We were lucky to catch up with Joshua Ginsburg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joshua, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I first knew that I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally while I was in high school. I grew up in Las Vegas and began playing trumpet at the age of ten. It was something that I was very interested in since I first started playing the instrument, but I wasn’t sure about pursuing music as a career until I was in high school, when I attended Las Vegas Academy of the Arts (LVA). While in high school, I began taking music seriously and quickly realized that music was something that could be my career path. LVA is a unique high school, as students at LVA choose majors to focus on. My major at LVA was “jazz studies” and I remember being completely blown away when I first discovered the music of great jazz trumpet players Wynton Marsalis, Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard. As a trumpet player myself, I was inspired by the music of these jazz masters to learn the craft of jazz music. This beautiful art form proved to be a great tool for self expression and creativity. I quickly fell in love with studying the intricacies of music, and decided to further pursue my musical studies at the University of Southern California. At USC, I continued on to earn three degrees from USC in music: a bachelor’s of music in jazz studies, a master’s of music in jazz studies, and a master’s of music in screen scoring. During my time at USC, I learned about film scoring and the amazing opportunities that it presents. I love the widespread nature of media composition, in that one project may call for a soft string piece, another may call for a jazz big band piece, and another may require something intense and orchestral. There is a tremendous amount of creativity and variety in the world of media composition, and it never ceases to inspire me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For those that don’t know me, I am a composer for film, TV and video games. I first entered into the realm of media composition when I was in college. I started learning the craft of media composition and taking opportunities whenever they presented themselves to me. Today, I am a full time composer for media. The role of the media composer is actually comprised of many sub-categories, including: music producer, synthestrator/mock-up creator, orchestrator and music copyist. These are all different, but equally important, aspects of a film composer’s job. In terms of what services I provide, I work with clients who are looking for original music for their film, TV show, video game or trailer. The process begins with us working together to discern what type of score would best fit their project (i.e. orchestral, jazz, rock, synth based, etc.). Next, I will have a “spotting” meeting with the client and we will decide how much music I should write, what type of music I should write, where the music will be placed in the project (if applicable), and when deliveries need to be completed by. I will subsequently begin writing and send in the first version of the music. Sometimes revisions will be requested, and I will work with the client to edit the music or rewrite new pieces based on the notes given to me. This is standard practice for the composer and director relationships, and I always enjoy working with new clients on exciting projects to help tell the story. Sometimes it takes a few revisions to get to the final product, but one of the most exciting parts of my job as a composer is creating a great score that effectively enhances the storytelling of a media project. When I am composing for a new project, I focus on how the music can connect with audiences on a subconscious level. More specifically, I strive to create scores based on what the project truly needs, whether that may be a memorable melody, epic orchestral score, pulsing tension bed or intimate piano piece. I aim to serve the project’s needs first, while also utilizing my own personal compositional style. No matter the genre, I always make sure to deliver a well produced, effective score that fits the project well.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I knew that affordable/free sounds and sample libraries existed when I was still only dreaming about composing for media. At that point, I was completely mystified by the idea of writing for media, and I had no idea that music heard on TV is often created by people who have mastered the craft of composition and utilize realistic sound libraries for final products. To get to the point of being a professional composer, it takes a great deal of of practice, and this can be made possible using built-in sounds that exist in different Digital Audio Workstations (like Cubase or Logic Pro X). The scariest part of starting my journey was getting started. With this in mind, some advice that I would give to myself at the beginning of this path is the following: “start writing and learning the craft of composing with whatever resources available to you.” Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I had the resources to write a great film score with even my laptop from ten years ago. I didn’t have any of the realistic sounding sample libraries that I currently use, but learning the craft of film scoring, music production, and music composition can be achieved by utilizing stock/included Logic Pro X instruments, or with music notation programs like Sibelius. I would advise my past self to listen to, analyze and emulate the music of masters like John Williams and Hans Zimmer. Music composition is a language like any other, and one has to develop a vocabulary before learning how to speak fluently. By learning to “speak” the language of music, one would be off to an excellent start for a career in media composition.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

By far, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist in my field is getting to work on inspiring projects and being a part of the storytelling process. Music is a truly unique aspect of films, TV & games, as it touches the emotions of the audience in a way that visuals alone are unable to do. When I get the opportunity to work on a high quality film or project, I absolutely love the entire music composition process. Whether I am crafting the score for an intimate emotional scene, magical fantasy world or intense battle, each scene that I compose music for presents exciting challenges to the take the audience on an auditory journey. I strive to create music that enhances the experience of watching a film or playing a game, so that the audience gets captivated and forgets that music is even playing in the background. If I am able to achieve this, I know that a successful score has been written. Additionally, it is also very rewarding getting to work with like minded colleagues during the composition process. I have been lucky enough to work with some outstanding collaborators so far in my career, and they always inspire me to rise to greater heights.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joshginsburgcomposer.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshgcomposer/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-ginsburg-007075b4/
• Other: Spotify:

  https://open.spotify.com/artist/2sFokOe0UYJ6P5lb3fs4fy?si=Mkqy8Ey8T7ap5DXQ9_VgHA