Sound design can cover a few major areas. As a general scope, sound design incorporates music, foley (man-made sounds) and other sound effects. Creating these for the different media's is the primary goal. Below are some more details referring to the three categories:
Sound design for film:-
Sound design can otherwise be named sound effects editor or special effects editor. There are obviously many different genres of film, and therefore, in a certain light, different genres of sound design. There may be certain sound effects that are only used in certain films, such as car crashes, explosions or gunshots. As well as these obvious sounds, a sound designers job is also to add in the much more subtle effects to boost the emotions of the film - sounds you may not notice on a first listen. Sound effects are added after filming, but before post-production. When editing the film together, this is when the music and sound effects are added. A quote from 'Creative Skillset' sums up the three types of sounds:
"Their first task is to identify the three main kinds of sound effects required: spot effects (gunshots, clocks, doors closing, dog barking, etc.), atmosphere effects, (rain, wind, traffic, birdsong, etc.), and sound design effects (dinosaurs, aliens, spaceships, computers, etc.) Once this sonic shopping list is complete, Sound Designers source different kinds of sounds, and often create and record original new material."
It is during this time that sound designers can be their most creative. They need to think of and experiment with different methods of creating sounds. For example a dinosaurs roar may be achieved by time-stretching another sound out, as well as other effects. There is no set 'path' for sound designers to follow. Generally, as long as the desired sound is achieved, then it's a success!
An example of this is the sounds used to produce the iconic laser sound in the George Lucas film 'Star Wars'. The sound designer, Ben Burtt, could have just made the sounds synthetically on a computer. However in the video found here (starting at 1:06) it can be seen that using a wrench and hitting the guy wires of a radio tower create a good sound. (Plunkett, L. 2010)
Sound designers mostly work with the film editor in order to help with the structure of the sounds and crossfades, as well as making the sound sit well with the ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement). To achieve a rich and full sound, designers will usually work on a powerful computer loaded with Pro Tools or other dedicated DAW to put the sounds together, iron out any unpleasantries and generally arrive at the desired sound (Creative Skillset, 2008).
Salary ranges can vary depending on a few factors. One of them can be the overall budget set for the project, or even the experience of the designer themselves - earning them more money for the higher experience they have. This can, however, mean that with the more jobs done as a sound designer, more money can be earned. According to 'Inside Jobs' (who got the information from the U.S. Department of Labour) the salary range of a sound designer is $23,000 - $93,000. This converts to roughly £13,900 - £56,200 (Inside Jobs, 2013). Sound designers can often be hired on a contract basis too. So they will work until the project is finished, with the pay being outlined within the contract itself. This is the same for the hours worked as well. There may be a certain amount of hours covered in the project budget, or if the designer is part of a big company such as Sony, they may be full time or part time.
Sound design for TV is largely similar to film, however it is much more based on projects as opposed to full time work. A production company may hire the same sound designer when doing another series of something. Company's such as the BBC or ITV may have in-house sound designers that work on multiple projects, but may also have multiple people for those roles, in order to carry out more than one projects at once. Due to the similar nature, sound design for TV won't be listed as a separate area.
Sound design for theatre:-
Theatre sound design can, again, vary upon a lot of things. Fundamentally, and similarly to other areas of sound design, the theatre sound designer is responsible for everything the audience hears. Taken from the Association of Sound Designers, here is a list of what theatre sound management may involve:
- The Sound Designer may create sound effects, atmospheres, sonic textures and filmic ambiences that will create naturalistic and abstract worlds for the show's story, as well as aid the audience's emotional and dramatic connection with the performance. This might also include the use of props onstage or other offstage effects.
- The Sound Designer may choose, edit and remix music; work with a composer to make original music; or work with live musicians in the theatre.
- The Sound Designer may advise on how to best hear the performers, which may involve acoustic adjustments to the theatre and set, or the addition and configuration of radio and/or float mics for the performers.
- The Sound Designer will design a sound system, bespoke to the specific production and auditorium, that will give the audience the best experience of the show.
(Association of Sound Designers, 2013)
The dependancies here can be on the type of performance, the performers and even the venue. In theatre the sound is used to tell the story of the play - more so than in film or TV. Obviously storytelling is a vital part of film and television, but sound in theatre can also be used to help the actors 'get into the mood' of the play, as the shows are live performances. This means that the sound designer needs to have an outstanding knowledge of the sounds being used, as well as how it will affect the audience's listening.
Sound design for video games:-
It is within this area that sound design is most vivid. Video games are an expanding media and has grown exponentially in the past decade. Video game companies, while some independent ones are still about, are getting bigger and bigger as technology becomes better. This can mean that there are more jobs out there, but in contradiction, desired skill level by companies are much higher. there are more jobs for professionals out there, where it is harder to work up from the bottom.
