Composer|Producer|Songwriter

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Right now I am working on music for various sync licensing opportunities.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Man, mean question. Actually both. But these days analog emulation plugins and synthesizers are so great that the difference between analog and digital gear becomes more and more marginal. I love the look and feel and aesthetics of analog gear though and it is probably going to be used in professional studios for a very long time still. But especially in a fast moving music industry where tight deadlines are on the agenda on a daily basis, digital gear can sometimes save you a lot of time and also money.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: Music is what I do since I am14 years old in some form or another. I wrote my first song when I was 15 and then I dove deeper into the matter of music bit by bit. I was the lead singer and guitarist in a metal band for many years, then I worked at a small media production company in Vienna for a long time where I did jobs from being a camera operator via audio and video editing and pre-/post-production through to composing and creating the music and sound design for various projects. Now I am a freelance composer, producer and songwriter since 2017.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: There are a ton of styles of music that I haven't worked on. Especially when I write to picture it can vary a great deal because I always want to explore new ways of accentuating the essence of a scene. When writing songs I get most exited about energetic rock tracks or deep, meaningful, often melancholic neo-classical music, mixed with powerful organic or electronic beats.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I am a great communicator and a patient listener. The better and clearer the communication and the better I understand my client's vision of the end product, the better it is going to be. This includes asking the right questions to get to the artist's true vision.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work at my rather small but well equipped home studio in beautiful Klagenfurt,Austria with top-notch gear such as industry standard Plug In's from Universal Audio, Waves, SSL,Soundtoys, Slate etc. as well as world class VST's from Native Instruments, Spitfire, East West, XLN Audio. All these tools allow me to deliver the highest-quality productions. I mix and master completely in the box, which means without any analog outboard gear. But when it comes to recording, I always try to play and perfom with live instruments as much as possible - especially with guitars (I own a Gibson SG and a Epiphone Les Paul among others).

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: If the question is meant in the sense of really surviving then: A Swiss Army knife, duck tape, rope, notepad and pen and a cooking pot. If not necessarily then: A laptop with a DAW, a midi controller/keyboard, an external hard drive, headphones and some kind of photovoltaic cell to be able to recharge my laptop to be able to make music every day.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: For filmmakers: Is the film already shot and picture locked - or is the movie still in production and I should meanwhile start composing? How do you typically work - what is your workflow? What is your goal - what exactly do you have in mind? What projects have you worked on? What is your budget? When is the deadline? For other artists: all the above except the first question.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: I´d say the two questions I get asked the most are: How long does it take? How much does it cost? Unfortunately there is no universal answer to that. It always depends on the individual project. My standard turnaround time for a song is five (5) business days and my standard rate for a song as a songwriter is $300. When working on a film score however, it also depends on the length and extent of wanted music. And whether the client wants or the film calls for a big, epic orchestral score or for a smaller, delicate one. As a reference point: I can write approximately 1,5 - 2 minutes of music each day. If my client needs 60 minutes of music for example, it would take me about 4 weeks to finish the whole score (assuming I work 7 days a week). My average fee for 1 minute of music is $450. For 60 minutes of music it would be quite a large sum of money. So depending on my clients budget I am always willing to adjust that price.That is why one of my first questions to my clients is usually `What is your budget?'. Please just ask me and we will figure something out.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Generally the process can be very complex and varies from client to client. But usually for scoring to picture, I will watch the film 2-3 times or even more often if necessary, without touching any instrument. I want to get to the emotional core of the movie and want to understand it completely. Only then I will sit down at my piano or sometimes with my guitar, and start improvising. I will record everything that I play and then pick the best takes to build an arrangement around them. I am in constant contact with my clients. Either in person or via Zoom,Skype etc. I send them my demos and they give me feedback. We bounce ideas off of each other, discuss alternatives, talk in depth about certain characters in the movie etc. When all cues get approved by my client I will mix and master them and then send him or her 1. the whole score as one high-quality WAV-file, 2. all cues individually as high quality WAV-files and 3. if desired, as individual high-quality STEMS via DropBox, WeTransfer or another provider that can be discussed individually. As a composer for other artists I will listen through the sketch/demo/lyric/song that is sent to me until I get a feeling for it and I can hear the right arrangement in my head. Within my standard turnaround time of five(5) business days I will send my clients a fully produced track. Three (3) revisions are free of charge.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: With my wide taste in music it is hard to nail it down to artists who inspire me the most. I draw my inspiration from many people and almost every style of music. But if I have to name a few, as a composer it has to be: Olafur Arnalds, Nils Rahm, Max Richter, Emancipator, Bonobo, Cinematic Orchestra, Michael Nyman, Phillip Glass, Alexandre Desplat, Ben Frost, Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, The Black Keys, Jack White... And as a producer and mixing engineer, I believe Andrew Scheps, Butch Vig, Chris & Tom Lord-Alge and Rick Rubin are people who you can learn a lot from.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: The things I do more than anything else is scoring to picture for my clients (films, documentaries, TV, commercials...). This includes composing, arranging, orchestrating, midi-programming (creating mockups), mixing and producing. Often creating music goes along with sound design work which I do quite frequently. My clients also include other composers, songwriters and artists.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: As a composer, I believe I have a great instinct for what a song needs in order to be what the artist wants it to be. Be it instrumentation or arrangement. As a producer and mixing engineer I always strive to make the song as impactful as it can be.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: More often than not, less is more. Always listen very carefully what the song, or often in my case, the scene or the cue really needs. You can pretty quickly ruin the intended emotion of the artist when you overdo the arrangement or mix. And on a side note: Healthy diet, exercise and good sleep are key for high-level creativity every day.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Don´t just trust your eyes, trust your gut. Not only the credits or music degree(s) of a music producer should be the deciding factors for a collaboration. Also trust your ears. Listen to their music samples.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: Authenticity. I always respect your uniqueness as an artist. I want to elevate, not change your vision. Good Communication throughout the entire process is crucial to me and I pay strict attention to detail and your individual wishes. Your project.Your ideas. Your voice.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: I think the discipline, effort and time it takes to produce a piece of high-quality music is often underestimated. And because I love what I do, my work is often not considered as "real" work. But when you are the only person responsible for the work getting done and for the success or failure of your business, you have to be twice as disciplined.

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: In 2017 I participated in "The Indie Gathering International Film Scoring Competition" which is held every year and I was selected as the winner for best score. The task was to score a 2 min. trailer of a movie that had won for best picture at that same festival a year prior to the ongoing competition. I was invited to the film festival to Ohio, USA where I received my award. I was very proud of that win because back then I had just begun writing music to picture and it was the first trailer I scored in my life. This encouraged me to continue my path of creating music for film and media.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: No, not yet.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: It is a wild potpourri of all my musical influences. Rock, Metal, Hip-Hop meets neo-classic and modern film-scoring.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: My fascination for writing music to picture or to any other art form lies in the fact that I get inspired by the emotions it conveys to create a piece of music or sound that I otherwise never would have written. I am then in turn able to inspire or elevate the story even more with the inspiration I just got from it. This conversation between two art forms excites me and makes me passionate about every single project I work on.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: I would love to meet and work with Olafur Arnalds. He is down to earth and you can hear his relationship with nature and all beings in his music. I think we have a lot in common.