Our Team Culture + Philosophy
About Our Team
Outlier Studios started as a group of friends focused on helping each other find more work after going through the Media Composition program at California State University, Northridge.
One team member would find work, bring another person on to make additional sounds or play an instrument, and give them credit on the project and IMDb. We repeated that process over and over again, all the while populating our individual lists of credits so it'd be easier for us to get the next project.
It's been a long journey of growth, and we're still very much working towards improving as much as we can on a daily basis. Since 2016, we've grown this team into two main departments:
Original Soundtracks - Writing music for films, trailers, games, and other commercial projects.
Virtual Instrument Development - Working with our team's composers to make virtual instruments for musical scores, and making sounds with companies like Output, skybox Audio, and Naroth Audio who create sample libraries for music producers, composers, and other musicians.
Team Values + Culture
We love passionate storytellers, helping people succeed, and positively impacting society through art + innovation. There's a very "people first" culture 'round here, and we're constantly looking for ways to contribute value to everyone we meet—whether we work together or not.
We get to support those passions with the help of our three core values:
Our Values
1. Connect on a Personal Level
Having a creative connection with the project we're working on is super important—but more importantly, we really want to connect with the storyteller behind that project. We want our passion to match theirs. We want to understand their goals and get into the heart of their project.
2. Stay Curious
The motivation is always to create work that’s beyond what people could possibly imagine. That happens by frequently experimenting, and asking questions that truly dig into a story. We want every decision to be intentional and well researched.
3. Contribute a Ton of Value
Our overarching goal as a company is to contribute massive value to a project and its team; we’re totally dedicated to the people we work with. Being candid, working diligently, and trusting each other are sources of excitement for us. This is how, together, we'll push the envelope and exceed our audience’s expectations.
Our Culture
“A properly run company can spawn innovation far more than any single creative individual.”
A solid team can create amazing work and innovate far better than any single person.
Our favorite kind of workplace empowers colleagues on an individual level. We love seeing each other grow as artists and humans, and we do everything we can to help them achieve their goals. This is the exact same mindset we bring to the people we work with; we're 100% in it for their success, because it’s exciting to see people win (and it’s exciting to be part of that achievement).
It’s not totally selfless—we each have our own individual and collective need for success in life, art, and career. But that need is fueled by the understanding—the belief—that helping others will naturally yield great results for our own careers and reputations.
Maybe not immediately. Maybe not from the people that we’re directly helping. But at some point—call it good karma, the universe, God, or the inherent human need to reciprocate good deeds—good things tend to come back around to those that do good things.
And that's the kind of team mentality that pushes the success of Outlier Studios—in its entirety (from teammates, to contractors and collaborators)—forward.