r/sounddesign 12h ago

Some changes coming to r/sounddesign

65 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

Over the next few days you'll notice some changes as we give this community a bit of love. Here's what's happening and why.

Sound identification and recreation posts

Posts asking others to identify or recreate a specific sound will no longer be published automatically. These will now require mod approval before they go live.

This isn't about discouraging curiosity. The goal is to keep this a place for genuine sound design discussion rather than a search engine for tracking down clips. There's a real difference between talking through how something was actually made and just asking someone else to find it for you. We want more of the former.

A new automod filter

We've just set up an automod as a first line of filtering. It's brand new and still being fine tuned, so if your post gets removed and it genuinely shouldn't have been, we apologize in advance. Feel free to reach out through modmail and we'll sort it out while things settle.

Looking for moderators

We're also looking to expand the mod team. If you're active here, care about the community, and want to help shape where it goes, reach out. More hands means we can keep things running smoothly and actually engage with the content instead of just cleaning up.

Cleaning house

Along with these changes, we'll be going through and removing content that doesn't really belong here. If sound design isn't the focus of a post, it's probably getting pulled.

Thanks for being part of this community. We think these changes will make it a better place for real discussion.


r/sounddesign 2h ago

Sound Design Question Anyone else find finding the right SFX more frustrating than the actual editing?

5 Upvotes

Sometimes I feel like finding the right sound effect takes longer than actually editing the scene.

You search through libraries, listen to 20 different versions, download a bunch of them, and still end up thinking “nah, not this one.”

Anyone else deal with this? How do you usually find SFX quickly when you're working on a project?


r/sounddesign 1h ago

Music Sound Design I’ve been working on a custom effect in Patcher and wanted to share it for free. It’s called Glide X. Inspired by the Chase Bliss Thermae, it combines analog-style delay, pitch movement, filtering, and modulation into one experimental effect.

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Upvotes

⚠️ REQUIREMENTS:

FL Studio: v21.2.3 or higher.

Required Third-Party Plugin: Free Kilohearts Pitch Shifter (VST2 format only).

(A detailed installation guide and User Manual are included in the downloaded archive).

📥 Download Glide X : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hoCPbhY3usG4tJtNTIBdL9nkIeLE_c9W?usp=sharing

📺 Watch Video: https://youtu.be/wzzsOd6YDuc?si=jAKk6jmX48Nc2LTe


r/sounddesign 3h ago

Feedback Any feedback on animation redesign?

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1 Upvotes

Looking for some advice to do sound on these kind of more experimental animations.


r/sounddesign 20h ago

Videogame Sound Design First day using Wwise integrated into UE5 for game audio

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6 Upvotes

Finally started learning Wwise integration with UE5. Designed level and built gameplay mechanics myself. Sound designed everything in FL Studio, then implemented footsteps, spatial audio, interactive UI sounds, ambience, generator layers/RTPCs, steam, dialogue and music in Wwise.
Still very early in learning game audio, but this was a fun first project. Would love any feedback on the sound design or implementation.


r/sounddesign 19h ago

Movie Sound Design The Sound of Horror - an in-depth analysis of horror film sound design from history to the present day

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3 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I wanted to create this analysis since I am a huge fan of horror movies and audio in all its forms, and figured some of you might be interested in this kind of nerdy in-depth stuff as well. This video is from a point of view of a professional sound designer and teacher. Feedback and discussion is most welcome.


r/sounddesign 21h ago

Sound Design Discussion Gut-check: spectrogram lasso → seamless loop export (music / sound design)

1 Upvotes

I built a small browser instrument and want an honest read before I ship it.

What it does: drop a WAV/MP3, draw a closed loop around a band on the spectrogram, hear that band loop immediately, drag to hunt, snap to tempo, export a WAV with loop points. Processing stays in the browser — nothing uploaded.

Screenshot attached (test pattern, mid-band lasso).

Questions for you:

  1. Would you use this for music, sound design, field recording, or none of the above?

  2. Does this beat the two-tab workaround (spectral editor + looper), or not really?

  3. What would make you pay a small one-time fee vs never leaving your DAW?

Not selling anything in this post — just trying to learn if the demand is real.


r/sounddesign 1d ago

Movie Sound Design Hello from ShadowTag

5 Upvotes

Hi, I'm Ryan - the developer behind ShadowTag - a macOS metadata application released earlier this year and now just arriving at version 2. I spent 10 years writing Audio Design Desk (the DAW), and much of that time went into thinking about workflow problems anyone with large sample libraries deal with daily - organization, categorization, automation. Most problems were related to metadata.

