Nobody Asked Him To: Michael Raphael on Getting Into Production Music Libraries (Episode 23)

You learned how to make music. Nobody taught you how to make a living making music.

You've been in signed rock bands. You've toured. You've opened for KISS. Now what? In Episode 23 of The Career Musician, guitarist, producer and composer Michael Raphael tells Nomad how he went from his bands Jailhouse and Neve to writing production music for TV and film, with music in well over a thousand projects.

If you've ever wondered how to get into production music libraries, Michael lays out his whole approach: what he makes, how he delivers it, and why he never waits to be asked.

From the bands to the back room

Michael was in Jailhouse at about 21. Later, with Neve, he was signed to Columbia Records through Randy Jackson. When their single was out, Randy went to American Idol and the band, in Michael's words, sort of got dropped while they were still on the radio.

After the bands, there was a stretch where it looked like he'd never get a job. His wife told him to start a painting company. He told her he'd live in a cardboard box first. So he got aggressive. He started recording people, landed some tracks on a Hannah Montana record and started producing for Disney. No one really wanted him, he says. He was just persistent.

Nobody asked him to

That persistence is Michael's whole method. For a DisneyMania compilation, he produced a version of "Stand Out" from A Goofy Movie that nobody had asked for. He got one of the cast members over to his house to sing it, worked on it for days and sent it to the head of Walt Disney Records. The first reaction was attitude: who told you to do that? Then he listened. Michael got $12,000 for that one track.

"Nobody has ever asked me for anything... No one's asked me to do any of it. I just do it."

Michael Raphael, 11:20

Production music worked the same way. A friend in the library world sat him down and, without making a dollar off him, explained how the business works and why the low-end libraries weren't getting him anywhere. At one major library, a contact told him flat out they didn't need any more composers. Michael made a metal album he believed in and sent it anyway. He had an offer within minutes. The next time, he went back with something completely different, a country rock record, because he knew he couldn't bring them the same thing twice.

When he pitched a second metal record and heard "we already bought a metal record from you," he told them this wasn't just his best metal record, it was the best record in production music. You have to have that confidence. Work begets work. But only if the work is different every time.

A schedule and a high standard

Michael treats it like a job. He works on music from about 9 or 10 in the morning until 6, takes a break, then spends the evening with his wife. He doesn't work Saturdays or Sundays.

Inside those hours, there's no shortcut. He might spend three or four days on one cue, and it's not unusual for him to work eight hours, cut out whole sections and start over when nobody asked him to. He says producing hundreds of bands, and his own bands before that, now feels like exercises that got him here.

He keeps learning, too. When his teenage son dragged him to modern metal shows, Michael walked out at first. Then he got into it, and bands like Periphery got him interested in guitar again. He went to their shows and studied their studio updates the way an actor studies a role. For any genre he isn't comfortable in, he reverse engineers it: what kicks are they using, how are they pitching those vocals.

Learn by watching the best

Michael picked up a lot by sitting in rooms with great engineers and producers, including Matt Serletic and Don Gilmore. He didn't ask too many questions. He watched. One moment with mixer Mike Shipley changed how he works.

"I asked him, why are you mixing at this volume? And he said, because I can't hear it if I turn it up. And that changed my whole perspective."

Michael Raphael, 27:36

His other rule: when he finishes a cue, he waits until the next day before he signs off on it, no matter how good it sounds.

On gear, he's direct. You don't need a vintage room. A Kemper, Logic and what's in your brain will do it. He also admits the hard truth: production matters less than people think. He once had a cue he made messing around with stock Logic instruments, one he considered cheesy, land on World Cup coverage. If it sounds pro and fits the scene, they'll use it.

Deliver the whole package, every time

Here's where Michael gets specific, and he doesn't care who knows it. Every library gets the same delivery from him:

• A full mix, then a version without the guitars
• An underscore with just drums, rhythm guitars and bass
• Stems, with crossfades checked for clicks and pops
• A 30-second cut, a 15-second cut and a sting

A sting is the short hit at the end that an editor can drop in before a commercial. Every single thing he does now has one. And he finishes all the cutdowns and stems for a song before he starts the next one, with the tempo in the file name. Putting it off, he says, is like putting off studying for a test.

That's what makes a library trust you. Reliability beats virtuosity. They know whatever he turns in won't be junk, because he doesn't want his name on anything he doesn't think is great.

Know the split, and take the honest note

When someone asked him for a book on publishing, Michael said forget the book. Put four quarters on the table. Take two away for the publisher, because they're distributing and placing your work. That's how it works. Make Music Your Business.

He now co-runs a label with a partner and coaches composers on their cues: better drum sounds, more of this section, add a sting. He found one composer in Missouri, who works at a school, through a LinkedIn post. After three or four records of tough feedback, that composer got a record in with a major library. Michael says he likes that the guy isn't in LA. He wants someone hungry.

He describes himself as somewhere between Larry David and Simon Cowell, and he doesn't trust people who think everything is great. His last word of wisdom: don't be greedy. Quality over quantity. Anything you put out has to be as good as anything out there.

The takeaway

Michael's favorite moment in music was opening for KISS in 2000. A stagehand asked if he was ready, hit the light switch, and he heard the roar and gave it everything. But the career he built after that came from showing up without being asked, keeping a schedule, delivering the full package every time and learning from people better than him. If you're ready to go after the work instead of waiting for it, grab the free Get the Gig guide. You can find Michael on Facebook.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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