作者：Harry Mack

自由职业者可不是一件好差事。大多数自由职业者都表示他们花在找活干的时间远远多于实际工作时间。特别是当你刚刚进入某种产业并开始拓展自己的客户名单时，这种情况更加明显。而随着业务的壮大，以及越来越多新老客户向你靠拢，这种情况也会逐渐发生改变。

所以我们该如何获得客户并取悦他们？这时候不只需要凭借最终的音乐和音效成品，整个创造过程更是深刻影响着自由职业者与客户之间的关系。过去十年里我一直待在自由音频行业中，并从成功与失败中吸取了多种经验教训。

不管是项目投标还是发行后的支持，我都从中学到了如何确保工作有效进行以及如何让客户愿意在下一个项目中仍然选择与我合作，向同行们称赞并推荐我。

work from home jobs(from recruitingblogs.com)

始终体现专业水准

我听说许多客户总是将音频设计师当成是一些古怪的人。他们总是不会按时回复邮件，总是会提交一些劣质的作品，总是不愿意回电话，有时候还会莫名其妙地搞失踪。这点真的让我很惊讶，因为一直以来我都认为这只是一种偶然，但却没想到它却逐渐变成了一个被反复讨论的主题。

我不认为人们会喜欢那些将创意看得比专业性重要的老套艺术家。做到专业性非常简单，但却也非常重要。在电子邮件中使用正确的语法和拼写，不可使用任何速写法；阐述清楚，自信且切中主题；语气温和有礼貌；回复迅速；说的都是有帮助的内容。这都是一些再简单不过的事情了，但是如果你能够至始至终保持这种专业性，你便能从激烈的竞争者中脱颖而出。

出价过程

通常我从一个新客户那收到的第一封邮件总是关于“所以，你的要价是多少？”但是我们这个领域中的任何人都很排斥这种问题，因为我们只能回答道“看情况而定！”因为我们的要价必须根据项目，规模，所需资产，客户要求的时间范围，目标平台等元素而决定。但是在你做出各种详细解释后，客户最终也只会拿其他自由职业者的价钱进行比较并做出决定。

我认为最成功的策略便是同时呈现出最有利与最不利的标价。客户在联系你之前可能心里已经有了自己的价格标准，所以如果你要价过高，你便会失去这次机会，但是如果你要价过低，你便会被咬的死死的并始终维持着这一低价——所以说自由职业者也很难当啊。

投标价格必须被保存在一个专业的文档中，上面还需要印有你自己的logo，并且其中还需要清楚地列出所有相关资产，包括音效以及音乐等。列出一个范围让对方知道你所提出的只是一个大概数字。如此当他们心中的预算较低之时便存在着压低要价的空间。

每个人都希望自己的游戏带有最优秀的声音和音乐，但是如果他们想要尽可能压低成本，他们便可以聘请那些只是为了获得经验而免费提供服务的学生。即使未收到出价回复也不要气馁——你需要耐心地等待。在一两周时间里耐心查看信件，并礼貌地询问对方是否收到了你的出价信息。

各种文件

自由职业者的音频项目中总是会出现各种文件。我们必须尽可能明确这些文件并保存备份。让我们做出进一步分析。

项目投标：这应该是客户所提出的第一个要求。你需要花多少时间才能完成这一项目？你需要将这一点作为备份，并将其附加到合同中。除此之外这份表单中还必须出现你的名字，签署日期，项目名称以及相关合同信息。

保密协议：签署了这份协议你便能够知晓项目中的相关内容，且承诺不能够盗取这些信息。这份协议也有可能出现在投标文件之前，因为客户在决定投入多少声音资产前可能需要向你展示一些游戏细节。

如果客户在未签订任何协议时便开始派发各种设计文件，你便需要提醒对方你更乐意在落实各项工作前签订保密协议和合同。

我只想再重申一次：你最好在签订合同后才开始执行项目的创造工作。明确你能从中获得多少报酬，何时能够拿到这些报酬，需要负责哪些工作以及时间限制是多久等。如果客户对于截止日期有疑问，或者不清楚为何你创造了XYZ的音乐主题，甚至莫名其妙地挑毛病，那么合同便是你最好的救生圈。

