5 - Second Sound Design - Day 1

Today, I decided to stop procrastinating. I've been wanting to explore sound design more and more over the past months, and I've kept thinking I wasn't capable. Not literally - I knew I was capable, I just had no clue where to start. I thought that if I wanted to Sound design for video games, I needed to download Unreal Engine 5 and start learning how to program so I can implement my sounds inside a world of my own creation. That all seemed incredibly overwhelming. I'd have to learn how to use UE5, praying that my computer was powerful enough to run it efficiently, and on this path I got side-tracked with 3d modeling, animating, rigging, it seemed I was trying to develop a video game all on my own, when in fact, the only experience I have with Sound Design is music.

I had to take a step back, because with everything I was trying to learn at once, I was getting in my own way. I had to look at the big picture. I had designed maybe two sounds in the past. Two. That was not nearly enough experience to make a whole video game, and if that was where I wanted to work, I needed to focus on what my job would be. Designing sound. I took a note from Akash Thakkar, a Composer and Sound Designer for Video Games and other entertainment. He suggests that to get started with sound designing, take a short 5-second clip, and redesign the sound for that. It only needs to be 5-seconds, because that is approachable, not overwhelming, but over the course of time, builds experience, and a portfolio.

So that's what this is. I found a 5 second clip on YouTube of two robots fighting in space (I don't know what this clip is from, so please tell me if you know), and I redesigned the sound. Everything you hear in this clip is of my design. The lasers, the robots flying, the shield, and the music. I don't own this video, but I do own the audio to it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, especially for my first attempt. I'm excited to learn more about this, and if you'd like to learn more about my process, leave a comment! I hope you enjoy it!