How To Use The
Learning Roadmap
Similar to a map in a video game that guides you to your next quest this learning roadmap is designed to help you find your way to your first paid job.
Each topic you learn is like completing a quest that gives you XP and levels up your skill.
Watch the video for an introduction or scroll down and dive straight in!
Sound Design Basics
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This section is all about understanding the fundamentals of how audio works, the tools we use to record, synthesize and manipulate it as well as the actual process of doing so.
If you have a university education in audio production, audio engineering or a background in another technical audio field, then some of these topics will already be familiar to you.
For people who are completely new to this, I recommend taking it slowly and working through the roadmap in order.
It’s a lot of information to take in and learn so go steadily - learning a new skill is a marathon, not a sprint.
If you find yourself struggling at any point, consider joining the Game Audio Learning Student Hub space on Airwiggles. It’s a chill space specifically for meeting other folks working through the roadmap, and a great place to give or receive feedback as you go! https://www.airwiggles.com/
Along this learning journey, I’ll be dropping some spicy analogies starting with the first one comparing sound design to cooking. This will hopefully help visualise some of the more abstract principles and enable you to learn things faster.
I also recommend checking out The Sound Effects Bible by Ric Viers. I found this book incredibly helpful to get a grasp on the basics of sound design. It has a glossary explaining all the most common audio terms, as well as a long list of ideas and best practices for creating all manner of sound effects.
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Sound design is based on a lot of the same principles as cooking, for example:
Sounds are like ingredients - the higher the quality the better the end result.
Great cooks try their dishes and make changes based on taste - the recipe is irrelevant if the dish tastes bad. In audio the same principle applies - we use our ears and constantly iterate.
A sharp knife cuts better than a dull one, but if you don’t know how to use one in the first place you’re gonna struggle - good tools are important, but learning how to use them properly will change everything.
A simple dish can be just as good, if not better, than a complicated one. In sound design, we often tend to overcomplicate things, so remember that removing sounds can be just as effective as adding them.
Knowing what you want your dish to taste like will help you get there in the first place. Having a clear end goal in mind is useful as it can be a guiding North Star helping you make the right decisions along the way.
But at the end of the day, anything goes as long as it tastes good - experimentation is valuable as it lets us discover new things and expand our palette, and getting feedback from others helps us improve our skills. Rules are there to be broken, so don’t get bogged down by conventions if breaking them yields exciting results.
That might be a lot to take in at once, but don’t worry - it’ll all make sense in time! And so without further ado...
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I’ve split this guide into easily-digestible chunks (excuse the pun) which will equip you with the knowledge and skills to become a sound design chef yourself.
But first, here’s a quick primer video from the sound designers at Riot Games, that does an excellent job of breaking down the topic of game audio and will give you a high-level overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcorIwJscFA
With that out of the way, let’s look at the topics lying ahead:
How Sound Works & How We Perceive It - An overview of the fundamentals of acoustics and psychoacoustics.
Digital Audio Fundamentals - An introduction to bit depth, sample rate, file formats and the role they play in game audio.
Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) - A guide on which DAW to pick and how to learn it.
Plugins - An overview of the most important effects with which we process and manipulate audio.
Building Your Sound Library - Learn all about how to record, edit, process and name sounds, and where you can purchase high-quality sound libraries to expand your own.
Synthesis - A guide to creating sounds completely from scratch using hardware and software synthesizers.
Sound Design Techniques (Audio Editing, Processing & Layering) - An introduction to the most fundamental and vital sound design techniques.
Basic Music Theory - The fundamentals of music and their influence on sound design.
Essential Tools - A guide to the most essential tools for game audio and where to invest your money when you’re getting started.
Game Audio Basics
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In the previous section, we went over the tools and techniques that allow you to create and edit sounds. Now we will dive deeper into the game part of game audio and the design part of sound design.
The first few topics in this section are all about implementation, which is the process of integrating sounds into a game. We’ll examine the principles and practices of implementation, as well as the tools that we use to bring sounds into a game and manipulate them in real-time. This includes game engines, middleware, and source control.
Then we’ll examine the importance of structuring and organising projects and find out what the term pipeline means, and how to build your own efficient and effective ones.
Next, we will look at the different disciplines within game audio (Sound Effects, Foley, Cinematics, Music & Dialogue), and how each of them affects a game’s overall soundscape, as well as some practical tips and implementation methods for every category. The reason we are splitting them this way is because this framework allows us to have a better overview of the soundscape, stay organised and give people ownership over certain areas.
This can mean that one person is responsible for all of the foley design and implementation, while another person covers all of the ambiences in the game. Of course, the way this is split depends on the size of the game and the audio team, but I personally find it useful to think in these disciplines even when working on solo projects or simple redesigns.
After that, we’ll cover the mixing and QA processes, before finally examining how games are made on a macro level, from the different parts of the production cycle all the way through to what each discipline does and how they impact our job as a sound designer. This is important as it’ll help you become a better team player and allow you to communicate more effectively with your co-workers.
Why Does It Matter?
Simply put, the player will never hear any sounds unless they are integrated into the game! The end goal of any sound designer is to design immersive sonic environments for the player, and being able to consider how a sound will be played back and in what context can be a great benefit when designing sounds in the first place.
Practise & Build Your Network
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Now that we have an excellent fundamental understanding of game audio we’ll first focus on honing our skills to match the specific role we are aiming for. You’ll be equipped with different techniques to help you improve at a rapid pace through deliberate practice.
Next, we’ll dive into the world of networking which is a dreaded topic but really is all about making friends and meeting cool people while being yourself.
Afterwards, you’ll learn how to find projects to work on which are great for building a portfolio as well as how to find communities, pick ones that are right for you and actively become a member.
This job can be very intense and taxing especially since we have to be creative on a daily basis often for long hours. That’s why we’ll look at ways you can harness your creativity and preserve it without getting burned out.
Lastly, we’ll look at available mentorship programs, how you might benefit from one and how to get the most value from it.
Present Your Work & Get Your First Job
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This section is all about preparing yourself to seize opportunities when it comes along. By having a killer demo reel and a website that shows off your best work you’ll be a lot more likely to land that role that you’ve applied for. Additionally, a neat resume and a clean cover letter can make all the difference. Writing them is often a topic shrouded in mystery but in this section, we’ll shine some light on how to do it easily and correctly. You’ll learn how to effectively share your work with people on and offline to get you noticed and inspire others in the process.
We’ll also look at the challenges of being a freelancer and how to manage and overcome them. Then where and how to find clients and job opportunities and apply for them from the initial interview to the audio test and beyond. I recommend checking out this high-level overview video I made on how to get your first paid job. I believe that it’s a good introduction to this section as it summarizes the basic concepts.
The Big Resource
A lot of the information in this section comes from the amazing Bible Of Getting A Job In Game Audio put together by Florian Titus Ardelean. It’s a collection of amazing articles, blog posts, interviews, and Twitter threads on how to successfully get your foot into the industry. I recommend having looking through it and searching for keywords with CTRL + F (or CMND + F) to find information on specific subjects.
If you come across words that are unfamiliar to you, then visit the Glossary page for help.