Ableton Forum

the last one wrote:i do. but it isn't my main income.

i can't imagine how anyone can make more than a few hundred grand in electronic DAW music these days...

really, if I'm gonna be makin' less than a mill, this DAW bizness aint worth it you must be a dentist part time

I've made a living from music in the past, DJ'ing. I used to tour constantly, playing parties/raves/clubs. It was fun but it's sucks the soul right out of you. I don't really care about making money from the music I produce, because typically in order to "make it," you either have to be extremely lucky or sell your soul to the devil.

I make music for fun, and that's it. I don't care if I ever sell an album.

i sing opera for a living.

still not workin pro, still not doin shows.

my plan after skool(i am studying audio engineering)

is to work in a tv studio doin sound, and do my music on the side, maybe get a job with a sound desgin company later on, and/or doing film scores.

peace.

I've been 100% music audio biz for over twenty years now. I can't stand all the changes its gone through. I've been lucky enough to have worked with the best, but thats not the important game anymore. Production deals with big record companies and producers are "all in" most of the time, so producers are getting away on the cheap more than ever and sometimes they don't come out as ahead as they would like to. Besides engineering is very easy now and anyone can do it, unless you want to work the soundstage at Sony pictures or the like. Most producers will plug it in themselves and know to stay out of the red. What else is there to do? All ya gotta do is pick a good sound if you stay in the box most of the time.

I've made a big change in my professional life and I will only focus on mixing as my bread and butter biz. I've had my face in my computer making a website for this reason for seven weeks, mainly because I'm no good at html and css. My skin is so white right now i'm turning purple.

Anyway, mixing will always be the difference between so so and great music tracks. Mixing is hard, very few know how and I don't see any software that will mix it for you in the near future. The mixing biz is safe if one can mix. I'm banking on it.

A few months back I did a 10 song mix for a dude who did his whole record in Garageband. It paid good. He even used his powerbook built-in mic in the screen for all his vocals!! I mixed the hell out of it and it sounds freakin fantastic!!. This is a new demographic and I'm a new mix engineer.

I've watched the ripples change their size, but never leave the stream.

Not sure if you count professional teaching?

im a music tech teacher and its netted me 120.000GBP in the last 41/2 years, i also work as a library musician.

Been a fulltime musician for 17 years. My band, Pitch Black, turns 10 next month. We've done 3 albums, 3 remix albums and toured around the world half a dozen times. I produce and remix for other bands, compose music/soundscapes for art projects and contemporary dance, and I also write music for film/TV and the odd jingle when it comes along. I tutor in Logic and Live. Currently working on my debut solo album and PB album no.4. Just finished a soundtrack for a PSP game.

Like Knotkranky, I've seen a lot of changes over the years - I used to work with rock bands helping them get "that modern sound" i.e. some sequenced parts and wierd processing, but now everybody has their own computer and does their pre-production themselves. Its funny being in a live electronica band that exists mostly in DJ world (neither me or my partner are DJs) but the live gig experience is something that you can't bottle. Or download or bootleg.

Living in NZ with a population of 4 million and far away from major markets, it's pretty hard to get rich from any one field of music, but by having lots of different irons in the fire I make a living.

Pitch Black wrote:... but by having lots of different irons in the fire I make a living.

that pretty much sums it up really... the way of the modern professional muso.

i've been in bands/live sound/production/soundtrack/teaching for over 10 years now.... it's great having lots of things on the go. keeps it interesting.

:)M

I'm a mastering engineer and producer, I have my own studio in Johannesburg. It's a fairly stable income because I have over 300 clients, but it can still get a bit hairy at times.

I run a small progressive house label online (from beatport) and am slowly building a catalog of material. I've just signed a track from Canada that I picked up on this board and am busy getting remixes done and finishing my own remix of it.

I also DJ and have a residency at Teknotribe once a month and various other gigs that get me playing once or twice a week. I love my job and would be hard pressed to do anything else.

I used to for a number of years. I played in a variety of bands (as guitarist), played on a few records by mainly underground bands or bands on the fringes of mainstream music. Some with minor success, some with no success at all. For a while I had a bit of a reputation. I had a little taste of a minor, semi-successful rock and roll life. Actually, it isn't as glamorous as people think, at least on the lower end of the ladder (for me that is).
I hated the travelling, staying in shitty places and eating crap food (referring to the gigging side of things). The thing that got to me most of all was playing in smoke filled environments. When I quit smoking, I didn't even want to be in the same room with even just one person who smokes (yes, I am the world's worst reformed smoker). In the end I decided that I didn't want to do it anymore. If I ever go back to gigging, it has to be in smoke free environments, which is virtually impossible in Europe.
Finally, I wasn't playing the kind of music that I really enjoyed and got fed up with compromising. I love music and still am passionate about it (maybe more so nowadays). I still compose and hope to use the net as my vehicle to be heard, but I lack some discipline and get up and go in that area, but I am working on it. If it works great, if not, then oh well.

jahnlay wrote:I'm a mastering engineer

Get ready for the "mastering" email questions to follow..

i work professionally in the music environment, DJ-ing [not much at all anymore after about 15 years behind the decks], live shows [very soon], mixing [more accoustic stuff in the past] producing, post-production, engineering, and writing music for commercials. and a few other bits and bobs here and there. in my own studio and as a freelancer.

cheers

sometimes i wish i could discpell with my musical snobbery and just rattle out a rake of commercial cheese just so i can sit back - minted - and make whatever the fuck i want.

Here i'm doing sound design for games(mainly web and mobile), soundtracks for short movies and documentaries, and producing some local bands' albums.
This is my income, along with my band, Suvaca. Now i'm starting to work on my solo album, putting he pieces together to play it live on clubs, etc... But I don't see it as a DJ thing, mostly self produced stuff and live loops with instruments, etc.
As a musician for the last 15 years, i felt long ago that the things are changing fast, and one to survive in this field has to learn something everyday. now with my genelecs I'm getting into the crafts of mixing...
Here in brazil, if you wanna live trough music, you must learn em' all...

While it's not my main source of income, I've done the following professional off and on over the last 10 years:

- Music for TV ads, websites, and DVDs.
- lots of paying DJ and live gigs.
- Mixdowns and pre-mastering.
- Gear testing and design for various synth manufacturers.
- Live sound engineering/recording for bands and DJs.

If I lowered my standards of living a bit, I could survive on the above jobs. The wife has a different view though, so I keep my day job for now