Hi there; A little about me; My name is Andy and I am currently a Music Technology/Computing Student and I am trying to take my first steps into musical composition for game projects. Music has been a huge part of my life for years and I hope to be able to pursue it as a career. First of all, thank you for taking the time to read my post. I am making such a post to ask for advice from any people with experience or knowledge as to how I should approach trying to come into this type of work. You can, and would be right to, assume that I'm starting from the very bottom, so-to-speak. At the moment there have been a few projects that I've come across on this forum concerning composing for a couple of games that are in development and I am wondering about any tips or conventions that I should follow. - When starting out as a budding musician, should I offer to developers any works I have created that may fit their game for free to begin with, to take the first steps into establishing a portfolio and for gaining experience in this kind of work? - And hypothetically, should a piece or pieces of mine be chosen for a project, how would one go about the transaction, so-to-speak? I mean, once my work has gone to the developer who would legally own it? Does being paid influence this in anyway, e.g. them paying me would be them buying the piece? And is there any way to protect my work? Thanks very much for any advice anyone has to give. Any further advice beyond my questions would also be greatly appreciated as I am starting from scratch and would be grateful for any extra tips or knowledge in reference to composing for game projects. Andy.W

Hi Andy, you wrote:
- When starting out as a budding musician, should I offer to developers any works I have created that may fit their game for free to begin with, to take the first steps into establishing a portfolio and for gaining experience in this kind of work?

That would be a good idea, but you have to offer your services to indie projects and mods, not to professional developers. You have to build a portfolio, and build up some credits.

- And hypothetically, should a piece or pieces of mine be chosen for a project, how would one go about the transaction, so-to-speak? I mean, once my work has gone to the developer who would legally own it? Does being paid influence this in anyway, e.g. them paying me would be them buying the piece?

That depends on what the contract says. Since you're a student I recommend you look into business or contract classes at your school.

> And is there any way to protect my work?

Google "copyright."

>Thanks very much for any advice anyone has to give. Any further advice

Read these:
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson53.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson39.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/article58.htm
http://copyright.gov/

Thanks very much Tom, what you have posted, including the links are very helpful.

Andy.W

I'm going to move you to Music & Sound where you might get a few more responses from those who know the music side of the business. You should also take a look at the sticky threads in that forum, as you're likely to find some more helpful information there. [smile]

There are a lot of projects you can get your hands dirty with, and I highly recommend pursuing them, especially when just starting out, specifically the student/learning projects or non-commercial independent projects.

However, I highly caution against allowing people to make profit off your work with no remuneration offered to you.

Do not work commercial projects for free.

The bottom line is this: If you want to work in games, start working in games.

Buy this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Game-Audio-Second/dp/0240810740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239223628&sr=8-1

It's got literally everything you need to know.

Thanks very much for taking the time to giving me advice, it really is very helpful. I do apologise for not having made a reply in a while, I'm actually part of a team creating a game at the moment so I've been using their forum as opposed to this forum and so haven't looked into this thread for a while.

Thanks again everyone.

Andy.W

Hi Andy,
I would recommend you to take Music Theory lessons if you are into musical composition for games..Basicly, you cant escape from orhestral stuff or polyphonic music as long as you improve yourself. In England, colleges (most of them) run Music Theory courses from Grade 1 to Grade 8..Well, up to Grade 5, it includes general knowledge. Grade 6 deals with 4 part writing and it is the first step for Advanced Level. You can even use this knowledge on Synth music because, finally, it is made by notes. Start to take Music Theory lessons if you havent taken any..After that Harmony, Instumentation, and Orchestration follow..
Another advice is listening to music in a wide variety. Listen to music as many styles as you can, and as much as you can stand. Well, there are lots of details to be talked about..I think you will be experinced over time.

I hope it would help you..
Best wishes,

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