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PMC & Taxi Road Rally Review
This fall, I attended both the Production Music Conference and the Taxi Road Rally. Today I share my unbiased and honest thoughts while comparing and contrasting each conference. I think this will help you decide which conference might right for you.
Featured Composer: Topi Jokinen
My biggest goal to get my music into film trailers. Making trailer music, and music for tv as well. I enjoy composing orchestral and orchestral-hybrid styles the most. I’m working on a couple of libraries, and I’m a taxi member as well.
The Thai that Binds
Some of our 52 Cues tribe had a meetup at a Thai restaurant after registration at the TAXI Road Rally in Los Angeles. Dave really enjoyed the face-to-face hang time!
5 Ways to Stay in the Creative Flow State
When we’re composing, we strive to maintain this creative flow state, but some days that feels harder than others! So on today’s episode, I unpack 5 things you can do to help keep you in that flow state, feeling more creative, and more productive.
Do We Really Need a Web Presence?
How big a factor is luck in our careers? On today’s episode we turn to the research of Dr. Richard Wiseman, Professor of Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, and we examine the 4 Principles of Luck and discuss how they might apply to us as production music composers.
Dave Kropf is Mentor and Presenter at TAXI Road Rally
If you’re headed out to the TAXI Road Rally, be sure to stop in and see Dave! He’s got several sessions throughout the conference, and he’d love to see you at those—or “in the wild” for a chat or cup of coffee.
October Workshop: Sports Broadcasting Cue Review with Rob Aster (Publisher, RRHOT)
Get your cues heard and critiqued by Rob Aster of RRHOT Publishing (CBS Sports, NFL, PGA, NCAA, and more!). From hip-hop to rock, instrumentals and vocals, Rob will let you know if your cue is ready for the world of sports broadcasting!
MONDAY, OCTOBER 245 - 6:30pm EDT (17:00 - 18:30 EDT)
Production Music Association Conference Panels Available on YouTube!
The Production Music Association has posted archives from all of the PMC 2022 Panels up on their YouTube page and conveniently into a single playlist! We’ve posted some videos which are of particular interest below here. We encourage you to check out the playlist.
Also—find out the origin of our new favorite mantra at 52 Cues: “read the @#$%& brief!”
What’s Luck Got to do with It?
How big a factor is luck in our careers? On today’s episode we turn to the research of Dr. Richard Wiseman, Professor of Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, and we examine the 4 Principles of Luck and discuss how they might apply to us as production music composers.
Featured Composer: Yuka Reschke
Listen to Yuka Reschke, this week’s Featured Composer. Dave will give feedback on her piano lullaby, “Sleeping Baby” on this week’s podcast episode.
Jon Meyer & Dave Kropf Chat About Community
Dave and John took a few minutes to hang out at October's Production Music Association Conference. They have some great things to say about finding your musical community. Check it out!
Make Your Publisher’s Job Easy (Chat with Michael Laskow)
When we pitch our cues to libraries, we want to make the process as smooth and painless as possible, so on today’s episode, I sit down and chat with Michael Laskow,@TAXI Independent A&R, who works with publishers every day, and we discuss what we composers can do to reduce friction when it comes to getting our music into libraries.
Featured Composer: Youssef Rddad
Youssef is a recovering guitarist turned composer and music producer. This week, we feature his track, “Tradecraft.”
How is Production Music Different Than Film Music?
There are some key differences that separate production music from other careers like film music, game music, and even songwriting, and today I want to discuss what really separates production music from other music for film, tv, games, and advertising.
4 Ways to Jumpstart Your Creativity!
We’ve talked about how important sustainable creativity is for the production music composer, but what happens when you got nothing or a deadline hangs over you like the sword of Damocles? On this week's episode, I’m going to give you 4 ways that I jumpstart my own creative process when time is short or energy is low.
Featured Composer: Jeff Hargrove
Jeff has been on the record side of the gospel music industry and a minister of music for his church for over 20 years. Now for the first time, he’s pursuing my first love, music composition.
September Workshop: Decoding Cues Through Modeling
Do you want to learn the secrets of how successfully published cues are written?
Join Dave Kropf as he discusses and demonstrates “Compositional Modeling,” the process of decoding instrumental, rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic aspects of reference material in order to use them in your own cues!
Mastermind | Fall 2022
The 52 Cues Mastermind is the fastest--and perhaps most enjoyable--way to grow your music production skills, network with an elite tier of composers, and explore the discipline, mindset, and motivation needed to find succeed in this business!
Who Are Your People?
The first part of success in the music industry is definitely working on your craft, producing cues of higher and higher quality. The second part of success is relationships.
The Inconvenient Truths About Production Music
Being a production music composer is not always lollipops and sunshine, and truth is, there are some pretty sobering and inconvenient truths about this industry that you should know before you go all in. So today, we’re going to say the quiet parts out loud, and talk the aspects of the gig which you just need to get ok with.