Jacob Yoffee is a concert & film composer based in Los Angeles. His father was a US Marine and mother a school teacher, and he grew up on military bases across the country, moving every two years. Always interested in film music, he went to the Peabody Conservatory to study orchestration where he was introduced to Modern Jazz. However, after working as a performer for several years, he fell back into film music and entered the New York University film scoring program, moving to LA immediately after graduation. We had the opportunity to speak to him about his career.
You were a very successful saxophonist in Pittsburgh playing with the legendary Sean Jones at times, and have done work in New York and beyond! Can you tell us what led you to transition from being a performer to a film composer? Was being a composer always a goal of yours or was it something you gradually decided you wanted to do?
From the time I was 8 years old, I knew I wanted to write music for film. I enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music with the plan to study orchestral composition for my undergrad and then move to LA. But my first semester I heard modern jazz for the first time when I met the saxophonist Gary Thomas. Hearing his music changed my life and I ended up studying both classical and jazz music very intensely for about 10 years.
It was a gig with the piano player Michele Rosewoman that led me back to film composing. While crashing with a fellow jazz musician in NYC I heard about the NYU program and the possibility of using the student loan payouts to cover your rent while you are in school. It seemed like an easier way to transition to New York. (not a good idea by the way, I’ll be paying these loans off for the rest of my life!)
While looking at the NYU website I noticed that one of the faculty members in the film scoring department had orchestrated the very movie that solidified film composing as a career path for me: ‘Interview with the Vampire’. I took that as a sign from above and applied the next day. I think a lot of my colleagues were shocked that I jumped from performing back to composing so quickly.
Once I made the move to New York I kept gigging with my band and any other performance opportunities that came my way until I made the jump to LA two years later. Since then I have focused solely on composing as there is absolutely no room for lack of resolve in this town.
It’s said that the film scoring world is not easy to break into, but you’ve done it and you are having a very successful career doing it! Was it your associations in school, professional contacts you’ve made over the years, a mixture of the two…. how and when did you get your break into the industry?
The experiences I had as a jazz musician were extremely helpful in preparing me for film composing. By the time I got to LA I’d worked in not only jazz groups but also rock, country, neo-soul, hip-hop, gospel, choral groups, funk, big-band, wedding cover bands, etc — all a wonderful education for scoring. That combined with the orchestral composition skills helped me handle any kind of job that came within reach.
My first break came through the jazz record label I was signed to Inner Circle Music. The president of the label, Greg Osby, was supportive of all the artists and knew how into composing I was. Through a lucky turn of events his wife was doing the accounting for a Weinstein company film and they needed a composer. She asked Greg and he recommended me.
I remember the director called one afternoon while I was still living in Pittsburgh. We’d moved there the summer after I graduated from NYU with the plan to move to LA at some point in the fall (once we’d saved up enough money). The director said ‘We’re doing a Children of the Corn sequel and we’d love to have you do the music. You live in LA, right?’
I said ‘Absolutely!’. He asked if he could come to my studio the following week and I agreed, all the while inwardly freaking out. We hung up and I booked a plane ticket for the next day. Once I landed I found a studio to rent and an apartment, flew back to Pittsburgh, packed everything up, and drove cross country.
That gig helped lead to the next and the next and the next. Every job comes through personal recommendations and the friends you make along the way.
Can you walk us through the process of composing in the entertainment industry, whether it be television, anime, film, etc? Are they all pretty much the same or completely different and do you enjoy some mediums more than others?
My favorite is long-form projects like feature films and television series. But no matter the job it’s always fun. The process can be extremely different depending on the genre, medium, filmmakers, etc… It’s really best to be ready to work hard and work LONG hours. It’s not uncommon to work 100 hours a week when you’re on a project (or several at once).
When it comes down to it there are only two different approaches: writing to picture and NOT writing to picture. They are both valid and necessary skills when working in this field. Scripted content generally needs a composer to write to a (semi) locked cut while anything in the documentary realm can be quite loose.
Both approaches benefit from what I like to think of as an ‘album’ approach. Once you’ve had the first meeting with the filmmakers or after you’ve read the brief the process can start with themes, sound worlds, sound design, instrumentation choices, improvisations – really anything! But it’s best to get started right away. The more ideas you throw in the pot the better. You’ve got the chip away at this huge thing and the more ammunition you have the less stressed you’ll be.