音频设计文件：不管客户是否对此有要求，你都需要在真正落实工作前出示音频设计文件。这是双方都能够使用并编辑的文件，用于规划音频的设计。你必须在文件中说明灵感的来源，如什么样的游戏和媒体拥有与你的项目类似的音频；并列出目标，即你希望音频在游戏中起到何种作用（游戏邦注：例如森林场景中的音乐便需要通过温和的吹奏乐器去呈现出一种微风徐徐且悠闲的氛围，并伴随着鸟鸣声的和风声的音景）。在开始创作前你必须先去争取这些设想获得认可，如此才能减少之后的修改次数并缓解你和客户间的误解。

资产交付电子表格/文件：当你将作品呈现给客户时你必须使用excel表格或文件去解释你所提交的内容，包括它应该被安置在游戏中的哪个地方（如音乐应该出现在哪个关卡，或什么时候开始播放某个声音），并留下一定的空间去添加额外信息。客户总是希望能够清楚执行过程，内容是否得到认可或者是否需要做出修改等等。

发票：一旦所有内容获得了认可并且游戏即将发行，我们便需要开始准备发票了。发票其实有点类似于项目投标文件，不过它会明确说明资产值而不是只列出个大概。其中包含了你和客户的所有合同信息，所以合作双方都可以将其打印出来并以税收为目的自己保存。我喜欢将其称为“发票1”，从而让客户在发行后仍能够添加额外的发票。而在文件最底端我将申明客户必须在30天内付款，并对此次合作表示感谢。伴随着这一发票附件，在你的电子邮件中还会提到一些最合适的支付方式，包括PayPal，支票，电汇等等。

平衡家庭和工作生活

最后，取决定作用的还是你的工作质量。自由音频创造者总是很难平衡家庭生活与工作，而如果不能平衡这两方面他们便很难创造出真正优质的作品。因为每个人都过着不同的生活，所以寻找这种平衡点也将面临各种不同的挑战。自由职业者可能拥有小孩，室友，丰富的社交生活，第二份工作等等。

保持积极性和注意力：在家办公总是很容易分心。不管是网络，电视，冰箱，手机，或者是家人和零工的任何行动都有可能干扰到你的工作。在家里没有人会时刻盯着你是否在工作，也不会有老板随时跑到你跟前巡视你是否在上Facebook。

如果你不能对工作保持足够的积极性，你便不可能完成任何作品。如果你被这个问题深深困扰着，你也可以在早晨设置好今天要完成的所有任务，并在自己开始分心前确保完成了这些任务。

健康的工作时间：作为自由职业者，我们总是不会去压缩工作量，所以我们也很难去设置健康的工作时间。过去我总是担心自己脱离工作的那些时刻都是在浪费时间。在家办公的音频设计师如果能够明确地规划自己的工作时间，他们便能够准时回到生活环节中放松休息。

对我来说最糟糕的一点是这些时间的投入却不能换得等量的回报——未能获得实在的收入去证明我的辛苦工作，并推动着我更加努力地工作。这是一种不健康的时间点，我不仅不能够与家人们共享休闲时光，同时还只会不断地担心自己的事业。这并不是生活！

而我需要做的便是为自己设定一份像普通人一样的工作时间，并认真遵循着这些时间安排，即在一天结束后便停止手上的工作，继续工作就算加班了，并且会对自己的生活和家庭造成危害。当然了，加班是大多数人工作中必不可少的一部分，但是如果加班变成了家常便饭，你便需要重新思考下自己的时间安排了。

单独在家办公：我需要一个特别的办公室，即不同于游戏领域或上网社交领域。作为一名音频设计师，我们必须拥有一个安静的环境去执行一些不间断的声音创作。必要的话你也可以在房门外挂上“工作中勿扰”等能够让别人知道你不愿被干扰的提示语。同时我还希望家庭账单和条款不会出现在我的办公桌上，因为我希望明确区分工作和家庭。我不会让工作文件与重要的家庭文件混淆在一起。我不会在办公电脑上安装任何游戏——因为这是最大的灾难。我们需要明确区分工作时间与家庭时间！

管理多个项目

自由职业者也有自己的喜与悲。有时候我会竭力避免同时应对多个项目，因为我不敢保证是否能够确保所有内容的有序进行。这时候计划便非常重要，因为我们的目标是确保每个客户都能在截止时间前获得最合适的音频。我们一般都是在与客户进行讨论或发送电子邮件时明确这一点。

