There are elements in this world which is fair, and unfair, the latter being much heavier then the former. One of these things, is experience. In life as you progress you encounter more situations where without prior experience you are dismissed. This is mainly in the arts/entertainment business where everybody wants you to have experience but nobody is willing to give it to you!

What is this madness?! For years people try to find projects and people of like minded spirit that will carry them over this unforgiving and pointless wall. Whether you're trying to find the perfect voice actors for your animations, musicians for that perfect scene I firmly believe there should be a place to nurture and expose talent and sincere projects to the attention of the right people.

So it's time for me to break open the box and finally reveal the project which I, alongside my friend programmer am undertaking. It is a project that will help gap the dots here on all development sites like gamedev, onrpg, and even here on Newgrounds! Bringing artists together for better products.

Introducing Dreamer Dens!

Dreamer Dens is a website which will offer people with projects a place to post their projects with some details, and artists of all venues will be able to apply for it! Some of the features planned and well on their way is as follows. These are of course the major points, with many dozens of smaller features and details that are not displayed here.

1: Project Submission Form/Page
This is the one of two big pillars of the site. Anybody is allowed to post up a project with positions available that they're seeking to fill. They will be able to send requests to members in a database with showcasing material in the event they want to directly contact members first.

2:Advanced Portfolio/Profile Page
Unlike other sites the profile page on DD will be one of the biggest things the site focuses around. In fact, it is the second large pillar of the site! It will be able to house literature, music, movies (animation and real, trailers etc), voice acting clips, pictures, programs and anything else that people can create. These profiles will behave like your resumes for when an artist applies for a position on a project. Alongside an "available to work" option that will place them in a database for project leaders to find and contact.

3: Advanced Image Theft Protection
One of the most powerful features of DD is the new and exciting protection system that is being developed by the lead programmer. This system will be able to stop print screening, right clicking, image capturing a picture, keeping it safe from unwanted hands.

Every element on this site will of course be have the option of being downloaded for free, with an adjustable creative commons license the user can set to protect or set free the work as they deem fit.

4: Free Resources
Projects built from passion don't have much if any money involved with them. Let's be honest, if we had the money to invest into our dreams we'd do it !right away. As it turns out, that's not the case, so EVERYTHING on this site will always be free! Free open source tools from all over the web, free programs and services to help give you that boost, and free ways to make a little bit of money on the side to help invest in tools. All these methods are personally tested out so not to send you down some spiraling pit of unending torture to get any kind of return on it. I've spent months going through all these methods. Some work, some don't we will let you know they exist and how useful they are to you.

5: Sponsership
As the site advances and funds become readily available, Dreamer Dens will support and finance deserving artists and projects into reaching the end goal.

So what the hell was the point of all this? DD is looking for a Flash Designer to help create the look and feel of the site! We are looking for a talented and dedicated flash designer who has a good understanding of website layout and design and is available to work with us in the next coming months! True to the spirit of the site itself we don't require professional experience or much if any website design experience, but we do ask you prove to us you can handle the job, and well.

What we can offer you?

Compensation:
- We can offer you payment in installments. We cannot offer you all the money upfront. As the site generates revenue (via google ads, sponserships) your payments will be delivered to you. Should the site fail to generate the kind of money agreed upon between you, the artist and us, we will compensate the remainder out of our own pockets.
- You can get a beaming referral on your profile which will generate more work for you! How cool would it be if you could hire MindChamber or Stamper for your own site? It would be something similar except the site will be DD and you will be the artist behind it's visual conception! People would definitely be interested in hiring the artist behind the madness.

What we need from you.
- Site Layout/Design
- Site Logo/Symbol
- Ability to work alongside us for the next 2 or so months
- Ability to work in a reasonable time frame
- Good grasp of site design.

If you are interested please feel free to contact me at selcukbor@gmail.com or send me a pm here on Newgrounds for more details!

In my last post I wrote about how I was looking to rebuild my entire library. Through support and advice given I have been forced to consider what it was precisely that was bothering me.

Was it REALLY the libraries? Did I REALLY use them to their best potential?

I'd like to answer yes, but the answer is yes, and no.

Bwah?

I feel I know how to manipulate the library's sounds to get decent quality out of them. So in this context I have used them to their best potential.

But what I haven't done is used the instruments to their best potential. David Orr said to me in the last post, that I should try creating a solo piano piece.

and I did (okay I HAD to throw in a soloist singer in there)

The effort necessary just for those 30 seconds was staggering for me. 2 hours. My understanding of the orchestra is not weak, but my understanding of each instrument in it is apparently, horrible.

