A Journey To Success » Advice Corner

Reminder: The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee

Khoa Le — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:01:48 +0000

Everyone needs a reminder about the important things in life. I think overtime, we get caught up with our goals and achievements, and we just forget the people and things that got you to that point in your life. So here’s the famous short story “The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee”.

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things–your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions–and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else–the small stuff. “If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first–the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

Filmmaker and Tools

Khoa Le — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:53:34 +0000

I’ve officially been in the film business for 10 months. I’ve shot 4 short films, 2 music videos, 1 commercial, landed a small interview of myself as a Producer/Director for a local TV, and now I’m writing my first Featured Script. I plan by next year to raise enough money to get my first feature off the ground and getting the right people in place to market the film.

So this was to throw out some credibility of myself in the film world. With the tools that are coming out today, it makes it possible for talented individuals to deliver great visuals to a compelling story. If not a compelling story, at least good visuals. But I find it funny that so many people don’t take the time to understand how to use these tools. It’s more than pressing record, focusing, and composing. Some people I’ve dealt with say “Why pay someone 5k, when I can buy a camera for 5k?” I always laugh and shake my head on those ignorant comments. For those who don’t know the answer to that question, let me ask you this? Do you even know the concept behind shutter, aperture, or iso? Do you know the concept of color temperatures? How about accessories that are needed to make filmmaking easier? How about lighting work to manipulate shadows? Or how about knowledge of lenses to shoot certain styles and give different looks?

Did I mention anything about using the camera in just hitting record and composing the shot? There are tons of things aside from the equipment to understand. And when you do understand those things, hitting record on the camera probably makes better sense as you’ll start to capture great images.

There are too much BS on the internet these days. If you pick up a camera, please do your due diligence and put a thousand hours into self-educating yourself on how to capture great footage. Or go to school and learn how to make a great image.

I learned in the last 10 months that the tools are the last thing to worry about when it comes to making a film.

Getting towed in NYC

Khoa Le — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:01:13 +0000

Ok so, yesterday was an interesting night in Manhattan. I shot a music video Promo for an upcoming super Artist, then BS’ed in the studio for a bit till 3 am, wrapped up, and as we were carrying the equipment to the car, I realized the left side of the street was cleared out. I double flinched and cleared my eyes. But it’s true, my car was gone! Saw the sign “No Parking 2 AM – 6 AM Mon. Weds. Friday”. So it’s 3 am, I have tons of equipment on the street, and people wanting to go home. So I taxi’ed myself to the pound, and there was a LINE at 3:15 AM. I think about 50 people were in that room. It took about 1.5 hrs for me to get my car out. Not only that, imagine 50 pissed off people in a single room. Just wasn’t a good experience.

But get this, the girl who charged me musta been mad sleepy. Because the fee was suppose to be $185, instead she charged me $18.50 lol. Checked my CC and yep, it’s $18.50. So now I’m just left with a $65 dollar ticket which I can live with since I was irresponsible for not reading the signs correctly.

Lesson learned, read the signs carefully!

Fighting against technology?

Khoa Le — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:33:30 +0000

Right now, it’s a great time to be a film maker, a record producer, or anything that you are inspired to do where people back then couldn’t do due to limitations.

You can literally buy a camera and tell a story! NOT! But the tools are there to get you to that point =) There’s a huge revolution that’s going on which is the DSLR cameras that take video and stills. The video is only HD which means it’s not so great for the big screen due to it’s resolution. However, it’s great for doing internet films, stuff for home HD, dvd’s, and etc.

With House airing their season finale which was done on the 5D, it proves to everyone that this can be used in major studios. I find it funny people are not believing it and are fighting against it. Why? Is it because they have invested so much money into a camera where a more affordable camera shoots better and have higher quality? I don’t know, but my suggestion is stop fighting it. Understand what’s happening and embrace it.

Major Labels landed on their own sword?

Khoa Le — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:23:00 +0000

It’s probably been said over and over. But you know, there’s still not enough discussion about it. So I’ll write my opinion about what I think of the Major Labels and why I see them failing if they are not going to change their tactics right now.

