Improving Communication With Your Sound Designer Part 1
by Kane Minkus

Contents   Introduction   Tools of the Trade   Creating Audio: Sound Design   Creating Audio: Composition   Printable version   Discuss this article The Series   Part 1   Part 2

There is a reason none of the guys at SomaTone Interactive Audio become professional Jazz musicians. What is it? I mean, after years and years of studying our instruments, jazz theory, classical theory, Bill Evans, Miles Davis and practicing our brains out, why not become pro jazz guys? The common consensus around our studios: the jazz guys are in the corner always getting ignored. Why be brilliantly ignored? Let’s make noise! So my question for you is do you treat audio or your audio designer for your game like he or she is a jazz musician? You would not believe how many sound designers express this is how they feel – staff sound designers and production houses alike. Perhaps that is not your MO; and you actually love audio and think about it early on in your projects. Perhaps you wake up at night thinking about the coolest melody line, musician or new virtual instrument that would impact the game perfectly! Or maybe that is just what we sound guys do. Either way, the following article will suggest lots of ways to more deeply understand the world of your sound designer and communicate effectively, in his or her language to get the results you are after, quickly and give your user the impression that audio got the attention it deserves.

One of my favorite teachers at Berklee College of Music used to always say, “The sum is made up of the parts! Pay attention to the parts and pieces from the beginning!” So let’s explore the parts of audio that come together to make the whole experience. Some of you might be more experienced with working on music/audio, but if you are not familiar with the digital studio of the new millennium – sequencers, virtual instruments and post production/composition lingo – you could still be in the dark when it comes to really communicating in ways that help the sound designer translate your vision into sound.

To begin to clarify, the word Sound Designer, especially in the game industry, has somehow become the common term for the audio professional making the sound. However, in the audio world, a sound designer is someone who is literally designing sounds. This means, most of the time, the sfx person (occasionally this could refer to someone designing sounds/textures for a composer – like Trent Reznor’s sound designer who creates sounds/noises that he ends up composing with). Often in the Advertising Industry the term sound designer means both the sound effects person and composer – mainly because in lots of commercials, it is hard to distinguish between general sound scapes as sfx or music. However, in the game industry, there is a clear distinction between composers and sound designers. If you applied for a job at Lucas Arts as a sound designer, no one would expect you to come in with a guitar and start writing music.

So, when talking with your “Sound Designer” - if that is their job title in your company – that person is likely thinking about sound effects and music separately in both the creation and integration – with distinctive language, tools and approaches to both.

This article will give you lots of tools to have effective conversations with your composer about technical changes. Stay tuned for the next article where I explore effective ways to discuss creative content design, more tools and a deep breakdown of the process of music and SFX design.

Tools of the Trade