Great to see you back! I know when people in your position disappear for a while it's because of a heavy work load. Glad you're feeling better as well.
Yayyyy welcome back :D Glad to hear U've been feeling well enough to work. Take care, don't stress ur body out! (beware of exhaustion disorder, I got that from working while finishing Uni - clinical burnout, was unable to work at all for half a year just now, and now slowly getting back but still on only half time. Not worth the stress!)
Thanks @FredrikEmmanuel ! You are so right…i have suffered burnout on more than one occasion and it can be brutal so this year with all of the overlap I finally learned to just put things off that weren’t absolutely essential… happy to have some time now to come back and share these videos
@@jonasfriedman I'm glad to hear you cut things off, great discipline! Also sorry about your burnouts. Were you ever on sick leave in an extended period because of it? Do you feel like your stress-coping mechanisms afterward are back to normal or still over sensitive? (burnout in Swedish seems to refer to something more long term than what I've heard other countries use the word for) Great to hear you're back! 😍
5:30 Jonas, I completely dig your video ! This IS the reality. NOT enough hours in the day in order to be productive and accommodate everything. As a full time pianist/musician/composer I have for example my NHL/ESPN full schedule already till April 2025, with dates in my calendar for fully televised games where I perform live, produce music for pre-game shows etc. (minimum 45 home games per season), plus Disney work on top of that (in between games)... Plus daily practicing to have my apparatus in top shape (nobody pays for it, right ? It's your private time sacrificed just to maintain yourself). Plus composing, orchestrating, checking up a new plugins (that alone takes an eternity !!! doesn't it ? )Goodness... Getting sick is a total disaster. It throws you off completely. On top of that I have my jazz trio (sometimes quartet), concerts, shows (it's September - we already rehearse for Christmas concerts, already prepared everything for Halloween etc.). Young music students truly don't realize any of this, and often are caught off guard when they face the reality of being a professional musician in REAL LIFE.
💯 - really appreciate this comment and you sharing your experience! …if not prepared mentally for the ups and downs and overlaps it can be a serious wake up call for new musicians and upcoming composers. Amazing to be able to do this work but it can be a full a schedule to say the least so it’s important to know how to navigate it - thanks so much for watching!
Oh man!! it's so good to see you back!! I completed the Modern Media Composer course just as you took your break, so it's definitely good to have you back. Looking forward to fresh, new content! :)
Glad you're back Jonas! Instant thumbs up on a super important topic. The only real solution here is just not sleeping anymore, plenty of time when you don't have to sleep!
very true - happy to be catching up on a little sleep now but sometimes you just have to do whatever you need to get through to the other side of the deadlines. Happy to be back, as always thanks for checking out the video
Always a joy watching your videos! This topic is so relevant, probably no one has all the time in the world to work on projects. Life is always there to test you. I recall a quote, don't wait for everything to be OK to continue. BTW, still waiting on the mono-technique for mixing 😍
That was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you so much for sharing your musical life with us. I will check out your other videos and possible course. 🤠👍
Another brilliant video thank you Jonas. Have totally had the experience of some folks not understanding when I go off grid for a few weeks at busy times. Always great to have support of close family and friends as you say 👍
Hey Jonas, Great to have you back! I hope you're happy with your projects and that everything went well. Of course, there's some helpful information and advice here again today, thanks for that. Stay safe and sound, and visit some family members and friends! Because your TH-cam community won't run away from you, don't worry! 😉😆 All the best!
Welcome Back! I am daily working the sync library path that seemingly everyone is, being patient and working on my skills. I'm sure I am like many who walk this path and have grown accustomed to the kind of rejection that comes. Would love to hear about your beginning journey and anything that would help us avoid the pitfalls of the business part of this vocation.
Great topic - thanks so much for commenting and suggesting it…there are a couple of videos on this channel that deal with mistakes I or other composers had made towards the beginning - also a video about getting my first indie film discusses early pitches and rejection - so if u haven’t already I suggest checking out those videos and I’ll also work to put something together that gives deeper into common pitfalls and challenges
I'm new. Thanks for this video! I got my first project going, its an audio book, and I know it'll take time and I'm so ready for it Honestly, you got me excited to write more and get myself even busier !!