So I will not be using these 2 months to purchase an entire new library *though I WILL still be on the lookout for a few new sounds*, but I will take that time to dive further into these instruments whose voices I never took the time to truly listen and understand.

I hope none of them are going to pout on me now!

Workout Files:
Solo Piano Medley 1
Solo Piano Medley 2

Big news coming soon also.

For a long while now i've been looking for something new. For years i've been using the same tools, the same sounds, the same set up. These tools have long list their ability to inspire and have in fact began to deform my dreams and visions. Slow progress has become almost non existent and with time it gets worse. This is no writers block. No, this is something much more permanent.

For this reason I have taken up a full time job, which eats up roughly 50 hours a week. I intentionally asked for this gross overtime because of overtime pay (1.5 times normal pay for every hour above 40).

I have decided to COMPLETELY rehaul my setup. It would be stupid to say i'm going to get rid off all my other tools. A mighty penny given for them, and hell if i'm going to lose them. But i've forced myself to use these uninspiring sounds time and time again because I DID pay for them.

But now i'm going to come out of the closet, and just say what I want to say.

East West... you guys have dropped the ball so many times, and have produced such mediocre crap recently that i've lost all faith in continuing my dreams with you. Your sounds have become grating, your attitude has become snotty and pretentious (these guys are like the Microsoft for audio software), and I will have nothing more to do with you.

I was young, I was blind, I went for the biggest library with the lowest cost. I'm still young and blind, but not so blind that I don't see your gaping holes anymore. I'm done with you.

Feels good to say that. Feels bad that I have to now scrounge up 2.5 grand to re-establish. The site does enough to maintain itself, and provides no additional income *i'm fine with that*, and the free work I do does nothing for me *not that I plan to change that*

so for the next 2 months (planned to get $3,200 by then), my small corner on the internet will dwindle, and may slowly die. I hope most of you will still be here to hear the muse spinning my gears when return :D!

So here I am, trying to figure out what would help as many people as possible, and time is always something i'm running around trying to find... with bad results most of the time. So in an attempt to give the audience what they want most, i'm running a poll, and throwing some ideas out there. I'd love it if you could either support, or suggest something you'd like to see in here.

Some already planned features.
1: NG Audio Database
- Hand picked best of the best, stored in one place to allow people to easily listen to the best the portal has to offer.
Current Progress: 75% There are some issues with the log-in screen, that for some reason has no discernible solution, for now, we leave this behind for other ventures
2: Pop Up MP3 Flash player
- I've grown tired of forcing people to go to a different page to listen to the works that can be found there. So instead, i'm going to fix that mp3 player, and have that instead. Plus the website is broken in that we can't upload new music... it may not be fixed for a long time, so... yeah... we're changing to this.
3: Free Audio Software/Samples page
- Constantly updated, constantly new stuff to play with.
4: Add midi files for some songs, explaining how it was all done, from start to finish. Thought processes involved during it's construction, and all that other good stuff.
5: In depth reviews to some of the more expensive, powerful programs, which many musicians may be trying to figure out if it's worth it's salt.
+ Video Tutorials on how to use these programs. (Suggested by Danman87)
X: TOP SECRET
- Really.

So what else would you want to see, or find useful in a music site? All suggestions are taken to heart.

There are many artists recently, on both Newgrounds and off that have been leaving behind their sanctuaries to brave the cold winds of the world, armed with nothing but their music, and the desire to make it. I watch them and listen as they tell me time and time again.

"I just want to be able to do this my whole life... if I can do that, I can die happy".

And I sit back, and I wish them the best. I really do, I wish and I pray with all my heart that they reach that end goal.

It is a shame, it is a truth my friends, music is an art.

And art, is a luxury.

I see them take their songs off Newgrounds, I see them erase their tracks from others, because the time to grow up is here. The time to make friends and foes alike is upon them. The spine chilling first steps are being taken.

Not me. And they tell me I will one day have to. One day I will be forced to stop sharing my songs with everybody, that I will be lost forever in this place, a tapestry to a tiny corner of the internet.

And you know what? I agree.

I agree, and I don't care. I've been making music for 3 years now, and many still consider me a greenhorn to the industry. Fine, but I am still devoted to producing for free. I am still striving to show people a new world, a new hope, a new idea, ANYTHING that makes them stop and enjoy themselves. A story, thats all I want to do, tell and read stories of worlds that will never be.

