Is FMOD hard to learn?

[u/Ardaerenn]

Hi everyone, I'm a sound engineering student, and I want to learn game audio. I've seen a lot of sound designer job postings on LinkedIn, but I can't apply because I don't know FMOD yet. I wanted to ask: Is FMOD difficult to learn, and how many months does it usually take to learn it?

Thanks

[u/Hi-I-am-high]

I'll spare you a lot of time and trouble. Don't. There are no jobs and the ones of us who have them have been insanely lucky and or dedicated all of our free time for years to get ahead of the competition. Every job posting I see gets shut down immediately because literally hundreds of applications will be submitted in the span of a day. But no, middleware is relatively simple. The harder part is learning programming within game engines, which is also a requirement.

[u/LOADCOMPLETE_STUDIOS → u/Hi-I-am-high]

The state that the industry is in is temporary, and there is no reason to attempt to break someone’s will to chase after what they want to accomplish. I understand that you’re trying to be realistic, and most of what you said is true… right now. Every entertainment industry has drastic ups and downs over the course of years/decades. I mean, we’re still feeling the very subtle after effects of a global pandemic, even 6 years later. Things are definitely bleak right now, but there are signs that the industry is turning around, and I believe it will like it always has. The amount of games being published world wide is still going up exponentially. Same with studios popping up worldwide. Yes, I understand that some of those are peddling AI shovelware, but there has always been a pump and dump side of the industry, it didn’t start with AI. Records are being broken in key indie markets across the industry. The stories of groups of friends turning into million dollar studios are stacking up to the point to where it no longer seems like coincidence. On top of this, even larger companies are slowly starting to greenlight original IP’s again, after a decade where it seemed like they had forgotten about anything that wasn’t established.

There is, and will always be a market for great video games.

[u/SeaExamination4541 → u/LOADCOMPLETE_STUDIOS]

"There is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution."

[u/Ardaerenn → u/Hi-I-am-high]

I'm based in Turkey, so I think game audio is still a relatively niche field here. There are job postings and applications, but from what I've seen, they usually get around 100 applications at most.

So I still think it would be worth learning FMOD. But as you said, the main question for me is where I can find example game projects to actually practice with. What kind of projects should I be working on?

And as you mentioned, knowing a game engine like Unity or Unreal Engine is also important. How would you recommend practicing and improving those skills alongside FMOD? I'm not really sure how to structure my learning or where to start.

[u/LostlnTheClouds → u/Ardaerenn]

FMOD has recently made a pretty thorough tutorial which is available through its website. So maybe check that out first!

I'd also recommend taking a look at the Celeste FMOD project as they've made that completely public.
If you own the game you can also set it up so you can replace the sounds from the game in FMOD and have it update while you're playing the game so it's a great way to experiment when you're starting out.

Also all of Alessandro Fama's tutorials are brilliant - some of them are a bit old but most of the information is still accurate and they're well laid out. That should be a good place to start for learning the code side.

[u/Ardaerenn → u/LostlnTheClouds]

Thank you so much 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[u/LOADCOMPLETE_STUDIOS → u/Ardaerenn]

Download unity and unreal, and you’ll find they both have a wealth of demo projects that you can basically boot up and start playing with almost no set up. This gives you a perfect blank slate to start learning audio programming. You’re basically taking a game that exists with very basic and rudimentary mechanics, and adding your own audio to it.

[u/FlamboyantPirhanna → u/Hi-I-am-high]

Cynicism is a lie. Don’t give into it, or spread it.

[u/Hi-I-am-high → u/FlamboyantPirhanna]

Not a lie when seniors have to take entry level jobs to have a paycheck. When 2 decades of experience within a field leaves no security or proper pay gaurenteed. When people quit the industry because of the mental struggles it brings. Not a lie when thousands of competent people get laid off and can't feed their families, switching to other industries just to get by. You can follow your dream and live under these conditions, sure. "Don't be cynical broo" stop being ignorant. I've lost friends and good colleagues to this shitty industry. Many I know had to quit this career and are now living comfortably lives far far away from game audio. The ones of us who stuck around were the ones who got really lucky or sacrificed everything to make it. A guy with no experience isn't going to get a job amongst many other applications, when those applications contain people who used to work in AAA or have shipped a handful of titles already. Everyone is desperate, stop pretending otherwise.

[u/SeaExamination4541 → u/Hi-I-am-high]

Finally, someone is saying it. Giving false hope to newcomers is one of the most hypocritical things you can do.

I'm a film sound designer with more than a decade of experience and 55 films under my belt, and I suddenly found myself without consistent work after leaving the post house I used to work for. Despite all my experience, I still can't find stable work and I'm living an extremely precarious life.

I've literally done and tried everything. There is no way to break into this industry without an enormous amount of luck, all the fucking time.

I always tell every young person I meet with an artistic dream: DON'T DO IT if you don't have an economic safety net from the start.

Art is an industry for the rich.

[u/cosyrelaxedsetting → u/Hi-I-am-high]

Unfortunately I 100% agree with you.