Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew M. Edwards
Hi Andrew M., can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
This is the fourth of these impersonal, content-driven, algorithmically-derived interviews that I’ve done, and I am now completely exhausted of them. Not to be ungrateful, but none of these have been about me – they’ve been about crafting another nickel to shove into the ever-hungry slot of the attention economy slot machine.
An interview should be an organic conversation between two people in reality, hopefully engaging in some insightful and useful exchanges. Sitting here on my laptop typing this is giving me pandemic flashbacks. We couldn’t Zoom for half an hour?
This will be the first of a series of shockingly generic, focus-grouped, lowest-common-denominator questions, displaying zero knowledge of me or my work, and lacking any edge, insight, or unique point of view. If you want to know more about “how [I] started and how [I] got to where [I am] today”, feel free to visit my website – AndrewMEdwards.com – and read my recently updated bio, or contact me directly and let’s chat.
We all have unique journeys in life, but asking someone this most pedantic of questions is the least interesting way for us to get there.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’ve been fired, replaced, told to not quit my day job, discouraged, told “no,” rejected, denied, and ripped off.
Writing film music is what I love to do, what I’ve studied and worked my entire life to do, and something that I feel – objectively – I’m better at than most. So I tune out the noise and tune in the signal. Focus on good professional and personal relationships, and maintaining a good work/life balance.
Struggles define us. Struggles are what we work through to get better. Avoiding struggle is avoiding improvement.
Struggles teach us what to avoid, what to prepare for, and who to watch out for.
They are lessons, and I’m grateful for everyone I’ve ever had.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a film and television composer with for than 70 credits, which doesn’t include countless dance, theatre, podcast, and video game projects. I am known for being collaborative, responsive, creative, collegial, and professional. What sets me apart from others is what sets every other composer apart from me (another vapid question). We all have different lives, different experiences, different tastes, different abilities, and different interests.
We are all magpies. I like to pick from a variety of styles, including 50s noir, 60s electronics, 70s minimalism, 80s britpop, 90s shoegaze, and 00’s post-rock elements, seen through the lens of classic film score sensibilities.
One of the reasons that algorithmic recommendation feeds don’t know what to do with my work – it defies easy classification, so it doesn’t get pumped into the mainstream firehose.
I’m most proud of every single project I’ve ever done, but especially the most recent one.
I don’t put out work I’m not proud of.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
These interviews have done absolutely nothing for my career. We’re all told to “put ourselves out there” and “maintain a social media presence” but is that really for our benefit?
My one piece of advice is to get the fuck off of the internet. Ditch social media. Delete it all from your phone. Go interact with human beings in reality. Meet people with similar interests and passions. Play board games with them. Go see movies with them. Go to concerts with them. Go sing karaoke together.
Networking is awful. Nobody likes it, but – again – we’re all told that we have to do it. Screw that!!!
Big tech social media has been terrible for society. We need to learn how to interact with each other again, take risks, encounter friction, have awkward conversations, and amazing conversations full of nuance, context, disagreement, and consensus.
The algorithmic streamlining of human interactions sucks and we all hate it.
So let’s stop.
What has worked well for me is meeting awesome people in real life, following up with them, maintaining good long-term relationships, and saying yes to good opportunities.
Doesn’t that sound better than maximizing networking strategies blah blah blah?
If you need a mentor, drop me a line and let’s talk.
Pricing:
- I
- Am
- Not
- A
- Commodity
Contact Info:
- Website: https://AndrewMEdwards.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/driouxbie2
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/driouxbie
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/bluepoliceboxchicago