I'm now working on my own, building software I have been thinking about for a number of years. ShadowTag is deliberately as open standard as possible and open source where it makes sense to be. Being able to see all the hidden metadata in a file (BEXT, iXML, XMP, etc) was often a bit cryptic, slow or expensive. It's simple and searchable with this.

I've also been reclaiming ownership of my own music collection and I wanted a database backed player that offered more insight than Apple's Music. I don't like renting my music or the subscription overdose we're all being subjected to. All player/view options are free without any limits. ShadowTag Pro adds export, writing changes into individual files, and batch rendering audio edits.

→ I'm very interested in feedback, and new use cases I haven't thought of. What is missing in the metadata/organization workflows you're using now?

→ Pro: Built for sound designers, sample library owners, and post-production teams who need complete, accurate metadata across large collections of audio files.

In general, the free version is very functional, not a demo, and will certainly give you a clear picture if this is something you'd use or not. I can supply a discount code if there are financial barriers or you are a student. Get in touch if so!

  • macOS only
  • Import audio and playlists straight from your Apple Music library
  • Every major metadata standard — ID3v2, Vorbis Comments, MP4 atoms, BEXT, iXML, XMP and UCS
  • Written into your files, so your library travels to any DAW, asset manager or licensing platform
  • Playlists that never move or copy your files
  • Database-backed projects that open and search fast however large they grow
  • On-device analysis - loudness, BPM, key, UCS category
  • Waveform player with Audio Units
  • Audio and video, including Matroska and WebM
  • Non-destructive fades, trims and normalization.
  • Batch format conversion and soundpack export
  • Every core on your Mac put to work processing large libraries
  • Free to read, play, organize and analyze with no file-count cap

Download and info (macOS 14.6+) : https://spongefork.com/shadowtag/

Contact: https://spongefork.com/support/

Thank you, Ryan Francesconi / Spongefork


r/sounddesign 1d ago

Music Sound Design how to make sounds that sound detuned but are still in key?

7 Upvotes

this is mostly prevalent in blank bodys, yung shermans music

example of what i mean: https://youtu.be/jvQMmAO5EIs?si=XmZG_RYlEgMaM3yw

that intro key just sounds like so pitch bendy or detuned idk i wanna make music based around that type of sound


r/sounddesign 1d ago

Music Sound Design How would you design a fantasy instrument that doesn't exist with just plugins?

1 Upvotes

Composer here, lately I've been thinking how would a sound designer approach creating for example a Baliset like in Dune.

Would you take plucked strings and just deform them? How would you get a consistent sound if you were to do that via plugins? Would you mix two plucked strings together?


r/sounddesign 1d ago

Videogame Sound Design Feedback needed on my re-sound design

1 Upvotes

I made this re-sound design as a 3 day challenge just for me. My main focus was the engine side of things, do you guys have any feedback to give what I should improve. Any criticism is welcomed! 🤙

https://youtu.be/mOo2O30mq0w?is=QPWonZ2tKfsavSj_

Shoot me a DM or email me (link in my profile) if you’re looking for a Junior Sound Designer for either your video game or movie etc. 🤝


r/sounddesign 2d ago

Music Sound Design Stop Slicing Samples. Shatter Them

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2 Upvotes

GREAT UPDATE :)

SHATTER is now an Ableton instrument too.

Everything the standalone does is here: the same slicing at rising zero-crossings, the same granular pitch-preserving stretch, the same field you drag fragments across, the same per-fragment pitch, reverse and step patterns. It reads WAV and AIFF.

And it goes further in two ways.

Every fragment you play gets its own stereo output in Live, the first on 3/4, the next on 5/6, up to 33/34, while 1/2 carries the full mix.

That changes what the instrument is for: each fragment can have its own effect chain, its own track, its own processing, and be recorded on its own. Each output also carries that fragment's position on the field, so the spatial gesture survives all the way to the mixer.

And it remembers.

Sample, slices, positions, pitch, stretch, step patterns — close the Set, reopen it, and everything is where you left it, with the fragments that were playing still playing.

