Missing the community and an update on what I've been doing

[Sky-Productions]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been feeling a little emotional tonight thinking about all that Envato has done for me and I just felt like I should connect with the AJ community. I know its way too late, but I kinda miss the old forums haha. It seems like there was more of a community back then, I don’t know why. I’ll try harder to be apart of the community on the new forum going forward.
A little update about me, my AJ income is about half of what it once was during my best months a few years ago. I’m not complaining though because I’m still able to pay my bills and that is all I ever wanted; to make music for a living. I’ve scored a few trailers here and there as well as some low budget movies, but Audiojungle is by far my main source of income. Probably 90% AJ and 10% AdRev. I use to get about $200-$300/month from non-exclusive libraries that had my very first 50 or so tracks, but a shady contract I accidentally signed put a stop to that. There are very bad people out there that want your signature so be careful what you sign #lifelessons
As far as Elements is concerned I’m a little timid about joining as I don’t know what that will do to my income. If anyone has any thoughts I’d love to hear them.
I spent $65,000 last Autumn to record 50 String/Brass players. So far its been a horrible return on investment haha, but it was a life highlight that I will cherish forever. I recorded at Air Studios in London and was able to conduct one piece Hopefully sales will pick up and it will be worth it financially. All the tracks are for sale here on Audiojungle. Still uploading 4 more.
Since February I have been trying to see if I can produce EDM music. It would be amazing to get out of the studio and play/DJ in front of people again as I did in my band days. Making cinematic music gets kind of lonely as many of you know! So I’ve been working out trying to look “marketable”. I don’t know if it will work out, but here is my Instagram and SoundCloud in case your interested in following me, I’ll follow you back https://soundcloud.com/ultraviolet_music/sets/ultra-violet https://www.instagram.com/_ultraviolet_music/ I will still be making and uploading cinematic material to Audiojungle.
Everything I have and everything I am I owe to Audiojungle. They really allowed me to expand myself and create what I wanted to create these last 7 years. Recording in London was an amazing pinnacle of this whole ride. I love Envato so much for allowing me to do that, I’m sorry if that’s corny but I mean it. Thank you Collis and Cyan Ta’eed as well as everyone at Envato for working to make a magical place!

Congrats to all the authors who have been cranking out great tracks and have found success here.
I hope Martijn de Bont and Phil Larson are doing good. The heavy hitters Pink Zebra, Tim Mcmorris and Soundroll I hope they are still going strong. Graham Ball, Audiophile, StudioKolomna, Allegro120, Aurus, AudioQuattro, Alex Bess, bdProductions, Benji, Jamie Blanks, Dreamsfall and everyone else I haven’t gotten to know yet, I hope your able to make music and I hope Audiojungle goes strong for another 10+ years!

I definitely don’t have the best ear here, but if anyone wants someone else’s constructive criticism on the mix of your next track feel free to e-mail me. Make sure you have thick skin though! Don’t worry I’m kind, but if I think your bass is too low then I’ll say I think your bass is too low.

-JT

[gballx]

It’s good to see you again Jeff.

[Manos_Apostolopoulos]

This is probably the first time i write something in the forum, even though I follow it frequent, but after reading this post I couldn’t hold my self. So first of all, please forgive my English as it’s not my native language.

From my first days here in AJ (with a previous account) your music drew my attention right away! Later on, I remember when you announced that you were about to record live strings and I have to say I was excited and was wondering what will you come up to. Unfortunately, I forgot it (life things, etc) but now that I saw your post, I went to your portfolio and listened all the cool stuff that you recorded I got amazed! Almost, wishing to not get lonely hehehe, but on the other hand i’m really curious.

I wonder now, will you add the EDM stuff in your current profile or create a new one? I’m asking that, because its a total new direction.

[Sky-Productions]

You too Graham, your classical mockups sound great! https://audiojungle.net/user/gballx/portfolio

Thanks Manos! How was your first year at Audiojungle? Your stuff sounds great
I don’t know if I will upload EDM stuff on my account here…maybe. I’ll probably just keep it cinematic for now. The EDM stuff I’m working on is more for listening purposes rather than licensing/serving a purpose to video editors. I don’t think people want my voice in their youtube videos haha. But we’ll see, you never know. At first I thought EDM would be easy…kick and snare…boots and pants and boots and pants. But I think its just as hard, only different…much cleaner sound than cinematic stuff. There are like 20 sub genres of Electronic Dance Music, its crazy! This is what kids are listening to these days. One sound I really like is Rezz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2USHWOxfr8k very new and fresh sound, gotta love those bass drops!

[StudioKolomna]

Cool man! Do not be sad.
You have good music. Sooner or later you will rise to a higher level than you are now. Although to your level I still have to grow and grow
We all communicate in our community in VK. Join us with more fun.
link:https://vk.com/a_jungle

ps but set Google translator into Russian

[MeGustaMusic]

Hi JT, nice to see you around here again. Ultraviolet is sounding good! that thin place mix is hard af, nice vocals too. Thanks for sharing your experiences outside the jungle and wish you luck on your next projects

[Manos_Apostolopoulos]

Well, the first year of this account was interesting. Fixed some mistakes i was doing in the previous one, but there are still things to fix and get better. It’s good experience. Bit disappointing cause of the low sales, but will upload more music and will see how things work. When I was running the previous account, back in 2014, I had more sales with less tracks. Things have changed though since then and the amount of tracks and quality has raised really high. Will see…

As far the EDM tracks and your voice, I think that you are doing great job. Surely tracks with vocals here in AJ are not the first priority for the buyers, even though there are several tracks that show the opposite with really good sales. But, I agree with you (if it’s that what you meant) that we need to write music also for other reasons than licensing, maybe for experiment or even because we just want to. EDM is for sure a genre with lots of sub genres that have many interesting things to give and not easy at all cause of the whole sound design behind it.

