Music & Sound Annotation Expert
micro1 · $30–$45/hr · Remote · Worldwide · Data Annotation
Skills
analytical listening, music theory knowledge, audio annotation, attention to detail, written communication
About the role
Role Title: Music & Sound Annotation Expert
Role Type: Contractor
Location: Remote
micro1 is engaging Music & Sound Annotation Experts to contribute to a customer's project at the forefront of music and audio technology.
Your ears are the ground truth. You'll listen to short field recordings and document exactly what's audible — instruments, tempo, key, background sounds, crowd reactions — through a structured web platform built for this project. Later phases involve grading AI model answers against what you actually heard.
What you'll do
- Listen to 30–90 second field recordings (headphones, your own quiet workspace) and complete structured annotations: which instruments are present, tempo and key, timestamps of background events (traffic, sirens, applause), scene details
- Compare paired recordings of the same song captured at different locations and judge what stayed the same and what changed
- In later phases: review AI model descriptions of clips and mark what's correct, wrong, or invented, with a brief written explanation
- Attend a paid onboarding/calibration session and a short weekly sync
Who we're looking for (any of these backgrounds)
- Working or gigging musicians, session players, producers, or mixing engineers
- Music educators, ear-training instructors, band/choir directors, conservatory students or graduates
- Location sound recordists, sound designers, foley artists, or podcast/documentary audio editors
Requirements
- 3+ years of hands-on music or audio experience
- Strong analytical listening: you can pick individual instruments out of a busy, noisy, real-world mix — not just studio recordings
- Can identify tempo (within a few BPM) and musical key (relative pitch with a reference is fine)
- Comfortable with detail-oriented, repetitive annotation work in a web platform — dropdowns, timestamps, short structured notes
- Clear written English for brief, evidence-based notes (e.g., "accordion enters around 0:12")
- Quality headphones, quiet workspace, reliable internet
- Available 20–25 hrs/week for the engagement window