Yo
Welcome to Begrimed. That's this site. That's also me. You know what a homepage is, right? Cool. This is mine. A place to post whatever I create so that all of the world can ignore it. Something like that. Take a look around and enjoy yourselves. [site map]
I've got around 605
unique visits so far.
November 2nd, 2011
So, apparently all of my music is offline right now. The FTP account hosting my stuff was deleted, I think. In the meantime, I do have SoundCloud and BandCamp accounts with a bit of my music on there. I just realized this, so sorry for anyone in the last 2 or 3 days that tried accessing music and found themselves with a 404. I'll fix this up soon somehow or another.
WANNA COMMISSION ME?
- Making beats for rappers
- Converting MIDI files into high-quality MP3s
- Loops
- Video game or film soundtracks
- Audio mastering
- Web design
- Graphic design
- Image & photo tracing
- Pixel art
- Artwork in general
- Letterhead / logo design
- Writing
At the urging of others, I'm opening up to the idea of making stuff just for you for a really good price. I can also do trades.
I would like to stress that if you're thinking about getting me to make you some cheap music, it won't be coming from a studio. I'm one guy using music software, a MIDI keyboard that I can't really play, and my two ears. I don't have music degrees or any shit like that. I don't even know music theory. My portfolio includes anything on this site. I won't fellate myself by telling you how awesome my music really is and to ignore my lacking credentials. You'll just have to look through my stuff and decide for yourself if my style fits what you want. I'm not gonna worry about placing examples for each category below, but I'll send some your way if you're interested in seeing (or hearing) what I can do.
I won't be naming prices because I'm leaving it up to you to pitch how much you'd be willing to spend or trade. For trading, I'm not after anything in particular, although I do like having things like polished stones, various trinkets, knives and stuff like that - I'd prefer to see a picture of whatever you're trading before we make a deal, but if you can speak well enough on the quality or authenticity of what you're trading, I might take your word on it. Depending on the type of request you make, it could take anywhere between just a few hours to a week or more to finish a song. We can even keep in touch through the whole process if you want. This means you'll be able to hear the song at different stages of its creation and tell me if something needs to be changed. If you end up not thinking it's worth paying for, that's perfectly fine. You can still use the track for whatever you want (provided that it's not for the purpose of making money for just yourself and cutting me out; not cool), but it'll also be posted here for everyone else to enjoy for free. Cool, right? Even if you do pay for a song, I can add it to this site if you want me to, along with a small plug to whatever you'll be using it for. Totally up to you.
If you wanna buy something or just ask me for more details about what I can do for you, you can contact me via email (begrimed[at]gmail[d0t]com - replace [at] with @ and [d0t] with .) with "Commission" as the subject, or you can message me on AIM ("i am begrimed"), or you can throw me your name/phone number and I'll call you up. I can also be reached via IRC if you're familiar with that (irc.esper.net / #ammo or #metconst; I usually go by the name "Grime" in those channels). Last but not least, you can get in touch with me over FaceBook.
Alrighty, now let's get down to what kind of services I can offer specifically. I'm not actually limited to just music, although it's my main focus (more on that later). Here's my attempt grab someone's attention by appealing to their area of interest!
Are you a rapper looking for somebody to produce a beat for you?
I'm the whitest motherfucker on this planet. In fact, it's impossible to pale in comparison to me because I'm so white. Word up. BUT, I know decent rap music when I hear it. I would like to think that I've developed my own style enough to be recognizable by the sound over time. If you wanna go for something a bit more unique or experimental, I might just be the fella you're looking for. You never know what kind of stuff will grow to be really popular until it actually happens. It could bomb horribly or take off in ways we didn't expect. I love rap and hip-hop in general. I'd choose being a successful rapper or producer for other rappers over any other lucrative medium for music. If you use Reason, I can give you the .RNS file for the song, but I can't guarantee I'd be able to get all of the samples used. A lot of them are packed into Reason ReFill files that I don't know how to make extractions from. Otherwise I will give you every track or 'layer' of the song as its own lossless .WAV file that you will be able to put back together in the music program of your choice, which would let you adjust the volume of specific instruments/tracks if needed, add more to the song, place your vocals or sound effects in, then master the whole song.
