Sound Design Workshops - what? where? who with?
In the past few months, I’ve participated in free online sound design workshops. One regular workshop is run by Chris Polus, Audio Director at Stillalive Studios. It’s hosted on the Stillalive Game Labs Discord once a week (links at end of blog post).
The workshop is held virtually and begins with a discussion about what the group are going to do before we crack on with the sound design - usually for an hour or so.
We generally work with rules or limitations, forcing us to be inventive, or practice a specific skill e.g. recording our own sounds or using synths. After the work is done, we reconvene and discuss how we approached the challenge and the plugins/techniques used.
In a recent workshop, we redesigned an ability from Dandy Ace (Mad Mimic, 2021). We recorded at least 4 of our own Foley sounds (e.g. mouth, body, props), coming up with very different results! Below you can see a compilation of everyone’s SFX, followed by our individual breakdowns.
Breakdown
Benedict Sanderson @sandeben101
Cardboard hits, paper tearing, mouth sounds, belt whooshes, designed punches, Vital synth
DAW: Reaper
SFX
Breakdown
Cai Jones @Caijonesaudio
Cushion hits, designed whooshes, ribbon whooshes, watermelon slap, knife scratching, 8-bit samples
DAW: Reaper
SFX
Breakdown
Breakdown
Breakdown
Jeremy Speer @JSpeerSound
Footsteps, cloth whooshes, door shutting, pitchfork hit, wind chimes, organ, crowd cheering
DAW: Reaper
SFX
Breakdown
Kasia Dziekan @kasiaaudio
Mouth sounds, fist slap, chimes, Serum synth, Granulera synth
DAW: Reaper
SFX
Breakdown
Miguel Cravinho @CravinhoMiguel
Footsteps, pillow punches, tea cup hits, fireworks
DAW: Ableton Live
SFX
Breakdown
Breakdown
I’ve learned a ton during these challenges. Aside from gaining new technical skills, and being inspired by others, there’s something about doing the work at the same time as others, which sharpens the mind and excites.
It’s honestly such a lot of fun. We’d love you to join us, no matter your level of technical skills or confidence communicating in English (we’re a supportive bunch). Hopefully see you there!
Stillalive Game Labs Sound Design Challenge with Chris Polus, weekly (join anytime) (Discord invite here)
Game Dev London Sound Design Workshop with Benedict Sanderson, Mondays 7.30pm UK time (Discord invite here, head to the ‘workshop-chat’ channel)
