Paying to have your music recorded

Has anyone here hired professionals to produce a good quality recording of your work?  If so, what was your experience with that like?

I've long been resigned to the idea that nothing I write will ever be played by a real human, but recently I've been looking at services where professionals will record music for you.  I got a quote for recording some flute/oboe duets from a service called Supreme Tracks, and while I could certainly afford it, it is a non-trivial chunk of money.  So I'm trying to decide whether to do it.  It feels kind of like a frivolous way to spend that money, you know?  Like I'm a bumbling amateur paying to flatter my own vanity.  On the other hand, I can tell myself I'd be supporting real artists (i.e. the musicians) by doing it. 

Honestly, what I'd really like would be to have my wind quintet recorded, but considering the price they quoted for the duets, and adding in that the quintet is more technically challenging, I can extrapolate to conclude that that would be ridiculously expensive.

Just kind of musing here, but I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts or experiences with paying people to record your music.

That’s why I have all my piano works played by myself. First I have to prove that it’s playable. I am afraid I will compose unplayable pieces in real life. Second it can save much money LoL. Third I can define the interpretation of my works. My interpretation will not be technically the best but at least one of the unique one since it comes directly from the composer himself, even though I have to discover what the hack @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu the composer is composing when @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu the piano player is playing, and this sort of self discovery is real interesting and valuable.

For chamber pieces I enjoy “employing” @Thatguy v2.0 without paying him haha!! His nuances are real great and I am very thankful for that! The sextet came out much better than I thought.

Henry

On 12/6/2023 at 1:25 PM, Aiwendil said:

Has anyone here hired professionals to produce a good quality recording of your work?  If so, what was your experience with that like?

I've long been resigned to the idea that nothing I write will ever be played by a real human, but recently I've been looking at services where professionals will record music for you.  I got a quote for recording some flute/oboe duets from a service called Supreme Tracks, and while I could certainly afford it, it is a non-trivial chunk of money.  So I'm trying to decide whether to do it.  It feels kind of like a frivolous way to spend that money, you know?  Like I'm a bumbling amateur paying to flatter my own vanity.  On the other hand, I can tell myself I'd be supporting real artists (i.e. the musicians) by doing it. 

Honestly, what I'd really like would be to have my wind quintet recorded, but considering the price they quoted for the duets, and adding in that the quintet is more technically challenging, I can extrapolate to conclude that that would be ridiculously expensive.

Just kind of musing here, but I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts or experiences with paying people to record your music.

A couple thoughts:

- What instrument do you play? Write for that and get yourself recorded! Sure it may be too difficult for your current skill (I've done this way too much), or maybe not. But no one will care more about your music than you, so if there are things you can do to help yourself with your music, keep working at it 🙂

- Know any musicians? If you're in school, that's a great resource. Even if not, get out there and talk to people. Making friends and networking is another low cost thing you can do yourself. There are PLENTY of musicians out there dying to play with people, and with you being a composer, you might find like-minded musicians willing to help you as a friend for your cause. Or better yet, maybe they're fans of your work! You have to meet them first, though. 

- You mentioned the wind quintet. Check out competitions, there are tons! A lot of them offer performances for the winners. ( check this out https://live-composers.pantheonsite.io/ )

- What about contacting wind quintets, possibly even local to you? Some of them would love to perform local composers works. It can't hurt to ask. If you bug 100 wind quintets and only 1 offers to perform your music, well then great success for you. Luckily you didn't stop at 99 🙂 

11 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

The sextet came out much better than I thought.

Never doubt me 

On 12/6/2023 at 12:25 PM, Aiwendil said:

Has anyone here hired professionals to produce a good quality recording of your work?  If so, what was your experience with that like?

I've long been resigned to the idea that nothing I write will ever be played by a real human, but recently I've been looking at services where professionals will record music for you.  I got a quote for recording some flute/oboe duets from a service called Supreme Tracks, and while I could certainly afford it, it is a non-trivial chunk of money.  So I'm trying to decide whether to do it.  It feels kind of like a frivolous way to spend that money, you know?  Like I'm a bumbling amateur paying to flatter my own vanity.  On the other hand, I can tell myself I'd be supporting real artists (i.e. the musicians) by doing it. 

Honestly, what I'd really like would be to have my wind quintet recorded, but considering the price they quoted for the duets, and adding in that the quintet is more technically challenging, I can extrapolate to conclude that that would be ridiculously expensive.

Just kind of musing here, but I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts or experiences with paying people to record your music.

 

Hey, I answered you on reddit, but I got banned by the little b*tches running the r/composer thing

Anyway, live players are awesome. I have yet to regret hiring a good session musician. Do it.

On 12/7/2023 at 8:49 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

- What instrument do you play? Write for that and get yourself recorded! Sure it may be too difficult for your current skill (I've done this way too much), or maybe not. But no one will care more about your music than you, so if there are things you can do to help yourself with your music, keep working at it

Unfortunately, I'm no longer proficient with any instrument.  I used to play flute, but it's been years (and my flute has mysteriously vanished), and I bang on the piano for my own entertainment but I'm very poor at it.

On 12/7/2023 at 8:49 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Know any musicians? If you're in school, that's a great resource. Even if not, get out there and talk to people. Making friends and networking is another low cost thing you can do yourself.

I'm not in school, and while making friends might be "low cost" in the financial sense, for someone who's not an extrovert and isn't involved with social things outside of work, it's high cost in terms of effort.  Put it this way: making friends at all is enough of a challenge without also looking specifically for good musicians!

On 12/7/2023 at 8:49 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

You mentioned the wind quintet. Check out competitions, there are tons! A lot of them offer performances for the winners. ( check this out https://live-composers.pantheonsite.io/ )

That's an interesting idea; I've never considered submitting anything to a competition before.  However, looking through those listed in the link, I haven't yet seen a single one that my wind quintet would qualify for.