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[Professionals!] Looking for artists for new game project


Firgof
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Applications are closed. Thanks everyone for applying! We'll be listening and getting back to some of you very soon.

This may lead to a paid position. We would like to hear your best shots to compete for the chance to compose 60-120 minutes of original audio (paid/contract work) for Blind Mind Studio's second game.

Next week we'll be pulling entries to assemble a 'top 10' list. From that list we'll start contacting those who auditioned and providing more background on the project you'd be working for and so forth. At the moment, we're just looking for people of talent.

Genres we're looking to hear:

* Ambient

* Electronica (Light)

* Rock (Light-Moderate)

* Orchestral (Strings/Wind/Big Band)

* Choral (Back-up/Chamber)

* any genre you think you can convince us works.

What we're not looking for:

* Chiptunes (Sorry :( )

* IDM/Dubstep/Industrial

* Club/Dance music (Looking more for light synth than hard synth)

* Conventional/Modern Lyrics (If you do choral we'd probably direct you towards gregorian chant-esque pieces; not a hard and fast direction, but a suggestion on what we're expecting to hear)

Some example themes that apply to our game:

* lonely/empty sounding space

* solemn and passionate royal themes

* ominous/dark music

* grand, swelling, themes

We're looking for pieces to judge and if we like what we hear, we'll be getting back to you via Private Message or e-mail at your preference (leave which you prefer in your post). Prior work is absolutely accepted.

I will stress again that this is an offer for a potentially paid contract position for a large volume of audio. We're looking for serious, enthusiastic, musicians and will have high standards of entry. We look forward to hearing your work!

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Thanks for the audition, Omni-Psyence. Took the liberty of snooping around your soundcloud as well. Good stuff.

I won't be making any immediate decisions on who to bring on-board if anyone, so everyone: Feel free to add your tracks. We'll be contacting the top 10 ranking artists from the pool of applicants in about a week or two regarding possible contract work so get your audition in before next week if you want to be considered.

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Did you have any soundtrack examples/ideas in mind for what you're looking for? That's a very wide variety of genres you're asking for and they don't all work for "Big, And Empty Spaces", especially if you're asking potentials to create pieces to be judged before hand (which to experienced freelancers means hours or days of work with an 80% or higher chance they won't be used at all.)

Also, will you consider already made tracks? I'm interested in offering some already made stuff but I just finished a soundtrack now and I'm not looking to jump back in to create more tracks that likely won't be used.

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We definitely will consider already made tracks; we don't require tracks made specifically for the purposes of this audition. We're searching for talent, not our first track, so you can also provide work for your audition that we couldn't use in our project due to contractual/legal obligations.

Big and Empty Spaces more describes the visual component of the game; what your work would be supporting. It's a replacement for the specific genre/etc. because we haven't announced anything regarding our next title, so we have to keep it vague. We're looking for interpretations of lonely/empty sounding spaces, solemn/royal themes, and ominous/dark pieces; both synthish and orchestral sounds fit for the game's theme, either alone or mixed together in any fashion.

I'm interested in being potentially surprised by a genre/approach that I hadn't considered for the game. Since we haven't decided on the specific sound of the game, we're casting a wide net, which is why I'm trying to avoid providing specific examples. I'm aware this is a handicap and I am taking that handicap into consideration as I listen to any auditions.

Is that unreasonable?

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I personally find your approach rather refreshing. I love being given a challenge, and musically it's incredibly fun to rise to the occasion when someone asks for a piece based off nebulous descriptions. I have a big, big background in ambient music as well as being a fan of awe-inspiring, larger than life moods. So that's really a plus for me. I think Meteo just doesn't want to feel like his time is wasted, which is certainly fine. But as you said, you're looking for talent with a very specific method, one that inherently uses ambiguity. I'm okay with that!

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That explanation makes more much sense, though I'd still like it if we had some examples of what it is you hope to include so we better work towards a specified idea of what works for you - I've already learned that it even the most open-minded game supervisor has specified ideas whether he wants to admit them or not.

Time being wasted is definitely a major concern as it should be for all serious freelancers. Most of us have to have 40-60 hour work weeks to maintain a standard of living, therefore professional sounding tracks could take DAYS to create. I've done this enough to know on an audition scale, its usually better to avoid because the model then becomes "making music to please the supervisor" when it should be "making music to please the gamer".

