We had the good fortune of connecting with Jakob Freudendahl and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jakob, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
We’ve all heard the phrase “High Risk, High Reward”. Usually people bring that up in relation to investing money. But I think the phrase fits better in relation to how we choose to invest our time. Time is finite, and not on our terms. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s just how life is. I’m currently a Composer for Film and TV in Los Angeles. But the first true big risk I took, was the decision to move from Denmark to Boston to pursue my dream to work, and make money, in the music industry. My first step was attending Berklee College of Music. The risk I took, was that I bet on myself to have the musical skills as well as the social skills not just to adapt to a new country, but to compete with the best of the best. I knew that if I managed to succeed I was likely to have a career full of unique challenges and great people around me. But I honestly didn’t know if I had it. Luckily I had a healthy amount of confidence in myself so I decided to go for it. When I take risks, I put pressure on myself to reach my goal. I probably put too much pressure on myself at times, but I have a need to excel at things that I am passionate about. I have to do what I have to do. It’s a mindset similar to that of an Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs and Professional Musicians are basically the same thing to me. There is so much competition, so much content out there, so much risk involved. I have to be the “CEO” of my brand while trying not to confuse that with my personal life. My name is Jakob Freud(endahl) in both places. Delivering music is like delivering a piece of myself, but I’m also aware that I work in a business, and so I have to be able to maneuver my artistic ego while staying true to who I am. I have to understand exactly what the Producer and/or Director is looking for, and try to excel beyond their expectations. Every time you send a piece of music you are taking a calculated risk. If they love it it’s euphoria! If they hate it, you just have to get back on it until it’s right. That’s managing the artistic ego. After graduating Berklee I moved to Manhattan, NY. I was fortunate to have an incredible experience right after graduation. I was catching up with a friend of mine and his family. They lived in Manhattan, but we met in The Hampton’s. It ended with them inviting me to stay with them while working closely with their son on his upcoming debut performance at a cool venue in Manhattan. For me, growing up in rural Denmark, that was pretty big! This was a complete leap of faith. I had plans to go to Los Angeles to pursue Film Composition. I even had an apartment in LA. But I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get to know Manhattan the way that they were able to show it to me. I ended up staying for 4 months due to their generosity. I made friendships for life and we still keep in touch and occasionally get to see each other too. That, to me, is one of the “High Rewards” of choosing this business. I would’ve never had that experience if I weren’t willing to take the risk and follow my instinct to stay in Manhattan instead of leaving for LA after catching up. And I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make that choice if I hadn’t taken the previous risk of moving to Boston. Music is everywhere, and for that reason I can be too. It’s pretty awesome. The role risk has played in my life is the drive force behind why I am where I am. I’m not a big shot Film Composer, very few get to become that. But I have made it to Los Angeles on my 3rd year, and I am collaborating with some of the top creative minds in the world, even now during COVID-19, which is an absolute blessing. For every 100 emails you send you get 99 rejections and 1 job as a Composer. If you are able to focus on the fact that you managed to get a job in this industry instead of the 99 rejections, you will be fine. I’m only 28, so I’m excited to see where my journey goes. The first feature film I’ve composed the score for (IRL, In Real Life) will be released on Amazon August 11th, 2020. One thing I will always have to deal with in my career is risk. And I’m perfectly content with that. Bring it on, haha!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Growing up I was obsessed with guitar and distortion. I would search online for guitar tabs. They were rare back then, And I would try to find YouTube videos of guitarists for inspiration. I eventually found my niche in guitarists like Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Steve Vai and later Guthrie Govan. As I mentioned earlier, once I am passionate about something I want to excel. One of the defining moments for me was when I was about 15 and I told myself that I HAD to learn “Glasgow Kiss” from John Petrucci’s solo album “Suspended Animation”. I went home from school and practiced every day for 7 days straight and managed to get through it. Being able to play a cool song like that where I could basically shred guitar for 7 minutes was a very powerful feeling. I knew I was able to do something most people can’t do. When I got to Berklee I wanted to imitate my guitar heroes, 2 of whom are Berklee Alumni (Petrucci and Vai), but I didn’t feel at home at Berklee for most of the 4 years I was there. The culture was very different and I struggled to find people who were looking for the same thing I was that I also wanted to be around for large amounts of time. For that reason I started looking away from the guitar towards composition where I could create by myself. My last year at Berklee was by far the best, and if I hadn’t been fortunate to live with some really awesome people that last year I might honestly not have had the drive and passion to move to LA. Somehow things always work out, even if it’s not how you planned it in your head. During the last summer I finally escaped my own fear and really started to dig into the world of Film Music. My best friend in Los Angeles, Etienne Monsaingeon, is someone I met at Berklee, and without having him as a sparring partner both in music and humanity I wouldn’t be writing this article. My first 6 months in LA were not very succesful. But he showed me that I had gotten in my own head about my music. So in his way he made me want to impress him, and that’s how I escaped my own fears and reignited my passion. I went from writing music on a very basic level to writing music of great quality in a short amount of time because I wanted to prove something to him and to myself. In a way it’s pretty ridiculous, but in my head it wasn’t, and it ended up being what I needed to do to move forward. Now I’ve been in Los Angeles for a little over 2 years. I’ve written the score for the feature film “IRL” written by Chase Hinton and Directed by Ricardo Perez-Selsky. It entered many film festivals and won a lot of awards. It was picked up for distribution earlier this year, and will be released on Amazon, GoogleTV, DirectTV, Sling and other platforms, on Tuesday, August 11th 2020. I have plenty of challenging tasks on a daily basis and I feel like I keep growing, so I have finally gotten to where I was hoping to be when I moved to LA. Now I’m on to the next step in my career, and I’m excited about it!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m going to pretend COVID-19 is behind us. My favorite place to eat is Terra at Eataly. The rooftop allows you to enjoy Los Angeles’ weather while having a super tasty meal made from great Italian ingredients. Add some good wine to that and you have my perfect evening. I would also take them to wine country in Santa Barbara. I’m a huge wine lover (my friends would say expert), and what better activity than to taste a lot of different wines while enjoying some of the best nature California has to offer. And of course we can’t avoid a day at the beach in Santa Monica. On Sundays before COVID-19 I was playing in a casual Sunday Volleyball League through Zogsports, so I imagine we start with a little exercise and move to a boozy lunch before heading back to the beach to listen to stories of the ocean until we pick up a pizza from Milo & Olive and enjoy the rest of our evening on the couch.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family and friends were always what kept me going. When I didn’t have the motivation to do it for myself I worked through it thinking of them. As I moved to LA it felt like starting over again, and I definitely have my close friends and my girlfriend to thank for supporting me when things weren’t easy. There isn’t a lot of stability in my profession, so to quote Quincy Jones “You have to become a great person, before you can become great in music.” and I’ve been fortunate to have friends who help me to be a better person every day.

Website: https://www.freudcompositions.com/
Instagram: @jakobfreudmusic
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/FreudCompositions
Other: https://www.amazon.com/IRL-Real-Life-Chase-Hinton/dp/B08735HJ1G

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