Where sound designers for film or TV will use a DAW to edit their material, video game sound designers will need to use this software as well as multiple others. Middleware such as Fmod or Wwise plays a key part in building this area of a video game. Interactive games work different to film, as they are dependant on user interaction for different sounds to happen. With film, everything is linear, whereas different music needs to be played at different occasions in games. This is the same with sound effects as well.
For example, in a film, it's a simple matching of a gunshot to the picture. In a game, the sound needs to be programmed so that when the player presses a certain button, a gunshot is heard. This is what the middleware mentioned earlier is used for. It uses a type of coding to say that when a certain action is undertaken by the player, a certain audio file needs to be played. Similarly, when the player enters a certain area, a different music may need to be played.
In the past, audio for video games was used to make the experience better for the games. In modern games, it is used more as a means of getting information across to the player (RMIT University, 2013). As well as immersion within the gameplay, music can be used to tell the player that an enemy is near, or a secret, or even that they are going in the right/wrong direction. Likewise, sound effects can be used for similar things - when a secret room is enters a small jingle may play, or even as small as picking up a weapon. These attributes of sound can be used in all different genres of games, however. Some games are modelled around films, such as the 'Lego Star Wars' games. In some instances, sounds and music may be taken from the original film and used within the game, but coded in the same way as usual. Other times, original sounds may be used, but remastered into a higher quality, or voices may be re-recorded. This may have been the case for the 'Lego Star Wars' games, as the first film released was in 1977 (IMDB, n.d.), so some sounds may not have been of high enough quality for the first game release in 2005 (Strategy Wiki, 2013). Finally, there is the option to completely redo the soundtrack and sound effects, which is usually done to help follow memory restrictions of audio in video games. It allows sound designers to recreate sounds, but of a decreased file size.
With the video game industry growing tenfold, it would be preferable to focus a career on this aspect of sound design. Either way, once enough experience had been gained in this field, it will be easy to do sound design work for all of the above areas, including some unmentioned areas, such as sounds for car design.
Below is an example of an application form for a big games company. In this case, neither the salary or hours have been included in the application, which may mean that (because this is a very big company) this is an opportunity to stay with the company, but being paid on a project basis.
Again, below is another application form for a company of equal size. This application form does state that the hours will be full time, but not to what extent of hours. Salary is again not included, but could mean that the job is project based again.
Both of these applications require the skills of Pro Tools and the middleware mentioned earlier - Fmod and Wwise. They also both require organisation and team work skills, in order to adhere to deadlines and audio size requirements. The first link, however, specifically mentions granular synthesis, which the other does not.
They are both mid-level jobs, however, and may not be something that can be achieved without experience. However after heavy and intense searching, both through search engines and looking directly on game developers websites, there are no junior or entry level application forms available. This entry level job would still have many of the same requirements and skills needed, but would not necessarily need the industry experience or to have credits in a game already.
References
Creative Skillset (2008) Sound Designer. [online] Available from <http://www.creativeskillset.org/film/jobs/post_production_sound/article_4771_1.asp> [5th December 2013]
Plunkett, L. on Kotaku (2010) How The Sounds Of Star Wars Were Made. [online] Available from <http://kotaku.com/5713631/the-the-sounds-of-star-wars-were-made> [5th December 2013]
Inside Jobs (2013) Sound Designer. [online] Available from <http://www.insidejobs.com/careers/sound-designer> [5th December 2013]
Association of Sound Designers (2013) What Is The Job Of A Sound Designer For Theatre? [online] Available from <http://www.associationofsounddesigners.com/whatis> [6th December 2013]
RMIT University (2013) Informative Sound Design In Video Games. [online] Available from <http://ieconference.org/ie2013/index-page_id=269.html> [6th December 2013]
IMDB (n.d.) Star Wars: Episode IV. [online] Available from <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/> [6th December 2013]
Strategy Wiki (2013) LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game. [online] Available from <http://strategywiki.org/wiki/LEGO_Star_Wars:_The_Video_Game> [6th December 2013]
Job Invite (n.d.) Sound Designer. [online] Available from <http://hire.jobvite.com/CompanyJobs/Careers.aspx?k=Job&c=qYo9Vfwa&j=o2pZXfw7&s=Indeed> [6th December 2013]
Edge (2013) Sound Designer - Devices & Studios - Microsoft Studios - 343 Industries - Halo (852270) Job. [online] Available from <http://jobs.edge-online.com/job/12252/sound-designer-devices-and-studios-microsoft-studios-343-industries-halo-852270-job/> [6th December 2013]