I’m guessing it depends on the project really, but I’m curious… What kind of hours are involved in a job like this? How long does it typically take to finish a shorter job like a commercial or a jingle versus a long term project like a film?
As I mentioned an average workweek is anywhere between 80-100 hours, especially when juggling multiple jobs. Short-form jobs like commercials, independent trailers, jingles usually last a few weeks. But I’ve worked on trailers for up to six months before. If you’re doing any custom work I consider it more a campaign than a one-off job. The project will go on for as long as it takes.
Feature films can go really fast if there is a distributor with a deadline or they can last forever. I’ve done features in as little as 12 days but also a few that lasted 18 months. Television series usually allow the composer to have one week per episode, especially if it’s for a broadcast network (actual television, not streaming networks).
The biggest thing that is changing in the industry is how the streaming networks drop entire seasons of shows all at once. Instead of weekly releases, which naturally set up regular schedules for everyone involved, you’re lumping huge amounts of content together all at once. So the schedules on those projects vary widely depending on the project’s demands.
Which composers/players have influenced you the most in your works?
Several composers inspire me because of the dedication to their craft, their musical prowess, and the detail in their work. But musically you may not hear their styles represented directly in my work. I naturally tend toward the darker and modern, both orchestrally and in jazz. But much of my scoring work has demanded lighter music, pop-infused scores with guitars, hip-hop, gospel, soul, Indian music, etc….
That being said I am a great fan of Eliot Goldenthal, Gary Thomas, James Newton Howard, Thomas Newman, Jeff Cardoni, John Williams, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter.
What was the hardest thing for you in getting started with this line of work? What’s the most difficult part of your work now that you are a seasoned veteran?
I wouldn’t say I’m a seasoned veteran but I suppose I’ve been through so much that maybe I have the battle wounds to prove it?? In some ways, it’s more difficult now than ever because I’ve seen behind the curtain and there’s no question how much time & energy it takes to do a job. I’ve got a family now and a mortgage so there is that added box to tick off for any job — am I excited artistically? Does it pay well enough to merit spending the amount of time on it that it will need?
Getting started though? The hardest thing was the transition from being a player. Nobody in this industry cared what I’d done in the jazz world or who I had played with. All they wanted was to hear tracks. ‘We’re looking for something like this, do you have any tracks like that lying around?’ Despite having done a thousand gigs and writing/arranging/producing umpteen projects and compositions I had very few recordings that would work in film. That was a hard pill to swallow. So I got to work writing as much as I could and as fast as I could.
Can you tell us any parts of the industry that you thought would be different when you first started?
I thought there would be a lot more collaboration with the filmmakers and music supervisors. In my mind I’d be writing music and constantly sending sketches to the directors, producers, and especially the music supervisor. But in reality, there isn’t time for that and they’ve all got so much on their plate it’s not possible. A process like that would be seen as them holding your hand for everything.
I’ve learned that what they want is your professional take on things. You present something that you think would work and, at specified review points, they’ll give feedback. So you’ve got to take full responsibility for everything they hear.
You have worked with some pretty big names already, which is very impressive! What are some of your future career aspirations?
My favorite thing about this is the storytelling. I’d love to work on something with world-building aspects like a Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter — not those exactly but something that demands an entire sonic language to be developed to support the story. So I hope someday a series or a feature film comes along where I can stretch.
For any young composers or working musicians already making a living, what advice would you give them if they are thinking of composing for film?
It’s all about your tracks – write and produce as much content as you can at the highest quality you can. Whether you produce all in-the-box or record every layer live make sure you’re documenting it all. That’ll be the only way to communicate with people in this world. Challenge yourself to write cues just like you’re hearing in movies NOW, not just the stuff you love. I guarantee the first opportunities that come to you won’t be the style you love or what you’re really great at. So push yourself to produce in lots of different genres, eras, sound worlds.
And make a website with an easy to find play button!! This is the biggest mistake new composers seem to make. They make it difficult to hear their music!
For further information on this talented composer, please visit his website www.jacobyoffeemusic.com
About Author
A great and inspiring article. As a young musician and composer myself, I gain confidence in what he says. Thanks