Got a MIDI file that you'd like turned into a high-quality MP3?
Chances are that if you know enough to compose a MIDI file yourself, you also know enough to make an MP3 out of it that sounds a lot better. If not, that's where I come in. I can take a MIDI file that you've composed and either make an MP3 equivalent of it that preserves the same composition and everything but with more realistic instruments, or better yet, I can turn it into a full-fledged mix with new tracks, better beats and instruments, and an overall more organic sound. Or to take it even further, I could use the MIDI file as a basis and remix the shit out of it. Lots of possibilities. It has to be something you or somebody you know composed; original material only. I won't do this for copyrighted songs like videogame soundtracks or anything else owned by somebody other than you or somebody you know. At least, not for money - but if I like your suggestion enough, I might take a MIDI file and make it into something for free download here and give credits to the original artist(s).
I probably won't do this for an MP3 file that you've already made yourself, unless you have a MIDI of the same song. Like I mentioned above, I don't know theory, so it's very unlikely that I would be able to accurately recompose your material by ear alone unless it's a fairly simple song. However, if this is something that you really really want done, I can give it a try. Obviously, the more layered or complex it is, the less accurate my recomposition will be. It all depends on how faithful you want my version to be to yours.
Need a loop? I gots loops.
For stuff like Macromedia Flash games or movies, I can create a short song that will loop seamlessly. Not a whole lot more to explain here.
Soundtracks for video games or movies? Maaaaaybe.
You should only consider this if you seriously think my style would match the tone that you're going for with whatever project you're working on. I doubt I'll ever score a theatrical movie or console game, but for smaller independent film projects or video games that just need a custom soundtrack to set them apart, maybe we could make it work. I've been told by multiple people that a lot of my songs sound like they could work for a video game, but outside of a couple Metroid remixes, video game music hasn't influenced me a whole lot so I can't say one way or another myself if my stuff actually does sound gamey.
Need a song mastered?
I'll be the first to say that I am not an audio engineer by any stretch. I only know some of the mentality and methodology behind mastering a finished song to give the final mix an added 'oomph' and a cleaner sound. Most pro masterers charge hundreds or more per song, but I can guarantee that won't be the case with me. I won't be able to do anything with just an MP3 file of your song - I ain't even gonna try. The best I could do with something like that is adjust the overall EQ, which is pretty lame to be honest. If you want me to try mastering your work, you will need to send me a .WAV file for every track of the song. These .WAV files will ALL need to be the exact length of the song. This means even if one of your song's tracks is a single sound that plays in the midde of a 4-minute song, its .WAV file will need to have about 2 minutes of silence before and after the sound plays. This is so I can put the whole song back together in my program and adjust each track individually without having to worry about keeping everything in sync. This is realistically the only way (for me) to genuinely improve the overall quality. All a broad EQ boost will do is tinker with certain frequency ranges, which will affect any and all tracks that fall into those areas.
So, you just a want a song made for [whatever reason(s) I haven't mentioned]...
You got it. This applies to any of the reasons above and should go without saying, but when you're making a request, give me as many details as you need to about how you want the song made. I'm giving myself the right to turn down any requests if I simply don't think it's something I can do. I'm also giving myself the right to give up if I later realize that I've bitten off more than I can chew - and don't worry, I won't ever use this as a way of fucking you out of money. If you ended up paying me before I gave up on it (which should never happen anyway since I'd wanna be paid after it was finished), I'd return the money to you. All of it. None of that 'keeping some of it for myself and justifying it as time spent' bullshit. You'll get your money back, even if I have to use carrier pigeons or dark sorcery to make it happen.
Remember me saying I can do stuff besides music?
I'm not a one-trick pony. There's other stuff I can do outside of tunage, but I'll still maintain that I'm not a professional; I just know enough to get by. For any of the stuff below, I'm sure you can find people who are better at it but will charge you a lot more. If you're the thrifty sort, you might find some good deals here for what you'll be paying.
