Resources for learning Sound Design
How many times it happened to scan the whole web trying to find the best resources about a topic you want to get into?
We have the luck to live in years where everything is accessible and great people share a lot of knowledge. Professional sound designers, mixing engineers, recordists share their workflow, show us how they do their job, something that before internet would have been really hard.
During the years I tried to dive deeper into a lot of different topics, from microphones, field recording, sound synthesis, sound design, middleware and implementation for game audio, and after wandering in the web for a while I decided to put together a list of resources that I find really valuable.
Videos, podcasts, courses, books or articles anything can help.
The list is far from being complete, so if you want to contribute and add your, please leave a message and I’ll add it.
Books:
Sound for Film and Television by Tomlinson Holman
Location sound oriented, but super useful especially for understanding the basics of sound, audio technology and microphones.
Dialogue Editing for motion pictures by John Purcell
Must read for dialogue editors.
Sound Design by D. Sonnenschein
This book covers a lot of different topics but the fil rouge remains the psychology behind sound design, emotions evoked, thinking to narrative and to the story.
Game Audio with FMOD and Unity by Ciaràn Robinson
A great guide for making your first steps with middleware and game engines. You will be guided through game creation and scripts, which is incredibly useful to understand game dynamics. Explanations are simple to understand and despite you will need some other resources to dive deeper into C#, this book is a great introduction to this world.
The Sound Effect Bible by Ric Viers
Yes, this can be considered a bible. Not only Ric is super funny to read, he provides both technical info about equipment and practical information about how, where and what to record. This book is also super cheap.
The Location Sound Bible by Ric Viers
Another must by Ric, this time about Location Sound, with great information about common practices and tips for capturing great audio.
Mixing Audio by Roey Izhaki
Bible for mixing audio. It is oriented towards music mix, but the discussion on EQ, Compressor and effects in general are some of the most complete and deepest I have read about.
Old and hard to find, this book collects some lessons by directors, sound designers and more. Some of them are true gems in that they show the mindset of some professionals.
Courses
If you’re into cinematic sound design, trailer music or composition in general, these courses are for you. I reviewed one of them and the experience was great, tutors are professionals and they organise courses in a logical way providing deep informations.
Motion Design School Sound Design for Animation
Amazing course that will guide you through the sound design for an animation video step by step, from sourcing sound effects to manipulating them, setting up a session (the teacher uses Cubase but you can easily follow along), and mix.
Blogs
A Sound Effect blog
Too many great posts here to list my favourites. They manage to interview the most prominent names in sound design, composition, field recording, and provide us such useful insights.
I learnt so much here about microphones, these articles can explain technical topics in plain words, and sometimes deeper than manuals. An absolute must.
Great blog with various articles ranging from guides on how to make and sell sound libraries, field recording, sound design, and more.
Walter Murch Dense Clarity – Clear Density
Do I need to introduce Walter Murch?
This article approaches sound design is going to change the way you think about it.
Randy Thom Blog
Another name that needs no introduction, and his blog is another great resource to know more about sound design.
Instagram Accounts
I love using socials for learning new stuff and being inspired by other sound designers, here’s some profiles I follow
This guy is great at creating sounds with everyday objects.
Great for knowing more about location sound. I love their “Behind the boom” series.
Great tips ranging from sound design to audio post-production.
Invaluable deconstruction of the sound of popular movies with the commentary of the original sound designers!
General tips and news (and sometimes memes).
Middleware:
some videos are pretty old, but still valuable to get a grasp of the basics of FMOD.
Wwise free courses
some of the best resources to learn this powerful middleware. Courses are both in .PDF with an easy to follow guide but there are also related videos. Certifications exams are optional and not free, but you can learn a lot for free.
I never attended one of these courses but more and more people I know are attending them and everyone seems to find them amazing. The courses available cover FMOD, Wwise, Unity, Unreal and Pure Data.
Podcasts
Great resource for learning more about sound design. My favourite episodes are Sound 101 and Foley.
Various topics ranging from recording, mixing, sound design, dialogue editing, guests are renowned professionals.
Various game-related topics.
Akash Thakkar interviews audio professionals to talk about business skills and mindset.
YouTube
Superb collection of videos, resources, interviews about movies and games sound design. Amazing resource to dive deeper into sound design.
Incredibly useful videos on how to create and manipulate sounds.
Pro Sound Effect is a company that makes sound effect libraries, but they are also sharing so much knowledge on their YouTube channel letting professional sound designers and audio post professionals guide us through their walkthrough. Their videos are long, but they always have super effective examples. Another must-watch.
DAW
Music Tech Help Guy for Pro Tools
One of the best tutorials for Pro Tools I have found on the web, deep, clear and simple to get started.
Paul Maunder for Pro Tools
Paul Maunder is a professional involved in audio post-production but also a great tutor, his tips on Pro Tools are invaluable.
Reaper video series by Kenny Gioia
So many great videos about Reaper! This guy covers everything about Reaper for both music creation and audio post-production. More than a video manual.
Conclusions
I hope these can help you in your research, career or in learning something new. Let me know if you know other useful resources.