatever, get in the room and find an opportunity to simply prove that you’re a reliable hardworking person. From there you can work your way up to providing value in a way that you want to (ie writing music). A lot of people seem to forget that a career is not something where you start by doing exactly what you want to do. It’s a ladder where at the bottom there’s more odd jobs that as you work your way up things begin to focus into the more fun and exciting / creative tasks like writing music.

[@jackaguirre8576]

You make a strong point that composers need to have a diverse skill set in instrumentation, rather than just John Williams-esque orchestra, etc. I just feel frustrated when learning electronic music since it's so different. I saw many KZbin tutorials and even took a course in Ableton but at the end of the day I still struggled to wrap my head around it and produce anything of quality. Do you have any useful tips for learning and understanding DAWs?

[@jonasfriedman]

I'm not sure if you're asking about tips to writing electornic music or just making music electronically in a daw. So here's my advice for both....For being able to write or produce diverse music, in different styles or genres, the first step to this is to fully immerse yourself in the style of music. Make a playlist of that style and listen to it non stop. Doing this regularly will give you're ear and your brain a stronger reference point as to what makes something "quality" in a specific genre. In terms of learning and understand DAW's it's the same thing. Immerse yourself in information about the application. use youtube, or online courses, follow along with the daw and over time it will become more natural to understand the way the systems work. Repetition is the key to mastery and I highly recommend using it when trying to learn and grow with any new skill in this or any industry :)

[@jackaguirre8576]

@@jonasfriedman I appreciate your reply very much! I'm gonna try to get back into DAWs again lol.

[@jonasfriedman]

@@jackaguirre8576 HELL YEAH! I'm excited for you 🤘

[@Theprettyone234]

❤❤ ❤ great video

[@jonasfriedman]

Thank you!

[@MayMcDonough]

Could I ask where you placed the ad? I always wonder where co.posers prefer to post when they're seeking co.posers

[@jonasfriedman]

There’s a forum on Facebook called teammates it’s for composers assistants - a really great and supportive community. It then got shared from there to other places which I don’t remember unfortunately but there’s a lot of cool communities like teammates popping up I recommend checking out

[@jamescannell]

This is so valuable! Thanks for sharing. I'd be keen to get your thoughts on cold emailing composers/orchestrators for potential opportunities. This is something i've been debating on for a few months, but am unsure whether the time would be better spent doing something else.

[@jonasfriedman]

Great question - I have personally used cold emailing a lot to introduce myself and meet other composers and have even gotten some significant scoring gigs or opportunities to pitch for studio projects through the process. Like many things in this industry it gets easier and yields more results as your experience and credits grow. It’s important to note though that the execution is REALLY crucial, as you don’t want to be thought of as spamming someone. It requires A LOT of research before hand about the individuals you’re reaching out to, and the email should be thoughtfully crafted. It’s another topic I plan to speak about in detail as in my experience it’s been really effective but at the same time if done improperly can have the opposite effect you desire.

[@youdontneedit7181]

hey jonas! i was wondering, when you get assistant composer position for a composer, do you usually ask to work on future projects with them or is it kind of expected that you can keep working for them?

[@jonasfriedman]

I never assumed anything even after I worked with people for 5 to 10 years consistently. If I heard about a new project that seemed like it would land on the desk of someone I’d collaborated with I’d call them - “have you heard about this? Sounds like it could be really cool, let me know anything I could do to help…or …hey this would be fun to do together what do you think?”….in my experience being on top of things and showing your enthusiasm has always been helpful

[@jemmahooper7415]

Hi Jonas - some great suggestions here. I'm curious about whether you'd consider value adds in areas that might be parallel to music. E.g. For composers who work on video games projects, pointing out experience with source control systems, or for composers who write for film/television, pointing out experience with video editing and on-set sound work? In my case, I have a chunk of that kind of stuff, but also with project management, organisational disciplines, windows/storage/networking/database systems technology etc after a 20 year career in IT. Is that likely to open any doors in the composing space?

[@jonasfriedman]

Thanks @jemmahooper7415 - I absolutely think parallel skills are important and can be valuable depending on the situation. I'm not sure how much video editing or on-set sound would be helpful to a film/tv composer in their studio BUT everything you talk about after such as project management, organization, IT experience etc. is SUPER helpful. This is actually the type of person I ended up hiring from this situation. Their music writing was ok...but, they were HIGHLY competent in tech and I felt that would be a huge asset to my studio. They ended up setting up new backup systems, remote systems, cataloging cues and so on. In between all of that we found opportunities for them to work on some cues so we could get their writing and producing up-to-speed, but they were able to add lots of value in these other places during that time. So yes, those disciplines can all open doors. What got me in the door personally (which I think I may mention in one of my '10 mistakes videos') is that I learned how to build kontakt instruments for a composer in need on a series. That eventually led to a writing gig and everything snowballed from there :) Hope this is helpful

[@JeanLoupRSmith]

I'm curious, how old were your applicants? Were they all fresh out of music school or did you have any applicants who were a little older? I'm in my 40s trying to figure out a way into this career but I often find I may be too old now to come in via the assistant route should the opportunity ever arise.

[@jonasfriedman]

@jeanlouprsmith - I believe the majority of applicants were in there mid to late twenties however there were plenty of people in their 30’s as well. While there are certain things that can make being an assistant more challenging as you get older, I believe strongly there are significant benefits to hiring someone who might be a little older as well. At the end of the day I truly don’t think age matters (at least to me) as long as you can do the job to the highest level possible, make the life of the person your working for easier and be consistently looking for ways to add value to their business and creative endeavors. Again that’s just MHO but I’d like to believe there are other professionals hiring that share that sentiment

[@JeanLoupRSmith]

@@jonasfriedman Thanks, I hope you're right

[@dfizzbom]

So in the future, where could we find your ads for assistants? Your little bit ago may have been a little too long a bit ago, before I caught up to you here. Regardless, hope you found a great fit for the position.

[@jonasfriedman]

Great question - at the time I wasn’t on social media so people would have only heard about this through a Facebook forum for composers called Teammates - since I did find someone absolutely wonderful I don’t know when I’ll hire again but whenever I have an open position I will through my email list which you can sign up for at modernmediacomposer.com . I also plan to share other open positions from colleagues when they come up through the mailing list 🙂

[@ComicReader600]

are you still hiring or considering applications?

[@jonasfriedman]

Sorry not at the moment

[@jetlag_beats]

HI MY NAME IS - chickychicky - Slim Shady

[@jonasfriedman]

👀

[@davidesonzini]

Thank you

[@jonasfriedman]

My pleasure