Comment / Opinion

You’ve got to be good to get ahead in this game. And not just at mending cookers.

In which our hero eats too much cheese before bedtime and falls into a strange, Cheddar‑fuelled dream...

To reach the top as a composer for the media, what you really need is ‘people skills’ — and the patience of saints.

No‑one makes demos any more — it’s just that any music we make is treated like a demo.

Today's composers are expected to be available around the clock — and around the globe.

Title? Composer for the media. Job description? Squaring the circle...

Online delivery means fewer ways for things to go wrong, but it also makes media composers more faceless than ever and robs us of some vital excuses.

Where there's a newly independent republic struggling to establish itself on the world stage, there's an opportunity...

The only way to make money as a media composer is from publishing — but greedy production companies are targeting our back end with a vengeance.

CD technology? Eight-note polyphony? Things were getting pretty exciting back in 1985.

Its lovely to be appreciated — up to a point...

Some broadcasters will stop at nothing to save money, even if that means blatantly ripping off composers. So always look at the small print before you leap.

The musical challenges involved in composing for TV can be intimidating enough, but its the legal documents that are truly scary.

Want to be a media composer? Get used to being the most anonymous cog in the TV production wheel.

How to get ahead in the business? Honour thy deadlines, have no other gods before work, and dont commit murder unless theres a particularly juicy commission at stake.

Its wonderful to be able to give something back to young people who are eager to learn about life in the studio. If only they were better prepared to receive it.

Sample libraries are the modern media composers most important asset — so its a shame that using them in real-world projects can land you in legal hot water.

So you want to be a media composer? Paul Farrer reminds us that its not about the music you love, its about whats right for the show.

It doesnt do to get too precious about audio quality. In fact, sometimes a bit of lossy compression might be just what your music needs.

No-one likes having their work criticised, especially when the criticism is baffling, surreal and second-hand. But thats the lot of todays composer for the media.

As they say oop north: where theres virtual brass, theres muck.