Students make music in LA

Chloe Sinclair, who is taking a Bachelor of Music with honours in composition, and her brother Liam Sinclair, who is studying for a Bachelor of Music (Digital Music and Media) have just returned from two weeks at Matter Music in Hollywood, a studio that records and produces music for film, television, music videos and other projects. Chloe and Liam worked with Ric Markmann, an Emmy-award winning composer, producer and performer.

The pair travelled to LA on a Vice Chancellor’s Global Mobility Award. These awards offer support to undergraduate students to undertake a semester exchange or short-term program overseas.

Here, they tell us a bit about their experience making music in the City of Angels.

Why did you choose to study at the Con?

Liam: Studying a Bachelor of Digital Music and Media highlights the practical recording and digital composition skills needed to work in the modern music industry.

Chloe: The flexibility of an honours year appealed to me. I liked the idea of creating my own thesis topic and the freedom of elective subjects.

Tell us about your internship experience.

Chloe: We have built an ongoing working relationship with film composer Ric Markmann, this is the third time we’ve worked with him in LA. I arranged several string parts for a short film and even got to perform on several takes.

Liam: I got to use skills I’ve gained at the Con in a professional working environment. Everything from recording vocal takes to marking in audio, dialogue and SFX cues.

What did you do day-to-day?

Liam: We got to see the ins and outs of working in a professional recording studio.

The first week we were working on a short film. We were given tasks such as recording Foley [everyday sound effects, such as doors creaking or glass breaking], and sorting through unnamed audio files – even professional studios can be given nightmare session files.

Chloe: During the second week we had time to work on our own composition projects. We had complete access to everything we needed, such as high-end microphones, pre-amps and one-of-a-kind instruments.

What did you learn during your internship?

Liam: Beyond the technical and musical side of things, perhaps the most interesting thing was seeing that even Hollywood film composers have to deal with the stress and headaches of creating a concise and clear digital audio workstation (DAW) session. Organisation really is everything, especially when time is money.

Why should students complete an internship?

Chloe: An internship is an incredible opportunity to gain real-world experience in an industry you are keen to work in.

What were the benefits of completing an internship?

Liam: It showed us a clear path and gave us confidence that working towards becoming a professional musician is an achievable goal. It gave me a two-week insight to what I want my career to look like.

Chloe: It showed me the flexibility of being a modern composer. You can compose pop as well as classical music. Being a jack-of-all-trades is a valuable skill.

What career are you hoping to have?

Liam: I want to work in Los Angeles as a studio composer, writing music for all forms of media.

Chloe: I want to keep working on multiple different projects, everything from commissioned classical works to writing music for film and performing in pop bands.