The Sound Design Power List

10 Second Technique: Tips to Improve Your Sound Design by Barney Oram

Sound designer Barney Oram shares the 10-second technique he uses to improve his sound design skills:
 
 

5 surprising sound sources for interesting sci-fi engine sound design – by Paul Stoughton:

Paul Stoughton shares some of the surprising sound sources for his Advanced Propulsion sci-fi library:
 
 

5 Useful Tips for Upcoming Sound Designers and Sound Editors

Sound designer Philip Moroz shares five useful tips for those of you just starting out as sound designers and sound editors (+ includes three bonus reads):
 

Charles Maynes’ 10 Inspiring Notions For Great Sound Design
 

Sound designer Charles Maynes has worked on blockbusters like Spider-Man, Total Recall, After Earth and many more – and here are his 10 essential notions for great sound design

Creative Sound Design: When Glitches Are A Good Thing

Sound designer Stuart Keenan introduces the concept of Databending, a creative way of getting some unique new sounds
 

Defining Your Creative Goals with Audio Storyboards:

Bryan Higa shares inspiring insights on how to use audio storyboards in your creative process:
 

Designing The Sound Of Sports

The sound of sports is a much more designed experience than most people think. Find out what goes on behind the scenes:
 
 

How Darren Blondin takes sound to the next level – with sonic contraptions, experiments and custom tools:

Sound designer Darren Blondin shares his unique and inspiring approach to sound design:

How to be a successful sound designer – exclusive video featuring Scott Gershin:

Veteran sound designer Scott Gershin shares his insights on what it takes to succeed in sound design:
 

How to create horror sound effects that are truly scary (and gory!)

Find out how to create your own horror sounds, brutal gore sound effects, scary ambiences and ghoulish monster vocalizations in this exclusive guide:

How to create impressive fire and ice magic sound effects

Learn about tools, techniques – and surprising props – for creating magic sounds in this in-depth video tutorial:
 
 

How to create sound for commercials – insights from an award-winning sound team:

Discover how the team at Factory Studios creates their critically-acclaimed sound work:
 
 

How to Design Awe-Inspiring Robot & Mech Sound Effects

Learn how to create robot and mech sound effects – and get 22 free SFX in the process:
 
 
 
 
 

How to Design Fierce Creature Vocals

Chase Steele returns with an excellent new tutorial on creature vocalizations (and he throws in 26 free sound effects for you too as a bonus!):
 
 
 

How To Design Futuristic Vehicle Sound Effects

Sound Spark’s Chase Steele shares his approaches and ideas for designing futuristic vehicle sound effects:
 
 
 
 

How To Design Stellar Spaceship Sound Effects – an Essential Sci-Fi Sound Design Guide:

Find out how to create fantastic spaceship sound effects in this special, in-depth guide – complete with examples, free sounds to design from and much more:

How To Design Superb Sci-Fi UI Sound Effects:

Discover the key to excellent Sci-Fi UI sounds in this guide by Ruslan Nesteruk – with additional insights from veteran sound designers Mark Camperell, Jason Cushing and Ivo Ivanov:

How To Design Supreme Sci-Fi Weapon Sound Effects:

How do you design awe-inspiring sci-fi weapon sound effects? This in-depth sound design guide will show you how:
 
 

How to get (much!) more out of your existing sound design projects

Useful tips, tricks and approaches for reinventing your existing content to strengthen your sonic arsenal:
 

Inside the Creative Mind of Documentary Sound Designer Peter Albrechtsen

Check out this talk with inspiring documentary sound designer Peter Albrechtsen:
 
 

Make the most of NUENDO as a sound design tool – an in-depth guide:

Make the most of NUENDO as a sound design tool – an in-depth guide:
 

Make the most of REAPER as a sound design tool – part 2: Workflow

Find out how to get the optimal workflow in REAPER, in this new guide by Anne-Sophie Mongeau:
 

Make the most of REAPER as a sound design tool – part 1: Getting Started

Learn how to get started with REAPER for sound design, in this special guide by Anne-Sophie Mongeau:

Randy Thom, On Being Creative:

Film sound legend Randy Thom on the creative process, inspiration, discovery – and what sound design is all about:
 

Randy Thom: Designing A Movie For Sound

Here’s Academy award-winning sound designer Randy Thom’s insightful plea for sound to be taken as seriously as visuals in film storytelling:
 

Recording and Designing the Winter Sound Effects for SNOW

How do you create great winter sound effects? Here are the clever ways Swedish sound designer Max Lachmann did it:
 
 

Rule of Thirds: A Sound Design Approach by Barney Oram

Sound designer Barney Oram shares his approach to making the creative process easier:
 
 
 

Sound Advice: The Key to Outstanding Animation Sound Design

Experienced animation sound designer Jeff Shiffman shares his tips, tricks and insights for outstanding animation sound design:

Sound and the Internet of Things

Here’s how sound can greatly enhance how we experience and interact with the Internet of Things:
 
 

Sound Designer Tormod Ringnes’ 4-Step Approach to Great Film Sound

Here’s why (and how) Tormod Ringnes applies his 4-step approach to all sound design projects, no matter the size of the production:

Sounds for Robots: An in-depth guide to great robot sound design

Dr. Iain McGregor explores the opportunities, considerations and challenges we face when designing sound for robots:
 

Ten Creative Ideas for Sound Effects Creation with the No-Input Mixer Technique:

Stuart Keenan shares 10 useful tips for creative – and surprising – sound design results, using the no-input mixer technique:
 

The Essential Guide To Recording Weapon Sound Effects – With Watson Wu

Few people on this planet have more experience with weapon sound effects recording than Watson Wu, and in this exclusive guide he shares how you do it right:

