Okay, first off, I don’t want any names thrown about on the board if you know the project I am talking about.
I am working on a musical project right now, for some people whose opinions I really care about. I am writing music for a company with which I have a very positive relationship, but for whatever reason, while they have always liked my music before, I just can’t seem to get it right this time around.
Its frustrating, and disheartening. The people for whom I’m making the music, just don’t seem to dig my new stuff, which is their right.. but I can’t seem to tweak it to the point where they do.
Its not their fault, and they are being very nice about it.. and well.. still.. all the composers on here (Matt, Ben, Sam, Kevin, Rowan, Brusco?, more..) know that each piece of music has a little piece of you in it. You wouldn’t send it out to be heard if you weren’t a little proud of it, and thought “yeah, theyll dig this” – and when they don’t, it kinda hurts..
Yeah, I know, suck it up, brush it off, back to the drawing board, bootstraps and stiff upperlips, but its hard creating art and having it not resound with its intended audience.
So, anyone out there ever have a similar experience, where they just couldn’t get it quite right, or made a piece of art they thought would be really good, but it just fizzled?
Every song…
You’ve just described pretty much every song I’ve ever written. The most important rule I’ve learned is:
90% of everything is crap.
It’s true across life, in so many ways. In the art I write. In the work I do. In the advice I give. In the advice I hear. In the stuff I buy.
But then, there’s that one little gem. From the Voidwar soundtrack, the one track that really stood out, called “Bereft”. From one of your albums, that metal-inspired tune called “Not Myself Today”. From Star Wars Episode I… well, the music John Williams re-used from Star Wars Episode IV. The soundtrack to Star Trek II was not crap, but the rest were. The first book of the Wheel of Time series was not crap, but the remaining eight volumes have seemed to be.
I resigned myself long ago to the realization that in art, as in life, quality is not the most important thing. It’s the attempt at quality, combined with quantity. Mozart and Bach aren’t famous because they were good, they are famous because they were both good and prolific. You keep writing when you’re down, but maybe you shift gears to something else.
Another important thing to realize about the 90% rule, is that it doesn’t apply evenly. 99% of what one person produces may be crap, while only 50% of what someone else makes is.
And the most important rule: it’s much easier to criticize than create. If you’re not out there in the trenches doing the stuff, then you’re just the armchair quarterback shouting at your television set.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Don’t Worry About It
Gee, Matt’s such a pleasant ball of warm fuzzy today!
Anyway, Justin, don’t worry about it. This is what happens in every advertising agency. They spend weeks designing an ad before hearing back from the client that their design sucked. Typically of every sound design studio project as well.
My advice is to stop tweaking. Actually visit your client and tell them that you want to get inside their heads. You are so personally committed to making the final a success that you need to see their product, talk to their marketing/pr people, etc.
This isn’t about your feelings or your art. You’re getting hired for your ability to design sound that coalesces with their intended deliverable. Think of it that way.
Samwise the brave.
“You’re getting hired for your ability to design sound that coalesces with their intended deliverable.”
Sometimes I like you a lot, Sam.
Thank you.. thats a good way to frame it.