How do I survive then? How will Chuck continue to exist once the time beckons? I have no real idea. I will keep doing what i'm doing, and hopefully my site, like Newgrounds, will be able to sustain the dreams woven into it. In time, it's possible. I have no intention of hiding any of my work, that is the bottom line. The ears of those who want to listen, will be given the opportunity to do so. Period.

Does that make me a failure? A doomed artist to wither and vanish?

Well, I figure, how poetic is that? Become part of the worlds and stories that will one day disappear with me.

So stick around my friends, only time will let me tell you how this story ends ;D

SoS is currently preparing a new "go-to" center for aspiring and experienced musicians alike! Great and very powerful free VST/VSTi software that even the big expensive libraries do not have! Exotic and strange new sounds sure to help inspire! Both electronica and orchestral based.

Not just that, we're talking huge collections of samples, percussion, sfx, you name it!

We're also talking host/sequencer programs for those who like to stand out and have the rest of the people look at you like a moron when you say "I use Genaginar's Impulse Tracker!" or something equally messed up and obscure to put it all together.

We are looking for help too, if you know of any great sites you'd like to recommend, or any secret gems you might have you want to share, let me know!

Free Software Page!

Regarding the "Radio", it will be up very very shortly. It is not so much a "radio" right now, but we are working on getting all functionality as we desired together. For now, we're just happy to have a content management system that works, and works well.

Stay tuned!

PS: If you'd like, please click this link to sign up for our newsletter so we can email you about future projects and features we release as well as updates on current ones like this. Not to mention new songs of course ;D

Symphony of Specters has released a new NG radio station, and we're looking to put some good quality unsigned artists up there! Read the thread for more info

Thread!

You can also go to the site for more information Symphony of Specters!

Some high lights for this radio!

1: The radio will feature high quality Newgrounds material. You know how the portal is filled with so much... stuff? The radio will feature hand picked and manually downloaded/uploaded songs to ensure a consistently high quality stream.

2: Chat with fellow listeners in the channel at any time. Insult the mothers of many if you'd like.

3: Broadcasting important news concerning the audio portal. The NG podcast for example will have it's own spot.

4: Anybody who wants to do a live show regarding anything, can do so! I will give them the password, how to set things up, and off they go to do their show. Weekly top 5 maybe, whatever!

5: If the radio gets big enough, we can sell ad air time, and generate revenue for the artists who contribute! Though this is really not an expected point, just a possibility.

all of this of course, for free!

Hey guys! We've put on an interesting new tool bar for SoS website and I must say it's pretty damn neat! You can see all of it's nifty features by going TO our website, but seeing what it can do there!

Symphony of Specters

It also supports SoS, the more you use it, the more it gets installed, the more cash it generates. I've recently located the most awesome PC for only $1,600 so i'm saving up everything for that! We appreciate all the help we can get!

You can also directly download the tool bar here

Leaving that behind, some other news.

Thanks to the efforts of WritersBlock and TheNossinator, SoS will have some great tutorials for musicians who are interested in learning the craft in greater detail, or even for brand new starters. WritersBlock's program especially looks like it's going to kick enough ass to kill small animals, so we're looking forward to that!

Thats it for now, more to come soon :D!

Since my last emo post many of you may have noticed of my absence. I apologize I didn't meant to just vanish, but I did so for a reason :D!

Over the past week i've been busily working beside one Draqo whom offered me free webhosting AND set up assistance *like seriously 95% of the site is still functional because of this man people... He's kept me from destroying the site thus far, but i'm working on it!*

I realized that it was time to move on trying to make money from sites like reverbnation, last.fm etc. I won't close off those venues, because heck, $1.08 a month is STILL better then $0.00 a month. So here we are, proudly unveiling the site we're pinning our dreams and energies to!

www.symphonyofspecters.com

I hope you will all take a look around! There's a LOT to this site. I've thrown in pretty much everything i've written and done on my newsposts up there and because I have more HTML control, was able to pull off much neater tricks!

The site is largely oriented towards aspiring musicians I won't lie. A lot of info which people not in the field will find dry and boring, but all the songs of mine and a few more I haven't released yet are up there so listeners can still come on down and enjoy the tunes!

I don't want to say much more, come see it yourself, i'm pretty proud of whats been done with it already :D!

well I can see this grand plan of mine REALLY working out... At least I can get a soda every month?