Ironically a while back I said that the challenges were just on hiatus and wouldn't die... here we are a year later and they definitely died haha.

So we can either start over with Heartbeet's ideas or rejuvenate the old system. In the old system, someone would start the competition(generally the person who won the last contest, but this is a special circumstance) by coming up with their own challenge rules - baseline is for people to come up with a track. There would have a timeframe(about a month generally worked best otherwise it was too short and no one enters or it is too long and people forget about the challenge). Once the deadline hits, the challenge starter would choose a few finalists and then the community would vote on their favorite entry. The "winner" would then have all the glory and head the next challenge.

Here are a few examples:
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=59046.msg1303966#msg1303966
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=45173.msg1092999#msg1092999
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=42442.msg1047517#msg1047517

Example of the votes - sometimes people would also provide constructive criticism:
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=45747.0

I want to say one of the pitfalls of the challenge that ended them all is that it was too complicated and not enough people entered.

Hello all, long-time lurker Pearl Pixel here! I'm usually found on the Audio boards, but today I'm here re: my non-freelance work.

I work for Overtone, a company in the process of making a voice chat app geared towards gamers. While it's still in the baby stages, we're looking for feedback and have even created a program for testers in which we'll give away game-centric prizes!

If you'd like to check out Overtone, the Open Alpha can be downloaded for Win and Mac here: https://overtoneapp.com/

If you or someone you know would like to be eligible for Official Tester Perks(such as a custom t-shirt, in-app badge, and chances to win prizes) sign-up here: https://overtoneapp.com/tester

Of course, you don't have to be an official tester to provide feedback - we're all ears and want to hear what you have to say!

Thanks,
Pearl Pixel

Hey Dan, first off, welcome to the community!

Despite the MANY - WAY TOO MANY - posts on here of composers looking for work, this isn't the right thread for posting that you're looking for work and/or your portfolio unless you were looking for specific critique, etc.

On another hand, *please* don't ask for people to hire you totally for "free" - promo materials are okay, but you can totally get more. Royalties are a great alternative to outright payment if need be. It'll come to bite you in the long run. You mention on your website that you're flexible with pricing, which is totally great, but if future employers(indie/freelance/etc) come onto the forum and see that they can get a better price out of you, they'll use it to their advantage. Everyone is just a google search away, and if the employer is smart enough, they'll be a searching!

Tbh your work is worth way more than free anyway, charge what you feel you are worth, and if you feel you are worth nothing, join some communities that will build you up! There are plenty on Skype/Discord/Twitter, etc. We don't bite!

Hello  Nate, this is actually not the sub-forum for advertising your work!     

HOWEVER instead you can find some really cool people who are interested in being a community of audio geeks who may or may not be looking for jobs but instead are looking for feedback, tips, or random conversation regarding audio.

That being said you can always check out the Portfolios section or the Offering Paid Work section. There are rules to each sub-forum, so please pay attention - don't want to get in trouble with any mods!

Welcome to our community, I hope you get the best out of it! A lot of us have made great friends here

Also, PLEASE don't take gigs for free only in exchange for exposure. That's currently ruining our side of the industry, and only demeans & devalues your work. If you do take gigs like that, make sure it's only for something you truly want to work on(perhaps for a friend or something) and make sure you make money if the devs make money. You didn't go to school to learn how to do work for free.

Hello all! My name is Alex and I remotely record for composers on Flute(traditional & Native American) & Oboe.

Live recordings can add a ton of life into compositions, but many aren't able to afford it - musicians are expensive and composers don't always get a ton of money per track to justify the cost. SO this month, I am saying good riddance to my normal performing rates and letting composers pay what you want for live recordings!

This is open to composers of all ages, & all skill levels! If you don't think you'll be done with the music you want recorded this month, feel free to show interest(I may me lenient on the "deadline"   )

Details:


Past session work examples:
https://soundcloud.com/pearl_pixel/sets/flute-playing-pearl-pixel

Haha yep, it's probably a private playlist - we can't hear without the specific private link

I've done the same thing many more times than I'd like to imagine...

Thanks Calle!

Also Holly, I notice someone actually told you it would be better to post that here - sorry for the confusion, everyone keeps directing you to different forums haha. It's cool to directly post your Portfolio in the Portfolios section like you've done here, and if there is a specific post where someone is offering paid work, you can then post in that thread. People directed you otherwise since you posted a portfolio in the Offering Paid Work sub-forum and not everyone knows the exact rules if they don't frequent each one. Good luck! 

Hello  Tiffany, this is actually not the sub-forum for advertising your work!   

HOWEVER instead you can find some really cool people who are interested in being a community of audio geeks who may or may not be looking for jobs but instead are looking for feedback, tips, or random conversation regarding audio.

That being said you can always check out the Portfolios section or the Offering Paid Work section. There are rules to each sub-forum, so please pay attention - don't want to get in trouble with any mods!

Welcome to our community, I hope you get the best out of it! A lot of us have made great friends here   

[There are rules to each sub-forum, so please pay attention]

Hello  Charly, this is actually not the sub-forum for advertising your music!   

HOWEVER instead you can find some really cool people who are interested in being a community of audio geeks who may or may not be looking for jobs but instead are looking for feedback, tips, or random conversation regarding audio.

