I have a zoom meeting scheduled with a film director this week. This will be my first ever meeting with a director, so I don't want to mess it up. Are there any things that directors are looking for in the initial meeting with a composer or is it just a meet and greet to get to know each other? I don't want to end up losing a potential gig because I didn't say something. I know the genre and the title of the film she is directing.

I just finished building a website for a composer who wants to focus on video games, and I want to share the thinking behind it. Here's the thing: Video game developers are nerds (in the best way). They spend their days building worlds, characters, and stories. If you want to work with them, you need to fit into that world. So instead of a generic "hire me" composer page, we built something that feels like it belongs in a game. What we did: The headline doesn't say "Professional Composer for Hire." It says: "Your players will pause the game just to listen to this." Instead of a boring bio section, we created a Character Profile — complete with "proficiencies" like Orchestral, Ambience, Combat, Sound Design, Adaptive. You know, like the stat sheets you'd see in an RPG. The call-to-action buttons? "Begin Your Quest" and "Summon Character." The music section is called The Chronicles with a custom player that keeps people ON the page (not sending them off to SoundCloud where they disappear forever). And at the bottom? "Accept the Quest" with a booking calendar. Why this works: When someone clicks a button and starts an action, they psychologically want to finish it. A pop-up form after "Summon Character" feels like the next logical step — not an interruption. Everything stays on ONE page. No maze of subpages. No "click here for film, click here for ads, click here for games, oh and also I do pottery." If you want to work in video games, dress like a video game composer. Go deep into ONE industry instead of spreading yourself thin across everything. If you want a landing page like this - targeted to your specific niche, no monthly fees, no hosting costs, no "powered by" logo anywhere - I will create and set it up for you. $147 one-time. That's it. You own it. Drop a comment, DM me if you're interested, or check out this link to see my services. https://risewithalex.com/ (scroll down to "Your Industry-Specific Landing Page")

Hi there I'd like to have some opinions on Trailer Brass by Musical Sampling. I would probably layer them to the Tom Holkenborg Brass when I need to have an even bigger sound. Not sure if that's a good idea so I'm looking for some feedback on this library :)

Hey Risers, I have to apologize but I have a very important meeting at 7pm my time - and I can't move it - so I am just available for one hour. I will catch up with the missing hour on another day. I hope you understand, it's not possible any other way. See you tonight!

So I was talking to good ol ChatGPT earlier tonight and had asked it about strategies for contacting publishers. It mentioned using cut versions of my music and that got me thinking as I don’t think I’ve heard of doing that before. Part of its reasoning was my track are too long (2:30-3:00, doesn’t seem too long to me 😂) and people make their decisions within the first 10-15 seconds. I know that’s true. I recognize it’s a bot so I’m skeptical to put all my eggs in that basket. So naturally I came here to see what people think about sending different versions in a demo reel. Would love to hear any feedback in this area as I’m still working to get my first placement!