Welcome!

Welcome to the team, and thanks so much for joining us! I truly believe everyone on this team is extremely special, and it’s so fantastic to add another great person to this team. Needless to say, I’m really glad to have you on this.

Here’s what you’ve gotta know right now...

Communication

This is what's going to help us win.

Good communication has been a huge anchor point for us since starting to bring on more members in 2016 (this is when the team really started to grow). It's the one thing—even beyond creativity and talent—that's helped us work so incredibly well together, especially since all of us are working from our studios at home. Sometimes when we're in the thick of it—all of us working at the same time—I feel like we're in the same building working towards our one goal... all thanks to constant comms. It's pretty exhilarating.

We’ll Happily Stop What We’re Doing to Help You

When we first started, I noticed people weren’t keeping up with communication because they were nervous, shy, embarrassed, or fearful. Don't let those things get in the way of being candid with the team.

If you don't know how to do something (even if you might think it's something you should know), please ask. If you're unavailable for a few days (or weeks, or months, or years), please let us know. If you said you were going to finish X amount of work by a certain day, and you've noticed that you're more behind than you're proud of, let us know.

You have nothing to be afraid of or embarrassed about. Nobody's going to laugh, tease, yell at, or be angry with you. In fact, they're going to stop what they're doing and help you get to where you and the team need to be. This is the truth, and it's something we've done many times for each other.

Let's always be talking with each other, because that's how we're going to succeed as individuals, and as a team. 

Discord

We started using Discord mid-2020 for most of our communication. Email is also a great option, but most activity is through our Discord group.

Categories & Text Channels

On the left, you'll find all of our "channels," which will be used as project-specific/purpose-specific chat rooms. In general, you’ll be able to click the channel description to see how to use it and to find out more information about a project.

You’ll notice that we have categories such as OST PRODUCTION CHANNELS and RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT. As we build out new departments and develop new work, you’ll see new categories of channels pop up.

Archived Channels

If you’ve worked on a project and you can’t find it in its original category, it might have been archived. Look into the “Archive” categories (e.g. OST PRODS (ARCHIVE)) and you may find it organized in alphabetical order.

Voice & Video Channels

#thelounge is our conference room. Use this to host meetings, tea times (we have one almost every Thursday afternoon, unless things get busy), or impromptu chats.

Notifications & Settings

In the top left, you'll see a downward arrow next to our server name, "Outlier Studios." That arrow will show you options so you can tailor your server experience, including notifications settings.

User Profile

On the bottom left, you'll see your picture and name. You'll also find a mute, deafen, and user settings buttons.

Team Members You might be Working with

We’re all working within various departments, but everyone is active and available to you. Each team member is good at many things, but here’s where they shine:

• Roland Bingaman - Pop production, trailers, and cinematic music are well developed. Can perform vocals, guitars, (has access to) accordion, field recordings;

• Thor Bremer - Creative at sound design and has major experience in writing for any type of small ensemble. All percussion, marimba, vibraphone, and guitars, among other things. Loves creating cinematic music and scoring games.

• Daniel Ciurlizza - I have a large understanding of scoring to picture and cinematic writing. Will play with any genre of music. Access to electric and acoustic guitar, electric bass, piano, violin, cello, vocals, drum kit, cajon, trumpet, melodica, ukulele, maracas, egg shaker, recorder, tin whistle, synthesizers (but not analog), field recordings, and a bunch of other stuff. I love talking about various aspects of storytelling, creativity, and business strategy;

• Paul Connolly - A meticulous editor and sample designer with experience in the technical side of audio editing. Also has experience in SFX and scoring;

• Rhyan D’Errico - Has many skills with orchestral and hybrid scoring. Plays piano, and has access to ocarinas, violins, guzheng, grand piano, rub rods, and other percussion;

• Nestor Estrada - A skilled composer with deep theory training. Can write in many cinematic styles—has mostly been in orchestral and hybrid. Also very good at chill/lo-fi music. Can perform guitars (lots of quick fingery stuff in all styles), synths, and many other things - just ask!

• Vasundhara “Vasu” Gupta - Sound design and sample development skills are where she shines. Vocals, guitars, tabla, ghatam, kanjira, other percussion, double bass, cello, violin, accordion, flute, harp;

• Hil Jaeger - Will tackle anything and everything, and will most likely deliver many options very fast. Exceptionally fast at producing things. Pop production is her strength, but many other genres are also very strong. Vocals, cello, drum kit, field recordings, synthesizers;

• Matt Kelly - Has a developed skill in honing in on the kind of sounds a client wants musically and in sound design. Detailed ear for audio mixing. Field recordings, guitars, basses, synths, clarinet, saxophone;

• Brandon Lau - A master at musical sound design with synthesizers. Has access to at least one hardware synth, and has extensive experience in various software synthesizers. Excellent at synth-based music;

• Miles Minkin - Organized, has clear goals, and is eager to try things for the sake of creative experimentation. Shines on synthesizers, sound design, and general music production;

• Bill Snyder III - Solid at broad management of projects and very creative in terms of sound design. Has a great ear for many genres, but is most practiced at the more commercial side of music. Is scoring films and games often. Plays percussion, bass, synths, field recordings, guitar;

• Ryan Spratt - Great at creative sound design in music and practical SFX. Builds his own instrument software (on Kontakt so far). Plays a ton of different instruments, synthesizers, field recordings, and anything else he can get his hands on;

• Stephen Tanksley - Very experimental sound designer. Usually comes up with the most outlandish ideas, yet they’re often quite useful in a practical sense. Can perform simple vocals, operatic vocals, cello, synthesizers, field recordings. High proficiency in coding and programming and aims to build valuable tools to be used in music production;

• Michael Van Bodegom-Smith - Wonderful composer and brass instrumentalist (can record brass ensemble!). Likes venturing into and experimenting with new styles and genres. Has a major interest in creating animated films, writing stories, and working on musicals.

Final Words

I know this is a whole lot of information all at once. If you have any questions, ask! Communication is going to help us get our creative community the best possible work we can make.

Lastly, thank you so much for doing this. Really excited for what we'll be creating; it's gonna blow 'em all away!

Here we go!