Sound designer: pros and cons, specifics of the profession

Sound designers work in any field where there is a video accompanied by music. Quite a popular profession requires certain professional skills. You can get a higher education diploma and start a career. The profession of a sound designer, like any, has its advantages and disadvantages.

A sound designer is involved in creative and responsible work. The specialist must be able to come up with sounds, control them. The ability to recognize audio elements is also important. A sound designer creates melodies for specific tasks and purposes, this is especially important if you want to evoke certain emotions in people who will watch the video sequence.

It is known that audio accompaniment strongly influences mood, can attract or repel attention. Sound design technologies evolve and improve. It is worth noting that creating the elements is an important part of the job. The sound designer must imitate the sound of a non-existent object so that the audience does not doubt its reality.

A professional can immerse the viewer in a certain atmosphere and evoke the desired range of feelings. When mixing sounds, the most important thing stands out against the general background. For example, the sound of the brakes is superimposed on the sound of the city. A sound designer must be able to pick the most basic from the crowd.

Sound designers are in demand in the modern world. The profession is quite popular and has the following advantages:

• the market is developing rapidly, the specialty is quite promising;
• the profession is creative and allows you to develop, show potential;
• high profit payment;
• you can work not on schedule, but in such a way as to meet certain deadlines.

A young and promising specialty is not ideal. Disadvantages of the profession:

• narrow specialization, it is possible to be realized only in a specific area;
• there are no clear parameters by which the quality of the final product can be assessed, the sound range can be perceived in different ways by the sound designer and his management;
• requires a large amount of innate talent;
• a rather loose schedule is not suitable for people who do not know how to organize their activities and have a weak character.

A specific and unusual profession requires quite a lot of special skills. The specialist should not only love sounds and be able to perceive them.

1. Good ear for music. He may not be perfect, but he is quite advanced. The specialist must be able to distinguish between notes. It is important to hear the sound and understand its source. Without this, it will not be possible to create high-quality background noise of the city, for example.
2. Understand how different instruments sound and be able to distinguish between them. This is important for creating audio elements. The ability to play any musical instrument will be a big advantage.
3. Understanding the physics of sound. This is necessary in order to be able to simulate the sound under certain conditions. For example, a falling spoon will make different noise in a small room or in an empty factory.
4. Know the features of the perception of sound by the human ear. Such skills are necessary to be able to simulate a certain atmosphere or to create a special mood for the listener.
5. Ability to use audio editing programs. The most common are Nuendo, Cubase, Adobe Auditi.
6. Using sound recording equipment.
7. Be able to find non-standard ways to solve various problems.
8. Perseverance is of great importance in this area. There is a lot of routine work to be done.
9. Attention to detail, organization and the ability to properly allocate time. Usually, specialists do not have a work schedule, but there is a deadline for the finished project.

Many professionals claim that the education system for this specialty is very outdated. Yet there are universities and private schools that train sound designers. For the first time the discipline appeared about 16 years ago, it was taught within the framework of directing. This proves that the profession itself is quite young, but progressive.

The specialty appeared in Moscow universities already in 2008. You can study at various universities in the capital. It should be noted that higher education is not enough for full-fledged work. The approach is outdated, now more advanced technologies are used. It turns out that specialists with diplomas simply cannot cope with modern tasks.

Private schools and specialized courses come to the rescue. It will be beneficial to work as a post-production trainee. There you can gain valuable experience and get the opinion of specialists about your abilities. It is worth noting that without innate musical skills in this profession, success cannot be achieved even after many years of practice.That is why the specialty is so difficult and highly paid. Where can you work:

• film studios;
• theaters;
• creating games;
• media companies and post-production studios.

In Russia, specialists earn from 40,000 to 160,000 rubles depending on the field of activity, skills and experience. Under certain conditions, you can earn about 200,000 rubles. Usually cinema workers receive such a salary. Remote activities are quite popular.