Sound Design

Have you ever watched a movie or played a video game and wondered how the creators of the material came up with the sounds you were hearing? How do they get sounds that cannot be recorded from the source because the source does not exist? For example: the sounds for a futuristic plasma rifle, or the sound of a dinosaur roar. How do they capture these sounds? They don’t, well not technically. They design the sounds by manipulating previously recorded audio files.

       Lets say I wanted sounds for a dinosaur to use in a video game. I cannot go out in the field and record a dinosaur because they are extinct. Instead I would use sounds that already exist in nature, a bear roar, an alligator growl, and other animal sounds mixed with any other sounds I could blend frequency wise to create and design the sound I was going for. Sound design is essentially manipulating audio and blending it to create unique sounds. It is used in film, TV, radio, video games, and even theatre. It is all about creativity and expression. Here is a link that will show what a sound designer does and the purpose behind it. Sound Designer 

       The greatest thing about sound design in my opinion is that the designer has no limit to the creativity they put into their sounds. They can be something as small and as simple as a slight move of an object to something as detailed and complicated as a robotic mechanism morphing and transforming. The possibilities are endless and that makes it even more intriguing to me.

       I was introduced to sound design in an audio post production class I attended at Full Sail University. I instantly fell in love and decided that this was the field I wanted to start my career in. I feel that sound designers do not get the credit they deserve. This is simply because, the majority of the consumers that watch these films and play these games are uneducated on the process that goes into the audio implementation. That is something I hope to change through this blog. This blog is not only for the sound designing community but for those who have no idea what sound design is. 

       I hope you enjoyed this post about sound design. Anybody that is interested in reading about sound effects, I recommend The Sound Effects Bible by Ric Viers. If you have any comments or questions about this post feel free to contact me through my email on my profile.