What is sound design? Who creates music for your favorite games? What game sounds can be created using makeshift tools?
Today, as part of the "Getting to Know Gamedev Professions" series, we'll answer these questions and tell you about the job of a sound designer.
A sound designer is a music artist who creates sound scenes for movies, advertisements, computer games and so on.
Thanks to sound design, we can "hear" any animation and graphics in games. Sounds bring uniqueness to visuals and convey the desired emotional effect. You have to admit, it's very difficult to imagine your favorite game or movie without a soundtrack.
A sound designer in gamedev creates music and sounds for mobile and computer games of different genres. This job is very creative, as it's necessary to search for interesting solutions all the time. The sound designer plays one of the key roles in the development team. Our sound design team was established in MYTONA in 2018, and they create music and effects for all our projects.
What skills are needed to become a sound designer? The first one is, of course, good musical ability and taste. You need to be able to navigate in musical genres and work with recording equipment. The second is knowledge of audio software (DAW, VST(i), plugins). The third is creativity: inventing necessary sounds from nothing.
Some interesting facts about the profession:
You can record the sound of a tree with the help of some tape and two microphones! It turns out that trees have their own "sound" :)
We managed to create a delicate voice for one of the characters in our game using a cognac cork.
To record a variety of sounds, sound designers use anything at hand: from a hammer to a microwave.
Our sound designers assembled special microphones from a stethoscope and an antenna.
There's a stereotype that in order to become a sound designer, you must have a musical education. In our team we have an engineer who became an excellent sound designer.
Mytonians themselves record voices for some characters in our games :)
Want to learn more about the sound designer profession and listen to soundtracks from our games? Follow @mytona_audio and our YouTube channel — MYTONA music and audio.