Hello, excellent video, it's a pleasure to see you again! I've been listening to a lot of your music on your website, on your old projects, and I love the way you manage to make a whole orchestra sound. Is it usually a real orchestra? And if it's done with libraries, do you think you could do a tutorial on how to make them sound like that?
Thanks so much for the kind words and checking out the video! The stuff in my personal website is a mix of real orchestra tracks and midi mock-ups. The pro course that MMC offers called Modern Scoring Mastery breaks down in very detailed videos exactly how I make my midi tracks sound like that. If u let me know the name of a specific track I can tell u if it’s strictly midi or live players 🙂
@@jonasfriedman The Tracks are : - Tom Follows Abby (Walker: Independence, CW) - Kai Chases Halsey (Halo, Paramount+) - Odyssey of Valor (Sync Library)
Welcome back, you've been missed! This is spot on as usual. I think the struggle of life/work balance is a very interesting topic. I don't want to be one of those dads you just works all the time so I'd rather work when the kid is asleep instead of during dinner and bedtime. This of course only works because I work from a home studio. Do you have any similar strategies for balancing being a husband/father and a composer? How do you structure your days to maximize both roles?
Thanks so much @AdamHesselbom - I do EXACTLY what you do. I work as much as I can during the day - small breaks for lunch or to take a walk which I do with the family and then usually break for dinner and bedtime with my munchkin and go back to work for a few hours after she’s asleep. It’s a blessing to be able to have the studio in the house so I don’t miss out on time as a dad while still being able to juggle the intense schedule when it occurs
Ok now I know what I want to ask for next videos: something about scoring electronic music (arpeggiators, synth, pulse, step sequencer...) like in films Jumper(2008), In time(2011), Total recall(2012) and similar. I already know a bit but would like more in deep videos on how you approach this.
Thanks for all the video content! Getting into Sync Licensing and becoming a media composer is what I’m striving toward. Your videos have been a great help in my education. Can you go in depth on what an average timeline looks for you for a project? Is it more like “3 months to produce 1 hour of music” or “3 days to score a TV show”? Somewhere in between? I thrive in deadline based jobs, but I’m not exactly sure what to expect once I start getting jobs coming in for this. Thanks again!
Really great question that I will make a more detailed video about. To give you a very brief breakdown there’s no set rule between all of the different mediums we work in. One tv show I just finished up there was a week to deliver 10 minutes of music in average. Another tv show from a few years ago we had 5 days to deliver 45 minutes. Than films are an entirely different monster, while the game I’m finishing up has been 4 years of random delivery schedules. I will break this down so that everyone knows how each medium typically goes for turn around times 🤘
@@jonasfriedman thank you for the reply! I figured it changed per project, but it is nice to see some actual numbers to wrap my head around. Can’t wait for that video, as well as your other new videos!
I know a few composers who have done a game or two - pretty big ones - but they themselves don’t play and have never been into gaming. I don’t get it - I love video games and am a fan of lots of different genres. So no I don’t think you HAVE to be into it to get a project BUT I will say being genuinely a part of that world as an admirer of games since I was a kid was I believe an enormous reason I developed a relationship with the people I am working with right now. Also, on this project I’m a part of a lot of conversations that composers aren’t necessarily a part of which is awesome…and I give my opinion on not just what I feel the music should be but we’ve had lots of talks about how it is interacting with the gameplay and the sfx - I feel that because I’ve played so many games my suggestions are coming from a more relevant POV as we’re always thinking of the player experience if that makes sense
Hi Jonas! Good to see you being back! Thanks for sharing your knowledge about this topic! Inspiring especially bc im a lazy type of person who likes procrastinating...
I'l be doing a studio tour video that goes over this in more detail but right now I use 2 comps. 1 macbook pro M1 with 64 gigs ram and whatever the high core count was (it's calculated differently than it used to be with the M1 chips I think). than I have an old cylinder mac pro - 64 gigs ram and 10 core. All my samples run via SSD drives. my hope is to consolidate the 2 computers into 1 laptop whenever the m4 comes out as I think that will be powerful enough to replace my system. Can't update now anyway due to projects :)
hi jonas! i'm composing for my first feature film and i'm wondering if you ever deal with the issue of not feeling like you can relax, like you NEED to work on the score at all times. i feel like that and i'm wondering if you have any advice?