That being said you can always check out the Portfolios section or the Offering Paid Work section. There are rules to each sub-forum, so please pay attention - don't want to get in trouble with any mods!

Welcome to our community, I hope you get the best out of it! A lot of us have made great friends here 

Yo I love this!!

I've been working and listening in the background for 10+ mins now, and it's perfect. Good work, can't wait to hear more from you

As much as people try to diminish the usability of Garageband, it's a decent DAW, and some big artists started out using it! If you happen to like that and start to outgrow it, Logic is probably your easiest route. It's a bit more complicated and has more features, but it's like Garageband had a parent, and that parent is Logic. It's a very smooth transition between the two(sorry if you've already been told the same elsewhere) Good luck, and have fun!!  

Also, here are some links for free samples - some might seem odd, but you never know where you might actually end up using them:

http://www.embertone.com/instruments/instruments.html
http://www.atomhub.net/Freebies.html

Not free, but cheap and whimsical:
https://www.audiothing.net/instruments/

[There are rules to each sub-forum, so please pay attention]

Hello Phil and Sean, this is actually not the sub-forum for advertising your music!   

HOWEVER instead you can find some really cool people who are interested in being a community of audio geeks who may or may not be looking for jobs but instead are looking for feedback, tips, or random conversation regarding audio.

That being said you can always check out the Portfolios section or the Offering Paid Work section. There are rules to each sub-forum, so please pay attention - don't want to get in trouble with any mods!

Welcome to our community, I hope you get the best out of it! A lot of us have made great friends here 

Tbh, I don't think they're dead, they've just taken a hit w/ really long and rather complicated/involved challenges recently. I'm not sure if the next person in line is going to start a new one or not. Perhaps we need a sort of mod to help spearhead and keep each going?

It would be nice if there were an option to make sure each new challenge isn't too complicated, but the fun in winning is being able to creatively choose the next challenge. So it seems that gaps may naturally occur as we see now. 

Hiya Jake, this is actually not the sub-forum for advertising your music! 

HOWEVER instead you can find some really cool people who are interested in being a community of audio geeks who may or may not be looking for jobs but instead are looking for feedback, tips, or random conversation usually regarding audio. We even have competitions for you to participate in!!

That being said you can always check out the Portfolios section or the Offering Paid Work section. There are rules to each sub-forum, so please pay attention - don't want to get in trouble with any mods!

But without further ado, welcome to our community!! I hope you get the best out of it! A lot of us have made great friends here 

Uhhh put anything but student and you're golden - even if you're a student :D

(Pro-tip: People are very judgemental when it comes to the name-tags - if you put composer/sound designer on the tag and want to talk to other devs, turn your badge around during events and the conference so they have to actually get to know what you do instead of seeing your badge and turning away before saying a word. It happens. It's unfortunate, but can be dealt with. Also, people like that probably aren't worthy of your time anyway...)

Hiya Rinohur, this is actually not the sub-forum for advertising your music!   

HOWEVER instead you can find some really cool people who are interested in being a community of audio geeks who may or may not be looking for jobs but instead are looking for feedback, tips, or random conversation usually regarding audio. We even have competitions for you to participate in!!

That being said you can always check out the Portfolios section or the Offering Paid Work section. There are rules to each sub-forum, so please pay attention Smiley But without anymore ado, please let me welcome you to our community. I hope you get the best out of it! A lot of us have made great friends here 

Congrats Yellowjacket :D And yep, come up with an awesomely creative idea that you think would be fun and challenging, pick a deadline, and post it up!

There are more reasons to be here other than the free pizza? What am I doing with my life....

I think we all have the feeling of needing to be loved and known by others. I agree with Zack in the line of - I don't really care how many followers I have or how many plays I have anymore, but I think it's because I spent so much time worrying about it. I was scared to death the time I put my very first song on Soundcloud. I was giving the world the ability to hear my work, judge it, and form opinions about it - perhaps about me. After a while I suppose you slowly realize that YOU are improving, you don't need followers to get the gig as long as you have the quality your client is looking for.

As for self-promo, I'm not totally for it, and I'm not totally against it. It's one of those in-moderation sorts. If you're particularly proud of something? Go ahead, post it on Twitter! I just get bothered when someone posts the same track in 500 groups - not asking for critique, just posting it where it does nothing for them. If you post in composer groups, no one cares. If you post in dev groups, you might get a hit or two, just don't be annoying  

Twitter is probably my biggest asset right now. I'm lucky because I have a good number of dev friends - some have musicians, some don't have any say in the musicians for their game - but if I Tweet something out like "Hey, anyone know of people hiring for composers?" They'll retweet, and I may or may not find some people looking for composers. This is why networking and building friends outside of our little/HUGEMONGOUS audio field is always a good idea. I was actually told the other week by some angry WB games recruiter that we should never talk to anyone other than audio people. LOL - she is beyond wrong. How many gigs have I gotten from my audio friends? 0... maybe 1. How many gigs from my dev friends? Many more than 1  



Also, props Calle, I love to see that you frequently update your music on Soundcloud . Looks like you're working really damn hard!

I second Mixcraft, BUT do know going in that it just barely skims the surface - you will likely outgrow it within a year if you use it a lot

I can say however, that it is really good for teaching and learning the basics. If you can make stuff sound good in there, you can make it sound good in any DAW!

Now THIS sounds fun :D Going to follow and rt asap!