How To Work With A Game Audio Outsourcing Partner
- Li & Ortega
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
There are a number of things you might expect a game audio and custom music outsourcing company to do - namely music and sound. But such a broad overview bears breaking down into some basic categories even before we get into the technical specifics of our work.
Leadership
Depending on the client's company structure, there may be a need for supplemental music and game audio-specific leadership to help guide the process from ideation, to brief, to iteration/creation, to testing and polish, to final delivery.
Some organizations are set up to simply outsource the iteration/creation portion while others may require support to design the audio production pipeline from inception to completion.
This can include overall project management, talent sourcing, and taking on an agency role in managing a team of third party contributors, while functioning as a nexus of communication and guidance in the areas of music production (including live recording, orchestration, session booking, talent sourcing, and so on) and game audio (including hiring and management of sound designers, technical sound designers, voice actors, sound editors, mix engineers, and so on).
This allows our clients to focus their attention on the areas they have most expertise in while simultaneously monitoring third party input in a convenient and organized manner.
Regardless of scale, it's plug-and-play.
While lengthy onboarding processes will always be a thing for more established companies with very specific workflows, this still minimizes the likelihood of miscommunications and increases the speed with which any changes in direction or process can be adapted to.
Retainer vs Deliverable-based
Deliverable Based:
On highly-structured projects, usually managed by an internal creative team, where the client knows exactly what they want and when they want it, our game audio and custom music team can work on a deliverable-based arrangement.
We follow your brief and deliver clearly-defined assets, while collaborating with your team on a fixed schedule of limited revisions. Payment milestones are set up to reflect the completion of and sign off on a pre-agreed portion of final deliverables.
This allows clients to have a predictable schedule of payments that correspond directly to the receipt and full licensing of completed assets. While the "no surprises" nature of this agreement is attractive to those who require a more rigorous management of budget due to company size or funding, it is also less flexible than a time-based set up.
That being said, any brief or scope changes can always be negotiated halfway through, to adjust milestones and set expectations on all additional game audio or music needs.
Retainer:
Where the services required are more akin to consulting and less like purchasing a specific number of sounds or tracks, clients may opt to for a time-based project structure.
One or more members of our game audio or custom music team will be assigned to work on the project for a specific number of hours, days, weeks, or whatever interval makes most sense for the game developer or advertising agency/brand.
Payment milestones are set up to reflect "time worked" and are neater to handle than multiple invoices at unpredictable times. This can be a benefit to clients that may not already have a payments department set up to deal with many external contributors.
Additionally, context-switching and changes in creative direction may not require new agreements as long as the basic substance of the services engaged remain the same, which allows for a more flexible process.
This is beneficial for a client who requires a regular cadence of standup meetings, or for our team to directly collaborate dynamically with the client's internal team during specific work hours. The guaranteed availability of an external contributor on a retainer agreement creates stability and predictability.
This fosters a more consistent and cohesive integration of external and internal personnel, resulting in what feels like a larger overall team that can be easily adjusted for scope, without incurring the additional overhead or administrative costs typically associated with hiring full-time staff.
Licensing
Since the crux of the game audio and custom music services we provide center around one or more types of intellectual property, a clear agreement on the type of license provided for any delivered work is essential for the avoidance of any future disputes that may arise from acquisitions or sub-licensing of finished product.
Typically, this is a matter of "level of ownership" that applies more to music, but may also apply to game audio assets (custom sound effects, voices and so on).
The simple thing to remember here is that where more rights are assigned, the cost is higher, and where fewer rights are assigned, the cost is lower.
We look at this is through the lenses of time, exclusivity, types of usage/mediums, and territory. The price may also be influenced by who the client is and the stakes involved.
Time: How long am I using the asset(s) for?
Exclusivity: Do I want to be the only one using these assets forever?
Types of usage/mediums: Is this campaign going to be on TV, online, at trade shows, or a combination of all of these? Do I want the game soundtrack to be released as a DLC, or performed in concerts or by cover artists on YouTube?
Territory: Is this advertisement airing in just one state or country? Or do I want it to air in multiple countries? As the potential for positive business impact increases due to increased market reach, the price of the asset increases.
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