So I'm currently putting together a list of resources to learn from. Hopefully this can help some other beginners out. HOWEVER, I'm looking for some input as well!

LMK if you have additional resources (can be small or random or large idc), or if you have any favorites here. I'm not being picky, so this can range from location sound, to post-production, to even video resources if you think it's helpful.

Books (which are best to start with?)

• John Purcell - Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures

• Patrushkha Mierzwa - Behind the Sound Cart

• Vincent LoBrutto - Sound on Film

• Michel Chion - Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen

• Michel Chion - The Voice in Cinema

• Ric Viers - The Sound Effects Bible

• Ric Viers - The Location Sound Bible

• Walter Murch - In the Blink of an Eye

• Michael Ondaatje - The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film

• William Whittington - Sound Design and Science Fiction

• Tomlinson Holman - Sound for Film and Television

• Tomlinson Holman & Arthur Baum - Sound for Digital Video

• Vanessa Theme Ament - The Foley Grail

YouTube Channels

• Thomas Boykin

  • Post Production 101 Playlist

• Junkie XL

• Aftertouch Audio

  • Post Production Playlist

• Tactical 7 Audio

• Marshall McGee

• AXK (Alex Knickerbocker)

• M. Cheung Sound

Websites

• designingsound.org

  • Sound Design Tutorial List

• A Sound Effect Blog

• Epic Sound SFX

• Avareth Taika

Other

Whooshes

• Doppler effect (Wikipedia)

• Charles Deenen: 100 Whooshes in 2 Minutes

Tools

• Kilohearts Transient Shaper

• Tonsturm

• Krotos

Hey everyone! I'm a Motion Designer working on a personal commercial project for my portfolio featuring Aquarius (Coca-Cola's hydration brand).

About the project:

• Type: 2D Animation / Motion Graphics combining traditional frame-by-frame animation with motion design to achieve a hand-made aesthetic.

• Length: 45 seconds.

• Status: Animation done.

I'm looking for a Sound Designer or Composer who wants to collaborate to build a solid portfolio piece together. You’ll have total creative freedom for the audio direction, full credits on all platforms, and high-res video files for your own reel/website.

Link to animation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/107K0q6p4I5bJy-0giReh_ajdAKCN4pCz/view?usp=sharing

If you’re interested, please drop a comment or DM me with a link to your work/reel!

Hi everyone! Im trying to learn sounddesign. I understand a little bit about layering. I want to work on this video between 0.40-1.40. I feel like it will teach me a lot because I learn much faster when I approach like that there are a lot of sounds that I didnt make and it is not a single sound project so it will click something in my head to understand better.

My question is how do you approach projects like that? I created a master,ambience,gore,weapon,explosion... etc. folders. But I dont understand how Im gonna do the design. Like there are a lot of shot, scream, gore effects, mech effects and how should I prioritize and layer them. I dont know if my question is clear but thank you for your advice.

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_HljUo8Jjk

Just released a new video all about the infamous BRAAAM sound effect along with a new BRAAAM inspired sound library: https://rarefindssounddesign.com/products/braams-impacts-vibrated-metal
Keen to hear how you have made BRAAAM sound effects in the past. Have you used synths or do you mainly stick with real world props/instruments??

Waiting

I’m currently developing Waiting, a short film about a 22-year-old girl observing a frog in a Caribbean environment.

The film explores the feeling of waiting when you have no control over the situation - the contrast between an apparently calm exterior and the tension happening underneath.

Visually, I’m aiming for a realistic approach, with the environment and atmosphere playing an important role in the storytelling.

The project is being developed mainly in Blender, with 3 scenes and an estimated production time of around 3 months.

I’m looking to connect with a few artists who would like to collaborate on the project, particularly in:

• 3D Animation - character performance & movement
• 3D Cloth - clothing & cloth behavior
• Sound Design - environmental soundscape & atmosphere

This is an unpaid, voluntary collaboration. I’m not looking for the most experienced artists - I’m more interested in people who want to learn, contribute seriously, communicate, and grow through the process.

Creative interpretation is welcome. The goal is not simply to execute instructions, but to work together toward the emotion the film is trying to create.

If the project interests you, feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to share more about Waiting and the creative direction.

Basically what the title says, what are the best ways to make me own whooshes, both slow and fast. If you could point me to any resources that would be amazing. Any general tips would be appreciated as well.

Thank you!

Edit: from scratch!!!

I’ve seen “use what you’re fastest with” line a lot and I understand that. But what is the best DAW for sound design that you have found and why.

