Cristian Galliano

The Sound Designer

A sound designer’s job is to record and manage a team of staff who record the sound for a film,

video or game. The sound designer has to make sure that the sound is recorded to a studio

professional standard. They also have to have a very wide knowledge of different hardware and

software used in this part of the industry. For example they need to know how to use sound editing

software such as audition and reaper. The sound designer is also responsible for make sure that all

the sounds work with the setting of vibe of what they are producing. For example if they are creating

a horror movie they would like the music to be eerie and create suspense.

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Another thing the sound designer has to take into account is the system management, and making

sure that the audio in games doesn’t take up all of a computer’s memory (RAM). This means that

they sometimes have to downgrade the quality of the audio so that it is less intensive on the ram.

This also means that there is more RAM saved for loading up digital graphics so they can use the ram

in other places.

The sound designer has to work closely with other roles in this industry such as the script writers,

the art team and the developers (mostly programmers). This means that overall they should get the

right result as they are working with multiple different groups on one project. Sound designers also

have to have knowledge of how to use musical instruments so that they can create music for games

and films however this is becoming a less needed skill as music is becoming more openly available to

sound designers due to software which makes it possible to create music.

Cristian Galliano

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A further thing sound designers have to do is that they have to make sure the audio is balanced in a

game or video. For example if the background music is too loud and there are characters talking over

the music then you may not be able to hear what the characters are saying because the music will

drown out their voices. However if the music is too quiet then it will not give the effect which it was

put there to do which renders it pretty much useless. If the sound designer gets the correct balance

of audio the audio will have greater effect on the viewer/ player.

Another thing a sound designer is expected to do is editing, integrating and sequencing sounds for

the game or video. This means that they have to be able to know where to put each sound for its

greatest effect, they need to know how to change each sound so that it reaches its peak effect and

they also have to know how to sequence sounds so that they all fit into the game or video. This is all

taken care of in post-production, before the game is sent into the production stage.

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Cristian Galliano

Next, sound designers have to be able to compose and perform music; this would require a certain

amount of experience with musical instruments. If they are able to compose and perform music

then they would not have to use other people’s music in their games and they could instead create

something which really brings out the mood of their game or video. However some sound designers

prefer to create music digitally and not play actual instruments. They could also use an orchestra to

create music for games and videos, in this case the sound designer is not needed to create music but

will have to edit it.

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Sound designers also have to have good time management and good communication skill as they

will be working towards a deadline and they will also have to communicate with many different

people. They also have to have a good understanding of what people expect from them as it isn’t

always easy to understand what types of sound you want in a game or video at a certain point.

Therefore the sound designer has to take into account the type of game or video and create a

relative type of sound depending on the type and what he has been asked to create by his

colleagues.

Sound designers will usually be working with groups of people to decide what sounds they should

use in their game or video however they will also work alone when recording music and editing

sounds. Most of the time they will be working with developers and actors and sometimes even

musicians so they can establish what sounds would fit where and also what the characters emotions,

tone of voice and audio levels should be. They will also need to work with the artists and help them

get a feel of what the game would be like. For example if it is a horror game the sound will be creepy

and eerie but also the graphics created by the artist would be darker and would set the tone for the

gameplay.

The sound designer will be given a brief at the start of his work at the company and he will have to

follow that brief. However that does not mean that he cannot add his own touch to the sounds. He

still gets to create the sounds and edit them but he will be told what they want it to be like. So he

will have to work following that brief.

Cristian Galliano

Finally sounds designers have to gather the props they need to generate sounds, this ranges from

hardware like studio microphones and midi soundboards to create different audio effects and

sounds for the games and films. They also use field recording to record background sounds such as

wind and ambient sounds. They use studio recording to record dialogue and they use Foley artistry

to record other noises. For example they would use Foley artistry to create a sound for two swords

clashing together or a sound for someone getting stabbed. The midi soundboards could also be used

to create artificial wind noises and other background/ ambient sounds.

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