Will work for food...

     Not literally (I hope), but I am looking for work. The problem is I just don't know where to look. I don't have a lot of connections with musicians/producers in the real world, so I hope to find some connections through the web. So, I'll be posting a link to this entry on various forums in hopes of finding answers to various questions I have. If posting this violates any specific forum policy, I apologize. I will remove upon notification. (I'll be posting to several forums and though I will have looked, it's possible I'll miss something in the legal agreement. Those things are long)


     My current most urgent questions are:


1) How far away from a professional sound am I?

     I know that the audio file in that video above (or below, I may move it) is inadequate to use for a professional production, but the sound I have monitoring the mix in my DAW prior to exporting the mixdown sounds completely different (better) than the what you (and I) hear in the final production. I know that a lot of the difference is made up when it is mastered, but I don't have the time to learn to do that or the money to have something mastered to see. 


2) Are there any good places to connect to free lance or contract production work? If so, what qualifications does one need?


     Hopefully, I will have found the answer in one of the forums that I posted the link to and just not know it yet. I don't know though, because I don't have any formal musical or production training, but I have a demonstrable understanding of a wide variety of skills and learn quickly when it comes to new things (see just a quick note below). I know that one opportunity for income is selling original music for use in productions. That is something I hope to be able to do in the future, but I'm not there yet. That's why I ask the question. I'm sure somewhere there is someone willing to pay for help with some specific task that I could do, but I don't know what it is. Please, if you have any, pass some wisdom on. Feel free to post any advice here or back on the original thread you followed if you think it should stay there. 


     Just a quick note  for what it's worth, one of the reasons it took longer was my original intent was to use Windows Live Movie Maker, but that was far more limited than I knew. So I had to learn how to use Sony Vegas in a day to make this video. (I think that should be worth something). I will update this post soon with more. 


Any advice will be appreciated, thanks,
jdj