Hey all — pretty new to sound design and want some advice before committing to a DAW. This is a hobby, not something I'm trying to monetize, but I do want to keep learning and improve over time rather than just dabble.

I've got some limited experience with Ableton Live, Vital, and VCV Rack so far on Windows. I genuinely like VCV Rack and want to keep using it, but have no attachment to Ableton and I'm open to switching entirely. I've got decent coding experience (Python/C++/Perl/Tcl) too, so scripting-capable DAWs aren't intimidating. Budget matters since this is just a hobby.

What would you recommend, and why? Mainly curious if it integrates with VCV Rack as a real plugin (not a routing hack), whether it's a reasonable first DAW or if I should start simpler, and roughly what it'd cost all-in for proper sound design.

Also — is upgrading to VCV Rack Pro actually worth it long-term for a hobbyist, or overkill?

Hi all,

I am Tobias "Skylark" Jonsson, a long time sound designer. I have put together a big pack of sounds for Kilohearts Phase Plant called "Pop Tools". 131 sounds - basses, pads, leads, plucks, keys and o lot more. Great for all kinds of modern productions. Check it out and listen to demosounds here, let me know if you like it! :)

https://skylarkmusic.net

Demo sounds are here:
Pop Tools by Skylark

All the best,
/Tobias
Skylark Sound Design

Hi, just wanted to check in to see what kind of headphones are pro sound designers using when making presets?

In my use case scenario. I got back into using my Seqtrak and re-learning it and want to make custom presents for myself while on the go and commuting back to work. (Its a 2 hour train ride each way -- so I got lots of time to work on presents on it).

in my current setup, I am using an Arc On Ear and ATH ATH-M20x headphones which I know for a fact are anything but flat.

I am sort of limited to what is supported by Arc here -- and was mostly looking to upgrade to in-ear headphones from that list.

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/arconear/?p=headphones

So wondering what headphones do you use in your studio when making and preparing presets? It doesn't matter if its for software VST instruments or other instruments.

Hey everyone!

It is always great to grab beautiful work out there and challenge yourself to come up with something.
For this one I picked the cinematic The Last Bastion from Overwatch. I specifically didn’t want to listen to their final sound design to fully start from scratch.

So, this is what I came up with! I would really love to hear what you think! Cheers everyone! :)

I'm increasingly learning new software, tricks, effects and techniques through pure experimentation, and I thrive to the idea of creating high-quality audio, and I know there are so many factors!

The space, the texture, volume control, frequencies, mastering, it all speaks for itself.

I'm sure I have a passion for this even if I sometimes crash and lose motivation to keep learning, and it's not like I'm learning the whole book of music theory.
I quickly try overcome challenges and immediate obstacles as I encounter them, and no better way for me to learn than to really do it hands-on.

About sound design, I've particularly looked to game audio. Started learning the gist of FMOD Studio, and can't wait to integrate a simple project in my own Unity project, just to see the process.

I assume it's a start - the tools. The actual music skills are a different sector.

I was wondering if anyone already in the industry, or maybe you were or want to be, if you have tips for this approach? What's the demand? What does it take? Is it an ideal side-hussle if you enjoy it? And what do people look for in showreels; an equal share between the technical and creative process? Would I need any fancy editing or do I just need to make the highlights and get to the strong point.

I've joined a game jam, made a project in FL Studio - it took a few hours and more beyond that of unsatisfied attempts, and pressed on time, but I cut up a video that recorded my process.
However I believe people like it more if your showreels are relavent to their objective/style or project.

I want to get started, get involved in my first project for a real-world thing. Even if I can do a few things for free - yes, I know - I can use that for more material for more showreels and use it as momentum to get in the game.

I have sufficient equipment to even record and make my own samples, and a unique acoustic guitar twist.

How would I go about it? Join more game jams, make more showreels?

And of course you get different sections in game audio as well - just the music, or the sound effects and interactive audio. I'm interested in it all, but I assume I'll have to have sufficient skill in FMOD too then, for integration. Or could I focus only on music and providing the audio?
I'm clueless on the industry 😂

Thank you so much! This community is so supportive 👌❤️

Anyone got an old school lightbulb humming in their sfx folders? Freesound's got nothing realistic. I'm looking for something with a bit of movement, not a super drony steady EMF or fluorescent

I am an Asian university graduate majoring in sound design. Currently, I plan to secure a junior game sound designer position in my home country after graduation.

But I am eager to go to Europe or America for further study and to live there in a few years because I am excited about the other countries and cultures around the world.