Omg amazing question!!! Something I seriously relate to. It’s a very difficult thing because it CAN serve you well and it did for me for many years. But at the same time, it has led to me overworking extensively which caused me to work on making some changes over the years. To be completely honest and transparent I ended up seeking help from a professional and found it to be a very productive and rewarding experience. Everyone has different reasons that they might become obsessive about their work (as I was and still can become sometimes). in my experience getting guidance from someone far more knowledgeable and qualified in that field was helpful. A specific technique that personally helped me was using a meditation app called Waking Up by Sam Harris. Using it everyday and looking for perceptive I find helps me relax and focus on other things that are important to me like time with my family. I should probably do a video on this because this response is becoming super long lol but just know that is a common feeling among people in our field - it has been honestly one of my greatest personal challenges. meditation - going outside for breaks and walks have all helped and doing small things to try and stop making things “perfect” have all been helpful exercises that have helped me relax. Again long reply - it’s a big topic and I’ll probably cover it in a video. Thanks for the question 🙏
Love this!! That last bit especially from 10:21-10:38 about Knowing the Psychology of the Expectations of a Job is soooo key!!! I've struggled in the past with unforeseen circumstances happening while on a project (whether it be in my personal life or from the directors) and I never handled it well. So thanks for putting this out there. Your mindset is truly a gem with regards to this topic of flexibility and ALWAYS hitting the mark as a composer.
Great to see you back! I know when people in your position disappear for a while it's because of a heavy work load. Glad you're feeling better as well.
Thanks so much @dfizzbom !
Welcome back Jonas! Glad your videos are back :)
Thanks so so much! Excited to be back 🤘
So good to have you back, Jonas! Really appreciate you, your videos, and of course, the Modern Media Mastery, which is a beast of a course!
Thanks so much @msinka01 ! So happy to hear the course and all of the YT is helpful for you! More to come
Yayyyy welcome back :D Glad to hear U've been feeling well enough to work. Take care, don't stress ur body out! (beware of exhaustion disorder, I got that from working while finishing Uni - clinical burnout, was unable to work at all for half a year just now, and now slowly getting back but still on only half time. Not worth the stress!)
Thanks @FredrikEmmanuel ! You are so right…i have suffered burnout on more than one occasion and it can be brutal so this year with all of the overlap I finally learned to just put things off that weren’t absolutely essential… happy to have some time now to come back and share these videos
@@jonasfriedman I'm glad to hear you cut things off, great discipline! Also sorry about your burnouts. Were you ever on sick leave in an extended period because of it? Do you feel like your stress-coping mechanisms afterward are back to normal or still over sensitive? (burnout in Swedish seems to refer to something more long term than what I've heard other countries use the word for)
Great to hear you're back! 😍
5:30 Jonas, I completely dig your video ! This IS the reality. NOT enough hours in the day in order to be productive and accommodate everything. As a full time pianist/musician/composer I have for example my NHL/ESPN full schedule already till April 2025, with dates in my calendar for fully televised games where I perform live, produce music for pre-game shows etc. (minimum 45 home games per season), plus Disney work on top of that (in between games)... Plus daily practicing to have my apparatus in top shape (nobody pays for it, right ? It's your private time sacrificed just to maintain yourself). Plus composing, orchestrating, checking up a new plugins (that alone takes an eternity !!! doesn't it ? )Goodness... Getting sick is a total disaster. It throws you off completely. On top of that I have my jazz trio (sometimes quartet), concerts, shows (it's September - we already rehearse for Christmas concerts, already prepared everything for Halloween etc.). Young music students truly don't realize any of this, and often are caught off guard when they face the reality of being a professional musician in REAL LIFE.