[MusicLFiles]

welcome back @Sky-Productions! I’m big fan of you, you are very inspiring to me… glad to see you here again!
beers!

[MartijndeBont]

Hej buddy, good to hear from you again and nice to hear you are having a good time!! Recording those live players must be a dream coming true and I really hope you’ll get a good return for your investment sooner or later. Pretty sure you will since you are the best in this style here! I still remember when you just started here, I received a mail from you asking me for advice, now I feel I should ask you for advice haha!

Hope your doing well buddy and keep up the great work!!

[Sky-Productions]

I’ve seen VK around Kolomna… I might join Do you guys use that more because its in Russian?

Your tracks are great Manos, keep pluggin away and like you said hopefully sales will rise, just don’t read that other thread where MeGusta mentions Google Audio Library…that’s scary!

I appreciate it MusicLFiles and Martijn! Ya I remember writing you Martijn You were cool then and you are cool now! You have a much cleaner and punchier sound than me, hits will always be my weakness And thats probably the most important part! Are you still shredding at Gibson?

Being a musician/composer/producer is a hard life, the mental turmoil we all go through is very emotional exhausting. Even Hans Zimmer says he doubts himself every movie he does. It doesn’t end no matter how successful you get. But I think musicians HAVE to create and that’s why we are all here at AJ. I don’t think I ever feel as alive as I do when I’m working on something that I think MIGHT be cool…then I listen the next day and its garbage haha. But making music is tapping into something beyond this world, its a larger than life feeling. Its supernatural.

I had to delete my soundcloud link because I’m shopping the album to labels and they don’t want to see that its already public on soundcloud.

[AllenGrey]

Hey Jeff,
Nice to hear from you! I’m glad you got to make a dream come true, your music is top notch just like the guy behind it. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your story!

[StudioKolomna]

We have a very large community of Russian speakers in the audio jungle.
If you decide to join then write to me

[CommercialMusic]

Kolomna

Nice post bro. Enjoyed reading it.
How many pieces did you record on this budget in london?
followed you on instagram, I’m Juno Vega over there.
Cheers

[PhotonicMusic]

This is so inspiring to read! Sky, you’re the reason I never dived seriously into producing orchestral music I remember watching your profile when you were one of the rising stars on AJ back in 2014 and saying to myself “the field of trailer music is obviously already taken by this guy and Martijn de Bont, I can’t beat that” haha. But now that I know that all this time you also had passion for electronic dance music my mind is blown… You stayed focused on one genre, I think that gives so much power to your portfolio, buyers know exactly what they are coming for when they visit your AJ profile. And it also tells a lot about your character. Your success is no surprise to me, many of us authors here can learn a lot from this kind of attitude. Thanks for such an inspiring post, wishing you all the best with your EDM project.

[Sky-Productions]

Thanks Allen!

CommercialMusic I recorded 15 tracks totally 43 minutes.

Photonic make Cinematic music if thats what you like to do!
I wouldn’t say I’ve always like EDM. I’m just giving it a try for a year…Seven Lions/Rezz/Illenium make some wonderful music. But a lot of EDM like Progressive House, Big Room House, Deep House kinda all sounds the same to me. Plus I won’t be able to afford to record live maybe ever again if sales keep falling Electronic music you can make without recording live.

[TheMusicBed]

Wow, great to see that people have made a success of audiojungle and inspiring to hear what you’ve been doing. I’ve been here around a month, still waiting for the first sale but going to keep at it!

[JacksonHe]

Don’t be sad Jeff.
It will be better in the future.
Best wishes.

[Music2Sync]

Awesome update thanks a lot for sharing! I’m also just coming back to these forums after a long break. I hear what you’re saying about the old community feel, I do miss those days. Still, good to see a few familiar faces in this thread I hope the sales pick up for you again!

[bdProductions]

Its really nice to hear from you, JT. I’m in a similar boat as you. AJ is my main source of income, and I literally cannot believe it. I’ve just been waiting for it to fall apart or something (this party can’t go on forever can it?), but it just keeps chugging along. Youtube has helped me immensely as I drive 3-4x the traffic I would otherwise get directly from AJ. I’ve slowed down my production here because new stuff is just so hard to get noticed now. I don’t know if I’ve lost the touch, or its just so much more competitive. Perhaps a bit of both lol

At any rate, keep on keeping on man. Your music is an absolute treat. One of the few producers here that writes honest, emotional music that still sells like crazy. If you ever find yourself in Washington DC, let me know!!! =)

[Sky-Productions]

Commercial…15 Ok I’ll follow you back!

Good luck MusicBed, yes AJ is great! Keep going strong!

Jackson…haha your the 2nd person to say “don’t be sad” I’m not sad! haha …well every musician has a perpetual sadness I guess haha. Like Marion Cotillard in every single movie she does!

Music2Sync yes good ole days. Looks like you’ve been here about the same time as me! When Pink Zebra just became the #1 seller!

Ok bdProductions I’ll keep you in mind if I get out to Washington DC…Autumn is about to start there and I’m sure it is lovely!