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Reed, welcome to SSD. Glad to hear that you're having fun so far! Here's the good news: It only gets better.
If your journey is anything like what most of us have experienced, you will have your share of ups and downs and will most likely question why in the world you didn't take that job at your father's hardware store. But persevere through those bad ...
6
Quote from Harry Calahan: Well, opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one.
Or better said:You don't tell them their film is terrible. You tell them you're too busy.
It's a matter of opinion if the movie is good or bad. Your opinion does not matter to them.
Perhaps a referral will make them happy and gets you of the hook?
Arnoud
6
Hey Young George, emails aren't contracts. And getting someone to sign a contract is usual business practice, so go ahead and do it without feeling uneasy about it.
You can tell him it's how you always work, if you fear it will create distrust, but it never happened to me in the past. And if he doesn't want to sign it that's a huge red flag.
4
Never say no. Often times, your quotes aren't even over-quotes. They're just far too much money for independent productions to afford, simply because post sound is too often misunderstood and neglected. If you are firm about your rate and are polite about it then people will respect you. Maybe they'll get enough money next time or recommend you if ...
3
IMO the work that we do is far less about the tools and far more about the talent.
To that end, the goal is to create a skillset that people value - regardless of the tools in use or the price thereof. If your clients value your skillset, they will pay for that. If they feel they can execute as well as you can, then they won't.
In the end, the ...
3
That's a situation that, thankfully, I haven't encountered in my work yet, but I think you're justified in turning it down. I'm of the opinion that you you leave a piece of yourself (consciousness, opinions, etc.) in any work you contribute to. There are a number of people who advocate that you should only work on projects you can be excited about, because ...
3
Yes!
It was the right thing to do. I had already said yes, saw the film, then asked to be taken off. It never came back to haunt me. Follow your heart ... always.
2
My personal take on it is that we set out with a turnaround time at the beginning, and we put it in writing as one of the line items within the contract - in some regards its a 'handshake deal' with some clients beyond that in terms of if we have to meet that drop-dead agreed date or if we have some wiggle room but we want to finish around that listed ...
2
Dan has the best answer so far. Maybe I'm not as lucky as others but if a client wishes to pay the proper rate to get their project up to snuff sonically, then I'm willing to do it. My personal opinion of the film is not relevant any way. I don't believe in throwing out unjustified jacked up rates just to run them off or get over paid either, that's a bit ...
2
I give contracts to my closest friends when I hire them for work. It is the only way to guarantee that everyone is on the same page and everything is spelled out in case there is a disagreement/misunderstanding down the road.
1
In my opinion, there is no commercial art. When you produce something with the intention to sell it, it is a product and not an artwork.
So for me, the purpose is the deciding factor, if something is art or not.
As an example:
The music industrie vs. homemade music:
The music industrie engineers songs on purpose. From the start, the songs are written for ...
1
Apart from strictly "audio production work":
• Selling sound effects and sound effects or sample libraries
• Preset design for musical instrument or audio effects plug-in developers
• Marketing for musical instrument and audio gear manufacturers
• Renting recording gear and studio facilities
• Acoustical consultation and studio design/building (but you need ...
1
I have turned down projects in the past but I now very rarely do that (unless it's a project not worth doing, that is). I've found that it's much better to have a couple of sound editors that you can trust to ship on extra workloads too, if necessary. Plus, it's often great experience for younger sound guys. They do the groundwork and I can qc and final mix ...
1
Besides the day job at the studio, I generally have between 2 and 5 projects going on simultaneously. But they're not all big projects. Right now I have three stage shows going on, with staggered openings between October and April. Those are the big projects. Besides that I have to prep an M&E mix for an indie feature, put together a couple of sound ...
1
Seems like a simple question, but is tough to answer.
My first response would be, it depends. Meaning that dry spells can last 1 week or 6 weeks.
Pipe lines may be cut off or lengthened, anything is possible and you adapt as you go.
But i can tell you this, I never say no to a client just because i'm to busy. If i do it is
mostly because the project is not ...
1
As far as the question of "competing with or against" there must be some of each, but this website strikes me as a great example of "competing with" in that by posting here, sound designers are helping each other out. I am only starting out in this field but in my experience, it's a competitive field, but sound guys are by and large not competitive in ...
1
Don't take risks, if there's anything that makes you feel like you have to get a written agreement for it. If the opposite side doesn't understand your intention, then they aren't acting professionally, nor maturely.
If there's no written agreement, then there's nothing you can fall back on, if something changes or goes differently from what was agreed.
I ...
1
When I negotiate freelance projects, I typically give clients a rough mix to review and request changes, plus 1 or 2 rounds of revisions after that to get to final mix. This simply means that this is all that will be completed under the negotiated rate (be that flat project fee or hourly/daily/etc.). Any work or revisions requested beyond that will be done ...
1
I have actually turned down projects because I found the subject matter particularly upsetting - a documentary on the genocide of kids in Rwanda comes to mind. Not that the material was glorifying the events, but as a recent father at the time, I simply knew that it would be emotionally and mentally too hard on me, so I politely declined and offered another ...
1
Field recording is the most crowded area of SFX libraries. For a passive income you may need to find more specific areas.
For contract works, without a portfolio, the only way is to go for your close circle and try to join projects of someone you know in person.
1
Another site in which you can put your sounds and get payed through paypal:
http://www.soundboard.com/
Didnt see it mentioned on the post. thought it could be of some use.
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