
“This job definitely requires you to be self-motivated, creative, hardworking, confident, and somewhat insane. What type of personality would fare well as a Video Game Composer? Rickwood says, “I am naturally an introvert and often think I would get more work if I were more of a ‘go-getter.’ That’s just not my nature.” Video Game Developers are so ubiquitous that it is possible to find your first gig right in your local area.” Rickwood says, “My start came from going to conferences like the Game Developers Conference and meeting everyone I possibly could.

Networking skills are vital to launching a career as a Video Game Composer. For example, a Composer’s background may be in orchestral work, in which case a game with a cinematic, larger-than-life quality might require a score with symphonic qualities. It also would help if you actually played video games and are hip to the video game culture.”Įxperience with the world of gaming is important an aspiring Video Game Composer must know the different types of games that exist and be able to pinpoint where his or her scoring skills lay. The main skills a Video Game Composer needs, Rickwood says, are “the ability to write amazing music and convince someone your music is worth paying for. Create a website to showcase your showreel.Record a showreel (a short collection of musical scores you’ve written) that fits in line with the type of scores you’d like to write for games.Network with the game development community in your area.Cold calls are not always accepted, but a polite email featuring a link to the Composer’s showreel could result in getting hired on a project if the Sound Designer likes what they hear. The Sound Designer will be in charge of hiring Composers. About a year or so into the game’s development, it will have its general visual presence down, at which point a Sound Designer would get hired onto the project. For example, a game in the early stages of development is simply in the coding stage, and its makers aren’t even thinking of hiring a Composer yet. It’s important to keep up-to-date on which games are being developed and which stages they’re currently in. Look for some local game development meetings and start making friends.” Write something new every day to build up your craft and portfolio. To get started on the path to becoming a Video Game Composer, Rickwood advises, “Listen to music and play games in an analytic way. Overall, Video Game Composers-freelance or in-house-progress in their career by working on more prestigious, well-known or bigger budget video games. Many Video Game Composers start out as freelance employees, so for them, advancement could come in the form of getting hired for a salaried in-house position. On the creative side, I work with Sound Designers, Mixers, Engineers, Recordists, Music Video Directors, Orchestrators, and Session Musicians.” The people I work for are usually Game Designers, Producers, and Audio Directors. “My company does everything audio for video games so my tasks vary from project management, composing, sound design and editing, voice directing, implementation, and general consulting. Video Game Composer Chris Rickwood describes his daily job routine as “Wake up, sync up computers with latest game builds, eat breakfast, create music and sound until lunch, eat lunch, feel drowsy and haphazardly work, read and respond to email, make sure my team is doing what they are supposed to, repeat. To do this, he or she will watch the game to see what’s happening onscreen and create music that brings up the appropriate emotions to match what’s happening in the game. See link below for further details.A Video Game Composer writes evocative musical scores to video games, including individual themes for each main character. You can be a solo artist, composer, group member, songwriter, producer or a multidisciplinary artist. self-managing, self-releasing, self-producing).
Music composer jobs professional#
This support is for professional UK musicians of all genres and disciplines aged 18+, with a focus on independent music creators who are controlling one or more aspects of their career (e.g. – one-to-one health consultation with British Association for Performing Arts Medicine ( BAPAM) professionals, covering all aspects of a musician’s health, including physical and mental health needs and specialist referrals where required

– one-to-one business advice sessions tailored to your needs and delivered via experienced music industry professionals, as coordinated by ThinkMusic – £3,000 in financial support towards creative output

You can apply for financial support of up to £3,000 towards recording and releasing music and everything that goes around getting your music out there into the world. Help Musicians UK is now inviting applications for its Recording and Releasing Music fund.
