A recent master’s degree graduate from the Eastman School of Music, Philip Milman ‘21, might now be a familiar face for any fans of famous Twitch streamers.
Milman recently participated in a project with content creators Ludwig and Jschlatt to create free-use versions of popular orchestral pieces for other creators to use without facing the potential of a YouTube copyright strike. Credited as the producer of all of the pieces on the “Lud and Schlatt’s Musical Emporium” YouTube channel, Milman spoke with the Campus Times about his life post-college and experience working in the entertainment industry.
What has it been like for you since leaving graduate school?
It’s been a little over a year since I finished school, and it’s definitely the best year of my life so far! The month before graduation, I was selected as one of four recent graduates to move into Jeff and Joan Beal’s studio-laden home in LA, now called Eastman West. For people who have graduated from the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media, it’s a space designed to make the transition between graduating and beginning a career in LA much more feasible. So within a month after finishing school, I had driven across the country and started my career. I’ve also had too much fun since I moved to the West Coast — I go surfing during my lunch break four to five times a week, I got engaged in Hawaii, and I’ve traveled to Mexico, Costa Rica, and Fiji.
How has your time at UR influenced and/or benefited your career endeavors?
Finding work once I was out there was pretty easy since I had access to a fully equipped recording studio in my house and Jeff [Beal]’s vast professional network. Within six months, I had enough clientele to start my own music production company! In addition: Without my time spent singing a cappella with the YellowJackets inspiring my passion for arranging and composing, as well as the diverse curriculum I was taught at Eastman, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
How did you land the gig with Ludwig and Schlatt?
Ludwig posted a video to his second channel in February talking about his frustrations with copyright and wanting to do something about it. At the end of the video, he left his business email and said to email or DM him on Twitter if we had a solution. So I contacted him and told him I was his solution! Long story short, I showed him the recording studio and my access to the top LA studio players, and I was hired on the spot!
What was it like to work with such big content creators alongside your orchestral coworkers?
Working with them was a lot of fun, and it was so cool to be a part of something that impacts the streaming community in such a positive way. Both of them were really easy to get along with. The only drawback of working with huge YouTubers/streamers is they’re busy literally all the time, so it can be difficult to get a hold of them when you need to.
What was your role in the project?
My role in the project was leading and putting together the whole thing. I composed all the original music, selected the snippets of public domain classical pieces to record, put the scores together and made parts for the players, hired a contractor to find the players and schedule recording days, conducted all the pieces during the session, set up the recording room, edited and mixed all the tracks, and more. I also hired two Eastman grads to help me with the project — Joe Hagen was the audio engineer for both days of recording and mastered all the tracks, and Natalie Pang was a session assistant.
Do you have anything else in the works?
We might already be working on the next set of original tracks!
Do you have any advice for current students?
Post-grad life can seem really scary, but don’t let it get to you! You don’t need to have your life planned out by the time you graduate, and anyone that tells you they have it all figured out is lying. UR provides so many resources to you during your time there, so trust in yourself and everything you’ve learned. As long as you’re working hard at moving forward, you’ll eventually end up where you want to be, even if you don’t know where that is yet.
