Hey Jonah,
I think your music's ready to get used in games, the arrangements are solid and you seem to be able to deliver a nice range of genres/moods/timbres.
The sounds you use are sometimes a bit too "plastic-sounding" (I think Nate used the wonderful word "MIDI-tastic" the other day) to my ears. You might want to invest in a few good instruments and samples to give your music a hint more value - for lack of a better word I can think of in English.
The arguably more interesting part now is getting your first paying gig and make it a great project, which doesn't just rely on having good tracks, but on a few other skills as well.
Networking:Don't rely on people finding you - mingle with the crowd and exchange with people, you're bound to meet someone who knows someone or at least get more people to check out your portfolio. Also, it's fun and you learn a lot of things about how other people are doing their jobs, providing you with valuable insights and putting you ahead of people who can
just produce good music.
Communication:
Be precise and thorough in how you communicate with people. This is where the money's at, often-times quite literally. ;)
Whether it's demonstrating genuine interest in a project, double-checking every mail for unanswered questions or typos before you send it or just asking the right questions at the right time, being a good conversationalist makes people feel good working with you - and there will be a lot of information exchange both before, during and after the actual job.
You've probably already made some experience during your stock audio jobs. This is your advantage. Be a nice person as well as a dependable business. It can't hurt to read up on some things, an often-recommended book is "The Complete Guide to Game Audio" by Aaron Marks, which includes a lot of advice on the business side of things.
Determination:It's not easy being green - especially the start can be rough. It can help to do other music-related jobs to finance your freelance business. For example, I work as a private music teacher and choir leader at the moment and do some live gigs from time to time. The good thing about this is you're constantly networking with other musicians while doing this. In other words: don't spread yourself too thin, but keep true to music if you can!
Regarding the presentation of your reel:
I think your logo at the beginning was pretty cool! For my personal taste, you used too many different and bland fonts (Comic Sans
) - I'd keep it simple and choose one font, at least for everything but the song titles. I went for a classic Courier New in my last reel.
I'd maybe condense the whole video a bit and show some snippets of your best work (I think I liked "Twilight Village" at 4:50 best, by the way
). People will be curious for more this way - lure them with a carrot before pointing them to your vegetable garden. ;)
Happy New Year and best of luck,
Moritz