Spatialization inside Ableton is rendered with equal-power panning, distance attenuation and air-absorption filtering rather than the browser version's binaural HRTF.

Requires Ableton Live 10 or later.

Included in the download are the standalone version (highly powerful for use with a tablet) and a PDF manual.


r/sounddesign 1d ago

Hiring [PAID] Experimental Sound Designer for Stride

0 Upvotes

Hello,

I'm looking for a versatile and experimental sound designer to help build interesting sound-design chains for Stride.

Stride is a Sound Design Engine where you can load the synths and effects you already use, map parameters across the entire chain, and explore different kinds of movement and modulation across all of them from one place.

The work is very hands-on and experimental.

I'm looking for someone who genuinely enjoys spending time pushing sounds, exploring unusual parameter relationships, building interesting chains, and seeing how far a setup can go.

For the first phase, we'll mainly focus on:

  • Serum
  • Serum FX
  • Ableton devices and racks

The goal is not to build polished presets or conventional sounds.

It's to create interesting setups that are fun to explore inside Stride and can lead to unexpected, useful sound-design results.

A strong understanding of modulation, synthesis, effects processing, routing, and experimental sound design is important.

Rate: $10 per approved chain.

We'll agree on the chain requirements and examples before starting. Payment is made for chains that meet the brief and are approved as ready to use.

If the collaboration works well, there will be more paid work afterward.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, send me:

  • A few examples of your sound design work
  • Any experimental or modulation-heavy work you've done
  • The synths, effects, and DAWs you usually work with
  • A short note about your sound-design style

Email: [home@stridehub.io]()


r/sounddesign 2d ago

Creating an explosion from an empty file.

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4 Upvotes

r/sounddesign 2d ago

Movie Sound Design Free Cinematic SFX

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1 Upvotes

r/sounddesign 3d ago

Sound Design Discussion I just want to create

13 Upvotes

I recently opened Ableton again after putting it away for a few years to prioritise adulting.

I ended up completely losing myself in creating and morphing sounds from scratch. I felt like a kid again and now all I want to do is get back on my laptop and create.

I’ve always been interested in post audio for film and sound design but I have no idea where to start taking it seriously.

For anyone working in the field what would you recommend as a first step? To get the wheels turning in the right direction


r/sounddesign 3d ago

Recruiting mods

4 Upvotes

Hi peeps, so by the time being I am recruiting some mods to help run this sub! If you’re interested please message me on the mod mail.

Also we are going to start tiding things up around, so that we can have a better organised sub, without being heavily modded, it is always good to have a place where EVERYONE can talk about sound design no matter they’re background or expertise. If you have any suggestions I am more than glad to hear them out!

Things I would love to have if you want to be a mod, obviously love sound design, contribute to the community and be chill, I don’t want power trips over something as being a mod on reddit.

Thanks!


r/sounddesign 3d ago

Sound Design Question Client expects 15 SFX/day for 3€ per sound with no contract yet. Is this as crazy as it feels?

30 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I need help from the community.

I’m a freelance sound designer (I am still a student in sound but already worked with a few clients before) and recently started working with a team on a big video game sound pack. We’re working remotely, and I’ve been putting in 6 to 7 hours a day of non-stop, focused work with zero breaks to meet their demands.

Here is the current situation:

-No contract yet: I’ve been working since August 25th (already delivered a week’s worth of files to their GitHub repository), but there is still no signed agreement or down payment.

-The quota: The team lead expects a minimum of 15 sound effects per day.

-The pay structure: I originally quoted my day rate (€250/day). The client rejected it and proposed paying "per sound tier" instead, offering roughly €300 for 100 sounds (around €3 / €3.30 per sound effect).

Creating quality SFX takes time (+ variations). Producing 15 unique, polished assets daily without breaks feels completely unsustainable, and €3/sound seems insultingly low for custom work.

I’ve put all work on hold today to address this.

  1. How would you handle the fact that they already have my delivered assets on GitHub without a signed contract?
  2. How much should I actually be charging for a project like this? (Project started in the end of August until the beginning of October)

Thanks for your input!


r/sounddesign 3d ago

Sound Design Question Amateur looking for help with a specific sound effect

2 Upvotes

I have accidentally become the audio editor for a D&D podcast that my friends and I make. I have really enjoyed the process of learning how audio editing works, though as I'm self taught entirely through Mike Russel youtube videos and trial and error, I'm sure my skill level is vastly below professional level. Nonetheless, what started out as simply learning how to make our voices Not Sound Bad(tm) has turned into a really fun hobby as I've started incorporating more music and sound effects into the show.