你的工作便是记下客户所要求的每项资产。我的显示器旁边的墙上贴着一张日程表，上面明确记录着截止日期与客户名字，以此确保我拥有足够时间去完成每位客户所要求的内容。我总是会为自己留下一定的缓冲时间，因为音频制作是一种创造性过程，所以肯定会出现事情不能有效运转的情况。

除此之外我还会使用Google Docs以及Gmail上的电子表格，从而让我能够随时访问相关内容。我将在此列出我所接收的所有项目，包括各种资产，提交日期，一些重要的时间表以及未支付的发票等内容。在我开始创作前我将先浏览这些文件以确保未出现新内容，或者没有其它需要删除的内容，从而让我更加清楚自己每一天需要完成的工作并保证能够在规定时间内完成所有创作。

如果你需要在好几周后才能真正接触到新客户，你便需要事先了解他们。我认为他们愿意尊重你的专业性（即尝试着去平衡一切矛盾的工作），但文件中同时也提到了，如果出现问题你也可以删除它们。

你不可避免需要加班并在周末工作！我从不会错过截止日期，也总是能够完成资产列表的所有内容，我也希望今后的我能够继续保持这种效率。同时我们还需要预留出修改与添加最后资产的时间。很少有项目的音频能够一开始便做到最完美。

批评是件好事

别人说我作为音频设计师的最大优点便是始终都能以友好且专业的态度去接受各种批评。当然了我为此也没有少下功夫，因为对于我投入大量时间和精力所创造出的作品我总是会带有防御性心理。谁不是呢。“顾客就是上帝”便是原因。是他们出钱制作游戏，所以对于最终产品（游戏邦注：包括声音设置）他们也会有自己的想法。

如果你的音频未能满足他们的目标，这便是理解错误所造成的，并且最终只会变成你这一方的问题。某些客户非常有音乐细胞，并且能够清楚地表达出自己的设计目标，但是也有些客户却几近音痴，根本不清楚自己想要的到底是什么。对于我们来说认真听取对方的描述并围绕着这些内容进行下一次修改非常重要。

在过去几年里我学会了怎么做才是对游戏真正有帮助的，以及如何做出设计选择才能让客户感到开心。有时候客户只是希望被掌控着，并“拥有一些人帮助他们处理某些事物”。当你的音频能够运行于游戏中时，你便希望确保它是最棒的，并且你也希望确保客户能够自信地认为自己的游戏具有最优秀的音频。我们可以通过接受专业人士的批评，并向其咨询相关问题而做到这一点。让他们知道你有真正在聆听他们的意见。

自由自在

自由音频设计工作既存在益处，也具有挑战。安排你自己的时间，敢于接受新项目，出色地完成工作——这是一种充满不确定性的生活，但同时也带有各种让人兴奋的未知机遇。我们总是很难一下子便获得大量的客户，但是如果始终带着专业态度并体现出高质量的创造性，客户们便会希望继续与我们合作。成功的自由职业者拥有能够从一长串客户列表中挑选最合适项目的天赋，但是如果想要获得客户的信任和依赖却需要经历多年的学习。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Best Tips for Building a Freelance Career

by Harry Mack

Freelance is a tough thing. Ask most people and they’ll tell you that they put more time in finding work than actually doing work. That’s especially true when you’re just getting into the business and growing your client list. It becomes less true the longer you’ve been doing it, and the more new and old clients approach you for potential work.

So how do you make and keep happy clients? It’s not just the final soundtrack and soundscape that matters, but the whole process leading to the release of the game that affects the freelancer-client relationship. I’ve been in the freelance audio business for over a decade and have learned a lot from my successes and fumblings.

From project bid to post-release support, here’s what I’ve learned to ensure your work is stellar and that your clients are happy enough to think of you for their next project… and to sing your praises to their colleagues.

Always Be Professional

I’ve heard from a lot of clients that audio designers are flakey. They don’t respond promptly to emails, they submit shoddy work, they don’t return calls, and sometimes just disappear with no further word. This always surprised me, and I’ve always assumed it was a fluke, but over the years it’s become a recurring theme.

I don’t think people appreciate that stereotypical artist who puts creativity above professionalism. It’s really very simple, but oh, so important. Use correct grammar and spelling in emails, with no shorthand. Speak clearly, confidently and to the point. Be friendly and courteous. Respond promptly to emails. Be available. This is straightforward stuff, but being consistently professional will set you head and shoulders above the rest of the competition.

