When it comes to big things, we have to start with one of the biggest things on earth – trains!

The world’s longest and deepest rail tunnel is known as Gotthard Base Tunnel, south of Zurich, Switzerland.  The tracks cut through the Swiss Alps at 7,500ft below the mountain peaks for a length of 35 miles.  The construction project was significantly huge such that it took almost 20 years to complete and required the excavation of 28.2 tons of rock (which were turned into artificial islands in Lake Uri).

Now, this project was huge – much like our ambitions and ideas tend to be.  Except often, big projects turn out to be incredibly difficult to pull off.  That’s why, with nir.media, I’m turning that idea on its head and starting small.

So let’s take a look at the actual details of what that means by going over…

1. What actually is nir.media?
2. What is the purpose and intent of nir.media?
3. How is nir.media practically going to work?

nir.media is a collaborative side project, that’s also a business among friends

I’ve never loved being a “front man”, and everything I’ve done previously through adamtcroft.com was clearly just me.  Me writing, me creating, and people getting to know me.

There’s nothing horrible about that, but I really love supporting others and succeeding alongside other people.  From the moment I really started creating things – music, movies, etc – I’ve always wanted to do it with friends.  Creating my own stuff is fine, but there’s true joy in sharing with others and not only celebrating their successes, but helping, encouraging, and being excited for them, too.

So nir.media is the place for that.  It’s not “Adam”, and it’s intentionally not my name.  It’s me and a list of ever-evolving collaborators who are working part-time (this is nobody’s “main gig”) to share different perspectives on a common vision. 

That vision is encouraging, demonstrating, and celebrating strong, confident, high achieving artists

To me, that means not only growing but encouraging artists who are smart, confident in themselves and their work, and who put out quite literally the best work possible and get paid accordingly.

Those aforementioned things are often seen as taboo in audio and the arts.  It can feel wrong to be proud of your work, be confident in your output, and get paid well.  To many of us, this concept is downright foreign because we don’t know how to feel or be treated this way.  There’s a good amount of fear and shame that comes along with the potential of looking haughty, arrogant, and like a giant jerk.

So nir.media is about embodying this internal strength, confidence, and subjective success in a way that you can see, feel, and share that it’s possible without being a super-jerk in the process.  And because it’s not just Adam involved, you’re going to get to experience this with many different folks in many different ways.

This works through content, friendship, and products

In practice, this works almost no differently than what you’ve already been exposed to if you’re used to my previous work.  Content will continue to come your way in the form of mail, guides, and audio.

But, this time this work is going to come from me and other friends.  Showcasing other people’s work here is important to me, because I see plenty of other people’s perspectives that I want to share with you in a highly curated and highly impactful fashion.  So expect to hear from more than just me.

Lastly, it is a business, so there will be top-notch products as well.  One of the things I’m most excited about is sharing other people’s creations with you and providing a platform for you to be exposed to the work of others in ways that it would otherwise be difficult for them to pull off or you to hear about.

Because I believe that teaching also comes from doing your best to demonstrate (ie: not “do as I say” but “do as I demonstrate”) – the efforts at nir.media will come to you highly curated with the best that we can possibly give at the time so that you can be inspired to put out even better work of your own.

“So let me get this straight – ” you say, “you mean to tell me that it’s okay to be proud of what I create, and charge for more than just what I need to survive???  What’s wrong with being a starving artist???”

I write this question a smidge sarcastically – and the answer is obviously yes doing those things okay.  It’s also okay to be a starving artist if you so choose.

But, I know plenty of starving artists who say they don’t want to starve and they don’t love being starving artists yet make choices to stay that way as a comfort zone.  That’s perfectly fine for you to choose – but nir.media is about serving people who enjoy creating, are excited to keep creating, and are stoked to thrive and encourage others to do the same.

It’s my hope that you’d like to come on that journey.  If you don’t – no hard feelings, you do you.

Okay so, what is this all about again?

1. nir.media is a side-project business among friends
2. nir.media is about encouraging, demonstrating, and celebrating strong, confident, high achieving artists
3. nir.media will showcase this through content, friendship, and products

Look, this may sound as big as tunneling through the Alps, but we’re starting small

You’ll continue to get these emails from me, and starting next week you’re going to learn about the first project that’s coming together – a high quality, small Sci-Fi Weapons sound effect pack for use in games (and, in post audio) made by James Thatcher of SkyRiverSound.

Looking forward to sharing more next week.