Today we’d like to introduce you to Etienne Monsaingeon.
Etienne, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have been listening to music since I was very young. My parents told me that I knew how to put records in the CD player before I knew how to walk. I don’t come from a family of musicians, but I have always been attracted to music. I remember the day I decided to become a musician, I was 13 years old and my friend told me to come hang at his place after school to play with his band. It was the first time I played music with people. It was such an incredible feeling to share music with others, improvising a conversation with our instruments. I came home that night and the first thing I said to my mom was: I want to make music my life. Years later, I was offered a full scholarship to attend the Berklee 5 week program. This was an incredible experience, so I decided to go study in Boston at Berklee College of Music.
At that time, I was deep into learning Jazz, wanted to have my own piano trio, and create music influenced by my idols: Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau. But being in Boston, at Berklee, surrounded by so many different cultures and people, constantly being stimulated intellectually, I realized that my love for music went beyond just playing the piano. I wanted to do everything: playing, composing, producing, learning and playing many styles of music, collaborating with different artists. I heard about the Film Scoring program that Berklee was offering and decided to make it my second major. It was a perfect fit, it combined traditional orchestral writing with music production. I was able to write in different styles depending on each project’s needs, and it made me collaborate with another art form.
After my studies, I moved to Los Angeles where I got lucky enough to start working two weeks after my arrival. I first started working with a composer called Vivien Villani, and soon after I started working for Trevor Morris. I was his assistant and doing additional music here and there. It was quite a ride. We were doing four tv shows and three movies almost all at the same time. I had a studio at Warner Brothers, got to go to London to record with an orchestra for two different movies at Abbey Road and Air Studio. I felt incredibly lucky and was working hard to learn as much as I could. I was going to Warner everyday, and I was playing keys for this Rock band called Ned And The Dirts when they were playing around LA (I wish I could have gone touring with them but my job was taking most of my time). In October 2018, I was offered a composer position at Bear McCreary’s production company, Sparks and Shadows. It was a real blessing. Since then, I have been working for him, working on high-level Hollywood films and TV Shows. It is quite fun and incredible to make a living writing music all day!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Luckily, it has been pretty smooth. Of course, it has been a lot of hard work, working 24/7, having barely any vacations and working under high stress. But in an industry where people struggle to get some work, where the classic path is to do internships without getting paid for months and sometimes years, I feel pretty lucky to have gotten a job rapidly and work for high-level composers.
One of the challenges I have noticed once you’re “in”, is to keep your passion alive and your desire to create new things ongoing. Composing for films and Tv requires to write a lot of music in very little time, and sometimes in a stressful environment with directors that are unclear about what they want. So this can easily become a burden. You have to be ready and know what the Hollywood industry is about and accept it. Because you might burn out super fast.
Also as a professional musician, staying focused on your goal and have a plan to achieve it is very important. If you want to be a freelancer, you kinda have to ask yourself basic questions like: what do I want to do, what is my product, what is my audience, who are the people that are doing comparable things and how did they do it? You become sort of an entrepreneur and have to embrace the fact that doing art professionally requires to think like a business sometimes.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
As well as working for composers, I have been writing for commercials, playing with different bands, and I have a lot of projects cooking that will be released in 2020. I love meeting new people and collaborating with passionate people. This is my business
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
To me, success comes down to do what makes you happy. In a perfect world, society doesn’t define your conception of success, and your own desires define your goals, which once they’re achieved, make you happy and eager to explore deeper, learn more and move to the next experience. So, I would say that being successful is to accept who you are, explore your desires and find what your place is in this world. It is a real challenge to find happiness nowadays, especially in our western society that keeps telling you how to live and what to do. It makes people schizophrenic and have goals that are not their own.
So, one might be considered successful by others, but truly isn’t because he hasn’t reached what he “really wants”. Hollywood is a remarkable example of this. The concept of being successful through being famous and rich is omnipresent here. And in most cases, it makes people unhappy, being or not being famous and rich. So again, look out for what your instinct tells you, what you love and work hard to achieve it! This will give you Pure Fucking Joy and will make you successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9550061/
- Email: contact@etiennemonsaingeon.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emonsaingeon/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/etienne.monsaingeon
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