The Bidding Process

Usually the first email I get from a new client will be, “So, how much do you charge?” Anyone who’s in my field hates that question, because we always have to respond with, “Depends!” Depends on the project, the size, amount of assets, how fast you need them, what platform it’s for, etc., etc., etc., etc. But after you wrestle out as much detail as possible, in the end they’ll want a bid to compare with other freelancers.

I’ve found the most successful tactic is to present a bid with a best-case and worst-case scenario. They’ll likely have a number in their head before contacting you, so if you overbid you’ll lose before even starting, and if you underbid, and underbid consistently, well, that’s a hard life to lead.

Bids should be on a professional form document with your logo on it, along with assets clearly defined in terms of per sound effect and per minute of music. Put in a range so they know you’re quoting a ballpark figure. This will give them some room to go down if they have a lower budget in mind than you’re requesting.

In the end, everyone wants a game to ship with great sounds and music, but if they’re looking for the cheapest possible, nowadays there’s plenty of students who will do it for free just for the credit. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t hear back — sometimes the process takes some time. Check back in one or two weeks and politely ask if they received your bid.

Document Everything

There’s a lot of documentation that goes into a freelance audio project. It’s important to get as much of this as possible and to safeguard backups. Let’s break it down.

Project bid: Likely this will be the first thing a client asks for. How much do you think you can do the project for? Keep this as a backup, and reference/attach it to contract signing. Other important information on this sheet should be your name, date, title of project, and your contact information.

NDA: This is a form to allow you to see aspects of the project with a promise not to steal that information. Depending on things, this may occur before the bid, if the client wants to show you details about the game before deciding how many sound assets it would take to create the game.

Don’t try and push for one, but if they start handing out buckets of design documents before anything’s been signed, remind them that you’d be happy to sign an NDA and contract before properly tackling the work.

Contract/Agreement of Work: Lots of other articles are out there to describe how to negotiate a fair contract. Read them. Sign a contract, and remember to get them to sign it and return to you. Keep it safe somewhere! Do not work on a project until a contract is signed.

I cannot stress this enough, except to say it again: do not work on a project until a contract is signed. Make sure it says how much you are getting paid, when, for how much work, due at what point. If clients ever have a question about when something is due, or why haven’t you done music theme XYZ and you have no idea what they are talking about but they’re angry because they haven’t received it yet, a contract is a life saver.

Audio Design Document: Whether they want it or not, it’s always good to present an audio design document before working on anything serious. This is a document that both parties should have access to and ability to edit, to hammer out a plan for the audio. In it you should discuss inspirations, such as what types of games and media have similar audio to your project, and the goals, which are what you are trying to get the audio to do in the game. (For example, the music on the forest level will have gentle wind instruments to convey a breezy, carefree atmosphere, coupled with a light ambient soundscape of birdsong and wind.) Try to get this approved before you start building assets, to reduce the amount of revisions and miscommunications between yourself and the client.

Asset Delivery Excel/Document: When you present your work to a client, it should come with either an excel sheet or some sort of document that explains what you are submitting, where it should go in the game (such as what level the music will be playing on, or where the sound should be implemented), and leaves room for additional information. Clients will want to be able to track what’s been implemented and where, and if it’s been approved or needs a revision.

Invoice: Once everything’s approved and the game’s ready to ship, we’re ready to invoice. This should look a lot like the project bid document, except the assets are clearly defined instead of ballparked. It has all your contact information, as well as the client’s, so that both parties can print out and keep for tax purposes. I like to put “Invoice 1″ on it, to allow for additional invoices should the client need post-release support. At the very bottom, put something to the effect of, please remit payment with 30 days, thank you for your business. Along with this invoice attachment, in your email describe the best methods of payment, whether it’s PayPal, a check to your address, wire transfer, etc.

Home Life, Home Work

In the end, the quality of your work speaks volumes. Working freelance audio can be a bit tricky when it comes to balancing a home life, and without a balanced home life it’s difficult to create consistently good work. Finding this balance will be full of different challenges, for everybody leads different lives. Some will have children, roommates, strong social lives, second jobs, you name it.

Stay motivated and focused: Working at home comes with a huge amount of distractions. There’s the internet, TV, fridge, phone calls, potential family interruptions, chores — the list goes on. No one is looking over your shoulder making sure you’re working, no boss in the other room who can step in at any moment to catch you with Facebook open.

If you’re unable to keep yourself motivated on your own work, you’re not going to get anything done. If this is a problem, set daily tasks in the morning and make sure they get done before distractions.

