My Story – From the Piano to Home Studio Stock Music

Welcome to Stock Music Lab! People often ask who is behind the music, so I thought the easiest way is to honestly share my story. I am not a full-time professional composer, a mega-marketing star, or an industry “guru” – I am simply a creative hobbyist making home studio stock music, for whom composing has been the most important passion and form of relaxation since childhood.

Here is my journey, from solfeggio classes to selling stock music to the other side of the world.

“He’s either going to be an artist or nothing!” – The Case of the Iron-Framed Upright Piano

My relationship with music began in first or second grade of elementary school. Like many, my first stepping stone was solfeggio, followed by the piano. I was incredibly lucky: I had a wonderfully kind teacher who taught and explained things brilliantly. Thanks to her, I immediately fell in love with playing the piano.

There was, however, a slight technical hiccup: we didn’t have a piano at home.

My parents eventually decided to rent one. They chose a massive, heavy, iron-framed upright piano, which our neighbors carried up to the second floor, sweating profusely. When they finally set it down in the living room, they just panted and said: “Well, this kid is either going to be an artist or nothing, because we are never carrying this down from here again!”

Although my teacher saw the talent in me and suggested taking it in a more serious direction, perhaps even picking up another instrument, I was never drawn to formal classical music studies. I just wanted to enjoy the music. My teacher quickly figured out my “secret”: I learned pieces really quickly and happily only if I liked them. So from then on, she would play pieces for me from a huge stack of sheet music, and I could choose the ones that fit my skill level and emotionally captivated me. This freedom also defined my later musical path.

From Borrowed Synths to Cakewalk

In high school came the obligatory band era. My classmates found out I played music because during singing lessons I would often sit at the piano – but instead of the compulsory pieces, I always played my own ideas and improvisations. We formed a band, and I became the synth player.

Interestingly, I still didn’t have my own instrument: I always borrowed a synthesizer from whoever I could. Despite this, I was the engine of the band when it came to musical ideas, and I also wrote a significant portion of the lyrics.

After school, my focus shifted toward computer-based music making. I started trying my wings with a program called Cakewalk. I wrote my own ideas, recorded musical fragments, but as is typical for hobbyist musicians: my folders filled up with half-finished, undeveloped drafts. The piano remained a kind of meditative stress reliever. After exhausting days, I loved improvising on it softly in the dark.

At that time, I had absolutely no idea what mixing or mastering was. Nor did I care. Only the creation, the melodies excited me, but at the same time I constantly felt frustrated: somehow my own music never sounded as good, thick, and clean as professional released records.

The Reality Check That Directed Me to Stock Music

A few years later, I read an article about stock music and music libraries. I listened to a few tracks there and naively thought: “Wow, I can make stuff like this too!”

I was hugely mistaken.

As I started to dig deeper into this world, I realized that terrifyingly professional musicians operate in this field. The market is overcrowded, and it’s not at all guaranteed that the most musically complex or “best” recording will be the most popular. I registered on the Pond5 and Audiojungle platforms. While Pond5 accepted almost all my tracks, AudioJungle initially rejected my music ruthlessly and continuously (the infamous hard reject).

This was the point where I needed a paradigm shift. I understood that for my music to be usable for video creators and filmmakers, it had to sound professional. I started scouring the internet, reading books about mixing and mastering. I experimented, tested, and gradually learned how to clean up the sound.

Musically, I had to evolve as well. Instead of overly “self-indulgent” compositions focusing solely on the melody, I had to learn the unwritten rules of functional, mood-setting music. I learned how to write music in a way that doesn’t overpower the video’s message, but instead supports it.

The Present: Becoming a Home Studio Stock Music Producer

Stock music forced discipline upon me: it demands a sort of organized workflow. You can’t leave dozens of unfinished ideas sitting in folders here. Tracks must be finished, finalized, and released.

Today, I work with a lot of virtual instruments (VSTs) and sample libraries. I have tried my hand at countless styles, and I am constantly looking for the golden mean that resonates best with my own taste but is also useful for the market of content creators and videographers. The piano remains a central element of my work, but I also love synth-heavy and more epic, classical, cinematic directions.

For me, creating home studio stock music is currently “just” a very serious, passionate hobby. I love crafting these tracks in my small home studio, treating every single piece of music as a little “mood capsule” waiting to be opened. But it is an indescribably liberating feeling – every single time – when someone from a distant part of the world pays for my music to use it in their own creative project. That’s a feeling you never get tired of.

Additionally, I realized how much I enjoy the multidisciplinary nature of “DIY” creation. For my music to reach people, I had to learn web development, video editing, and content creation. As a one-man army, I am constantly learning a lot of new things.

Recently, I’ve had less time to sit down and “just play” music alongside everyday tasks, but the emergence of artificial intelligence gave me new momentum.

However, I want to make one thing crystal clear: I do not use AI at any level when composing or mixing my music. The tracks are 100% written, performed, and mixed by me.

For me, AI is purely an amazing smart assistant, technical advisor, and learning tool for complementary tasks (like web development or marketing) that are not directly related to making music. I always make the creative musical decisions, and I set the direction.

I believe this could be the right path for all of us: we cannot stop the rise of AI anyway, so we must learn to collaborate with it and use it as a tool in a way that human creativity and soul always, unconditionally, take precedence.

Take a look around and listen to my music, maybe you’ll find something you like.

Thank you for reading and for being here on my website!

Best regards,
Attila