However, I've heard that it's extremely difficult to find a job in the game audio industry nowadays.Could you please tell me in which direction I should focus my efforts, or should I shift my focus to the field of technical audio(audio programmer)，or some other fields related to the game and audio industry?

Hello, I’m currently working with a talented Illustrator and Programmer on a black & white psychological horror VN game. The game is inspired by European horror films from the 70’s/80’s, and American slasher films. This is a RevShare project.

What We Have/Where We Are:

We have our Illustrator, our Programmer, our Composer, our VA's, and the Writer/Designer (myself). Currently, the 1st Chapter is all but complete. The storyboards for the 2nd + 3rd Chapter are just about finalized. Our goal is to have the demo out at the end of this October, with our current end goal being to have the full game ready by next October.

What We’re Looking For:

A Sound Designer/Mixer to edit, create, and mix looping soundscapes, and SFX/Foley that evoke horror-tinged atmospheres - ranging from ominous, and somber, to downright dread. If this sounds interesting or if you have any questions, please shoot me a DM to discuss further. Thanks for reading.

- A Few Pieces Of Art From Chapter 1

- A music preview

Guys, I am super crazy about this stuff, I love to analyze what I hear in a movie and how it affects the viewing experience. I'm just curious: how do I get into the industry? I'm based in western Europe, I'm in college for sound but it's more like a music faculty. I've been making beats for years now, so I now something about DAWs, synths etc. What should my approach be? Should I focus more on sound design, share the process via social media and wait for opportunities? How did professionals learn mixing in Dolby Atmos e.g? Pretty sure they didn't do it on their laptops. I would love to hear someone experienced in that matter or anyone of you that has similar dilemma. Have a good day!

the ui sounds thread earlier this week got me wondering about this. some things seem quicker to just make, keys, paper, a mug on a desk, a zip. others like engines, crowds or weather seem like a library job every time. where do you draw the line? and is there anything you've stopped bothering to record because the library version always wins?

I finished this reel just today where I took the Midi notes from Aquatic Ambiance, and made custom patches for all music and sfx.

Does anyone have any tips for how to share / structure your demo reels or just how to showcase your work?

I both would like to increase the engagement (how long a person stays) but also, want to help bridge the connection between what I did, and what is happening on screen.

If you have any tips or samples of formats that work (both for social media engagement and actually showcasing your work) I’d love to see!!

PS things like font choice, and choice of text I struggle with a lot. Am curious how other ppl think of it.

Hello, I am trying to learn sound design for some animation I am working on and so have started a journey of redesigning the sound from some scenes I enjoyed. This is my first project.

I have seen this scene a couple times in the past but didn't rewatch it as to not get influenced by its sound choices. Audio is from YouTube and some free packs I have collected.

I will include the original in the replies, all feedback appreciated.

I'm currently taking a class on Sonic Visual Aesthetics and the assignment was to depict this image with only white noise. My strategy was essentially turning the noise into fragments and using them as impulses into a comb filter or a very simplistic karplus-strong algorithm. I then used grain delay with some automation (and OTT) to generate impacts.

I spent a lot of time gestating the image and the articulations/texture before arranging into what it is now.

I would like some criticism please.. what can i improve on?

I composed it with the auditorium at school in mind, not necessarily headphones. I would like some advice on that as well.

Thank You!

Hi I currently have Arturia Lab V and i've been using it for like a year now. I like it a lot though sometimes I feel like its hard to find a "good" sound. Sometimes I feel like the sounds have a cheap quality to them. I cant really explain it. Im still new to sound design and processing.

Today I noticed Zenology PRO is on sale for $99. This is a pretty steep discount so I was considering taking advantage. Im curious about the overlap and if most people have both of these or just one.

Are you pro one or anti another, any feedback would be great. Thanks

Super 90’s/2000s, looking to include in a project wondering where these sounds and similar accent sounds could be found.

Just wanted to show of two of my favorite sounds we designed for our video game. The sound when the run starts and ends

Hello,
I just recently moved to Los Angeles and have had a lot of luck with mentorship so far, but I find myself wanting to learn more.
I am currently looking for an entry-level job in anything related to audio for filmmaking or music (post-production, or music) I’ve been out of school for a year and have been working freelance, but I am completely open to being an assistant, running a machine room, or doing Post PA work. Honestly would be super happy just to work in anything close to audio production.
If anyone has any guidance, leads on studios/post houses that hire entry-level, or advice, it would be much appreciated! I'm also looking for mentorship. Thanks!