The Essential Primer to Recording Car Sound Effects

Max Lachmann and the team at Pole Position Production have spent a decade perfecting their car recording methods. This is how they do it today:
 
 

The Psychology of Sound Design – with Ai-Ling Lee, Will Files & Craig Henighan:

Insights from Ai-Ling Lee, Will Files & Craig Henighan on the fundamentals of film sound:
 
 
 

UI Sound Design: Henry Daw, on The Small Sounds That Make A Big Difference

Henry Daw presents a clearly defined set of principles for successful UI sound design in this interesting talk – and much more:
 
 

Behind the horrifying sound of ‘Alien: Covenant’

Go behind the scenes on the sound for Alien: Covenant – the latest installment in the genre-defining sci-fi franchise:
 

Checking out the Sound of ‘The Queen’s Gambit’

Here’s why The Queen’s Gambit is so satisfying from a sound perspective:
 
 

Crafting Ghost of Tsushima’s Tremendous Sound

Go behind the gloriously grounded sound of Ghost of Tsushima – with Audio Director Rev. Dr. Bradley D Meyer and Senior Sound Designer Josh Lord:

Creating the crystalline sound of Frozen 2:

How Frozen 2’s sound design, songs and score were woven into a fluid, immersive soundscape:
 
 

Constructing the Soaring Sound of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020:

Find out how the stunningly-realistic sound of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was made in this huge interview:
 
 

Crafting the sound of the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’:

Go behind the multi award-winning sound of Game of Thrones – with Tim Kimmel, Onnalee Blank, Mathew Waters, and Paula Fairfield:
 

Designing Half-Life: Alyx’s Superb VR Sound:

How the Valve sound team expanded the sound of the beloved Half-Life 2D-game into the VR realm:
 
 

Dark and gritty: The sound of Joker – with Oscar-winning Sound Supervisor Alan Robert Murray:

Sound Supervisor Alan Robert Murray on creating a symphony of sound for Joker’s descent into madness:

Designing the deeply disturbing sound of ‘Midsommar’:

How Midsommar’s discomforting and disorientating sound was made:
 
 

Delightfully vintage: Shaping the sound of ‘Cuphead’ – with Samuel Justice

Samuel Justice takes you behind the scenes on the sound for this striking indie game:
 
 

From Gladiators to Bog Bodies: How inventive, evocative museum sound design is created today:

Sound designer and composer Soren Bendixen shares the inside-story behind the evocative sound of museums today:

Go behind the Wildly Creative Sound of ‘Raised By Wolves’

Sound designer Jamey Scott takes you behind the creative sound of ‘Raised By Wolves’ here:
 
 
 

Handling the Sound of The Handmaid’s Tale:

Jane Tattersall, David McCallum, and Brennan Mercer discuss the sonic details of Season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale:
 
 

How The Last of Us Part II’s incredible sound was made:

The Naughty Dog sound team gives you the full story behind the sound for The Last of Us Part II here:
 
 

In-depth: The story behind Tim Nielsen’s brilliant sound design for The Little Prince

‘The Little Prince’ is the biggest success ever for a French animated film abroad, and here’s Supervising Sound Designer Tim Nielsen’s story behind the sound:

Making Mank’s vintage Hollywood-magic sound – an in-depth interview with Ren Klyce:

Ren Klyce shares the surprising stories & methods behind Mank’s vintage sound:
 

Making the weird, wonderful sound of ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’ – with Dean Hurley and Ron Eng:

Venture into the brilliant/mad sonic world of David Lynch and ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’:

Perfecting Parasite’s award-winning sound – with Ralph Tae-Young Choi:

Go behind the sound for Parasite, the most-awarded film at the 2020 Oscars:
 

Richard King on Inventing Inverted Sounds for ‘Tenet’:

Oscar-winning Supervising Sound Editor Richard King shares his approach to designing inverted sounds for ‘Tenet’:

Shaping Sound of Metal’s extraordinary – and ‘Best Sound’ Oscar-winning – audio:

How the Oscar-winning sound for ‘Sound of Metal’ was created:
 

Shaping the spectacular sound of ‘Dunkirk’ – with Richard King:

Get the full story on how Dunkirk’s rich, dense, and immersive sound was created:
 
 

The edgy sound of Netflix’s ‘Dark’

Here’s how the edgy and unsettling sound of Netflix hit series ‘Dark’ was made:
 
 
 

The growing, evolving sound of ‘Stranger Things’ Season 3 – with Craig Henighan, Will Files and Mark Paterson:

Craig Henighan, Will Files and Mark Paterson take you behind the sound for the ‘Battle of Starcourt’ episode:

The Poetic Sci-Fi Sound Of ‘Arrival’:

Get the full story behind the elegant – and surprisingly poetic – sound of ‘Arrival’:
 
 
 

The Secrets to Creating Jurassic World Evolution’s Excellent Game Audio:

Interested in what goes into creating outstanding sound for games? This interview on the sound for Jurassic World Evolution is a must-read:
 
 
 

The sound of ‘Indiana Jones and the Raiders of The Lost Ark’ – with Ben Burtt, John Roesch, & John Williams

Don’t miss this feature on the sound for ‘Indiana Jones and the Raiders of The Lost Ark’ – with film sound giants sound designer Ben Burtt, Foley artist John Roesch & composer John Williams:

What Made ‘Moana / Vaiana’ Sound So Good:

Discover how the impressive sound of ‘Moana’ was made:
 
 
 
 
 
 

Why ‘Chernobyl’ sounds so sublime, authentic – and haunting:

Here’s how Chernobyl’s haunting – and eerily accurate – sound was made: