We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shaun Hettinger. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shaun below.
Hi Shaun, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I didn’t go to school for Music. I had the hardest time deciding between majoring in Art or Music, and Art won that battle. But as soon as I was immersed in Art classes and projects, Music became my creative outlet escape – I started my first of many rock bands. That became my “Music Dream” for almost 20 years, while I had Graphic Design dayjobs.
At a certain point I knew I had to make a career transition, so I quit my Design job, moved to Albuquerque with my partner, and wrote a bunch of songs with the intention of shopping them to Film and TV opportunities. It was a new thing for me, and immediately I was asked if the one track could be the theme song for a new Netflix Chelsea Handler show.
From that big placement, I was able to single-handedly build a career as a Composer, writing for clients large and small – including Amazon, YouTube, Gatorade, Revlon, LucasFilm, Epic Games, and on and on.
I knew music theory, I knew music production, but I just had to teach myself how to merge these skills and put my ego aside to meet a client’s demands.
Scoring feature films was a self taught trial by fire thing. By the time I did my 4th short film, I had the confidence to try a feature. By the time I finished my 4th feature film, I thought “Okay now I’m actually good at this and want to do more”
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?
In addition to writing music for TV and Film, I oversee all Podcast Production for Audivita Studios. Every week we record and edit dozens of podcasts for our clients. If you’re interested in getting a podcast off the ground, from conception to distribution, please let us know! There’s an audiobook side as well, so if you’re a self-published author we can help you record and distribute your audio book – either read by yourself or with a professional voice actor.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I was so dead-set on this “Rock Band” goal, that I almost missed out on the pivot. Writing music for TV and Film wasn’t the goal I had in mind for my life, but of course the older I got – and finding myself married with kids – I knew that wasn’t a realistic goal anymore.
I just so happened to move at the same time a friend was starting a Music Library for TV and Film, and he had asked me to write a bunch of tracks for it.
So with an empty calendar and living in a new place, I just started to musically explore, having fun and being creative with nothing more than a goal of “writing cool stuff.”
I just got lucky that one of those tracks resonated with a friend at the Chelsea Handler show, and that started everything.
Then the next problem was: How can I use this one-TV placement to launch a new career in a new city?
That took me years of struggling and networking, and along the way I met the CEO of Audivita Studios and started editing podcasts for him.
Once the lockdown happened and a million new podcasts launched, our business exploded. We hired a team of editors and virtual recording engineers, and my job changed again – to now oversee a team of employees.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Being authentic, enthusiastic, and genuinely caring about the clients and their projects. Learning that “What I think is the right musical fit for their project” may not be what they think is.
Learning to ask the right questions, hear the right answers, and check my ego at the door.
At the end of the day, I’m providing a service for the client and I sincerely want to make them happy with that product – even if it is “just a song”.
One happy customer leads to a repeat customer, and word of mouth referrals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.neonmoonstudios.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neonmoonstudios/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NeonMoonStudios/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-hettinger/
Image Credits
Photos by Marlena Shirley.