Anime-Sharing Lossless Needs YOU! [Recruitment Closed!]

[Zero2DS]

Konnichiwa! ^^
Anime-Sharing Lossless is in need of new members to help us rip and distribute music.

We don't have enough souls to accomplish ripping all the music we've set before us, so once again, we're looking for fresh blood. But don't worry, we're not intending to raid villages and take maidens away from their beloved homes (though, if you'd like to offer one, by all means be our guest). We require only a simple offering of time and bandwidth.

To be precise, we're looking for:

1. Transcoders: Our front-line soldiers who, in a nutshell, convert, tag, pack and post releases. A.K.A. rippers.
2. Transliterators: Decipher moon runes for transcoders to tag releases with. A.K.A. romanizers.

All ASL members, regardless of position, are expected to:

1. Be able to communicate in English. We don't expect any member to have impeccable English skills; we just ask that you understand what we say and be able to convey what you want to say in English. While most of the current members speak more than one language, you shouldn't expect to be treated differently in communication just because you don't know enough English.
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2. Be around regularly. We demand that you show up on our IRC staff channel at the very least once a month. (Unless something's keeping you, in which case you should inform us early on.) Members who don't show up at all for over a month without informing us beforehand are considered AWOL and will be removed from the group.
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3. Behave politely and play by the rules on the forum.

Transcoders are expected to:

1. Be willing to spend time and effort on transcoding and tagging releases.
2. Be willing to learn new software and methods if and when necessary.
3. Have a decent Internet connection with a stable upstream of at least 50KBps.
4. Run Windows, whether as native OS or on a VM.

Transliterators are expected to:

1. Have an above-average Japanese reading skill and be able to transliterate from kana to romaji.
2. Be used to encountering irregular kanji usage and uncommon words that don't appear in dictionaries.
3. Have some knowledge in Japanese name reading.
4. Be able to utilize various tools available on the Internet, including Google, to help with transliteration.

If you're interested in helping out, don't delay! Contact us right away by doing any of the following:

• Send a private message to Zero2DS or Ignis. (Please don't PM any other admin for this purpose.)
• Make a thread in the Staff Application Forum.
• Join #asl-recruit on IRC (Rizon). Note that you'll get directed there for the recruitment process/test regardless of your preferred method of contact.

Your application should contain the following information:

1. Your desired position.
2. Your Speedtest result (for transcoders).
3. You're welcome to tell us a little about yourself. After all, if you're going to work together with us, might as well get to know each other early on, eh?

Applicants will have to go through a small test. Would-be transcoders will have to do all the processes required to release an album sans romanization and distribution, while would-be transliterators will have to romanize some stuff to prove themselves. We can teach all you need to know to be able to transcode and tag for us! All you need is the willpower to learn! (Not for transliterators, though.)

Successful applicants will then enter a trial period of around a month. Don't be intimidated, though―if you're good, you'll be a full member before you know it! (Yes, even on the same day is possible.)

We're looking forward to working together with you to bring more quality releases to the community!

What kind of music do you rip?
Eroge music doesn't get as much love as anime music does. It's also ripped less. Therefore, it's our main focus. We also do anime music and non-OST, but that's mostly done on a case-to-case basis. Basically, if it comes out of Japan, we may do it. However, there are also personal preferences of each member, which may very well affect which albums and singles we prioritize.


Anime Sharing "Lossless." Sure, MP3 is lossless alright...
In the beginning, ASL only released music in FLAC, keeping Checkmate's a certain person's preferences in mind. Now that we're addressing a larger public, we also release our stuff in VBR MP3 (mostly V0).


Exactly how fast does a transcoder's Internet connection need to be?
A lossless single is around 150MB in average, while a lossless album is around 400MB. Although the burden of distribution (file hosts, torrents, XDCC) will be handled by a specific set of staff, a transcoder (who does all the manual labor locally on their own PC) still needs to download the source files and reupload the transcoded rip at least once to our distro server. There's still the possibility of reuploading if the rip needs to be fixed. That's why, in order to be a transcoder, we ask that you have an Internet connection with an upstream of at least 50KBps (400Kbps). Preferably, you're also able to leave your computer up and running throughout the uploading period (like, you may need to upload a big album overnight). If your connection is capped, you may want to think twice before applying.


Your MP3 releases are smaller than average, ergo inferior. Give us CBR 320Kbps.
Please read up on the differences between VBR and CBR, as well as those between FLAC and MP3―you'll come to understand that CBR releases are pretty much never a good idea. tl;dr? Just take our word on it. We know what we're doing.


Are you sponsored or endorsed by Microsoft?
No. We ask that transcoders run Windows because the standard set of software that we use for transcoding and tagging purposes is meant for Windows. We don't care what you run on your computer and we don't accept the excuse that the set of software you run on your OS achieves results that are inferior to our standards. In other words, OS difference isn't an excuse for not being able to fulfil our expectations. If you run a different OS, can't/don't want to run Windows on a VM, and can't achieve the desired results with the software you use on it, you're on your own.


Please see the FAQ page on the blog for more FAQs.

 

[Ignis]

Post updated. We're no longer looking for new transliterators; we have our needs fulfilled for now and need to keep the proportions of the staff balanced. However, we're still looking for new transcoders.

 

[Ignis]

It's been quite the week! We had more applicants than we imagined. We've more than achieved our original goal of opening up the recruitment; in fact, we're getting overwhelmed by all the process. Before things start to get out of hand, we declare the recruitment closed. Thanks to everyone who applied!