We were lucky to catch up with Arda Ren recently and have shared our conversation below.
Arda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Yes, when I graduated my biggest short term goal was to get into the media scoring industry and make a living out of it. The traditional path for that is to become a composer assistant or an additional writer until you gain enough experience and connections to start out as a senior composer yourself. That also happened to be the path I wanted to take, so when the opportunity came knocking, I jumped on it! After finishing my degree, I found out that Mike Post, who is one of the biggest TV composers of all time was looking for a composer assistant and additional writer. I got recommended to him by my professor and mentor, Richard Marvin. There was a lengthy audition process where I was competing with 70 or so potential candidates. I wrote two demos specifically for the gig, one from Law and Order and one from Law and Order SVU. I believe 8 candidates proceeded to the interview stage from that, and they happened to pick me. I’ve been orchestrating and writing for Law and Order (and SVU) under Mike ever since. It’s been a thrilling experience working with such a titan of the industry.
Arda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Well, I’m a TV composer who is mostly known for Law and Order these days. However, I actually first got into the industry as a small-time game composer. I used to (and still to a lesser degree) code for a lot of games and work as a composer in the projects I was a part of. I wanted to make a career out of it, so I got a degree in Classical Composition, followed by a Master’s in Music Scoring for Visual Media. After finishing my degree, I got into the TV world and was hired by Mike Post to orchestrate for him. I’m definitely proud of watching my work, episodes I’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours on make their way into TV. When I first randomly saw a trailer for one of the episodes I’ve worked on, I quite literally screamed out of joy! I didn’t even know that the trailer was airing, it just popped up as an ad on a friend’s phone who was trying to watch a football game.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I love creating entire worlds and filling them with sonic, visual, and literary material. There’s nothing in the world that compares to the joy of that. My goal is to always expand and create bigger and better worlds.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I thınk the most rewarding aspect of getting to make a living out of creative fields is the passion itself. Your job is the thing you love the most in the world, so even when you have to put in crazy hours and extreme amounts of effort into even the simpler tasks, it doesn’t wear you down as much.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ardaren.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arda.ren.turhan/?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArdaRenTurhan?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ArdaRen
