Alvaro Morello talks to CRAS students
The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences was pleased to introduce Alvaro Morello on Monday, September 19th.
Alvaro opened the event by presenting a clip of one of the films that he worked on, first showing the scene without his work, and afterwards showing the final product including the score and foley.
The primary thing that Alvaro wanted to convey in this presentation was his "Three Secrets to a Lifelong Career." The first of these secrets is to network. Mr. Morello noted that building a strong network is the foundation to success in the audio industry. He recounted a time when he was at the gym working out and started talking to someone who happened to be an editor that needed some music for a short film. Alvaro wound up working on the project for free, and his work was so impressive that it led him to write an entire library of music for the editor. Mr. Morello noted that none of this would have been possible without saying yes to one unpaid gig.
For Mr. Morello's second secret to success, he prioritized effort over talent: "Persevere... A black belt is simply a white belt who never quit...Talent is only one component, don't count yourself out if you think someone has more talent or connections than you. Your hard work will pay off... Never give up. Great things take time." He gave an example of when a producer noticed the work he was doing, giving Alvaro an opportunity to meet up and ask about the producer's songwriting collaboration workflow. The producer explained to him that the way he work with his previous songwriter was to call and hum the melody over the phone. Alvaro was not accustomed to this concept, however he persevered and was
able to advance in his career. "To achieve takes effort, and sustained effort... Like building muscle, you can't just work out super hard for a few days and expect sustained results."
Mr. Morello recounted his journey after moving to Los Angeles: "I moved to Los Angeles after answering an ad for writing commercial music... It turned out to be a commercial jingle house in San Diego. I wrote some music and sound effects for them." One project that he worked on at this time was an appliance commercial. He was asked to sample some sounds of appliances and create music around them. Out of 300 applicants he got the gig. Afterwards he was told, "You know, there were a lot of really talented people... People that could run circles around you musically, but you could deal with people much better than the others." Afterwards, Alvaro wrote the music for a Barbie commercial that was the first time that Mattel featured Barbies of different ethnicities and hair styles.
Alvaro also mentioned an interesting story of a time in Los Angeles when someone approached him about someone wanting to record some songs. He didn't realize what that entailed was producing all of the music for Bo Burnham's Netflix Special.
Mr. Morello recalled the first time that he heard his work being aired was one night that he was visiting his mother and an episode of Crime Watch Daily came on the air. His music was used as the soundtrack for the episode.
Alvaro's third secret to success was to evolve. "The audio industry is constantly innovating and you must change along with it. Keep your passion alive. Find ways to stay excited... I think it's rare that we just do one thing forever. You have to flow with the go, as Rickson Gracie would say... No one releases a 'Worst Hits' collection. I have a lot more misses than I have hits. The key is to compile enough hits to release your greatest hits."
As a final piece of advice, Mr. Morello encouraged everyone to build genuine relationships. "It's so much more fun to work with people you like." Alvaro gave an example of when he spent over a year emailing Telemundo and finally getting a meeting. He wound up having an Arizona connection with the lady that he met with. She was eventually promoted to Vice President of Music for the company, and because of the relationship that he cultivated, he wound up getting his music into countless projects.
Alvaro told the story of George Danzig solving two of the most popular "unsolved equations" in 1939 when he was a university student. He didn't realize the questions weren't assigned as homework, and wound up solving them. "Things are possible, even when they seem out of reach."
The floor was opened for questions. One member of the audience asked Mr. Morello what project he had the most fun working on. After a moment of consideration, he decided that the film Z-Rex was one of his highlights. It wound up being retitled Jurassic Dead to capitalize on the success of Jurassic Park. He explained that what made that project special to him was being able to work with his friends. "It was just having fun and creating something that no one would ever watch."
His wife was in attendance, and she asked how much time during the week he spends working versus developing contacts. Alvaro responded that whenever he isn't working, he is developing contacts. "Cold calling to try to weasel my way in to a project... Even when there's downtime, there's no downtime."
Alvaro mentioned that his wife had been in the Army and stationed in Hawaii. "She sacrificed it to marry me and move to Los Angeles." They eventually moved back to Arizona to be close to both of their families.
Since the event, Mr. Morello has happily taken on a position as an instructor at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences.
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