To study or not to study sound design (Part 2)

In my last post, I portrayed some of the benefits - as I’ve experienced them - of studying sound design towards a career in game audio. For this one, I will talk about some of what are, to my mind, the shortcomings.

The case against studying sound design

Lack of creative sound design

I didn’t feel I learned enough creative sound design on my course. Certainly, as I mentioned in my last blog post, doing assignments was helpful learning. In truth, however, a significant amount of independent research on the ‘how to’ of sound design was left to me. Of course independent study is part of studying at degree level; however, I often felt like I lacked pointers or suggestions that would have helped me to develop more practical knowledge about sound design. I compensated for this by joining the weekly Sound Design Workshops (which I talked about in my previous posts). I also set my own ‘mini-assignments’ of designing the audio to the visuals of my choice.

Collaboration

Through university, I got the opportunity to work on a mobile game ‘Avocado Man’, which has been a great learning experience because I got to work with a developer and I worked to a brief and to a deadline. This project has given me a great insight into the volume of work I would be expected to do when working in games. This made me understand that it was important to learn to work fast and be organised. 

Apart from this project, however, there haven’t been many opportunities to collaborate so I had to find projects outside of the course. The good news is that it’s easy to join game jams or find indie developers or visual artists to work with. I wish that this aspect was more integrated into studying because through collaboration, I tend to learn more and feel more engaged.

Networking

This is another area that I did mostly outside of the course but this was my intention from the beginning. I didn’t rely on the course to provide connections because the course is online and I prefer to meet people in person. As I live in London, where there are many game companies, my plan was to attend in person meetups and events. Unfortunately, because of the lockdowns, this has not been possible so I started interacting with people via social media and Discord. Still, I hope that I will be able to turn some of these connections into IRL friends! 

Other considerations

Money

Unfortunately, this is a big barrier and I wish education in the UK was free. My simplistic view is that if you can afford it, do it! You will learn stuff and it’s fun. If you can’t afford it - don’t worry! You can totally prepare for a job without formal education. If you’re somewhere in the middle then Ben Gallagher broke this down so I’m going to link to that. 

Prestige and further career prospects

Aside from my main goal, which was to get a job as a sound designer, I had always assumed I would do an MA at some point, even without knowing in what area. In Poland where I’m from, it’s standard to do an MA right after BA but it’s easier there because the education is free. So here in the UK, I had to wait because of the financial considerations but also because there wasn’t anything that interested me enough to pursue it straight after my BA. 

I enjoy studying and I am interested in theories and concepts, so although I achieved my main goal before finishing the course, I still want to finish my degree. It will be a bonus that shows that I am serious and committed to my profession and long term, it may open up avenues for me to teach.

Finally, more people studying sound design in an academic fashion could also be good for the profession as a whole. Perhaps more publications, more courses and a bigger profile for game audio will help this discipline to get more attention which would lead to more funding within the game development teams, leading to more roles and a more established and transparent processes for hiring.

Summary

If I were to summarise my view on the topic, I’d say that in fact studying isn’t right for everyone and shouldn’t be considered an obvious path to development for everyone. I know sound designers who ‘figured it out’, without studying Game Audio, and got hired. If I was to summarise how helpful the course has been for me I would say: very helpful; however it accounted only for about 50% of the things I was doing that helped me to find work.