Not trying to be an asshole here, just speaking from experience.

With that in mind, I have two things to showcase right now:

12followersmeteoxavier.bandcamp.com - this one is on a record label and would be subject to licensing, maybe. It's kinda loose right now and my understanding is I have all the rights and say on it right now.

meteoxavier.bandcamp.com - this is totally mine.

If you want to give me until tonight, I can PM the soundtrack I just finished too.

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Would you be alright with examples of what not to include instead?

I don't think you're an asshole. I think, as you say, you're just trying not to waste time because unless you're getting paid for it it's a lot of time investment for only a potential return (read: if you get selected). This is partly why I'm absolutely fine with prior work as an entry.

Probably none of the tracks produced here for audition purposes will we try to claim for the game so licensing and etc concerns shouldn't be much an issue. Sharing your tracks with the public could be an issue however so please watch yourselves as you submit. We don't want anyone getting in trouble with their prior employers/studios/publishers over a public demonstration of music which you might not have the rights to.

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Certainly. Entries are definitely going to be open until this Friday to next Monday.

There will still only be 10 who we decide to contact from the batch, but who is in the top 10 depends on talent, overall fit, quality, and style.

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Sure!

About our last project

Our previous project has netted more than 60k units sold (most at $3.65 or $20) and is available on just about any digital distribution platform. We even were able to find a distributor for our boxed release in Europe and almost got a boxed release in the United States until the company behind that release failed to deliver. Unlike our last project, which we had to launch before it was ready due to lack of capital, we intend to launch this next project with a complete and bug-free Day-0 (crossed fingers). Despite the early launch, the game's sales were strong enough to keep our company alive and with enough budget to launch another game; most attribute this to that we were upfront about it months in advance and actively worked on, added to, and patched the game for almost 2 full years for free as well as provided support for modders and made modding the game as painless as possible.

This was our previous title: http://starruler.blind-mind.com/

The game's full soundtrack is available for (EDIT: Apparently $1 now) on bandcamp, by the game's composer Artem Bank (who was also from the OC Remix community). I really do like most of the game's soundtrack, except for the game's own theme (ha!) which we just never got around to making a better one for.

[OST] http://artembank.bandcamp.com/album/star-ruler

[EXP] http://artembank.bandcamp.com/album/popstar-ruler

[My top 3 picks]

http://artembank.bandcamp.com/track/this-is-my-empire-these-cities-among-the-stars

http://artembank.bandcamp.com/track/city-in-the-stars

http://artembank.bandcamp.com/track/nova

About Me and Blind Mind Studios

Blind Mind Studios is an independent, non-published, 3 non-industry-veteran member LLC. I live in Texas, the boss (ThyReaper) lives in West Virginia, and Lucas (GGLucas) lives in the Netherlands. I handle the company's PR, some HR, and marketing. Despite our lack of experience in the industry, we each have a wealth of background skills and expertise as well as the willingness to pull 60+ hour weeks every week and almost excessively minimal salary.

My job as a game maker in the company is ... difficult to explain. Basically, if it doesn't involve engine code then it's either partly or fully my job when it doesn't fall to independent contractors (e.g. our 3d art and music). My background is in level design, but I'm a pretty flexible jack-of-all-trades sort of guy, so I do what I can for the others where I'm able.

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Alright, folks I'm going to end the application acceptance period at midnight (CST) on this coming Sunday. Past that time, I won't be accepting any new applications or auditions as consideration for the chance of a paid contract position for our upcoming game.

Thanks to you all for keeping the thread lively and keeping me posted on your auditions. I very much look forward to getting in contact with most of you in the coming days and wish everyone good luck.

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Private Messages should be going out today to contact those who got through to the next, and final, round of auditioning. I want to thank everyone who applied once more: By and large, we were impressed by the spirit and quality of your submissions, but there can only be a handful of folks who we can offer a potential position on this OST.

I'm impressed at what talent we can pull out of OCRemix's community. Keep it up, everyone!

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These tracks may appeal to your ominous/dark/lonely/ambient categories, with respect to individual parts of each track.

These songs were all composed essentially improvisationally, part-by-part. So basically, it would not be hard to create new sonic environments for your game as long as I know the mood I'm going for in each part.

Apologies for the clicks/pops in the older tracks, I was working with a fried sound card at the time.

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