💯 - really appreciate this comment and you sharing your experience! …if not prepared mentally for the ups and downs and overlaps it can be a serious wake up call for new musicians and upcoming composers. Amazing to be able to do this work but it can be a full a schedule to say the least so it’s important to know how to navigate it - thanks so much for watching!
Oh man!! it's so good to see you back!! I completed the Modern Media Composer course just as you took your break, so it's definitely good to have you back. Looking forward to fresh, new content! :)
Appreciate it @GiancarloCordon !!! More on the way
Glad you're back Jonas! Instant thumbs up on a super important topic. The only real solution here is just not sleeping anymore, plenty of time when you don't have to sleep!
very true - happy to be catching up on a little sleep now but sometimes you just have to do whatever you need to get through to the other side of the deadlines. Happy to be back, as always thanks for checking out the video
Always a joy watching your videos! This topic is so relevant, probably no one has all the time in the world to work on projects. Life is always there to test you. I recall a quote, don't wait for everything to be OK to continue.
BTW, still waiting on the mono-technique for mixing 😍
Love that quote! Yes mixing video u got it 🙃
Yay! So happy you're back! 👏🏼🙌🏼
Thank you! Happy to be back
Glad things are less crazy! Looking forward to more great content.
Thanks so much!
i am going to start my career as a media composer and its very helpful advice thanks .
So happy to hear it! Wishing you the best of luck and hope this channel helps on your journey!
Hell Yes!! Welcome back, Jonas!
Stoked to be back!!🤘
thank you for this level of honesty! ❤
Of course!! Thanks for watching
Good to have you back
Thanks @Joshua_Griffin !
Solid video Jonas!
Whoa Hisham! Good to see you here, appreciate the comment 🤘
This was an amazing insight! Thank you, Jonas
My pleasure, happy to know it was helpful
That was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you so much for sharing your musical life with us. I will check out your other videos and possible course. 🤠👍
@14theguitarman - it’s my pleasure! Thanks for checking out the vids 🤘
Glad you're back! Your channel is a goldmine!
Happy to be back and really appreciate the kind words
Thank you soo much for posting again! Please keep regular content coming, you are the best composer youtuber out there. Cheers
Really appreciate the kind words! More to come 🙌
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Of course! Thanks for watching
Another brilliant video thank you Jonas. Have totally had the experience of some folks not understanding when I go off grid for a few weeks at busy times. Always great to have support of close family and friends as you say 👍
Thanks so much for checking it out!
Hey Jonas, Great to have you back! I hope you're happy with your projects and that everything went well. Of course, there's some helpful information and advice here again today, thanks for that. Stay safe and sound, and visit some family members and friends! Because your TH-cam community won't run away from you, don't worry! 😉😆 All the best!
Really appreciate it Frank! Been so wonderful to see every come back for this first video 🙂
Glad you are doing better. Your health is most important. Keep the great content coming. ❤
💯 really appreciate it
Yeah, Jonas's right! Thank you for sharing honest advice. it's so helpful to me
So happy to know it’s helpful 🙂 appreciate the comment
Great video again, thank you for taking the time! :)
My pleasure! Thanks for watching
So glad you're back man. Really appreciate your videos!
Really appreciate it, excited to share more
So good to have you back! I was thinking where had he gone! Hope all is well
Doing great happy to be back! thanks so much the comment
Great video thank you
This was helpful and I learned a lot. Thank You!
My pleasure happy to know it’s helpful!
Happy to see you again man!)
Thanks so much! Happy to be back
Welcome back, Jonas! Attitude decides, for sure. We need to focus on key things and manage our time wisely.
100% attitude is such a major factor to everything
Welcome Back! I am daily working the sync library path that seemingly everyone is, being patient and working on my skills. I'm sure I am like many who walk this path and have grown accustomed to the kind of rejection that comes. Would love to hear about your beginning journey and anything that would help us avoid the pitfalls of the business part of this vocation.
Great topic - thanks so much for commenting and suggesting it…there are a couple of videos on this channel that deal with mistakes I or other composers had made towards the beginning - also a video about getting my first indie film discusses early pitches and rejection - so if u haven’t already I suggest checking out those videos and I’ll also work to put something together that gives deeper into common pitfalls and challenges
I'm new. Thanks for this video! I got my first project going, its an audio book, and I know it'll take time and I'm so ready for it
Honestly, you got me excited to write more and get myself even busier !!