First of all, Major’s shot themselves in the foot for producing great singles and terrible albums in the past. They forced people to buy albums for 1 or 2 songs that they liked on the album. Now the tides changed where people have more control on what they want to buy and not buy. They don’t need to buy albums, but can download singles. Well, if Majors got it right in the beginning or stopped taking advantage of what they knew was happening, then maybe people would be buying albums and not be pissed off for making them buy terrible albums just for 1 great single. Fully albums should be expected to have quality songs.

Anyways, they set no “real” standards for the industry. There were no standard pay rates, no unions to help fight for those who are trying to break into the industry, and so much conflict of interest. They had “Uneducated” A&R’s working for Majors that couldn’t even type a damn professional e-mail. For someone that is professional, I expect someone would be able to write in complete sentences. So already, major labels have uneducated staff members to help run their business. Their ethics are poor, at least most that I’ve encountered, and were probably taking advantage of their network and contacts for their own self-interest and purposes.

In the corporate world, there are rules and regulations with regards to conflict of interest. And trust me, those rules and regulations were enforced and those who got caught, regretted it! Well in the music industry, it’s the wild wild west. Anything goes. They set their own pay rates. If you were unknown in anything, you are expected to do it for free until you get lucky with one great opportunity. Almost like a little rat looking for a crack in the dark to escape.

The industry is designed in a certain way for people to fail miserably. What if a music producer had to have a masters degree in music in order to “present” music to the major labels? What if an Artist had to go through a certain certification to get access to certain things and certain people that can help boost their career? Maybe it’s dumb, maybe it’s not. But if we had certain standards like what we have in any other damn industry like Medical, Law, Finance, and etc, maybe just maybe there would be consistency and people who have a passion for something can get into an industry that is reliable where any talented person with skills can make a living off their work, instead of having to work another job that’s consistent and reliable to support their passion. Right now, we have any JO that makes a beat think he is a “producer”. LoL….well that’s another blog

Now is the time to change. With the declines in revenue, quality, and so forth, why not go for it? Thoughts and opinions?

Perception in entertainment

Khoa Le — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:37:38 +0000

Today, I like to talk about perception in music, film, and photography. Lets start simple:

If we see a photography with an assistant that holds a softbox/umbrella and a flash, we assume it’s somewhat professional. If we see a photography with 4 assistants, 2 holding a flash and 2 hold reflectors giving this high profile photoshoot look outdoors, we automatically assume it’s professional and it’s going to turn out great.

In music, whenever anyone wants into a high end studio that’s loaded with gear, nice setup, clean, and just looks really professional, people will assume great “quality” sounding music will come from there vs. someone with a home studio setup, sorta messy, and no vocal booth. That’s a terrible perception these days.

In film, whenever we see a 35mm format, a crew of people working with the director, and high end lights, we assume it’s a decent budget film and it’s going to look great. But when we see a person with a tiny camera, tiny crew, minimal lights, we assume it’s amateur.

I guess we as human beings have this perception of what big production and professionalism is suppose to look like and be like. Well, just a news flash if you guys have not caught up to technology, equipment are becoming much cheaper, more compact, and “much” better and advanced. Think of the first IBM computer where you had to load a floppy into the drive to boot it up. Windows didn’t even exist yet and memory was 512kb. And color monitors wasn’t available. Yet, the damn computer was bulky, weighed a ton, keyboard was extremely loud, loading took like 10 minutes.

That’s the same thing that’s happening in music and film. So when you walk into a homestudio, don’t underestimate the sound quality like most do. Or if you walk into a film set and see a director holding a photography camera (VDSLR 7d, 5d, 1d) shooting his next feature. It’s the new age and it’s about the people behind the tools that make it work.

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Music Industry is a dying business why? Read my conversation with another industry professional

Khoa Le — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:36:04 +0000

I had forwarded the link to a few buddies of mine which I won’t reveal, but I had an email conversation with someone about the post I had put up yesterday (read yesterday’s post). I think he hit the nail on the head when he replied to me that the Article tells him that it is a dying industry and it sucks to be a producer and songwriter. Here is the conversation:

Anonymous: What it tells you is that producing is a lousy business – especially for hip hop.

