A Motion Designer Who Also Does Music
Have you ever met a DJ who also does wiring, lighting, and video for the local community? I have on several occasions. I also have had people asking me if I know any DJ's who do something else as well. I guess it has a lot to do with the nature of the work and expectations of folks about entertainment.
Growing up with Synthesizers as a child, and moving onto more complicated things with sound including comping up songs, and loops on the computer later, I find many similarities between the two worlds of music and visuals. If you briefly look at the interfaces of a program like Cubase, or Logic, or Pro Tools, and compare them with Visual programs such as layer-based After effects and Premiere Pro, you will notice the non-linear systems look very much similar to each other.
As a motion designer, being able to create your soundtrack, it helps you immensely to convey your ideas in a better way. In many cases, sound design, and music can make up for some visual animation which did not wholly send the idea that you had in your imagination. If you have come across a musician who feels and understands your visual language and can create what you have for your visuals and sometimes even do better, that's wonderful. Contracting out music doesn't always work correctly for different reasons. It could be because of budget, time, or other technicalities. If you are trained enough and have the knowledge to create your own, the results will be even better.
The drawback would be the possibility of the bad image of yourself that you create for your clients if you don't present yourself the right way, and if they haven't seen you done the work right, they might perceive as a jack of all trades and master of none. All that said, there are many artists out there who have successfully built careers being the jack of all trades and master of many. Considering us being in the middle of the age of social media, artists MUST be the jack of all trades to success. Courtney Barnett, Ed Sheeran, Jean Michel Jarre, Tiesto, Deadmau5, and many more would be great examples. It is absolutely an advantage to be multi-faceted in this day and age.
When you look at it from a different perspective, even the most famous DJ's in the world also do other tasks such as producing, coming up with visual ideas for their music, or even wiring of their setup. Well, in a professional environment, these are all different jobs that belong to different individuals with different capabilities, but when it comes to being a freelancer motion designer these days, you might resonate with this and stand out from the bunch by offering music as well. It is possible to do with the technology available. It all comes down to the artists' abilities.