Most of what I use is sourced from Envato Elements, but sometimes I'll run into a specific sound effect that I'm looking for and just can't find. An example of a more recent challenge is making the sound of a giant island-sized glass dome crack and shatter - I had to find a lot of samples of splintering ice and rockslides and whatnot and do a lot of EQ tweaking and reverb/echo to make it sound as big as I wanted it to while still sounding like glass.

I'm currently finding myself in a bit of a rut - I need some sound effects for magic beams of light. Almost all the stuff I have found on Envato doesn't fit the sound I have in my head that I want to recreate - specifically, I want to make something akin to the sounds of Sora unlocking a keyhole with his keyblade in Kingdom Hearts 2. I want those bright, glittering beam sounds without it just being a straight up high pitched ring. I'm just using the actual game sound effects as a place holder for now but it feels wrong to just straight up rip something else's sound effects and use them for myself, though we don't make any money off the show.

How are sounds like this made? is there any foley work involved or is it all synthetic? How could I create something similar?


r/sounddesign 3d ago

Movie Sound Design muguestu sound redesign

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2 Upvotes

r/sounddesign 3d ago

Sound Design Question Selling audio packs vs. Wwise/Unity implementation?

2 Upvotes

​Hey guys. Marketplaces are saturated, so I’m weighing two paths for long-term stability as an independent sound designer:

​1. Direct Sales (Gumroad): Learn After Effects to make premium custom visuals (UI players, visualizers) to market my SFX/audio packs. (Generic stock footage looks cheap).

​2. Game Audio Implementation: Double down on Wwise, Unity, and C# to target indie studios for custom interactive audio work instead of selling packs.

​Which path has better long-term ROI and stability today? Selling packs with a unique visual brand, or focusing entirely on technical implementation?


r/sounddesign 4d ago

Sound Design Discussion Anyone here moved from large studio work full time to freelance? Games and/or film?

14 Upvotes

Keeping it general, just curious about anyone's experience with this: currently work in AAA game dev. For many reasons will likely be having to move countries within the year, the new one has decidedly less studios, but i can legally work for US and EU/UK companies, so hoping between freelance indie work and hopefully short term contract work I can pull something together, also have a fair bit of experience in film sound.

The lack of stability is daunting, but owning my own thing is very enticing - even if it ends up being not as much money as I currently do in AAA, as new country is much lower cost of living.

Part of me feels like I'm an idiot for potentially giving up a big studio gig right now.. but for reasons beyond my control the move is relatively inevitable and i just think its likely they wont keep me on remotely, but ill still give it a try with them. Same time I see the BS with AAA game dev and owning my own thing has its draw big time. And I figure to some degree, I have a decent savings, so fuck it, give it a shot?
Effectively would be forming a interactive/linear sound design/production company.

All that to say, anyone done this or something similar? Loved it? Hated it? Any advice? Am I stupid? Ill take any comments haha


r/sounddesign 4d ago

Video formatting for Pro Tools

1 Upvotes

Does PT not support quicktime wrapper for DNxHD codecs any longer? I'm in doubt of whether I should request MXF-OP1a or MXF-Atom from my client... Or just convert the video file myself when I get it. What do you guys do?


r/sounddesign 4d ago

Videogame Sound Design Need a sound designer for an rts

8 Upvotes

Hi folks,

This doesn't seem to be against the rules so I hope it's okay. But I need a sound designer for my game. It's an RTS and I need very short (<3 seconds) sound effects for the buildings in my game. These are the sounds that are played when buildings are clicked on by the player.

There are a total of 20 buildings. The game is greatly inspired by the RTS titles of the 90s such as the age of empires and seven kingdoms. So building clicks sounds from those games sound good to me.

My budget is around 12$ per building. A bit of room for negotiation but not much. Please share your portfolio and similar experiences you have.

Thank you!

Update - Hired someone! Thanks for the submissions!


r/sounddesign 4d ago

Videogame Sound Design Do these ambient sounds actually improve the atmosphere? Open to honest feedback.

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17 Upvotes