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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 ...
7
LATE TO THE PARTY -
This advice will be feature film-centric.
I'll start by telling you that I don't know a single person who got a gig because of a degree ... twenty weeks of Junior College here buddy. It's about your creativity.
I started at 30 and have been doing it for close to thirty years now with some success.
When I started I was a film geek and ...
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
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.
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
Never work without a contract. Hire an attorney to draft one up for you, it won't cost that much money and you can probably re-word and use the same contract for all of your clients. Consider it a small investment. Without a contract, you have little (or no) legal ground to stand on when something goes wrong.
Be sure your contract explicitly states ...
2
The remaining 40ish years of your working life is a long time to be wishing you'd taken that other fork in the road.
My boss got into sound post something like 10 years ago, after 30ish years in the music industry.
My dad was a photographer for more than 30 years before getting into web design.
My girlfriend is, in her late 20s, embarking on a degree ...
2
Don't delay it more please! I completed my BA on Linguistics and Literature, but sound has been in my mind for about 9 years. First I didn't have the money and social environment to develop skills, then started working, I had the money but no time, then by the time I was 25, 26, I had some money and time but thought I was old for it and lots of discouraging ...
2
I have had this happen once in the past. The best advice I can give you is...
A) GET CONTRACTS FOR EVERYTHING. Signed by all parties.
B) If you have completed work for a client and they have not paid you and you know there are budget issues like you mentioned, hold on to the work. Do not give it to them until you are paid in full for the services you ...
2
Hi Bala,
it sounds like you still have more market research to do before you're ready to launch.
I'd go check out the kontakt forums for a good source of guys that are already out there doing it. Once you see what they do and what they charge you'll have a better idea of where your stuff fits in the marketplace.
Aditionally, go look at soundiron.com and ...
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
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.
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 ...
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
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
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'm not able to answer the questions you've asked, however, I would offer some advice on the distribution front.
I would almost definitely include a digital download of the tracks as well as/instead of a CD/DVD. The amount of facilities who will need tracks NOW, ready to download will be far greater than those who will wait for the music to come through the ...
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In that case, here's some random bits of info in no particular order. I'll try not to ramble, I could go on all day about this stuff. I'm actually working on a little ebook on the subject. :)
Digital Downloads are a Must: You might have romantic thoughts now about burning disks and packing envelopes, but they will turn from dream to nightmare quickly. The ...
1
Forgive me if I'm being slow, but I've re-read your question several times and I still can't figure out exactly what you're looking to do. Some mixing of terminology happening I think.
Sample Libraries: Loops, individual musical elements, riffs, sound fx, standalone sounds etc. typically designed for musicians to use for music-making purposes.
Music ...
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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.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
