Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrés Montero.
Andrés, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Bogotá, Colombia and I am a musician. I did all my studies in piano performance, composition, and orchestration at the Conservatory of Music in Bogotá. In 2012, I moved to Los Angeles to complete the film scoring program at UCLA.
In 2014, I started working in the music industry, thanks to Tim Davies, one of the busiest orchestrators in town. He was the first person who gave me the opportunity to start working here in Los Angeles. He’s been a mentor to me, and it has been such an honor to work as an orchestrator on some of his projects.
I am currently working for the music preparation house JoAnn Kane Music Service (JKMS), a company that works with many of the top composers including John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, James Newton Howard, and Alan Silvestri, among others.
Over the last five years, I’ve had the pleasure to work on hundreds of films and tv shows as part of the music department with JKMS and as an orchestrator.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It hasn’t been smooth at all, Los Angeles is not an easy city to live in and coming from a different country adds even more obstacles. My finances were very tight when I came to LA. I only had the money to pay for my studies and three months of living expenses, but I needed to find a way to cover the cost of living for the remainder of my program.
Since I was here on a student visa, the only job I could get was an on-campus part-time job. My English was not very good at that time, and I was not able to apply for a lot of jobs because I didn’t feel proficient enough in the language. I ended up taking a job as a busser, so I didn’t have to talk to too many people! Eventually, my English improved and I felt more confident in looking for other types of jobs.
Once I finished the program, my biggest challenge was to find work in the film scoring field. There are not that many opportunities where you go to an interview and get a full-time job with benefits. Basically, it’s a freelance industry, and it takes time to put yourself out there and eventually get the gigs that will pay the rent.
Additionally, for a foreigner, you have to add the struggle of getting a work visa which is a long (and expensive!) process where there are no guarantees. Thankfully I was able to overcome these challenges, and I’m here to tell the tale.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
As I mentioned before, I am an orchestrator for films. The orchestrator plays a key role in the production of all the music that is written for a movie, especially on big-budget projects. When you have to record a symphony orchestra, there are a lot of considerations to take into account to make sure the recording process runs smoothly.
When the composer writes the music for the film, it’s usually in a demo version. The orchestrator takes that demo and transforms it into notation, which is what the orchestra will read and play at the recording session. It is very important to be fast and accurate because any mistakes discovered at the session take time to fix which turns into added costs for the production (they don’t like that).
Some of my accomplishments include being an additional orchestrator for Tim Davies on the well-known movies: Antman and the Wasp, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, and Hotel Transylvania 3.
A personal achievement this year has been orchestrating Sprite Sisters, a feature film with music composed by Anne-Kathrin Dern. In January of 2019, in the midst of working on the film, Anne invited me to give a talk about orchestration for films at the NAMM Show, the world’s largest trade-only event for music products. This marked a busy start to the year which I hope is a good omen for the rest of 2019!
I am also a composer, and I had the pleasure to write the score for the Colombian Film “Rio Seco” directed by Pedro Hernández. The film had it’s first screening on March 7th, at FICCI, one of the largest film festivals in Latin America.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck might play a role in the success of any career. However, I strongly believe that you have to be prepared to act when any opportunities arrive and you have to work hard to find them. Essentially, you have to do your homework!
In my case, some might say that I was lucky to have met Tim Davies, or to have been recommended to work at JKMS, or to have had a friendship with Anne Dern that turned into a working relationship, but I believe that it was all the work I did after these opportunities came up that led to success.
All the time and effort I put in to improve my craft, to perform at my best, and to prove that I was capable of taking on these roles helped me continue to move forward in my career.
Finally, I also think that whether luck has anything to do with it or not, you always need to be kind and respectful to your colleagues and peers. You never know who might be willing to give you a chance.
Contact Info:
- Website: andresmonteromusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monteromusic/
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6116882/
Image Credit:
Jacqi Inouye. Carlos Cortés. Matthew Sordello
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