Portfolio Center Blog Portfolio Center Blog: Portfolio Spotlight: Meredith Wilson, Music Composer & Audio Engineer
Networking and a good portfolio website go hand in hand. Yes they do. Your primary job should be to promote the fabulous work you've done and get people to check it out. Music composer and audio engineer Meredith Wilson works to get her URL in front of as many people as possible. For an independent artist that type of showing off is a crucial step in building business connections.
[Screen shot taken from Meredith's website.]
PC: What type of work do you do?
MW: I do a combination of studio recording and mixing (mostly music), as well as occasionally writing original music on commission. I also work on my own creative outlet/solo project Nero.
PC: How are you showcasing or promoting your work?
MW: The website is my main way of showcasing the entire body of my work. I link to the website at every opportunity in my dealings online. A lot of the promotion of my work is through word-of-mouth. I try to work with as many different people as I can and hope word spreads from there.
PC: What type of information or samples are in your portfolio?
MW: My portfolio contains recordings I've done for other artists/bands, commissioned original work, as well as the music I write as my own creative outlet.
PC: How did you decide which work to put onto your website?
MW: I put as much content on the site as I could. Basically, anything that I've done will go on the site if it meets my own internal standards of "will I not be embarrassed if other people hear this?"
PC: Why do you think promoting your work online is important?
MW: The current state of the music/audio industry is such that, for an independent artist and engineer like myself, the two major methods of promotion are through online content and word-of-mouth referrals. I put my URL wherever I reasonably can, and try to meet as many people in the industry (from seasoned veterans to beginners) that I can.
PC: Anything else you think students should know before putting their portfolio together?
MW: Plan out as much as you can ahead of time. Make sure that your site is one that you will feel comfortable having other people--including total strangers--looking at because, really, that's the whole purpose.