Web design
Don't let the minimalistic design of my own site trick you into thinking that anything I make for you will be equally bland. I can and have made graphical layouts before, although I don't prefer them myself. I don't have the chops to use MySQL databases or anything yet, but for smaller prospects like basic homepages, blogs or image galleries, I got the hook-up. I use HTML and CSS, and if you have a server that supports it, I can also throw in a little bit of PHP for its include function to make things like headers, navigation and footers run from their own file that will reflect changes made to these lone files across all pages that they're included in. I won't maintain these websites after making them unless you intend employing me handle their upkeep or something, but I can show you how to edit the source code yourself and make changes without my help if you need it. I also don't mind making changes to the design myself after the fact if you're not happy with the final outcome.
Graphic design
Most likely this will go hand-in-hand with web design, but if you just need graphics and nothing else, I got your back on that too. I know my way around Photoshop and have a good sense for what's pleasing to the eye. Graphics can be anything from tiny avatars, message board signatures, website headers/footers, wallpapers and whatever else. Like all of my other services, it's up to you how much involvement you have in its creation. If very few details are given, I can always improvise.
Image tracing & coloring
Got a hand-drawn pencil sketch that you'd like to have turned into a very clean picture? I can do that, with or without coloring it. Maybe there's an old photograph that you want turned into a piece of artwork? I can do that too. I don't have much experience with the pen tool at all, but if you insist on a vectored image, I can give it a go. Otherwise, I'll default on a very large image for maximum detail, then resize accordingly. You'll be given the original large-scale image, the resized version, line art-only versions, and if you want, the layered .PSD file so you can make your own changes to it in Photoshop.
Pixel art
Pixel art is made by zooming in until all you see are individual squares of color that don't blend together. Older video games for systems like the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis and whatnot are almost all made via pixel art. A lot of Windows icons are also pixel art. Many websites use pixel art for things like small buttons. Think of it as drawing an image under a microscope, then looking at it with the naked eye to see something very small but very very detailed.
Artwork in general
I'm not that great of an artist. I was hesitant to include this here because of that, but not everyone has the money to pay badass artists to perfectly depict what they want. I don't expect anybody to commission artwork from me because of so many others offering art-related services for cheap, but I'm throwing it out there anyway. My preferred art style is gritty black-and-white imagry drawn with a tablet, or thick, jagged line art with cel-shaded or blended/textured coloring.
Logo / letterhead design
I've seen and studied logos in my head for years and have an okay grasp on what kind of simple designs will stay in peoples' memory more easily. Eye catchers. It's why you can write just about anything with curvy white letters over a red backaround and immediately associate it with Coca-Cola. I bet the description 'white curvy letters on a red background' made you think of Coca-Cola before you even read the words Coca-Cola. Or maybe it didn't. I'm just trying to screw with your head a little. Did it work? Did it instill any kind of faith in you that maybe I could make a logo for your website/company/service/whatever that buries itself into the subconscious and makes people associate imagry with brand names?
Writing
I can't see why anybody would wanna pay for me to write for them, but here it is. I consider my grammar and general wordsmithery to be above average. Whatever you want me to do, I can take a crack at it. Song lyrics, poetry, blogging or writing articles, breaking up with your girlfriend over an e-mail on your behalf, you name it. I can be your word whore.
In closing...
I'm just a dude looking for a way to make money that doesn't involve slaving myself away to some corporation or holding my content hostage. I realize that the chances of actually making a living this way are bleak and that working under somebody at a boring job is damn near inevitable, but whatever. I'd like to think that there's an opening somewhere in the music world for me to slide into. I just want a good life and enough money to treat myself and others well. It's rather sad that the only ways I can think of to start making money right away would involve spam-whoring myself or my website, or otherwise being a greedy shit and forcing people to pay. I don't want to do this. I won't. I want whatever money I make from any of this to be from somebody who's glad to pay it, and I'll do whatever I can to stick with this philosophy. I realize that I might be setting myself up to be taken advantage of by other greedy people, but that's a risk worth taking for me if it means more people coming out of the deal being happy with what they've paid for.
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