Hello, all. It's been a while since I posted so actively on these forums (does 3 posts in 1 hour count as "active"..?), but here goes. I've just randomly been reminded of my underlying "dream" of sorts to become an accomplished musician. Before that sounds too idealistic, though, let me explain what I mean. It'd be slightly too optimistic to hope to be the next Hans Zimmer or Harry Gregson-Williams, but I'd dearly love to become a musician who can play my instrument at a fairly impressive level. More than that, I want to create music that I can really be proud of. It doesn't have to be completely professional, but that'd definitely be a nice direction to head towards. I'm currently studying a degree in Commerce/Economics at university, and will graduate in around 3 years. I've realized that I don't particularly enjoy the fake, backstabbing nature of many people-related office jobs in this industry (such as accounting), so I'm pursuing a major in the area of statistics...but I digress. In line with my newly-found inspiration, I'm currently considering undertaking a second degree after this one is terminated. The two choices I see are a degree in audio production or a bachelor in composition and music production. There are, of course, other options such as electronic music courses and performance, but I feel that these are things I don't mind not specializing in and can practise by myself. I'm not trying to say that my style is brilliant, but I guess I've often been the type to try to do things alone or "the hard way", where I can. It's one of those self-satisfaction things, I guess, such as not resorting to walkthroughs in games. A composition degree sounds like the way to go, but perhaps that's something I should just develop naturally by myself. I have the feeling that if I really work hard on my performance skills, listen to more stuff and resume composing every day - and maybe pick up an amateur project or two, plus I have a few half-serious university musical endeavours - it'll pick up and improve. Hopefully things will fall into place then. I'm thinking that perhaps audio is what I really need to work on - how to mix and master and make my music sound better after I'm done composing the MIDI on my computer. This is what an audio production degree is kind of about, right? I'd appreciate any comments or advice here. I guess it's kind of tough to explain everything that's going through my head at the moment, so I should probably end this post soon. I've left my composing extremely stagnant for quite a while now - a year or so, at least - but I think I've also had the urge to do something with it. It's just those darn phases, where sometimes you're fired up about music and sometimes not. That's the great thing about having so many aspects in music. When you're not into composing, you can be performing or experimenting with just random improvisations, or maybe joining a band. Gah, I need some motivation! I've realized that I don't really mind working a not-too-rubbish main job with music on the side. I think that music is, has been and hopefully always will be my primary goal in life, but of course it's quite difficult to really "do anything" with it straight away. I really don't know what I'm saying now, so I'll really stop typing here now...really. Thanks for reading! EDIT: Heh, maybe this is why people post blogs or keep diaries...to let off random, nonsensical rants such as this!

I can give you one place where you can get a phenomenal education with majors in both Music Production/Engineering, Film Scoring, and Composition. That would be Berklee College of Music. I'm a fourth semester student there and I've fallen completely in love with it. You'll get both classical and contemporary compositional educations, as well as an indepth education on the film music industry from people like Eric Reasoner who have worked on films like The Three Musketeers, Die Hard, and many more. There's even a film scoring club that works closely with Emerson's film degree program scoring almost all of Emerson's films, not to mention theres a Video Game music Club and a Video Game Music Orchestra. They have a whole section of a building devoted to studios, and many accomplished composers who you can study with.

Any question about Berklee, you can PM me if you want. Oh, and one huge tip of advice: Don't let people who never attended here taint your view of it, like many talented musicians have in the past.

Argh, I suppose I really should have been more specific! I appreciate your informative reply, but I neglected to mention the fact that I live in Australia! Berklee certainly would be an awesome place to go to, though. Ugh, those clubs sound pretty cool as well.

From your experience, would you suggest that a general - not specifically video game music - composition course with some elements of music production or a specialized audio production degree is better? Australia is pretty deprived when it comes to music education, I can tell you, and I've heard terrible rumours about the composition institution I'm thinking of being just a money-leeching organization where people who don't even know how to play instruments enrol in the performance streams.

I guess what I'm just wondering at the moment is whether it's necessarily worth it for everyone to study composition. Perhaps that's something that can be improved on individually with enough practice and research, or so I hope..? Thanks for replying, by the way!

Quote: From your experience, would you suggest that a general - not specifically video game music - composition course with some elements of music production or a specialized audio production degree is better?

I would suggest getting a general music composition degree. The reasoning behind this is because you have no idea what kind(s) of composition jobs you'll land. I frequently write music for all kinds of media and situations. Some jobs just require that you create a great sounding audio file. Others require a certain level of knowledge with audio scripting, working with databases and audio middle-ware solutions. A specialized audio production degree could teach you alot about audio recording and production, but nothing about music composition. If you want to be a composer, then you'll need to have a good understanding of both fields. I got two degrees in music while learning and studying audio production on the side.

For me it is very apparent who has studied composition and who hasn't. It isn't that someone who hasn't cannot write good music. They can. However, in my of my experiences and/or observations, people who haven't had the formal training and study take much longer to write a certain level of music. Those that have studied spend less time hunting for a certain sound or technique and more time crafting it directly.

I hope that helps,

Nathan

Hmm, you raise a good point with the official training showing through in compositions. Thanks for the assistance! Normally I'd go for the composition course, but there's really supposedly something wrong with the only available institution, as it's not really a university, but just a random college sort of thing that's out to make money. As I stated in a previous post, there are some pretty dodgy rumours surrounding the quality of its learning! I have no doubts as to its overall honesty - I'm sure it's not really a dodgy institution itself - but the coursework and value of its qualifications are under questions. To put it simply, it's definitely NOTHING like Berklee.

There is, of course, the conservatorium of music, but that concentrates strongly on weird, avant-garde and classical stuff. I'm not sure if it would encourage all musical styles, and to be honest, I really don't have the confidence to try for such an elite degree. Oh, not to mention that it's kind of past that chance anyway, since I've already embarked upon the oh-so-wondrous path of my Business studies. Ugh!

Realistically, despite all advice, I'm thinking that the audio degree would be the safest way to go. The institution (SAE) is more respected and the facilities seem pretty darn good, as I've visited the place before. Also, job-wise, it seems a bit more stable than composition, although nothing is guaranteed. I may end up just composing for fun for the rest of my life, or maybe one day, if I work hard enough and improve exponentially, I may take a shot at becoming more serious, but yeah...I should stop ranting now!

So far, if I even do undertake another degree after this one, I'm thinking that I might just go for the audio one. I guess I feel kind of "safer" leaving my own individual composition style intact and untouched by others, if that makes sense. Whew, unviolated! It would be kind of presumptuous to assume that I'd make it big later, anyway, so maybe it's better to go for the stuff that is harder to learn by yourself..? i.e., audio and recording, since I don't exactly have all those facilities at home.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, nmadsen. If anything, I think that because I've taken your logical advice into consideration and still chosen the alternate, it makes it more of the right decision, because I've really decided for myself, against all odds and knowing all the facts..? Hopefully that makes sense. Anyway, thanks all!

My advice would be to find a good music teacher and do it as a hobby. He can learn you basic theory and an instrument of your choice.

Quote: There is, of course, the conservatorium of music, but that concentrates strongly on weird, avant-garde and classical stuff.

- you just excluded the majority of today's music. Even if you would study an instrument on a conservatory, or study electronic music, you'd have to play/learn/analyze modern music.