It's no secret that the past year has been tough for the folks in the film industry. On top of that, personal matters made it a bit harder for me to take care of passion projects as well as I would have liked.
That all being said, there are a lot of things in development for this blog as we get the ball rolling again. I am currently assisting a good handful of Hollywood composers and work has been picking up steadily, both film jobs and some extra work to help pay all the bills.
First off, the SSR podcast was a cool idea but a complete and total failure. I recorded three episodes total. It was too much to try and do morning of for the freshest news. I learned a lot, especially about what does and doesn't work in a podcast format and have some great ideas planned for future podcasts. Though, the SSR will continue on in the form of a newsletter, which is pretty much how it was becoming on the ScoringTech.Net posts with all of the links and such anyway. More info on that coming soon - hoping to have that set up and ready to go by the time NAMM starts this year. Shoot me a message at joe@scoringtech.net if you'd like to be added to the email list and please share with your friends!
Secondly, this blog will continue to provide regular updates in short time - though we will be focusing a lot more on electronic music ideas as well as all of our music tech and IT related content. I have been fascinated with electronic music, visual audio programming, data sonification, generative web audio, sound installations, & more and want to continue to use this blog as a means to grow and share my knowledge as I experiment and learn about all of this fun and exciting areas in music. Information Technology is always rapidly changing, and I hope to continue that facet of the blog as well. I want this to be essentially an open source spot for all composers - professional and students - to feel like they can trust and find either inspiration or workflow solutions here.
I also intend to start interviewing composers for this site. I think it is very important to continually hear different perspectives and be exposed to new ideas.
On the topic of newsletters and blog posts, I'd like to encourage any of my peers who feel confident in their tech ability and would like to write about it to do so. So in that spirit, I am opening this blog up to collaboration posts - though of course I would like to have final say in whether or not something gets posted based on if it is aligned with the above vision. If you have an idea of something you'd like to see written about, or if you want to write an article yourself, feel free to reach out. Being "published", even if it's on your own blog, is an incredible way to build connections & authority in your industry. I guess now that I am doing pretty well, I can admit (almost 3 years later) that this blog was started with the intention of helping me build my brand and reputation in the community, and oh boy did it work for me.
Speaking of the origins of this blog, I hate to sound like a broken record but the book is coming soon. Writing is easy. Rewriting is hard. I have about 120 pages of solid, research backed, technically detailed computer information with diagrams I made and all. Most of my friends from Berklee probably figured all of this stuff out since I started, but to current students, recent grads, or people on their early assistant gigs/start of their career - this could hopefully be a great resource. Again, I am hoping to write the first IT book from the perspective of a music studio. Most IT books are too "corporate" and most music tech resources are too software based. My goal is to have a resource that lays all the groundwork necessary for someone to have a successful career in an area that involves music technology - especially in a one-man shop type situation. What's great is the extensive assisting knowledge I've picked up, especially working remotely, has really informed quite a bit beyond what I thought I knew. I'm very excited to share.
This book is almost finished. I have sent early copies out for feedback from some trusted peers. I want to be done with it just as badly as some of you have been asking me for it. We are getting there. I promise.
And because I have literally zero self control, I am already working on book two and have plans for book three. These will be much shorter and smaller in scope (Trust me, I learned my lesson) and are probably more considered supplemental material to the blog than full blown books in their own right. Either way, I am excited and believe these will be very helpful to other composers. Only detail I'll share right now is that they are based on things I have spent hours & hours researching because I couldn't find answers for myself quite easily, and if I had challenges someone else sure as hell did too.
Anyway, thank you to anyone who has read or shared my posts. This site, the book, and all things related to this in particular are a passion project. I do not make any money off of this, nor am I trying to. I just want to help the community and fill in some gaps of knowledge that I have been noticing. If you want to write, have ideas for articles, are open to be interviewed or just want to chat - shoot me an email or message me at @Joe_Chris_ on instagram. Thank you all for the continued attention and support. Let's make 2024 much more successful and joyous than 2023 ever dreamed of being.
- Joe Chris