Me: Basically. And it tells you that you really need a hit record to go anywhere. But it also tells you that you need to have a lot of passion to be in it.

Anonymous: Unfortunately it is a passion and no longer a way to make a living at your passion. It tells you that it is a dying industry that barely functions by not paying people.

When the market can no longer support full time producers and professional song writers you wind up with songs no one wants to buy. But as the tide turns it will be acts and musical groups that survive due to touring – everything else will be incidental.

I think the key will be finding new ways to monetize your songs – the traditional methods really don’t support making a living. Even at say 40K a song – how many can you sell per year? Say at your peak it is say 10 0r 20 a year – major acts make that in a week.

I still think the only way to make $ is the 360 deals – they just have to be well funded.

Me: You make a great a point. I think I want to blog this topic. I think its realized, but I think many are in denial still thus not fully expressing their opinions and complaints. Not sure what that would do but I don’t read too many talking about it.

Thoughts and feedback are always welcome. Please add me to facebook and follow me on twitter.

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Record Producer’s Industry (good read)

Khoa Le — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:50:25 +0000

Below is a brief description of what the producer’s have to endure from the business aspect of the game. The A&R who wrote this Article is “Conrad Dimanche”. He talks about “producer contracts, up-front/back end fees, royalties, technology and everything else in between.”

Here’s a brief description of what he has to say:

Ok let’s get right into it. Once the track is confirmed to be on the artist album what happens next?

Well first we have to go into negotiation and come to an agreement on how much the track or the song is going to cost. How much the label is going to pay for the track depends on who the producer is and what caliber of producer he/she is. When I say caliber I’m not referring to how dope they are but their track record as far as singles hitting the charts. You have some producers that have been in the game for over ten years but they’ve always had album cuts only. It doesn’t mean too much, just because you’ve been in the game for 10 years and have been on 20 albums doesn’t mean you automatically have the right to charge $40,000 a track. You have producers that have been in the game for 15 years and are still getting $12k-15k a track because they can always give you that dope album cut but it’s the singles that really make your price rate jump up.

Understood, so after the price is agreed on what’s the next step?

So lets say the cost is $5k and everybody is good with that, the producer then submits an invoice for $5,000 and before they get paid they have to sign what is called a ‘producer declaration’ which is also called a ‘work for hire’ or in some cases the producer will sign a deal memo. Before they get paid the producer is agreeing that they’re not going to sell that particular track to anyone else. The whole point of the producer signing the producer declaration is to get the first half payment. The agreement is simple, usually one sheet and within 30 days of signing the producer should receive the front end which in this case would be $2,500.

At this point has the producer turned over the music files to the label?

Music Industry New Ideas

Khoa Le — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:02:15 +0000

What if I was to tell you I had a unique idea that would break an Artist? And what if you were an Artist that had so much talent? Would you do everything to take my idea and run with it as if your life depended on it? What if I told you that it requires at least 14 hrs of work everyday to reach the goals? Would you be scared and turn around? Can you work 14 hr days for the next 12 months with no vacations ? Maybe rest 1 day for the week ?

Well, if you got scared, then I don’t believe you have what it takes to be in this entertainment business. The competition is so extreme that you need to be better than the rest. So those who approach me and can’t hack the idea that you can not put in that work that I put in everyday, then you got no chance.

Comments / Questions?

If you want it, what’s stopping you from getting it?

Khoa Le — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:47:48 +0000

Yes, it’s a simple concept. If you want something that bad whether it’s film, music, items, and etc, then strive to achieve what you want! I don’t get why all sorts of people in industries say “I want to do this and that”, but never make any attempt to do it?

What’s so hard on picking up a pen, or opening up your word document, and laying down your ideas? And then figuring out how to execute those ideas?

Anyways, this is an advice to the people who want to achieve something in their life. Work at what you want to achieve and don’t wait till it comes because nobody will want to give you what you want if you aren’t doing anything about it =)