# Hire an orchestra to perform a personal composition?



## ProfOKiev

Hi,

I was wondering if any of you here have experience hiring an orchestra to play your own compositions. My day job is not music-related, but I have a passion for music and especially composing ever since I'm 7. I would really love to hear my music performed (and possibly recorded) by a real orchestra, instead of having them piling up on my hard disk as midi files.

*In short*: how much would it cost to hire a +- 15-piece orchestra to play an original composition? Has any one of you attempted this before? Also, how is this impacted by the fact that I'm as unknown as one can be in the music world (no prior publications/performances)?

Thank you for your answers, this would really be a dream come true for me.


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## Pugg

ProfOKiev said:


> Hi,
> 
> I was wondering if any of you here have experience hiring an orchestra to play your own compositions. My day job is not music-related, but I have a passion for music and especially composing ever since I'm 7. I would really love to hear my music performed (and possibly recorded) by a real orchestra, instead of having them piling up on my hard disk as midi files.
> 
> *In short*: how much would it cost to hire a +- 15-piece orchestra to play an original composition? Has any one of you attempted this before? Also, how is this impacted by the fact that I'm as unknown as one can be in the music world (no prior publications/performances)?
> 
> Thank you for your answers, this would really be a dream come true for me.


Did you try the music school in you neck off the woods?
Normally they are up to those kind of "jobs"


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## ProfOKiev

Pugg said:


> Did you try the music school in you neck off the woods?
> Normally they are up to those kind of "jobs"


Why is it necessary to look for a local orchestra, when in today's world you can just as well send manuscripts via internet or post to anywhere in the world?


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## Pugg

ProfOKiev said:


> Why is it necessary to look for a local orchestra, when in today's world you can just as well send manuscripts via internet or post to anywhere in the world?


I did not say your local orchestra , I said the music school.
They play whatever you like. 
I know from experience .


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## bigshot

There are Eastern European studio orchestras that will record for as little as a couple hundred dollars per hour. They sight read well, but if you're looking for a well prepared performance, you need to allot time for rehearsal. We used one of these to do the music for a show I produced. The composer sent scores over the internet, and they sent back recordings. Worked out well. Much better than synths.


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## GreenMamba

So does the couple hundred bucks an hour include the recording? Include studio rental, or just musician labor? That sounds remarkably cheap.


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## bigshot

Yes it includes the studio. They are set up to record. They just bring the band in and pass out your score and the clock starts ticking. There are regional orchestras who are starving for work in the Eastern block.


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## ProfOKiev

Thank you for all your answers. I will definitely look into orchestras in Eastern countries.

As for the pricing, 100 dollars an hour may not sound like much in the beginning, but if you add rehearsal times, recording engineers and mixing for a +- 40 minute, 15-piece composition, it quickly multiplies. It looks like in the end I will have to spend in the 5 figures, no?


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## bigshot

The recording hall is all set up. It's included in the price. It all depends on how much rehearsal you want. The orchestra is used to performing with very little rehearsal for scoring for TV, so they do a passable job with very little preparation. If you have a very long work, you might consider recording it a movement at a time. If it was 15 minutes or less, they should be able to do that in a couple of hours. Any notation you give the conductor saves you time. I don't see any reason that 40 minutes couldn't be done for around $2500. Not sure though if the rates are still the same. It was about 10 years ago when my project used a band like that.

Mixing you have to do yourself. They send you an 8 track digital file. I imagine you could pay them to do that too if you wanted.


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## KenOC

An interesting discussion. A couple of years ago the Hollywood movie producers were bargaining new contracts with several unions, including musicians. They openly threatened to close down their movie music recording sessions in the US and move them to Eastern Europe, which would have been very damaging for SoCal orchestral players and other professional instrumentalists. It was a serious threat and no doubt had its effect.


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