Some old-school viewers of mine might know that I had a double life once.

On one hand, I was teaching composing on YouTube, working towards my goals of going full-time.

On the other hand…

… I ran a goofy piano duet channel with my longtime collaborator and best friend, Frank Tedesco.

To celebrate the holidays, here’s a deep cut from our playlist. Enjoy

Venus Theory released a video I think every artist should watch.

So many of us hold ourselves back from our artistic potential simply because we don’t think we’re “allowed” to make certain kinds of art.

We think our work is “too derivative”, “too simple”, “too generic”…

… but what you’re REALLY afraid of is that...

This is a subject I’ve thought about for years.

Throughout history, we’ve idolized the tortured artist.

When we hear stories of music born out of sleepless nights, tortuous revisions, or personal tragedy, we’re primed to appreciate their work all the more.

We celebrate success born of blood, sweat, and tears.

But what we don’t consider is the effect of these sacrifices...

In case you missed it, a few weeks back I released a YouTube video in preparation for my Composing Career Bootcamp.

In it, you’ll get a feel for the four key aspects I focused on in the 16 years it took me to go full-time.

(Spoiler alert: Only one of them was my music )

I’ll tag on one more point to this:

These things always seem obvious in hindsight, but rarely are in the present....

When I started my media composing journey, I was 14 years old.

I’m 30 now.

But recently I’ve found myself listening to the music I grew up with.

Some of the scores that made me want to compose for a living were John Williams’ Star Wars (specifically Episode VI), Hans Zimmer’s Gladiator, James Newton Howard’s Unbreakable, and John Powell’s The Bourne...

For the last few months, I’ve been hard at work with my friend Weijun Chen composing music for SGRA’s mobile game Dragonheir: Silent Gods!

The studio has been wonderful to work with, offering lots of creative freedom and many opportunities for having our music recorded by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra.

(If you want to skip to two of my tracks, check out 5:34 and 12:12.)

The most...

When I was in college, I was taught that the best composers hear their music BEFORE they write it.

The formal term for this skill is audiation—the ability to hear or comprehend music when sound isn’t—or never was—present.

(If you’ve never tried this before, give it a shot. Sit in front of your DAW or instrument, and don’t play a note until you hear it in your...

I Surveyed Composers Just Like You

I asked composers on the Composing Career Bootcamp Wait List to fill out a brief survey which you can check out here.

Of those composers, over 50% of them had landed paid work, but were still struggling to do it full-time.

So getting paid something for composing is pretty common, but transitioning to doing it...

I’m late to the game on this soundtrack, but WOW is it good.

Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli created an incredible musical landscape for the opening season of Netflix’s interpretation of The Witcher, performing and recording 50+ homemade and ancient instruments in their home studio.

The resulting soundtrack feels genuine and rustic—the imperfections of live performances...