Healthy work hours: As a freelancer it’s near impossible to turn down work, but worse, it’s difficult to set healthy work hours. I used to fret that every moment I wasn’t working on my career was wasted time. An in-house audio designer has clearly defined working hours, and when they come home, that’s that — it’s time to relax.

The worst part for me were those times without consistent work — with no tangible income to prove I was working hard, I worked even harder. It got to an unhealthy point where I couldn’t enjoy any relaxing time with my family, worrying that instead of playing games I should be career building. That’s no life!

The answer for me was to set working hours like a normal person, and respect that when an end of the day came, every moment past that was overtime and beginning to become harmful to my life and family. Of course overtime is definitely part of our business, and most people’s, for that matter, but when it’s a daily thing, rethink your hours.

Separate work from home: I need a specific office area which is different from a game area or social computer area. As an audio designer, this means a quiet place to do uninterrupted sound work. If necessary, get a sign that says “Recording in Process” or whatever will let people know you’d like to not be disturbed. I like to make sure home bills and items aren’t allowed to touch the office desk, because a clear separation from work and home is important to me. My work files don’t get mixed up with important home documents. I have no games installed on my work computer – what a disaster that would be! Work time is work time, home time is home time.

Managing Multiple Projects

Working freelance has its ups and downs. Sometimes I’ll be up to my ears fighting off multiple projects at once, and it can be tricky making sure I get everything organized. Planning is important here, because the goal is to make sure every client gets the correct audio before milestones, without forgetting anything. It’s usually the case that during discussions or emails with clients, ideas and suggestions get bandied about.

It’s your job to jot those down and to ensure that each asset that’s requested gets created and submitted. I have a calendar posted on the wall right by my monitor, with due dates and names listed to make sure that I have enough time to create assets for each client’s deadlines. I always make sure to schedule in buffer time, because audio is a creative process and there’s sometimes moments where things aren’t quite working out.

Other tools I use are Google Docs and spreadsheets tied into a Gmail account that I can access anywhere. They’ll have all my projects listed on them, with all the assets requested alongside due dates, as well as important milestones and outstanding invoices. Before I start my work I’ll take a glance to make sure there’s nothing new or nothing needing to be removed, so that I know what exactly I’m working on for the day and that it’ll get done in plenty of time.

Be clear with new clients if you’ll need a couple weeks before you can get to them. I think they can respect that you’re a professional trying to balance inconsistent work, but always mention that if it’s a problem you can move them up.

Be prepared for overtime and weekend work should this be the case! I have never missed a deadline or come short on an asset list, and I hope never to. Also, remember to schedule in time for revisions and last-minute additional asset requests. Blessed and few are the projects that get audio right on the first go.

Criticism is a Good Thing

I’ve been told that one of my best traits as an audio designer is that I take criticism in a friendly and professional manner. It took a while to get there, as I’ve always been defensive of things I put time and thought in. Who isn’t? “The customer is always right” is a phrase everyone knows for a reason: it’s true. They are funding and making the game, and likely have a vision for the end product including how it’s going to sound.

If you’re not meeting their audio goals, it’s a problem of miscommunication, and in the end that’s your problem. I’ve had clients who are very musical and can express clearly what their design goals are, and others who are near tone deaf and unsure of what they actually want. Learning to hear what they have to say and putting that directly into the next round of revisions is key.

Over the years I’ve gained the confidence to know when to push back for the good of a game, and when to relent on a design choice that has no other impact than to make the client happy. Sometimes they just want to feel in charge and “have a good handle on things”. While it’s your audio work that’s going in the game, and you want to make sure it’s the best it can be, at the heart of it, you want to make sure your client feels confident that they did indeed ship a game with great audio. We can do that by receiving every criticism with attentive professionalism, and ask questions to refine what they are saying. Let them know you’re listening.

Free as a Bird

Freelance audio design is as rewarding as it is challenging. Setting your own hours, the thrill of a new project, the fulfillment of a job well done — it’s an exciting life full of uncertainty, but with amazing opportunities just around the corner. It’s definitely very difficult to break into and to start growing that client list, but with a professional attitude and high-quality creativity, clients will begin to come back with more projects and emails saying they’d love to work with you again. A successful freelancer has the gift of choosing their own projects from a long list of eager customers, but only after years of learning how to effectively earn the trust and loyalty of repeat customers.（source：GAMASUTRA）