Hell ya! Thanks for sharing @JoWinters - happy to have you here and congrats on your first project 🎉🙌
This video has just appeared on such right time!.. Just what I needed to hear today!
That’s awesome - so happy to hear that-thanks for watching
Very helpful and informative video.
Thank a lot!
🙂🙏💛
My pleasure! Thanks for watching
HE'S BACK! 🔥🔥
@bradenkoksal let’s do this!!! 🔥🔥🔥🤘
Hello, excellent video, it's a pleasure to see you again! I've been listening to a lot of your music on your website, on your old projects, and I love the way you manage to make a whole orchestra sound. Is it usually a real orchestra? And if it's done with libraries, do you think you could do a tutorial on how to make them sound like that?
Thanks so much for the kind words and checking out the video! The stuff in my personal website is a mix of real orchestra tracks and midi mock-ups. The pro course that MMC offers called Modern Scoring Mastery breaks down in very detailed videos exactly how I make my midi tracks sound like that. If u let me know the name of a specific track I can tell u if it’s strictly midi or live players 🙂
@@jonasfriedman The Tracks are :
- Tom Follows Abby (Walker: Independence, CW)
- Kai Chases Halsey (Halo, Paramount+)
- Odyssey of Valor (Sync Library)
I would love to see more tips and tricks on composing something like how to develop themes or tricks on composing a B theme things like that
Cool good suggestion
He’s back! Missed ya bud..
Appreciate it @davidasher22 !
Welcome back, you've been missed! This is spot on as usual. I think the struggle of life/work balance is a very interesting topic. I don't want to be one of those dads you just works all the time so I'd rather work when the kid is asleep instead of during dinner and bedtime. This of course only works because I work from a home studio. Do you have any similar strategies for balancing being a husband/father and a composer? How do you structure your days to maximize both roles?
Thanks so much @AdamHesselbom - I do EXACTLY what you do. I work as much as I can during the day - small breaks for lunch or to take a walk which I do with the family and then usually break for dinner and bedtime with my munchkin and go back to work for a few hours after she’s asleep. It’s a blessing to be able to have the studio in the house so I don’t miss out on time as a dad while still being able to juggle the intense schedule when it occurs
Ok now I know what I want to ask for next videos: something about scoring electronic music (arpeggiators, synth, pulse, step sequencer...) like in films Jumper(2008), In time(2011), Total recall(2012) and similar. I already know a bit but would like more in deep videos on how you approach this.
Ouuuuu just wait my friend I’ve already got you covered - either next week or the week after it’s a super deep dive into synths 😀
@@jonasfriedman wooo I read your mind ahah 😄
Hey Jonas, great vid :)
A topic I was hoping to hear your opinion about is getting formal education vs being self taught as a media composer
@ShacharDahari - great idea really good topic to cover will throw something on the books!
I know I'm not the first one but...Welcome bck Jonas, glad to see you again here.
@vinzsaint really appreciate it!!!
Thanks for all the video content! Getting into Sync Licensing and becoming a media composer is what I’m striving toward. Your videos have been a great help in my education. Can you go in depth on what an average timeline looks for you for a project? Is it more like “3 months to produce 1 hour of music” or “3 days to score a TV show”? Somewhere in between? I thrive in deadline based jobs, but I’m not exactly sure what to expect once I start getting jobs coming in for this. Thanks again!
Really great question that I will make a more detailed video about. To give you a very brief breakdown there’s no set rule between all of the different mediums we work in. One tv show I just finished up there was a week to deliver 10 minutes of music in average. Another tv show from a few years ago we had 5 days to deliver 45 minutes. Than films are an entirely different monster, while the game I’m finishing up has been 4 years of random delivery schedules. I will break this down so that everyone knows how each medium typically goes for turn around times 🤘
@@jonasfriedman thank you for the reply! I figured it changed per project, but it is nice to see some actual numbers to wrap my head around. Can’t wait for that video, as well as your other new videos!
excellent
Many thanks
Jonas, did you need to be/are you/ into playing video games to take on the video game music projects?
