I gotta have faith, faith, faith!

By Dan Higson - Smith & Western Sound

As a composer and sound designer working in the world of ads, TV and film for over 20 years I can’t tell you how important trust between the composer and a creative is. Actually I can. Trust is the glue, the most essential ingredient in effective communication between the two parties. As George Michael once said “Cause I gotta have faith, faith, faith!”.

The trust between composer and creative is a little like the trust a parent needs to have invested in a school for their child. Having conceived the ‘baby’ (after months of trying and indeed years of building up to this moment) finally your baby is a fully formed 60- sec TVC! Along the way, you’ve given custody to many people to get your idea to this point. Such as your entrusted director, who’s delivered your baby safely on time, on brief and on budget. Then your editor has helped shape the little bundle of joy into a lively little toddler with a life of his own. But it’s now time to hand your pride and joy over to the composer. First you have to choose one, and there are plenty of options. Public, Private, Catholic, Rudolf Steiner, Montessori. Once you’ve made your choice, you drop your child off at school not really knowing how it’s going to go. Do you trust them to do a good job? The anxiety of leaving your vulnerable little infant in someone else’s charge for such an important job is almost paralysing. It’s all the more overwhelming when their job is to help shape your child entirely. The teachers, like the composer you have selected, will help mould your prodigy’s personality and character and it’s intellectual depth. Hell, they’ll assist in defining your precious little thing’s very soul.

Music is something everyone has an opinion on. Almost everyone feels they know music. Well, they know what they like. Music is an approachable, open-minded thing. However if you like a piece of music does this actually mean it’s any good? Sure. In your mind, it’s awesome. But oddly enough, to someone else the same piece of music might sound like a dreadful racket.

So when you’re working on a piece of communication for a third party – your client

That’s fine but when

you try and make music for everybody, you end up making music

for nobody. So, it’s good to clearly define to whom you’re talking

to and then nail a track that resonates with them.

– the music that goes with that communication needs to be appropriate for the product or service and it’s customers.

In many cases the style or genre of the music that belongs on the communication may not necessarily be your cup of tea. It’s hard but you almost need to disassociate your own personal taste and allow the composer to solve the puzzle put all the pieces together using their musical knowledge. This is where trust comes in to it. Of course, your composer should be thoroughly briefed and given all the insight and back-story he or she needs to understand the job and client at hand and where appropriate give them a reference track to help communicate your ideas. But then if you can, hand over the reins and give them the freedom to explore the depths and compose the correct and appropriate musical accompaniment to your piece. Try not to helicopter parent your baby, let the ‘teacher’ do his job. Keep a keen eye on things but rather than insisting they copy the reference verbatim, allow them to be inspired by the reference material. Put your trust in them and let them express themselves creatively and fully realise a truly unique and unexampled composition.

So how do you learn to trust your composer? Well, don’t trust the harvest unless you’ve seen it sown. By this I mean you should deep-dive into their body of previous work and ask them plenty of questions before giving them guardianship of your job. Trust, but verify. Just as you would when choosing a school for your child. Show your composer how vulnerable you are by handing over the job and allowing them

Trust is built when someone is vulnerable and not taken advantage of. In this delicate relationship, which is fraught with problems, a good composer shouldn’t abuse your trust. He or she will hopefully look after your little baby like it’s their own and when the job is done they will stand next to you on their graduation day knowing that together you have raised a wonderful, unique, interesting and fully formed TVC to go out there in to the world and make a difference.

some authority and a little discretionary

power over the job of composing and let them earn your trust.