I know a few composers who have done a game or two - pretty big ones - but they themselves don’t play and have never been into gaming. I don’t get it - I love video games and am a fan of lots of different genres.
So no I don’t think you HAVE to be into it to get a project BUT I will say being genuinely a part of that world as an admirer of games since I was a kid was I believe an enormous reason I developed a relationship with the people I am working with right now. Also, on this project I’m a part of a lot of conversations that composers aren’t necessarily a part of which is awesome…and I give my opinion on not just what I feel the music should be but we’ve had lots of talks about how it is interacting with the gameplay and the sfx - I feel that because I’ve played so many games my suggestions are coming from a more relevant POV as we’re always thinking of the player experience if that makes sense
Great to see you back Jonas. Looking forward to more videos. :)
Thanks Craig!
Hi Jonas :)
Hey Gregory!
Welcome back & Happy Birthday!
Thanks so much!
Just came across your channel. Looking forward to checking out the rest of your videos and future content. Thank you!😊
Awesome so glad you found us! If you ever have questions just drop them in the comments - excited to share more videos 😀
@@jonasfriedman thank you!
Alright, so what i've learned from this is that TV composers sit down in leather jackets while composing, interesting !
Hi Jonas! Good to see you being back! Thanks for sharing your knowledge about this topic! Inspiring especially bc im a lazy type of person who likes procrastinating...
Good to be back!
Thank you Jonas.
My pleasure
Welcome back!
Thanks!
the GOAT is back!
Octavio! Appreciate the kind words
hey jonas! i was wondering what your pc specs are? i was looking at a past video about a template and was curious how well it runs cpu-wise
I'l be doing a studio tour video that goes over this in more detail but right now I use 2 comps. 1 macbook pro M1 with 64 gigs ram and whatever the high core count was (it's calculated differently than it used to be with the M1 chips I think). than I have an old cylinder mac pro - 64 gigs ram and 10 core. All my samples run via SSD drives. my hope is to consolidate the 2 computers into 1 laptop whenever the m4 comes out as I think that will be powerful enough to replace my system. Can't update now anyway due to projects :)
@@jonasfriedman perfect, can't wait to see that video down the line! i appreciate the reply!
hi jonas! i'm composing for my first feature film and i'm wondering if you ever deal with the issue of not feeling like you can relax, like you NEED to work on the score at all times. i feel like that and i'm wondering if you have any advice?
Omg amazing question!!! Something I seriously relate to. It’s a very difficult thing because it CAN serve you well and it did for me for many years. But at the same time, it has led to me overworking extensively which caused me to work on making some changes over the years.
To be completely honest and transparent I ended up seeking help from a professional and found it to be a very productive and rewarding experience. Everyone has different reasons that they might become obsessive about their work (as I was and still can become sometimes). in my experience getting guidance from someone far more knowledgeable and qualified in that field was helpful. A specific technique that personally helped me was using a meditation app called Waking Up by Sam Harris. Using it everyday and looking for perceptive I find helps me relax and focus on other things that are important to me like time with my family. I should probably do a video on this because this response is becoming super long lol but just know that is a common feeling among people in our field - it has been honestly one of my greatest personal challenges. meditation - going outside for breaks and walks have all helped and doing small things to try and stop making things “perfect” have all been helpful exercises that have helped me relax.
Again long reply - it’s a big topic and I’ll probably cover it in a video. Thanks for the question 🙏
@@jonasfriedmanthank you! and don't worry about the long reply, i appreciate you taking the time
Oh my goodness, yes! When it’s go time, it’s Go Time. Let the cave dwelling commence!
Ha! Love it 🤘
Love this!! That last bit especially from 10:21-10:38 about Knowing the Psychology of the Expectations of a Job is soooo key!!! I've struggled in the past with unforeseen circumstances happening while on a project (whether it be in my personal life or from the directors) and I never handled it well. So thanks for putting this out there. Your mindset is truly a gem with regards to this topic of flexibility and ALWAYS hitting the mark as a composer.
Happy to know it’s been helpful